Hi everyone. I am glad to bring you another episode of my personal experience, using the prompt of the creative non-fiction for the week. An African, who grew up with parents that had a taste of what it looks like to grow in the village must know or hear a lot of words which can form the basis for which they live their lives.
I am proud to say that I learned a lot of strong words that pierces the heart as instructional materials that helped shaped my life. Most times, these words may not necessarily come from our parents. Let me share what it looked like for me.
One evening, my younger brother and I were returning from the football pitch. It was our usual routine even though my father frowned at the idea. Our only savior was that we would have completed our house chores and homework before setting out to play. We met one of our classmates at the door mouth of their home. His mother was scolding him. From their conversation, he had left his food uncovered on the table in the verandah to watch tales by moonlight, a popular soap opera children loved to watch back in the day. Before he came back to the food, their pet, a dog had eaten the food. Embittered and hungry Moyo wept so badly because there was no more food to be served. It was there his mother said:
As you lay your bed, so you'd lie on it.
I deduced from that statement that one has a lot to learn in life but despite all, your destiny lies in your hands.
Few years down the lane, I was given admission to the university to study history. It was my first biggest moment and I could not dare to truncate it with tears. Though, the tears dropped down my cheek at the same time, I was glad that I am leaving home for the first time in my life. All eighteen years of my life before this moment had been within the four walls of our home. Mother was the first to make me emotional. She told me that I am her little child, and going to stay alone would be tasking.
As I took my bag to step out of the house, she looked at me and said:
Kele, remember the son of who you are.
This is one statement that my mother had sung to my ears for the umpteenth time in the last month when I reported to her with my admission letter to study history at the university. I nodded in affirmative, telling her not to worry, that I would be a good boy.
I finally reached school. Life at school was different. Here, no one wakes you up from sleep. You'd have to set an alarm or devise other methods to keep up with time. I remember that I love to watch television so much. I'd leave my hostel and go to the buttery to watch some movies till late at night. This was how I started waking up late and getting to my lecture room when the lecturer was almost ending lessons.
Sometimes, when I am late, the lecturer whose course is being taken may not allow latecomers to enter the lecture room. It was later I got to know that I am in for some big troubles. I missed some continuous assessment and attendance with my lackadaisical attitude.
Soon, our first semester results were pasted on the notice board. When I checked mine, I had two carry over. I needed no one to tell me that I had messed up. You can't blame me for this, I was so naive that I find it difficult to understand my purpose for being a university student. Perhaps, I was still caught up in the euphoria of secondary school life.
At that moment, my mother's statement came to my mind. Remember the son of who you are. This statement was not just about the family I came from but the source of my school fees leaves a lot to behoove. Failing a course, let alone two was not what I bargained for. All these factors put together, made me have a rethink.
After my first year, I resolved never to take my studies for granted. From the onset, I knew I wasn't an average student. What I am capable of now looked like a mirage. So, when I was to register courses in my second year, I had to take the two courses I failed in the first year. This time, I was to bear the brunt all by myself. The courses were clashing and the examination timetable for examination was the worst.
The worst of it all was that I had to take lectures with students who were one year below me. Well, I had to take everything, hook, line and sinker. I learned the lesson of my life the hard way. Those two courses I carried over were the one I ever had to fail throughout my university days. Truly, words can shape your life, if you apply them rightly. That life-changing statement I have kept in my left hand and I promise to hand it down to my children, as you make your bed, so you'd lie on it.
Now that I have realized the importance of those words, I look very well before I leap. And if there is one that keeps me in check, it is the fact that I look back to see where I am coming from, in the words of my mother, Kele, remember the son of who you are.
•The image used in this publication is mine