I was at work when she reached out to me. It was very busy at the office that day so I couldn’t open her message immediately. When I later got the time to read her text and listen to the voice note she sent, I was covered in goosebumps. I felt terribly guilty that I took so long to listen to her call for help. “Josephine, my mum is dying,” that’s what the message read. The voice note was her giving me a detailed explanation of her mother’s ill health. She was in tears as she narrated their ordeal. I felt so sad for her that I couldn’t find the right amount of words to comfort her.
“Sandra, I am sorry for everything you are going through. Is it okay if I call you now so we talk about it?” I texted her. She replied, “My network is very bad right now so I am not sure we will not be able to talk when you call.” Due to the vast distance between us, it wouldn’t be prudent for me to call her through regular calls, so we usually communicated on Whatsapp. Through our chat, she told me about how she used all her money, including her salary advance to pay for her mother’s hospital bills.
I understood and deeply felt her pain, especially after she told me her mother was diagnosed with a kidney condition. As we continued our chat, she sent a series of other voice notes detailing how the sickness began. She told me about the doctors’ advice that they should turn to herbal treatment. “Someone recommended a herbal facility to me. I researched about them and they are good. I sent her there. The problem is, I am required to pay GHC1200 when she goes for review tomorrow. However, I am left with only GHC400. Can you help me cover the balance?”
I felt bad, honestly. I felt bad because I didn’t have money in my account to send to her that instant. The next day too was a holiday so I wouldn’t be able to deposit cash to transfer to her. I wanted to do something to help her although my hands were tied. I knew I would want someone to move mountains to help me if I were in her shoes, so I called a friend of mine on my way home from work. I narrated Sandra’s story to my friend and asked him to give me a loan of GHC1000. He agreed to give me the money but he cautioned me, “I have seen situations like this before, and it is not always what the person tells you that is true. Talk to her directly or someone else to be sure that whoever you are trying to help is genuine.
I heard his advice but Sandra was my friend. I didn’t think she would make up something this serious just to spend my money. So when I got home I spoke to my housemate about Sandra’s mother. She was so touched that she arranged for someone who owed her money to send Sandra GHC300 as a donation. After the money was sent, I promised her I would give her the rest later. I called her then, but her voice didn’t sound like the one in the voice notes. She sounded too calm for someone who was terrified of losing her mother. That was when my friend’s caution reared its head and planted doubt in my mind. I started to feel something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t tell what wasn’t.
I knew she could be dramatic but to go to the extent of claiming her mother has a kidney disorder was too extreme. I wasn’t sure what was true anymore. So I stopped asking people to help her. I rather turned to God. I asked him to reveal to me if Sandra’s mother was sick indeed. The next day, I texted Sandra in the evening asking if she was able to send her mum to the herbal facility. She replied; “No, we couldn’t go. The money I gathered wasn’t up to the amount I was required to pay.” I still felt the urge to help her but I also didn’t want to get played, in case she was lying.
The next morning I called one of her closest friends. This person became my friend through her. So I asked her to send me Sandra’s mother’s number. It took some time but she sent it to me. After I received the number I called my sister. I told her what was going on. She took the number from me and called Sandra’s mother posing as a staff of the herbal facility she was supposedly receiving treatment. After the call, my sister reported to me that the woman wasn’t sick. She said the last time she was at that herbal facility was five years ago when she had problems with her hand. We called her three times with different numbers, and each time, she maintained that she didn’t have any problems with her kidney. In fact, she wasn’t sick at all.
To say that I was shocked will be putting it lightly. I didn’t confront Sandra about my findings. I just decided to play along to see how far she would take her game. I called her, “Hi Sandra, I have good news. I was able to reach out to an old friend of mine who works at the herbal facility you mentioned. He has agreed to treat your mother while we pay the bill in instalments.” Instead of rejoicing that her problem has been solved, she started telling me stories. She said she wasn’t comfortable accepting that kind of offer. I punched holes in all her excuses but she came up with new ones.
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I didn’t hear from her after that conversation for three days. When she finally called she said, “I spoke to my mother about the instalment offer but she insisted that my aunt takes her to the village. She says she does not wish to die in Accra. Thanks for trying to help.” I am not going to lie, I became afraid of Sandra. If she could go this far, then what can’t she do? I stopped talking to her in order not to hear more of her lies.
I was watching WhatsApp status during the Christmas holidays when her story popped up. She posted a video of her family. I replied to the video, “Your mum looks good. Her treatment must be going well.” She responded, “That’s an old video. I posted it because I miss her. She is still in the village.” I asked her if I could talk to her mother and wish her a merry Christmas. Sandra gave me the wrong number. I called that number several times but it never went through.
When God Throws A Wife On Your Table–Beads Media
I spoke to my sister the next morning and asked her to call Sandra’s mother and tell her what her daughter has been up to. Then I called Sandra and told her, “Send me back the GHC300 I sent you for your mother’s treatment. We both know that you made that up just to defraud me.” She sounded surprised. She tried to lie her way out of the situation. She kept fumbling in her sad attempt to save face. In the end, she hung up before giving me any concrete explanation. That was the last time I heard from her.
Sandra is here on this page. I’m not sure she can ever talk to me again but I want her to know that her cup will be full one day. If she was using the money she gets from her fraudulent activities for good, it wouldn’t have worried me so much. She is rather using the money to fund a lifestyle she can’t afford just to create the illusion that she is doing well in life. Because of her, I find it difficult to even offer help to people who might genuinely need it. This is how people like her end up ruining opportunities for good people. I am sharing this story here because it is the only way I can reach her now since she no longer answers my calls. I also want to warn our mutual friends and everyone on this page to be wary of her. She didn’t fully succeed with me but she might succeed with someone else.
—Josephine
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