Growing up, one has a lot of memories, mixed memories actually, that is the good and the bad, and I had my fair share of both.
But in response to this question as required by this contest, I would say that one memory stands out so well in that I made myself and family proud, and secondly had my confidence highly boosted.
I was not brought up to do my homework in my primary school days because Mom was a trader and Dad worked with a Car workshop. What it meant was that both were not always home until the evenings and when we returned from school, "Auntie", (my mother's junior sister) would be in the house doing house chores, so we were pretty much left to our own devices. I played so hard and then watched a lot of TV. I was always at the bottom of the class and this got my parents really worried and they decided to employ a private tutor to help me improve but I grew worse. One day I heard my parents discussing that perhaps academics was not for me, and that perhaps a vocation would suit me better. I just froze listening to them and knew deep down inside of me, that I wanted to be in school.
Then the moment of decision came for me, I had just managed to enter primary six then, I just knew that my seriousness and determination were required for me to achieve my academic goals. So I sat my butts down to study, everyone saw the transformation and quietly applauded my resolve.
The three terms, I blasted my exams and came tops. This was unbelievable, I was happy that my hard work paid off but I had one very big hurdle to cross, the primary six certificate examination, a very tough one. It was also the entrance examination into the secondary school, and I told myself that if could rise from the bottom of the class to the top, this one would be a walk over for me. I wrote the exams and waited for the results.
Then that day, Dad went to check my results, I died and woke up, I lost my appetite, my adrenaline pumped so hard that I was temporarily deaf. Then I heard Dad's car drive in and quickly ran into the toilet and locked myself in, I was sweating profusely.
"Where's my boy? Like father, like son, you have made me proud again!" Dad was screaming in excitement and my siblings were celebrating and shouting my name. When I came out from the toilet, Dad hugged me tight, I was crying. He held me away from him and cleaned my tears, it was a wonderful result, surpassing even my own expectations.
That evening, my parents held a mini party for me with lots of rice and chicken, I was given two drumsticks, the part normally reserved for my parents.
Since then I never looked back. I learnt this lesson that the keys of any Man's success lies solely with him and him alone can determine how he would learn and grow.