The morning breeze blew quietly, coming with it was the melody from the dried leaves falling to the ground on each other. Though the breeze was a slow one, it came with chills.
It was 9'0clock but it looked like 7'0clock, nobody was outside because nobody could withstand the cold, everybody was craving the shelter of their blankets, well everybody except the directors and staffs of C.F.O.
The staffs were getting prepared to receive the directors while the directors were on their way.
Soon, the staffs or as the children called them, Aunties and uncles began to wake the children and direct them to bath and brush for the non-muslims who didn't have to wake up to pray fajr since the Muslims brushed their teeth then.
They woke them from oldest to youngest until all of them were awake and have bathed and by 10, breakfast was served, by that time, most of the directors have arrived, leaving out just few who might have been held by traffic.
Nur walked into the dinning room which had 110 seats and 11 dining tables, 4 of the tables occupied by the staffs while 7 occupied by the children, on every table was 10 plates of boiled yam and egg sauce for every child and staff, some of the children usually go for more when they are done with the first round while others are mostly satisfied with one plate.
Most of the children were within the age group 5-12, about 20% of them were 4 or 3 and those were specially taken care of by special staffs.
There was infant in the orphanage because there was no provision for such, so if they find an infant on the street they transfer them to other orphanages. There are also children who are above 12 but all below 18 because once they clock 18, like the 2 who had turned last year there were taken to FHY to learn a trade and will later be fully set to be independent.
"Assalaamu alaikum and Good morning lovelies." Nur Greeted the children and staffs. She was standing at the entrance of the dining hall, the directors were behind her waiting for her to properly enter.
As she entered the hall, shrieks were heard from the children and without warning they began running from their tables caring less about their food as they ran to hug her.
" Big Mummy." They kept on chanting as they hovered on top of her.
The directors and staffs laughed mumbling"These children will never change." They later began to peel the children off her as she tried to get up from her forced kneeling position.
Hamza who had just arrived and was alarmed by the noise the children were making inquired from the gate man who told him to check the dining room.
Thanks to the mini tour Andrew gave him last time he came, he was able to find his way. Khadeejarh was with him holding this hand as she literally bounced unable to contain her excitement.
When Hamza arrived at the dining hall, he met some of the children still hugging Nur while most of them just surrounded her, wide smiles on their faces,Nur picked a small girl who had fallen during the mini stampede but to everyone's surprise didn't cry at all, dusted her cloth and said something to her which made the girl laugh.
"Yaaya, Nur,Nur." Khadijah chanted pointing to Nur.
" Yes Nur." Hamza replied smiling.
"Let's hurry then." She said dragging him.
"Wait a bit Dee, let her address the children first, then I'll introduce you".
" Okay. " She replied sighing a bit.
" I can see you are all doing well, seeing the way you were about to crush me." She paused and laughed a bit as the others joined her.
"Okay, so finish your meals. Remember no wastage. Then we will move to the playground, we are going to have fun and I think apart from your friends( the children of some of the directors) we have a new person." She turned around as she scanned the room for Hamza, who quickly raised his hand approaching her quickly, Dee who was holding his hands let go of it and walked to Nur standing side by side with her then announced.
" My name is Khadijah Suleiman, I will love to become your friend and I am a BIG fan of Nur, no, Aunty Nur here." The adults in the room started laughing including Nur while Hamza covered his wide smile shaking his head.
"It a real pleasure to meet you too." Nur replied shaking her hands.
Soon Nur and the directors left the children in the dining as they started interacting with each other, they talked about things to note during the tour, while Nur opted to stay with the children and sent Lilly and Andrew as her representatives.
"It's been long since I saw them" was her excuse.
When the children were done, they proceeded to the playground where Nur, as per her tradition gifted them sweets and ice cream, the staffs were there to supervise them all to prevent injuries, though most of them prefer to stay wherever their "Big Mummy" is staying and do whatever she is doing.
After hours of playing, it was 1'0clock so Nur lead the Muslims to pray and left the Christian staffs  with the  Christians.
After prayer they moved to the dining where a special meal for everybody including the directors was served.
After the meal, the directors left as they were done for the day, while Hamza opted to say longer for Khadijah's sake. He joined in the play with some of the children who had began to warm up to him.
"Story time, story time." The children chanted and Nur nodded leading them to the Multipurpose Hall.
"Adda Nur." Someone called out to her, Nur smiled widely even before she turned as she knew only one person called her that.
"Mubyyy" She shrieked surprisingly quietly.
He ran to her then stopped when he was in front of her.
"So you haven't forgotten us?" He asked frowning.
" Oh come on Mubyy, how can I ever  forget you guys?" She replied, dramatically putting her hand on her chest feigning hurt.
Hamza, surprised to see this side of her watched in awe, while Dee who had been by her side throughout just laughed at the scene before her.
"It's been one month since you last came, I thought you will take me to F.H.Y on my first day but you sent Lilly." He complained pushing his lips .
"I'm sorry Muby, I was very busy and my boss wasn't letting me out of his sight, I'm sorry okay?" She apologized as if skeptical if her apology would be accepted.
"Muby, Big Mummy said we should learn to forgive and she bought ice cream and sweet for you" One child said.
Muby looked at the child and then nodded.
"Hmmm, okay. Where is the ice cream?" He asked smiling widely and soon they were in the multipurpose hall.
"Nur, seeing that the adult males weren't around and Muby had gone to pray, she removed her niqab, afterall, they all knew the rule.
"Until you are permitted, do not enter."
"Wooowwwww, you are so beautiful" Dee almost screamed standing up to look at Nur better.
"Oh My Allah." She exclaimed.
Nur just smiled and shyly told her thank you, while the other children were snickering as if it was a normal occurrence anytime a new person sees Nur's face for the first time.
"But if you are so Beautiful, shouldn't you be proud of it and show it to everybody?" She asked, a puzzled expression on her face.
Nur laughed a  little, then answered her.
"It is because I am proud of it, that's why I cover it up, because I am thankful to Allah who made me this beautiful so I show my gratitude by obeying his command.
You see, Allah said in the Qur'an that a woman's body is her awrah except for face and palm, Awrah is simply a place that should be covered, hidden from public eyes. This means it is permissible for me to leave my face and my palms open but I chose to cover my face because it attracts unwanted attention to me, which I feel is a form of disrespect.
Sometimes you see boys whistling and making all sort of disrespectful gestures to girls, though sometimes It's simply because the boys in question are up to mischief, other times they are truly attracted by what they see.
I am not saying those that don't cover their face are bad or anything, it's just that in my opinion, I can avoid unnecessary disrespect and unwanted attention. When I cover up, I feel like a gem, a special gem, too special for the eyes of just anyone and for that reason, I feel more confident allow. Only My Muharram,which is people related by blood to me and I cannot marry them, little innocent children like you and My Husband are allowed to see this gem." She concluded smiling beautifully at them.
A Girl from the back raised her hand and Nur signalled her to speak
" Is that why Mubyy is not allowed to see your face because he is not a child?" She asked innocently.
"Yes, my dear, though Muby is a respectable boy, he is no longer a child and is not my Muharram."
"Does that mean when we grow, we will no longer see your face?" She asked again.
" Well, you are a girl so you will always see my face. As for the  boys yes, once they are as old as Muby, I'll consider them mature, though most of them will mature before then." Nur  answered her impressed by the girl's thinking though she seemed to be only 7.
" Since you can't show your face to my brother, I can't describe you to him right? " Dee interrupted.
" My dear, next time you should wait for one person to finish before you ask yours okay?" Nur corrected her gently.
"Okay, sorry Zainab." She replied, apologizing to the girl asking the question.
" Good my dear, I would really appreciate it if you don't describe my face to your brother."Nur said .
"Okay Aunty Nur, I won't " Dee replied enthusiastically making Nur chuckle a bit.
As if on cue, Hamza walked in. Seeing the door slightly opened and hearing the children's voices, he didn't bother to knock.
He just walked in approaching Nur who was backing him when he noticed the black material tied around her blue hijab was missing.
On looking down, he saw it hanging on the arm of the chair she was sitting as she animatedly narrated a story to the children.
"She isn't wearing a niqab, her face is exposed." He thought.
'I can just pretend I didn't notice and I'll get to see her face.'
'No, no, she won't like it and I'll be disrespecting her by doing something as petty as that. Holding on to that tought, he quickly turned back, leaving no chance for hesitation, went out and loudly announced his presence by saying his salam.
Nur quickly tied the Niqab around her head, then permitted him to enter which he did.
"Uncle, why did you go back and shout your salam, when you had already entered?" A boy inquired looking at Hamza.
Nur immediately spun around to face him, who refused to look at her then he replied.
"I realised I was doing wrong by entering without permission, so I went back to correct my mistake. Kids you should always correct your mistakes no matter how late it is, it will always make a difference." He explained ending it with an advice to the children, still feeling nur's suspicious gaze on him he raised his eyes to meet hers, then mouthed.
"I saw nothing I swear, I am truly sorry." He apologized sincerely.
"Thank you." She mouthed back smiling at him, he had just respected her in a way most men wouldn't.
She knew how curious she can get to see what is beneath a cover, so she understands his efforts and feels very grateful to him for that.