08/08/2025
When you clock 33 in ECWA Youth Fellowship and still single, that "Sister" title no dey strong again.
People start to call you "Aunty" softly, sweetly… but e still dey cut small-small inside your chest.
Especially when you senior almost all the brothers in fellowship. No eligible bachelor in sight.
The ones wey still remain? Those brothers that still wear Faded “Jesus is Lord” polo from Jos crusade 2015 brothers, all these married men that won't stop checking small girls in fellowship out or disrespectful small boys wey dey ask you, “Aunty, how far?” with gala still inside their teeth.
Aunty Jummai was in that exact position.
Beautiful, committed, active for choir, drama, ushering, even prayer band. She was the perfect church woman… just without a husband.
Then one Sunday, Bro Jerome appeared.
Tall. Clean. God-fearing. And wait for it, single.
The sisters took it as prophecy fulfillment. Prayer band intensified their tongues. Women Fellowship even began measuring lace colours in faith.
Jerome moved fast. In weeks, wedding counselling start.
By week three, they’d fixed a date.
By week four, Sister Jummai had stopped attending singles meeting because, well, she was no longer “single”… at least on paper.
But then…
One random Thursday evening, Jerome called it off. No warning, no prayer point. Just: “I can’t marry you, Jummai. God is not leading me.”
We thought it was spiritual attack until the gist leaked.
Jummai had a 13-year-old “younger brother” called Danladi who lived with her. Everyone knew Danladi... slim boy, quiet, polite. Nobody suspected anything.
Turns out… Danladi wasn’t her brother.
Danladi was her son.
For over 10 years she has hid this from everyone
Why did she lie?
Perhaps it was pressure.
Perhaps it was stigma.
But that day, as the gist began to spread, I felt a quiet ache.
Because sometimes, in fellowship, it becomes a survival game... image over truth.
The real problem doesn’t always begin with the lie.
It begins with the clock.
That silent countdown everyone else seems to hear louder than your own heartbeat.
Pressure makes you present what you think people want to see.
And when image replaces truth, relationships are built on shaky ground.
Marriage is not an escape from shame.
It is not a rescue from loneliness.
If the foundation is fear of being left behind, even the most beautiful love story can collapse before it begins.
So pause. Heal. Be honest first with yourself, then with others.
Because the truth you hide today… may be the same truth that shatters tomorrow’s joy.
By: Philip John Owoicho
(BlackBoyWithThePen)
