I was in such a hurry that I almost fell. I saw Hamida smiling widely and she said to me, "Our mother has given birth." I asked her if it was true, and she said yes, "It's a girl, and she looks like you." I laughed so hard that my belly shook. I ran into the room and climbed onto our mother's lap. She said, "Get up, don't break my legs." I stared at the newborn baby, and I noticed the house was full of women congratulating our mother, because it had been eight years since she last gave birth. Ammi came in holding a bowl of kunun kanwa, which smelled very nice, a large wheat bread with milk, a dish full of meat, and a delicious kunun aya. Everyone took some and enjoyed it. On the naming day, the baby was named Amina after Ammi.
Who is Ammi? She is our neighbor who has become a close friend of our mother. Her husband is a close friend of our father since childhood. They are so close that they have never had an argument. There are five of us, but now we are six. Our mother has our eldest brother, Yaya Mustapha, Aunty Maryam, Aunty Sha'awa, Yaya Nura, myself Humaira, and now Amina, who is named after Ammi.
Ammi has eight children. The eldest is Yaya Mukhtar, followed by Yaya Anas, Aunty Murja, Aunty Bilkisu, Aunty Aisha, Aunty Hafsat, Khadija, and Bashir, who is the youngest. She gave birth alongside Ammi, but after me, she stopped having children. It was thought that she could no longer have children, but now Allah has blessed her with our youngest sibling, Amina. Aunty Maryam got married and there were four of them who got married at the same time: Aunty Maryam, Aunty Sha'awa, Aunty Murja, and Aunty Bilkisu. Yaya Mukhtar paid the bride price for Aunty Hafsat a year after I was born, and I gave Khadija two years. But among all the siblings, no one is loved more than me, Humaira.
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