"no maa I don't want to go to school today" I shouted at the peak of my voice.
"you are not a stubborn child, I rebuke that spirit of laziness and stubbornness from you".
the voice of a precious mother,the woman behind my existence on this earth today.
She had to starve for me to eat, she stayed awake just to watch me sleep, she cried whenever I was sick asking God to transfer the sickness to her.
"Eka-nyah! Eka-nyah o! , come and help me let's take this boy to his teacher"
Vigorously I was hijacked and bundled to Mrs. Pius,primary one form teacher. Despite the bite, cry, and all sorts of rubbish I did to my mother and her friend they didn't let me down.
I was on the shoulders of two great visionary women over 4 kilometers walk to the community primary school Mbiabong ikon 1/ibesikpo.
"maa, please my backbone is breaking , I want to poo,pee,maa I want to vomit"
"which backbone are you talking about?
God made it, it will not break.pee and vomit on us, we will get to the stream on our way back".
Application of different gears and keys in my crying tune did not mean anything to her, her aim was to take me to my form teacher.
She made sure that the habit of going to school one day after the other disappeared from me.
after the first three months, I joyfully came home with a result boldly written FAIL, with a sit up remark from Mrs. Pius.
"this is not what I want from you, not who I want you to be, you are my child and I believe in you,you can make it".
"but maa, what do you mean?" I asked.
"failure is never in my blood and my blood is running through your veins,so you can't fail". She said.
"that you failed today doesn't mean you can't make it next time, just discover where you got it wrong and make corrections" she added.
She said I must repeat primary one until I get it right.
Handling me over to Mrs. Pius was a total blessing. She took me as her son, she made sure all my errors were amended.
My mother made me to love school to the extent of crying a river whenever an incident that warranted missing school for a day occurred.
Maa coached,treated and made me see reasons to love school.
Up to university level, that tiny voice kept whispering "that you failed today doesn't mean you can't make it again,just discover your mistake and make it right and try to be different"
Despite the stormy weather and undulating ground of the University of Port Harcourt despite the sleepless nights, not minding the field mapping that we had to spend days in different places trying to map and produce geologic map of the area, I stood still and energetic because she believed in me.
she knew the seed God gave her, she knew the child she conceived.
Her faith about my success in life kept me going, despite my flaws she never looked down on me. My mother made me a certified geologist.
She once told me to learn to love what I want to do and what am doing.
My gratitude to God almighty for the mother she gave to me.
You will forever remain in my heart.
BEST MOTHER-ANIEMA.
