My dad Joseph ,was the first graduate ever in my community, Shat. He got married to my mom, Grace ,who was a petty trader. When my dad finished all his required studies and acquired every needed qualifications, he got employed as the headmaster of the newly founded missionary school in our nearby community, Obudu.
Due to his job, we had to relocate to the school as he was given free accommodation as the headmaster. My dad in his authority made my mother the school matron to stop her from making the new status of our family common by going to sell in the market. But my mom who was a hard working lady decided to study education as a course in a nearby polytechnic so as to fix herself as a teacher in any school my dad is working in and also augment her earnings.
This course she started is a course of four years and one year field training where they will be assigned to teach different schools to assess themselves. The people of this community fell in love with my dad because he was a very generous and kind man. He was noted to give scholarships to bright students who are not financially stable and also allow students who haven't paid their fees to partake in school activities until they have the fees.
But unfortunately for this community, our community was blessed with the very first school, and they needed a headmaster too that will guide the pupils and the little learned staff. My community head wrote a letter to the education board of the local government to return their "property", that's Joseph,my dad, to come and help his own community. Obudu people were already in love with my dad's administration and protested when they heard this, but they had no choice.
We had to relocate back to our home. My mom normally carries out house chores before going to her school but this is more possible as her school which is near Obudu is far from Shat. Responsibility is now on my head, as the first boy with a very little sister, Nancy ,who still puts on diapers.
I became the mother of the house. I had to cook some food(except soup which my mom visited some weekends to cook and return on Sunday evenings), warm the food, prepare the little girl for school and all these were added to my usual morning duties like washing cars,dishes, sweeping the house and I would l still have to go to school early as my dad would always l cite the disciplinarian to "handle" me if I ever come late to school. I thought my dad was wicked but I later realized he only didn't want me to be like him who does not know how to boil water.
I passed through a lot of stress that I had to sleep in class most of the time. There was a day when I came back from school and because my dad wasn't coming home due to meetings he had , I slept forgetting to warm the soup. I woke up the next day to be welcomed by a soured soup. This caused hours of sadness in my house. My dad felt disappointed but my mom was always on my side giving me gifts as she visited because she knew what I was passing through.
Source[https://unsplash.com/photos/man-wearing-nike-camouflage-t-shirt-s5zc3NyWVR]
After that incident of soured soup my mom suggested to my dad to bring a house help for me. My dad didn't support this idea because he didn't want strangers into his private home. But he had no choice after my mom convinced him. A new house help, Ada,from the outskirts of the community was brought in,but she was an intolerant type. She was brought in to help me take care of Nancy,but she was always harsh on the little girl. I remember incidents where Nancy would defecate when bathing and Ada would shout " you this wicked girl, you think my parents are poor and brought here to pack your faeces, I know you did it intentionally, but you will pack it yourself " . I wasn't a coward, so I would defend my sister, "Nancy,you are so harsh on her , how could a two years old baby intentionally defecate on you, she is just too young and does things that she feels like doing ".
She would leave the girl for me sometimes and I would take up responsibility by washing the mess off and getting the baby clean without any form of anger as I got used to such since. But luckily for me ,time ran like a river and five years was like just three and half. My mom was done with her studies and returned home awaiting time for her field work which was going to be done in my school. So she was back home forever and ever.
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I felt like I had arrived from a journey of walking through the whole continents of the world. But I was happy that I survived though it was difficult. I will always remember I learned a lot of lessons including patience, perseverance,love, kindness and compassion.