I got a call my aunt(my mother’s half sister) telling me she has canceled me from her list of nephews. Why?

Because I traveled to Canada to study medicine at University of Toronto without telling her I was going. Why did I not tell her?

After my biochemistry undergraduate study KNUST, I set my sights on U of T so I took the prerequisite exams, filled paperwork etc, prayed and waited. I passed my MCAT with flying colors and the day my admission email came, my Mama didn’t know whether to cry or rejoice.

I got about 85% scholarship, but even the 15% payment was a big deal for me. We couldn’t afford that plus airfare.

So I applied to some independent grants and funds asking for extra support. And my mother also decided, as backup, to go to her half siblings to ask for help so I could at least buy plane ticket and have some pocket money.

My grandfather had my mother from a previous marriage before she married the woman I know as my grandmother. So out of 6 siblings, my Mama has a different a mother and she’s the oldest.

Anyway so she went to ask her siblings some of whom are well to do. Some promised to help on condition that some monies they were expecting came through.

And my aunt (let’s call her Efe) the one who says she’s cut me off, whom we expected to get concrete help from, gave us advice. She said I should find a job and later do a master’s degree in a field I can afford.

That evening when my mother came home from doing the rounds in her siblings, one of her brothers ( let’s call him Ato) called her and told her to stop asking Efe for help and stop giving her updates on my progress in anything. He declined to further explain no matter how hard Mama prodded.

God being great, I received approval for the grant I applied for so I now have a full ride to medical school. But when Efe called to enquire about the state of my scholarship and how we were handling it, my mother told her we had decided to let the opportunity go.

Efe was very comforting and she even asked my mother to pass on the phone to me so she could give me encouragement. Not long after, my mother received a WhatsApp audio from Ato, it was a recording of a phone conversation between Efe and Ato.

Evidently, right after speaking to my mother and I, Efe called him. The part of the conversation Ato sent went like this:

“ Ato, nooooo shaking! !

! !

The son of the stepdaughter isn’t going anywhere! !

Why should the outsider’s son prosper over our own? ”

My mother wept. Months later I left without a word to anyone but my mother.

And now my aunt is pissed. She called me on WhatsApp ranting and raving about how she would have loved to give me her widow’s mite.

And I’m sitting here wondering what is wrong with her?