Blessing Bassey Okon may have thought that her misery in life began almost the same day she lost her father, but she would never have envisaged what was in stock for her later. The 13-year-old was subsequently abandoned by her mother who quickly remarried and ‘dumped’ her with the late husband’s mother who could neither feed her well nor train her due in school.
The Akwa Ibom-born Blessing, thus, started living another kind of life, especially since her grandmother had been praying for somebody who could take of her to come around. It didn’t take too long before her prayer was answered, albeit not what she hoped for.
According to Daily Sun, a professional prostitute stormed the residence of the grandmother and in her businesswoman ‘clothing’, deceived Blessing’s grandmother into believing that she would take care of the young girl whom she said would be helping to assist in her shop where she sold rice. While narrating her ordeal, Blessing said the lady gave her grandmother N4000 and took her to Calabar, stating:
“When that Aunty came to my village to pick me, she deceived my grandmother that she had a big rice shop which she wanted me to manage.
“She gave my grandmother some money and the old woman asked me to go with her. In fact, I was very happy because I wanted to leave the village to an urban area, so I would have the opportunity to engage myself in one trade or the other, since there was no one to support me.
“Unfortunately, it was when we got to Calabar that I understood that what I went to do was prostitution. She showed me a room and instructed me to ensure that I deliver enough money to her otherwise I would die of hunger. I felt bad and wondered what to do.
“After much thought, I remembered that I had no option than to obey her directive. So grudgingly, I started the job. I wanted to report to my mother and grand mother what I was going through, but due to lack of mobile phone, I could not. While doing the job, I used to deliver between N10, 000 and N20, 000 to my madam on daily basis. It was from the money that she feed me and pay for my room. Sad enough, I was not given any cash, even when I was the one who used my body to make the money.” In her explanation, Blessing said she managed to save some money while her ordeal lasted and eventually bought a N2,000 worth mobile phone to explain what was going on to her family members but was disappointed when after explaining to her granny, she was encouraged to go on. She said:
“When I reported to my grandmother that the lady she gave me to later introduced me to prostitution business, she was not bothered, rather, she advised me to try to cope, in order to survive the hard times. From her statement, I understood that it was a planned work. She even later gave me one of my sisters to join me in the business.” The poor girl, in the course of hustling for customers, got caught by some police officers for being a ‘child’ prostitute.