When I had my baby, it was during the time when Covid was at its peak. Everyone took the social distancing rules seriously. Because of this, we didn’t hold a public outdooring ceremony for the baby. Most of our relatives couldn’t visit us either. This didn’t concern us so much, considering the beliefs and customs surrounding a newborn. Some people decide not to see visitors until the baby is a month old. So the ban on social gatherings really helped us. We could keep the baby out of our social cycle and nobody would be offended.

Within a couple of months, the ban was lifted. That was when my husband and I decided to hold a naming ceremony for our son. Almost everyone we knew showed up. They didn’t come empty-handed. They all came bearing gifts for the baby. It was a beautiful event that not only celebrated the birth of our child but also the commencement of our social lives. Everyone who showed up was happy they did.

After all was said and done, my husband and I went through the gifts. They were all gifts for the baby except for one item. It was a hamper consisting of body lotions, body wash, perfumes, and deodorants for adults. It wasn’t a familiar brand and the labels were not written in English so I couldn’t tell the origin of the brand.

All the presents had the name of the person who brought them on it. The ones that didn’t have the names too, were handed to me personally so I knew who brought them. That particular hamper didn’t have a name on it. I also couldn’t remember who exactly gave it to me. Anyway, we put all the gifts away and sent thank you messages to everyone who was at the ceremony the next day.

Every time I took the hamper, I would try to remember who brought it but no one came to mind. I am not one to use shower gels so I was in no hurry to open the hamper. I prefer bar soap. I am a village girl so that’s what I’m used to. Besides, I didn’t trust the brand of the other items so I didn’t bother with them either. For three months, I forgot about the basket and its contents.

One morning I was going to take a shower when I realized we ran out of bar soap. I searched the house and couldn’t find any so I decided to use one of body washes in the hamper we got during the naming ceremony. It wasn’t that bad. It didn’t have the usual strong scent that I hated about some of those shower gels on the market. It had a mild flowery scent that made me smile. “Why did I even wait all this while to use this nice soap?” I mumbled as I hurried through my morning ritual.

My husband was late for work but he was taking care of the baby while I took my bath. My son is a sweet baby. He wasn’t one to cry unnecessarily. We always praised him for his constant happy and playful nature. That’s why it didn’t make sense what happened that morning.

The moment I came out of the bathroom and my baby saw my face, he started crying hysterically. “What’s wrong darling?” I cooed, “It’s mummy, I am here now.” That only made him scream louder. Nothing I did or said to convince him that I was his mother, his favorite person in the world, worked.

I tried to take him forcefully from his father but that only intensified his screams. While I was holding him, he stretched his arms to his father to take him back. My own baby couldn’t even look at my face.

Breast milk sometimes solves some of these unexplained tantrums so I tried to breastfeed him. He didn’t even want to have any physical contact with me let alone allow himself to nurse. I was worried. Everything was so off. The way he was crying was very unusual compared to the way babies cry. He had this look of fear in his eyes, it was as if he had seen a “kakai” – something hideous.

After failing to calm him down for almost thirty minutes, we gave him a bottle. He rejected that one too. We were very frustrated so we called the pediatrician and told her our baby had been crying continuously for over thirty minutes. “He won’t stop, but we don’t know what is wrong with him,” I said. She said to bring him over for assessment and we agreed.

I realized that the moment I left his side to go and change my dress so we could go to the hospital, he stopped crying. We thought the tantrums were over until I came back to him. The hysteric crying started again. Nothing I did worked!

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While all this was going on, a calm voice told me to take a shower again. I went to the kitchen and took the leftover bar of key soap l had used for laundry. I washed down with the soap without any expectations. I just obeyed the voice.

Could you believe that after the second bath, my baby stretched out his arms toward me to carry him? I put his head on my chest and he was calm. I decided to breastfeed him and he took it. All the crying and tantrums ceased. There was absolutely peace. My husband and I were so stunned that we couldn’t talk.

I Didn’t Tell Anybody Because I Enjoyed It

We didn’t go and talk to any prophet or spiritualist to explain to us why my baby acted like he was afraid of me when I used that soap to bathe. All that mattered was that the moment I washed down with another soap, my baby could bear to look at me again. So we prayed over the rest of the items in the hamper and dropped them in our church’s donation basket. That was the end.

I only chose to share the story after I read Kumedzi’s story about his matrimonial bed. I know most people don’t believe in spirituality and its related issues but as a Christian, I believe the spiritual world is real. And there are things that happen in the spiritual realm that affect our physical lives.

—Blessed

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