Blogger's Portfolio: The Real Story of my Life

I wrote this piece to encourage the youths and teenagers out there trying to survive and make a living for themselves. 

The truth we all know is that life is not a bed of roses. We all have our ups and downs and our different story to tell of life’s unfairness but if you think your situation is bad you need to hear other people's story. 

Here is mine…

I am the second in a family of 5, my father is a Muslim (A big Alhaji for that matter) while my mummy on the other hand is a devoted Christian. My father has two wives of which my own mom is the second. My stepmom has 2 children for my father but my father divorced her when he caught her doing 'Kerewa' with another man..*sad* 

My father is not too educated but as fate would have it, he got connected 'through the favour of God as he is now a ‘big boy’ somewhere outside Nigeria

Let me give you a few details about my father before he became a ‘BIG BOY’.

 In our country today we all know that if you are not educated you are as good as nothing except God intervenes. As a little child back then I didn’t know much, I only gathered a few details from my mom.  

My mom revealed to me that early years of their marriage was filled with trying times as they struggle to get the day’s food. My mom who is a strong woman and fighter will go hungry for days just to ensure that my elder sister and I were okay and well fed.

Our situation made it look like the world was going to come to an end but my mom kept up the faith. She kept on praying for God to bless her husband and make him prosper, finally God answered her prayers and my father got a chance to travel out for the first time in his life.

He an opportunity to transact business at Dubai which opened so many others for and he has visited numerous countries. I forgot to add that my mom works in a Secretariat and she also had the opportunity to engage in petty trading as my Dad was always sending goods such as shoes, bags and cloths from Dubai for her to sell and use the profit to keep the family together while she sends back the capital to him (actual money for the goods). It was then that things picked up in my family. 

I told you earlier that my father was just about 30% educated as such education was not on his priority list at all. My mom also was not too educated, but her motto in life and her goal "If I didnt go to school all my children will go, graduate and be a better person in life".

Although she was not so educated she was brilliant, intelligent, pretty, kind, caring, and above all hardworking. She was willing to further her education but there was no money, she hustled so much, got a job, lived like a big chic till she met my father.

Let the story continue…

After about 6 months of my father stay in Dubai, he reduced the way he was sending in money and goods, and he totally stopped sending neither money nor goods to my mom.

The walls came crumbling as we returned back to square one, no money for food, pay house rent, or buy new cloths. With the mere 15,000 naira my mom earns she was left all alone to shoulder the responsibilities of taking care of 5 children. Her husband (my father) has abandoned us all, trying to cope with 5 of us schooling and feeding was not easy at all, no help from anywhere except the church helping with 25k bursary award.

I was in school preparing for an exam when I received a call saying my mother was in is in the hospital. I was broken, I could not think straight and I rushed home to meet the caller who later gave us the direction to the hospital. When I got to the hospital I broke down in tears as my mom had suffered a stroke. She could not see, talk or move but she was breathing so I had another opportunity to thank God.

She was still in her early 40s and the doctors encouraged us to keep praying for her. The hospital experience is one I wish not to remember because a lot of other people were brought in with the same condition and they died. 

We tried reaching our father to hint him of the situation but we could not reach him. After 3 to 4 months in the hospital my mother was recuperating though she still could not talk or walk. She was discharged in that condition and we carried her home. How we all survived with that her condition was nothing but a miracle.

We kept on praying to God and now mother is getting better and stronger by each passing day. She now sees, walks and we are all grateful to God for that. All through this period I almost dropped out of school twice because there was no money,  sometimes I go without food through out the day… things got worse but "na me dey type so i did not die",  I survived all thanks to GOD and am here to share this today which means there is Hope.

The interesting part in all of these is that my father came back, apologizing giving us a million reason why we should accept him back. My Mom in her critical condition then accepted him back, he did little things for us and said he could not stand the situation anymore, that he is returning to Dubai for business purposes and that was it. Since 5 years ago he is yet to return. 

Thoughts have rushed to my head on how could he could be so cruel, are all men like that? Would my mom have done same if she was in his shoes? Never! I trust my mom, she’s a good woman, a rare gem indeed. I pray every to God to restore her health back to perfect condition.

As for me things are going on well but slowly. My elder sister just graduated and serving now. My kid brother just left secondary school and my little sisters are all doing well in school.

Finally my mother’s dream/motto didn’t  die, things will surely get better that I know for sure. Am always thankful to God because I know there are lots of people out there going through worst situation, young people that have lost both parents at their tender age and so on.

Just hold unto that hope of being great in life, most of the great names you hear of now were born with a silver spoon or started life on a smooth note. Life is rough, let’s have it at the back of our minds that this world/life is a market place because we struggle to do most things in life. We struggle to gain admission, pass JAMB, pass exams and after all these you are still faced with school wahala (cult,lectures,ASUU/ASUP strike etc). 

You try to read hard, finish with good grades, struggle to get a good job, work hard to get to the top and when you get to the top, you still work hard to stay on top because its two different things. To get to the top and remain at the top, you work hard so that you will not be fired even if you have your own company you still work hard so that your competitors won’t take your job/contract.

My advice: work hard (no food for lazy man) and pray as it is only God that can bless the works of your hand.

Remember Earth is a market place, Heaven is Home.

YOMI Afolabi