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My Past Life (Form Mrs DOMBOUE, Provincial High School of Kaya)

On 7 May 1977 I reached my in-laws’ house. It was like hell. On 10 May I got married. Next day I was a house servant and
slave. I didn’t have any relations of friends in this country. I had to get up at six o’clock in the morning, cook breakfast for six children and send my husband to work. After this job, I had to brush the carpets of three rooms with a had brush, wash all the dishes and clean the kitchen and front room.
My husband used to go to a club so I had to wait to give him dinner about eleven or twelve o’clock. After all that I had to
wash dishes and at about one or half past one I used to go to bed. Next day it was the same. I cried all the time but there was nobody who could help me; I didn’t know anything about England so I couldn’t think of going away somewhere because I was so scared. I couldn’t send a letter to my parents because nobody gave me even a half-pence, never. One day I took some tablets and my husband took me to the hospital. I didn’t want to live.
At the hospital I met an old Indian man who was from the same community as me. He made me his adopted daughter. He suggested I go back to my in-laws’ house because this is my religion. I went back and nobody spoke to me, not even my husband. It was worse than before.
My husband started beating me every day. My adopted father came to see me three or four times but they said I was sleeping so he could not see me. My father-in-law said to “father” that he should send me back to India or I would die. But my adopted father asked me not to go back. He asked me to call him and gave me his phone number if I needed help.

Jagjeet Kaur. © Edward Arnold, 1986.

VOCABULARY

1 – hell = enfer
2 – in-laws : beaux-parents, belle-famille
3 – pence – penny = monnaie
4 – to scare = alarmer, effrayer
5 – fortunate = avoir de la chance, propice, favorable.


I – GUIDED COMMENTARY

1 – How was she treated in her in-laws’ house ? (1 pt)
2 – How did she feel and why did she decide to take tablets ? (2 pts)
3 – In what way was her stay in hospital fortunate ? (1 pt)
4 – Why do you think her adopted father was not allowed to visit her ? (5 pts)

II .

A – GRAMMAR

1 – What is gender ? (1 pt)
2 – How many types of gender do you know in English list them. (2 pts)

B – TRANSLATION

1 – Moussa porte toujours une cravate. (1 pt)
2 – Ils sont assis sur le banc noir. (1 pt)
3 – Cela ne lui donne pas le droit de venir en retard. (1 pt)
4 – Monsieur Ouédraogo faisait de la vitesse.