A man everyone called mallam took aside the twelve of us who had become ten. Of course we had not all actually become ten on the same day. But the children had a common birthday assigned to them when they arrived at the home.
If a group of children were for instance aged seven, they were told the particular day in three years time when they would all be regarded as ten years olds.
The mallam explained in detail the work of the almajiri, But I was listening. I was too excited to pay attention. I care only to learn to read. When he finished explaining, I marched to him and said, “Sir, can you read? Can you teach me to read?”
His eyes borrowed into me. “I’d That the work you joined us to do? Do you think we are here to play? Get back to your group. We are here to work!”
I turned away. But I didn’t go back to my group. I scanned the crowd of the boys and saw a group listening raptly to an intelligent-looking fellow. They were attentive to his every word. “Ah,” I said to myself, “the reason why that boy is popular is because he can read.”