No one goes free, life happens to all us one way or another. Being a farmer who loved education so much, he admired every educated person around him. He grew yam and vegetables.
He never stopped lamenting about his inability to get educated. While he was growing up, he lost his father, the family's breadwinner, at a tender age and he could not be enrolled in school as a result. He had vowed to make sure his children all get educated.
In keeping up to this vow, he enrolled my brother and I in the only available privately owned primary school then. Government primary schools in my community had lost their standard then. Despite that mainly middle earners were the ones that could afford the private school, he enrolled us with his low earning status. We continued like that and graduated at record time and proceeded to secondary school.
In the year 2002, my elder brother graduated from secondary school and proceeded to polytechnic three years later. I finished my secondary school in 2006 and by the time I gained admission into university in 2009, my brother had finished his diploma program. Due to paucity of fund, he had to hold on from seeking admission to complete his Higher National Diploma because my dad couldn't afford having two of us in University.
My father was very committed in making sure that I was comfortable in school. He would borrow money for me just for me to meet up with my academic demands. One thing he always told me was that it was his desire to make sure my brother and I and my three other siblings complete our University education.
In the year 2013, University lecturers' union went on industrial action that lasted for six months. During this six months strike, I returned home to help him in the farming activities.
Two months after arriving home, he developed a sickness that brought out injury in his foot. He wasn't able to go to farm again and he was worried that his farm would ceased to exist since it was farming season and his injury couldn't allow him go to farm. For as much as he was thinking of his health, his occupation, from which he feeds the family and send I am my siblings to school, was also a concern.
I stepped in to salvage the situation. I spent two months cultivating yam ridges just to make sure that by the time his health improves, he wouldn't have to start from the scratch in his farming occupation. Whenever I returned from farm, he would be heaping praises on me. On my own part, I was doing it with a whole lot of fulfilment because I saw that time as the first time since my birth that I was able to appreciate my father in all he had done for me. When he health was deteriorating, he called me one day and he spent minutes praying for me and blessing my future.
Due to his level of income and his resolve to spend his meagre resources to train his children, he wasn't able to build a house. We were living in his late mother's house.
That particular day that he called me, after praying, he told me to build a house for him in future if he died of the sickness. On the house, I should inscribe his name. It was as if he had a vision that he wouldn't survive the sickness. I shed tears and told him that his wishes would happen in his lifetime.
Two days later, my father's health deteriorated to the extent that he lost his voice. We rushed him to the hospital where he was receiving treatment and we were referred to another hospital for leg amputation. We were still arranging on how to get him to the referred hospital when he gave up the ghost.
That was how my father died on 17th December, 2013.
Seeing his remains on the bed, I cried and wished never to have such experience at that early time of my life. It took me months if not years to accept the reality that my father was gone.
This weekend engagement question is;
If you could fast forward over a particular year of your life so you didn't have to live it which would it be, and why?
I wish I could fast forward over year 2013 so that I didn't have to live it.
It is however my resolve now to keep my father's dream alive. This is making sure my siblings gets education and also building a house in his name . I hope to achieve that very soon in honour of my lovely father.