Imagine living with an uncle who is supposed to be your father figure, but instead, he treats you like a stranger or even worse, like a slave. That is exactly what Khairat is going through in this story. She is a young girl, very beautiful and bright, but her life is just one struggle after another. Her uncle, Kawu Sabiu, is a man who sells local medicine, which is why everyone calls him Me Magani. But don't let the name fool you into thinking he is a healer of hearts. This man is so stingy that it is actually painful to read about. He travels from village to village to sell his medicine, and he drags Khairat along with him. But while he is making money, he won't even buy her a small snack like Awara. He would rather hide his money and buy nice fried fish and boiled eggs for his wife, Talatu, and his own children, while Khairat watches with an empty stomach.
One evening, as they were coming back from one of their trips, Khairat couldn't take the hunger anymore. She saw her uncle with his bag of goodies that he bought for his favorite people at home. She waited for the perfect moment when he wasn't looking and she snatched a boiled egg and two big pieces of fish. She started eating them as fast as she could while they were walking. But Kawu, even though he has issues with his sight, has a nose like a police dog. He stopped and said, "Khairat, check for me, I smell eggs and fish, and it feels like someone touched my bag." Khairat, with her mouth full, just swallowed hard and told him, "There is nothing, it’s just your nose playing tricks on you." This part made me laugh because even in her suffering, she knows how to handle him. If you want to read more stories like this, you should check out Taskar Novels for the latest updates.
When they got home, the drama didn't stop. Talatu and her children sat down to feast on the fish and eggs, and they didn't even look at Khairat’s side. They just left her to keep doing house chores, jumping from one task to another. But Khairat didn't care much that night because she had already played a fast one on her uncle earlier. The author, Asma Baffa, really knows how to show the wickedness of some relatives. Talatu is the kind of woman who encourages her husband to be mean. There was a time a poor beggar boy came to the house asking for food, and Kawu Sabiu started shouting at him, asking if he was the boy's father or if it was his job to feed him. Talatu even pointed at Khairat and told the beggar that Khairat is also an orphan living with them, so he should go and find his own relatives. It is so heartless because they are literally living on Khairat’s inheritance, but they treat her like she is a burden. You can find many of the best Hausa novels that talk about these kinds of family issues on the site.
The house is always full of tension. Khairat has a cousin named Ammar, who is a soldier. You would think a soldier would be disciplined and kind, but Ammar is just a bully. One day, Khairat was having an argument with her cousin Rahinatu, who is just fifteen but already has a very bad mouth. Rahinatu was insulting Khairat, and Khairat told her that she would beat her up. Before she could even move, Ammar Soja just slapped Khairat across the face. He called her a "dirty, useless girl" and told her he would deal with her. But Khairat is not the type to keep quiet. Even with her face hurting, she looked at Ammar and insulted him back. She told him he is as black as charcoal and he smells bad, and that no girl would ever love him. She ran into her room and locked the door before he could catch her. That night, Kawu Sabiu punished her by saying she wouldn't get any food for a whole week. It is just too much for a young girl to handle alone.
The next morning, Ammar caught her as she was coming out for morning prayers and beat her so badly she could barely move. But she still had to go to the village with her uncle to sell medicine under the hot sun. She was so tired and hungry that when they got to a village called Kumbotso, she just collapsed under a tree and fell into a deep sleep. Kawu tried to wake her up, but she didn't budge, so he just left her there and went to do his business. When she finally woke up, she went into a nearby house to use the bathroom. The people in that house were so kind. They saw how rough she looked and offered her a big plate of rice and beans. She ate everything until she was full. It’s sad that strangers treat her better than her own blood relatives. If you enjoy these kinds of emotional stories, you can download Hausa novels to read the full details of her journey.
There is also a funny guy in the neighborhood named Usy who wants to date Khairat. But Khairat is not interested in men right now. She just wants to go to school and have a better life. One night, Kawu and Talatu forced her to go outside and talk to Usy because they hoped he would give her money that they could take. Usy is a bit of a local guy, not very polished. During their conversation, Usy mentioned a boy who asked him for money before he would call Khairat out. In his story, he mentioned the name Muazu, which was the name of Khairat’s late father. Khairat got so angry because she thought he was disrespecting her father's memory. She told him, "I swear, you know our neighbor Kabiru... I will insult Kabiru's mother... if you mention my father's name again, I will deal with your own father too." Usy was so confused because he didn't realize he had crossed a line. She ended up chasing him away, and when she got back inside, her uncle was furious that she didn't bring back any money.
To really understand why things are so bad, you have to know the history of this family. Khairat’s father, Muaz, was a very wealthy man from Taraba State. He was a Fulani man who moved to Kano for business and became very successful. He loved his wife, Hauwau, so much. Kawu Sabiu is actually Muaz’s brother. When they were younger, Sabiu climbed a baobab tree and something happened—people say it was jinns—and he became blind and lost the use of one of his hands. Because Muaz was a good brother, he took care of Sabiu. He built the house they are living in and sponsored the education of all of Sabiu’s children, including Ammar Soja. Muaz was a man of gold. But after Khairat’s mother died during childbirth and Muaz himself died from high blood pressure a few years later, everything changed. You can read more about this family history when you browse Hausa novels online.
The moment Muaz died, Kawu Sabiu and his wife Talatu showed their true colors. They didn't want to take care of Khairat at all. Talatu even said, "I won't do it for free; they should sell everything Khairat inherited to pay for her upbringing." They sold her father’s houses, his farms in Taraba, and everything he left for her. They used the money to live a big life until the money finished. To hide what they were doing from the people in Gwale who knew Muaz, they moved to a poor area called Sheka. Now that the money is gone, they are frustrated and they take all that frustration out on Khairat. They treat her like a servant in a house that was actually built with her father's sweat. It is a very emotional story that makes you wonder how people can be so ungrateful. Khairat is just a victim of her parents' kindness to a brother who didn't deserve it.
Asma Baffa did a great job of making us feel Khairat’s pain. You can see her struggle every day, but you also see her strength. Even though she is being beaten and starved, she still has her pride. She doesn't let her cousins look down on her without giving them a piece of her mind. She is still hoping that one day she will go back to school and escape this life of selling medicine on the streets. The way the story is going, you just want to keep reading to see if she will finally get justice and get her father’s wealth back from her wicked uncle. This book is really deep and it shows the reality of what some orphans go through in our society today. It’s not just a story; it feels very real, like something happening in the next street. If you want to follow Khairat’s story and see what happens to her and her stingy uncle, you can get the full book and many others on Taskar Novels.
