The Struggle from home

I remembered that day I got a call from my friend who was already an undergraduate in the same school that I name came out on the admission list. I was full of joy and happiness and it was in this state that I ran to my dad’s workshop which was close to our house to inform him about the good news. My father was extremely happy that he began to dance one would think he was the one who was offered admission.

Three weeks before I was supposed to leave for school, my paternal grandfather kicked the bucket, which meant my father, being the first son would need money for the funeral. This of course got me aggrieved, not only for the loss of my grandfather but also for my father’s financial capacity since I knew that if care was  not taken, I may lose my opportunity of furthering my education.

The week that followed experienced the burial of my grandfather and all the merriments that usually follow the burial of an old relative of a Yoruba family. All these times, I was so sad because I understood that at that point, my progress on schooling has been dragged backward with 50,000 financial miles.

As God or Fate would have it, miraculously my father was able to raise some money because he got a mini contract job which of course meant I can now go to school. I was elated that night I could not sleep; I had many kinds of feelings rushing in and out of my mind. I had the feelings of joy, fear and anxiety all inside of me. The same night at about 3:10am, my mother came to tap me even when she knew I was not sleeping and began the usual mother-daughter encouragement talks which ended in prayers and tears. You would think I was travelling abroad (smiles).

The forbidden colours

I was walking towards my department all by myself, my bag dangling in my arm and some of my books in my hand. I decided that in order not to anger any fashion police around the school, I was going to stick to wearing simplecolours and on this day, I was having just one colour on, meaning my top and my trousers were of the same colour and in order to perfect it, I put on a face cap as well.

After checking what I needed to check on the notice board at my department, I decided to walk around before finally going to class, after I taking few steps from the department, a guy wearing the same colour of T-Shirt as what I was putting on, walked angrily to me and asked who I was and why I was dressed the way I was dressed?

At first, it sounded funny to me but when I saw how this guy was fuming, I quickly comport myself. He repeated what he has said earlier and this time, he was looking angrier so I became so scared that I could not utter a word and with so much hate and anger in his eyes, he forcefully took my face cap off my head and gave me a stern warning pointing his right index finger at me, he said “I know you are a Jambite but don’t you ever wear this combo to school again!

Is that clear” and as I was trying to nod my head, he jetted away from my presence. I was mortified, I wanted to find someone to ask what that encounter meant but because I was just a young, naïve teenager and to cap it all I was just a new student who hasn’t even gotten a single friend yet; I broke down in tears.

I was still crying even though I can’t remember for how many minutes before another guy showed up to my face and offered me some tissue paper to wipe my tears with. It was this offer that brought me to consciousness that I was actually outside.

My new friend introduced himself, told me his name and added that he’s the class governor of 100 Level Marketing Department which of course coincidentally was my class so I also introduced myself. Because my class governor didn’t ask why I was crying openly, I too didn’t offer to tell him. Few minutes later, he informed me that it was time for our first afternoon lecture that he had to go to class so I had no choice than to put myself together and followed him to class.

Another Bitter Experience

A week after my fearful encounter with the guy who took my cap and stormed away, on my way to the motion ground to take some passport photograph needed for the completion of my school payments and registration process and right in my front …

Written by Bukolami Ajayi.