It was a great joy for the people of the Ubina and Ikwerre communities of Rivers state when Prince Chukwukere Welekwe and his wife, Patience Welekwe welcome three kids within two years after contending with issues of waiting on the lord for over 21 years.
The Welekwe had been married for 21 years and have been waiting for the fruit of the womb. And when it came, it was a boy first and set of female twins.
The arrival of the children within the space of two years has elicited joy within and outside the Rivers State. had under gone surgeries, embarked on Today we will be talking to a Nigerian family who were childless for 21 years of their marriage to learn from their journey before they finally gave birth to their son and twin daughters two years later.
Early marriage
The couple, who are both from Ubima and Ikwerre communities in Rivers State, got married on February 24th 1990 amidst pomp and peagentry. According to the Wife, Mrs. Patience Welekwe, they were expecting to start producing children.
Like all homes, where the husband is the only son of his parents, nothing more was expected than bundles of children in the Welekwe family. After trying for three years, the couple became worried and started seeking medical help.
Fallopian Tube blockage diagnosis
The Couple, Mr and Mrs. Welekwe told our correspondent that, at the initial point, the wife was diagnosed as having fallopian tube blockeage, “All I was hearing before now was that my fallopian tube was blocked. I have a special doctor, doctor Audu, a family of my husband who started from the beginning, he is a consultant with military hospital. He started from A, the kind of tests, from head to nose every part of the body but it was still the same thing”.
“They said one of the fallopian tubes was blocked. Every three months, I was going for flushing of the womb which was very painful. It is not that you are going there to pay one naira, its real amount of money. With all the flushing still, nothing worked out. I started having hotness of the womb as a result of the flushing, my womb will be very hot, I cannot even move around, very hot and painful still nothing came out. As an African, and a Nigerian, if you do not have a baby for a certain number of years imagine mine for 21 years, it wasn’t an easy one actually”.
Tortuous journey through orthodox and unorthodox help
Like every worried couple, the Welekwes started the movement of treatment, “I went to one or two places to see whether anything was wrong with me, I moved to so many places, there is no place I didn’t put my leg, then I was an unbeliever, I didn’t know Christ. I was going from churches to churches, even white garment churches, there was no place I couldn’t put my leg but it didn’t work out. “
“It was so bad to the extent that a family relation said she will take us to somewhere that will really work out fast. She took us to the place not knowing it was a native doctor, but to someone who is looking for something, there is no place you would not put your leg. When we got there, the man started his treatment. He did all the incantations and concoctions but all to no avail. It was not a period of happiness so we were moving from one place to another, one hospital to another, even to the extent of me going from here (Port Harcourt) to Owerri Imo State, every Saturday for treatment, and as you go, that is how you will be paying huge amount of money for your drugs, etc”.
“There is a place I went to at Aba, the doctor was like “Madam you need about 50+ injections to flush out the womb “, I said OK! Somebody that is looking for something will always accept any offer. The injection I took was up to 80+ because every week I go there, they give me 10 injections for flushing the womb. I was taking that injection till I had an abscess on my right leg”.
Final turn to the Church
Mrs. Patience Welekwe recounted that the final straw that broke the Carmel’s back and turn them to God was in 2001,” When I saw that it was not really working out, I started looking for God. When I started searching for God, people took us to different churches and in all the places we got to, nothing happened. Until 2001 a friend introduced us to Old Time Faith Ministries”.
“Just like every other woman who is going through such a situation, I was really scared. I don’t know if as my husband is going out, he will come in with another woman telling me to pack my load. I have gotten someone that is pregnant for me, you have been here for quite a number of years, have not seen anything, I cannot be living with my fellow man, that fear of the unknown is always there”.
“Our going To Old Time Ministries was not even for child bearing, we went there because of another thing. So, when we got there, we told the general overseer (Pastor Walter Zach) why we came. When he saw that what we actually came for has been resolved, he asked us if we had children? We now answered No. He told us that is the most important one, he said what we came here for is not even important. In his words, “in life if someone who doesn’t have a child, the person is nothing to write home about”. He asked us to keep the problem that brought us to him aside and he decided to take us up on deliverance, so as to know why we don’t have children”.
Pregnancy
Unlike other woman, who never experienced such delay, Mrs. Patience Welekwe did not even know she was pregnant when God finally answered her prayers, “When I became pregnant, I did not even know I was pregnant. Not that I was not really getting pregnant before now; I will be pregnant and it will flush out, even at six months.”
“ The last one was six months. I don’t know what happened. The pregnancy started drying up until the stomach became flat. We were wondering what could be the problem, that was before we met daddy (pastor Walter Zach). How can someone be pregnant and the thing will just dry up? We took it as one of those things, we did not know we’re really fighting powers”.
“When I got pregnant for him (Chikabe), I didn’t know because three month I was still seeing my period until the fourth month when I started feeling somehow. I went to my doctor and he said I should run a test which I did and the result said, I was positive. I said how can it be positive; somebody is seeing menses and you are telling me positive; it is not possible. The fifth month, the menstrual flow stopped final”
For the husband, the journey was traumatizing with family and friends saying many hurtful things and throwing tantrums at the wife. According to him, “they said so many disgusting things to my wife even the day my father died”.
“I got married at a very young age because I was the only child of my mum. She actually encouraged me to marry early in my twenties, and that I did. When we got married, both of us were very young. After the marriage, nothing came forth as in having children, though my mother wasn’t that worried. You know what it is in Africa, you have a mother, you married a girl and after 1-5 years she doesn’t have children, your parents will become worried”
“ My mum encouraged me. She said my wife will bear children; I should not be discouraged. I have never forgotten that encouragement from my mother. She is of the blessed memory; she is late now. She died when we were 10 years in marriage and still no child. Eleven (11) years after her death, we finally had our first son which is this young man Chiakabi. That was the name we gave him.
“Initially we were thinking the source of our barrenness was a medical problem so we did all the medical tests, we had all the medical treatments. The doctors were saying she is free to give birth but nothing. When we came to Old Time Faith Ministries in 2001, that was when we knew the problem was not a medical problem but a spiritual problem. In cause of deliverance, a lot of things were revealed to us.”
“People who were after our having children, they were the ones responsible: from my family and from her family as well. When we understood it was a spiritual matter, we stopped going to the hospital because already we were tired. The pastor took it upon himself to conduct deliverance for us, that was the first time I was having deliverance prayers from a pastor without his telling us to buy this or that, bring money for this or that.”
“He only prayed for us in the name of Jesus Christ and in the year 2011, which was the year our marriage became 21 years, and God blessed us with Chikabe, our first son. We named him Chikabe which means “God has the final say”. And when He says that, no man can thwart it”.
“It was through deliverance and prayers that the pastor did that this baby came forth and two years after that we had the twin girls. The first one is Sobulachi and the second one is Maruchi. Sobulachi means, “if not for God”, Maruchi means “you should know God “. We gave them names based on the circumstances they were born”.
God spoke Again with Birth of Twins
Prince Chukwukere Welekwe recounted that while basking in the joy of the birth of the first child, God surprised them again with twins.
He said “When we came here, we saw that there was difference between church and churches. I thank God to have used him to actually give us deliverance. When I had a land dispute which was the main reason that brought me to meet the man of God, it was someone in my former church with me that brought me to Old Time Faith”.
“God actually did something through his servant Pastor Walter Zach. To tell you the truth, it was not an easy road. It is not every man that will say yes, my wife has not had baby for 21 years and he will continue to be with her, it was the grace of God. It was when we came to this church, we had our repentance. Other churches we were going to, we go and we still drink, do anything we want to do and on Sunday we still go back to church”.
“Eleven (11) years after her death, we finally had our first son which is this young man Chiakabi. That was the name we gave him. Initially we were thinking the source of our barrenness was a medical problem so we did all the medical tests, we had all the medical treatments”.