Impact

I was always afraid of morning classes. If I had my way,  I would not resume school until the late morning when uncle Agbonu must have finished administering his morning dose of the cane to as many who were diagnosed of the math illness. At the time,  I was always with the math illness so the morning doses never escaped me. Whether it was slim and long or fat and short, this uncle's cane never lost mastery. They would land on your hand or back or butts with so much energy! On the other hand, Uncle Appiah however was proud of me for being the best English pupil. I was never to be caught in the group of those diagnosed with English problem. But dad was not satisfied. Mathematics was the king of all subjects. If I didn't do well there, then every other area was as well bad. I mean how can my report card be filled with just blue with no red marks to create the beautiful colours? Math always did the design. The red Biro marks did the art work on the card every term. ...

 I could cry my eyes out from the thought of several powerful documents, write ups, ideas,  songs and thoughts I have lost which would not still come back to me. These were things that could have made a whole lot of difference for me now.  What can I do about them now? They are gone, all lost! Some of these thoughts were carefully written out while others were written in moments of anxiety or excitement with some sort of levity or out of leisure. Perhaps by now I would have been an author of books,  at least I'm sure of a compilation of short stories. I wrote a story on virtually every topic on WAEC past questions.  I remember 'Every cloud has a silver lining',  'look before you leap',  'no shortcut to success'. I wrote 'Too inquisitive' and a lot of others. Ignorance they say is a disease.  It can kill faster than you could ever think. As a growing child,  I didn't know that I could keep my stories and pile them up as books that woul...

To anyone who cares to listen,  I am always tempted to recount the story of how I never really liked the name Chinwendu . I mean there were other better sounding native names. Why did my parents choose to name me so? The sound of the name never seemed nice to me.  Worse still, grandpa always 'murdered' the name by calling it out in a way that sounded like 'shhinwwoooo' (I bet you laughed when you tried pronouncing it) hahahahaha. It always seemed awkward. Right now I laugh at the remembrance of it and frown also knowing that there is no grandpa to call me that anymore. Quite frankly, I preferred being called Joy at least that was fair enough. People didn't have to go through stress trying to pronounce my name(so I thought). Anyways the name Chinwendu literally means GOD OWNS LIFE. but you see,  right now the name literally,  spiritually,  physically,  mentally, academically,  ministerially,  naturally,  all encompassingly means th...

It was an accident that affected both of my legs and I needed to visit the hospital. I sat on the tray stationed in the radiography department with my legs stretched beneath the piercing light of that machine (collimator) waiting patiently for the scrutiny. Left, right, left again, right again the doctor moved my legs for better capturing and scrutiny. I imagined what in the world was happening inside those legs of mine. It made me remember the last time I had my chest examined years back and the results thereof. Well if I wasn't checked, I wouldn't have known what the matter was and then be treated, talk more of even getting better. We only treat illnesses that we know about, don't we? Or do men take panadol even when they are perfectly fine? Would you take ear drops if you knew that you had a stomach ulcer? Would you assume that you can take some worm medicine when your legs ache? We make a lot of assumptions in our lives and get things all wrong and messed...

The mere thought of George being her friend got Nne excited. The blush on her face was so evident as she remembered how they would chatter away into the night before her parents got back from work.  George was her neighbour's brother who lived in the flat opposite theirs. He always came around during breaks from school.  Nne was attracted to him for many reasons including the fact that George was handsome. He was a 300level undergraduate studying Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan. He would tell Nne about school and all the activities on campus. It was always fun being with him. Nne loved to hear all about the university. She would be there sometime in the nearest future. She thought to herself, "he's such a brilliant guy".                        ................................. Today, George asked Nne to come watch a play he wrote as a seminar which was acted out by  his drama team in the ...

My quest for knowledge and attaining same gave me an edge amongst my peers; I mean I would read every detail about every subject that there was to read. This quest transcended into my knowledge for God and I satisfied my quest by constant communion with Him, reading His manual and praying earnestly. I was always satisfied each day in His presence. I gained admission into the higher institution to study my dream course, Medicine. My joy knew no bounds. I ran into His presence and gave him all of my love and adoration. I promised him that I would cherish our cordial relationship always and that the rigorous demands of my course of study would not come in the way of our relationship. Of course, it was obvious in my first year that I was a genius as I had a distinction. On and on, I excelled throughout my stay at school and I graduated as the best student in the school of medicine. My utmost joy was that the Lord and I were in constant communion. I was with him everywhere I went an...

Today, I think about the day when daddy told me to wash a glass cup of his and he emphasized on the ‘wash it well’ part. So, I did lay emphasis on washing the cup so well. With fear in my heart, afraid of daddy’s cane, I washed and rinsed the cup over and over and over again. Guess what?! The cup fell from my hands and broke! My heart was completely broken, my fear increased and tormented me.  I could not approach daddy to tell him what had happened, how was I supposed to tell him? He would kill me. I was too afraid of his strokes and the stern words that he would lash out at me. I remained outside the house, refusing to go in. Unfortunately, there was no one to plead for me…. Oh God!!!  So I remained there until I heard daddy call out my name, Ada!!! ( I leave you to imagine the rate at which my chest was pounding and the trembling of my feet as I made to answer him). Yes daddy! I responded. “Where is the cup I told you to wash? Why did it take you so long? At that...

Growing up as a child was not much of a fun to me; I mean my parents were strict disciplinarians who would not let me mingle with other children. They also were not always around for me to talk with. So I just carved a place for myself in my own world. There in my world, I was an orator in a big TV station, speaking to a large number of crowds in an accent so clear, flowing and beautiful. As much as I had these dreams, I was too scared they would never come alive. I was too shy and reserved and this was in sharp contrast with the qualities of a communicator, an orator for that matter. I disappointed my dreams too many times; it made me live a life of regrets too early in life. For every promise to live out those dreams and thoughts in my head, I failed. One time i cannot forget and completely regret: There was an announcement that there would be a debate in various classes and the emerging winners in the various classes would compete in the finals before the entire...

*IRON SHARPENS IRON* Proverbs 27:17 Growing up, I noticed that mum would always strike the edge of the kitchen knife against another sharp edge. When I asked why, she said when the knife gets blunt, you do that to make it sharpen again. One day I saw in the market that people pay a certain man to get their knives sharpened against his steel machine. Interesting! Today I remember one night in campus we were to have a vigil. While we waited for the vigil to start, I laid down to rest a bit. It had been a stressful day at school. Really, iron sharpens iron (but It's like prayer swallows prayers too o) As I pondered on how the vigil would turn out, I dosed off. In my subconscious, I was hearing some mutterings which was increasingly getting me distracted from my sleep. The prayers from this brother proceeded forth like bomb hitting the corners of the church, ehmmm, no I mean hitting my entire being.😨 These prayer points could never have been formed by the normal human mind, ...

Udara (as it is called by the Igbo people), commonly known as Agbalumo by the yorubas and African Star Apple by the English man, is a nourishing fruit containing vitamin C. Recently my craving for udara has made me begin to wonder. I never ever felt like this about a fruit before. Never! Not to talk of a fruit that has not reached its mature season.  The craving makes me remember that there are times and seasons and so I must wait for the right season.  But the more the craving, the more it kind of strikes me that God probably triggered this craving to teach me something. There is time for everything, try and understand that this is a principle. (May God help me to redeem the time, making use of every opportunity. To do this, I need wisdom which is the principal thing)  Sometimes udara looks really sweet on the outside but alas you are disappointed at the taste. Other times, it doesn't look it but the taste is wow. I have been hit by some deceptiv...