He sold everything

When you hear about people born with golden spoon,you raise your eyes and imagine yourself in their position, alot is talked about golden spoon and little or nothing is talked about those born without any kind of spoon and this is because you see them everyday, you obviously know everything about them so why discuss them or have interest in them? My family wasn't ranked the poorest in the neighbourhood but as far as I can say, we were so poor that the only food available in the house 24/7 was soaked garri in salted water.

I don't know how many times I ever tested sugar as a kid and how many times food was actually cooked in our house. It wasn't that my parents couldn't afford cooking rice on Sundays but there were nine of us and we were all in school so Dad had this idea that money for delicious food should go to school tuition because he had a limited means of making money. He lost his job quite on time and resorted to taxi with his break and quench 1977 volkswagen passat.

I was the first child and he wanted me to go to school, his desire was not for me to pass through any school rather he wanted the best school for me but that was a dream that sends poor men like him to early grave but he was smart enough so he simply had his coats cut to his actual size. After my secondary school in the community secondary school, he sold the piece of land he owned to enable me a place in the university. Although the money from that sale was enough to see me through the university but my immediate younger sibling jumped three classes and while I was about to register for my second year,she gained a place in the same university to study accountancy.

I wanted to be a Medical Doctor all my life so studying medicine was a dream come true for my parents but tragedy struck in my third year and my studies was on the verge of crumbling so Dad sat us down as a family because he wanted to take a harsh decision. All my siblings apart from Uzoamaka who was about to take the senior school certificate exam would quit school because he can't afford our school fees anymore. I knew that it was hard for him but that was the best solution for us as a family. Uzoamaka would leave for Warri to join our Aunt who runs a salon after her exam the upper month while Frank would join Ebuka the son of Ichie Nnannna in the motor spare parts market to learn trading.

My other five younger siblings would join the labor market and start selling ice water because Dad managed to install pipe borne water in the house before he lost his job. Our mum walked from dusk to dawn selling coconut oil and local soap which she made by herself. We all understood our situation but I wasn't happy with that so I begged him to use the money for my own studies to train my younger ones, a suggestion he threw away. I was ready to give up my education for them to at least get trained to secondary level but our Dad would not buy it. He sold everything he had including his car to keep me and Uche in school. Uche graduated before me and immediately got married.

It wasn't difficult for me to get work after school and I vowed to buy our Dad a car with my first four months salary but that desire didn't come true because God had a different plan.

My plans was to first buy our dad a car to replace his car because he sold it to keep us in school but the slot was right in front of me and if I accept it then I won't be able to fulfil my dream and it meant breaking my promise to him but you see, it was a life changing opportunity and if I fail to grab it, someone else will. I gave it a serious thought but at the end landed on the fact that accepting the offer was the best thing because my one month salary would get me right back on track.

The Saudi government opened their doors for doctors and there was what you will call mass exodus of doctors from all over the world and especially Africa and to be precise Nigeria flocking the kingdom so a close friend who worked with one of the agencies recruiting doctors told me about the slot and all I had to do was to pay for my air ticket. You see sometimes, we are faced with a situation where drastic approach is required and my Dad was actually who thought me about preference.

Imagine if he had agreed with me when I suggested dropping out from the university so that my younger siblings could at least get a secondary school education. I learned a lot of things from our dad and most importantly I learned appreciation. This man sacrificed a lot to make sure that i become somebody in life, I dreamed low and he dreamed high. He saw in me what I didn't see that was why he threw away my suggestion to drop out so that my younger siblings would gain secondary education which to him was nothing.

One of the greatest things that we inherit as the eye of the family is family tax because while in Saudi Arabia, my family became my major priority. I made sure that my siblings all went back to school including Nwamaka who was already a good hair dresser. I also made sure that i cleaned our mother's tears because she also contributed all the profits from her hustle towards my school funding. And her prayer was actually answered because the second thing I did was to build them a house and replaced his car with three cars.

I am now happily married and blessed with three kids who fell into the class of people born with golden spoon. I know that alot of kids wants to be like them but they don't know the process that made them. Life can turn you around but God has your back.

'Be the continuation of my story'.