One early morning, just as Mawufemor was about to leave for the market, word came in that Mr Mensah, Mawufemor's benefactor and mentor, had perished instantaneously on the spot when a Tipper Truck failed to stop and collided into his small newsstand at the market.
Mrs Mensah fainted after learning of her husband's death and eventually died at the Holy Trinity Hospital in Swanlake, North Kaneshie.
Mr Mensah's relatives arrived swiftly to collect the children, and Mawufemor was requested to leave the residence that same day. The community blamed the tragedy on Mawufemor, claiming that he was a cursed child and that everybody who came into contact with him suffered. A group of young men in town resolved that Mawufemor should leave the region.
That evening, the neighbourhood boys, including the few acquaintances he'd met at the market, arrived to accompany him out of the area. For some of these youngsters, it was a kind of retaliation for Mawufemor's prominence. For them, his two to three years of education had transformed him and won him over to their clientele as well as the market women. Even if Mawufemor was not there, clients would prefer to wait for his services rather than have any of the other boys attend to them. The boys developed a secret hatred towards Mawufemor as a result of this.
Mawufemor sobbed uncontrollably. Since things had begun to improve for him, he had made it his goal to ensure that his "homies" at the market do not sleep on an empty stomach—something that provides them with an excuse to take other people's things. He had even paid for two of the boys to attend the Talent Restoration academy to better their lives.
The next day at the market, the market women were outraged. They chastised the boys for being selfish and jealous. They implored and threatened the boys to go out there and find Mawufemor and come back with him. Mawufemor was nowhere to be found despite their extensive search. The market women reprimanded the boys, with one Pentecost deaconess telling them they had stabbed their friend in the back and returned him evil for the good he had done to them.
The youngsters were filled with remorse and their consciences were pierced. They went on and looked for Mawufemor for an extra week, but he was nowhere to be found!
When Mawufemor left the community that night, he went to New Fadaman, a town not far from Abeka. He was able to find a good place to spend the night in the Fadaman cluster of schools. Mawufemor decided to commit suicide that night, depressed beyond repair.
He had passed through an agrochemical shop earlier, before nightfall, to acquire some chemicals. Mawufemor consumed a mouthful of a powdered agrochemical about 8:45 p.m. that evening. After a few minutes, he began foaming at the mouth and eventually passed out.
Mawufemor awoke three days later at Holy Trinity Hospital, where he had been brought the morning after his poisoning. He was treated and released after his bills were covered by a teacher-pastor from the Fadama cluster of schools who had brought him to the hospital.
The teacher brought him to his house, where he resided with his wife and 3-month-old baby. The man tried unsuccessfully to get Mawufemor to recount the circumstances that led to his unconsciousness on school grounds.
Mawufemor was scared of what might happen if he spoke up, so he remained silent.
When his exams arrived, he asked his new benefactor for permission to go out each day he had a paper to write and return. His benefactor and wife waited in vain for Mawufemor to return after his last paper but to no avail. They gave up after two weeks of searching for Mawufemor.
Mawufemor had opted to travel back home to his relatives in the Volta Region after finishing his last paper. So, after writing the paper, he went to Accra Central's Tema Station and boarded a Ho-bound vehicle—saying goodbye to Accra—headed towards the Volta Region—in search of his roots and identity.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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