That Child

The verdict of a witch doctor and a child condemned to hard labour. Is it the sting of a deadly killer insect or the bite from a venomous snake? But it is surely the cry of a child! Chudi, a child of courage. The story of Chudi in this book is based on a true story- the true life experience of a fifteen year old boy called Jonathan. Jonathan is an inmate of the Arrows of God Orphanage located in Lagos Nigeria and this book narrates in graphic detail the life of Jonathan since the age of 2 as depicted by the character Chudi. That Child, tells a story of despair, cruelty and courage never before narrated. The book exposes the kind of inhumane torture children in developing countries are subjected to at the hands of family members and foster homes. During the course of his life, Chudi lived in several homes until cruelty and the wickedness of Aunt Ebere, a giant of a woman with a pair of brown blazing eyes, devoid of any love or compassion forced him to run away into the streets of Aba, an Eastern city in Nigeria where street crime and armed robbery is rife. While he lived under an old abandoned bridge with about a dozen street boys, - the Don, Uche and Kelvin, Chudi took to petty thefts, begging in the streets and washing car windshields for a few pennies. After about six months of this hurried life an unexpected tragedy occurred. A most terrifying and unprecedented bad luck befell Chudi at the Aba motor park and he soon mysteriously found himself back in Aunt Ebere's house of horror. While back in capacity, yet again Chudi found another mind boggling and amazing thing begin to unfold in his life. The kind of amazing stuff that can only be the work of angels from heaven. Thereafter, one sudden twist led to another sudden twist, all unraveled in the mystery of the dead goats and chuckling chickens and the creepy secrets of the fifty bundles of fire wood stashed at the back of the van bringing the story of Chudi to an unprecedented and unbelievable climax.