For Mrs Ndoka Chukwu a delivery of a set of triplets was supposed to be a source of joy to her and the family but it turned out to the contrary.

With another set of triplets from a previous delivery and abandoned by her husband soon after her second delivery life is no longer a bed of roses for her.

As early as 8 a.m., when workers and market women are resuming at their duty post, Mrs Ndoka Chukwu also takes position at the ever busy Ring Road area in Benin with her new triplets waiting for kind-hearted Nigerians to come to their aid.

“I am not happy with what I am doing it is circumstances that forced me into begging,’’ she lamented as she sat under an umbrella taking shelter from the rain with her kids.

The sad story of Mrs Chukwu started seven months ago when she was admitted into a hospital in Benin for delivery. She was operated upon and successfully delivered of a set of triplets. However, she was given a N300,000 hospital bill which neither her nor her husband could settle.

“I delivered through operation in the hospital, my husband was with me but after the delivery he told me he was going to look for money to pay the hospital bill amounting to over N300,000 and absconded.”

She said it was a Good Samaritan who paid hospital bills before she could leave the hospital.

Left with no option the 35-year-old woman said she had to take to begging for arms with the children to make ends meet.

Mrs Chukwu said although she has a National Diploma in Business Administration from Akanu-Ibian Polytechnic she relied on begging for arms because she could not get a job.

“I obtained National Diploma in Business Administration at Akanu- Ibian polytechnic but I could not go further due to some circumstances. And I was not able to get a job before I got married.

“We started coming out when they were five months old,” she said.

“It is from here I get money to buy baby food, pampers, clothes, drugs and also take them to the hospital when they are sick. I also take care of the school fees and upkeep of the first set of triplets,” she said.

Mrs Chukwu said she spends an average of N20,000 weekly to take care of the children.

“A tin of baby food can’t last us for a day, N4,000 pampers lasts a week, I don’t even talk of how much I spend on drugs and taking them to hospital.

She said she has no idea where her husband is now. “I am not even thinking about their father, my problem now is how to take care of my children so that they can become somebody in future.”

She appealed to the government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to her aid.

“I really need help because school has resumed and I have to pay the other children’s school fees while also taking care of these ones,” she said.