The Father’s Demise

Saving daughters from cruel husbands
By: Abdool A. Aziz

THOUGH he was born in the squalor of the sugar estate in 1900, Sheik Khan, by way of self-study rose to live a middle-class life as an Urdu interpreter. He was a fine gentleman who raised twin daughters, Afira and Shafira. Their mom died when they were five. At age 16, according to the strict Muslim culture, he married them off to a well-to-do family who had twin sons. He felt good that his prized assets would be happy, but he was wrong. The boys’ father died, and with no patriarch, the fellas went rogue.

They began treating these well-cultured spouses as maids. They didn’t like marriage, they were more fond of the society ladies. Their father’s passing was the key to their freedom. On many occasions, the girls escaped to their dad, but the old man would implore them to keep the marriage sacred and bear up. One day he saw bruises on their soft skins, he was heartbroken. He had to do something,but what? The police in those days didn’t get involved in domestic marital affairs and with no social work agency, he went into meditation and came up with a plan.

THE STRATEGY
He decided that he would sell his house in the city and send the girls off to their mother country, England. It was 1951, in the dead of night, he walked his battered angels up the gangway to the deck of a cargo vessel heading for London. All his savings went on their passage, he promised to join them later. That solemn promise was never kept. His life was cut short by his angry sons – in- law when they discovered he sent their wives to a far-off place of no return.

THE COVER – UP
After selling his ‘castle’ he moved to a humble dwelling in the country. The fellas hunted him down. One night they pounced upon him and killed him. The killers had money and the crime was covered up. An innocent father died trying to save his beloved children.
SUCCESS IN LONDON
England was a ‘Boiling Cauldron’ with race riots and was no ‘Bedof Roses’ for two ‘alien’ girls trying to cope with foreign culture, but they stuck together in love and prayer and their father’s inspiration. Afira became a professional social worker, Shafira qualified as a lawyer.

THE PAINFUL SHOCK
After not hearing from their dad for some time [because there were just letters in those days] they decide to return in secret to British Guiana and take their dad to their new British home. The murder of their father tore their hearts in pieces. They were devastated to learn of the injustices meted out to their beloved dad and that the killers were roaming free. They knew that the killers must pay for their dastardly crime.

JUSTICE – FINALLY
The two British – trained professionals began their campaign to root out CORRUPTION. The criminal justice system ‘kicked’ into gear and charges were laid on the criminals. They were tried and convicted and they had a date with the hangman. The two girls continued to live and work in Guiana. Afira championed the cause of rights to women and children, she opened a social work agency, especially for battered wives, and her sister kept the judiciary on its toes and she represented many of her clients for free.

In tribute on their father’s headstone read:
‘Your Death is not in Vain
And your Heroic blood still
Runs in our veins.
Forever grateful
Love Afie and Shafie’

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