It was a time of self discovery for Siji and hey! I love the old school music, you don't hear any of those songs anywhere these days. Enjoy yourselves people.
Siji had always thought Ma'ami was his mum. She was the only mother figure he had and she had made him call her Ma'ami, meaning "my mother" in Yoruba since he was a kid. Everyone else simply called her Mama or Iya. He had noticed at a very young age that Ma'ami was different from other mothers, at least from the mothers of the other kids around. She was way older for starters, and spoke unadulterated Yoruba, which was filled with proverbs, he never heard her spoke a word in English, not even in her Yoruba which was quite unusual even among the illiterates. She always seemed to have a Yoruba word for everything. He also discovered that unlike the other mothers, Ma'ami had no husband and by implication he had no daddy. Anytime he asked of his father, she would tell him he is not in the country and when he asked further, she would become sad and moody, consequently he stopped interrogating her since he hated seeing her sad, she was all he had. He soon accepted that he had no dad or at best he had one who had gone on an unending journey. So he told himself that Ma'ami was enough for him, he needed no daddy, and he stopped worrying, at least he tried to.
They were also poorer than other families, they lived in a one-room apartment in a crowded compound, they had lived there since he could remember, Ma'ami had a shed in the market where she sold agbo (local herbs). She told Siji that agbo had always been the family business, and had been passed on from generation to generation. Siji learnt the trade well and mastered it, he could tell what leaf cures what disease and how to mix the leaves in order to boost their efficacy. They didn't make much but they made enough to make ends meet, Siji had to go to public schools right from Primary and every evening when he got home, he would hawk agbo.
Ma'ami was not educated but she knew the value of education, she helped Siji as best as she could. She would always say "Awolowo was able to achieve so much for the Yoruba, because he was educated, face your studies and one day you will be greater than Awolowo"
Siji didn't know who Awolowo was but he seemed to be a hero of some sort, especially to Ma'ami,
"Who is Awolowo Ma'ami?" He would ask and she would always reply him by saying "He was the leader of the Yoruba, and he did many great things for us, many of which we are still enjoying, he built the Cocoa House in Ibadan, made children go to school free of charge, and developed everywhere"
Her answer never satisfied his curious mind so when he was in JSS 2 he summoned enough courage to visit the school's library to read more about this person Ma'ami loved so much. He had always wanted to visit the library but he thought only the senior students were allowed in because he never saw a Junior student entering the library. Not until his English teacher had urged his class to visit the library and read books in order to improve their English. So one afternoon during break he had walked into the library and asked the librarian for any book on Awolowo. The librarian pointed to a section of the library and asked him to check, after searching for a while he saw book with the name THE HISTORY OF NIGERIA SINCE 1890, he examined the front cover and saw pictures of some men and women with their names written below their pictures, one of them was Obafemi Awolowo. Siji started reading the book then heard the ringing of the bell signalling the end of the break, he hurriedly hid the book somewhere in the library and rushed back to class. The following day, he went back and continued. He kept visiting the library during break to read the book, it took him one month to finish it. The book answered his questions and told him more, he learnt about other leaders like Ahmadu Bello and Nnamdi Azikiwe and their great deeds too. He read more books to know better, and he soon knew a lot about his country, then other countries and the world. He would run to the library everyday during break to read, he simply discovered he loved reading and he couldn't have enough.
He was also an exceptionally brilliant and a very likeable student, all his teachers took special interest in him and some would even create extra periods to tutor him. He continued to do very well in his studies. He got the overall best result in JSSCE in the state and was given N20,000 award by the government.
He rushed home happily that day to inform Ma'ami, she was so happy and proudly told anyone who cared enough to listen about it. She served him two meats that night, it was an unforgettable day for him, not only because of the award but also because of what was revealed to him later that night
***
Pago stepped out of Mukoyo. He checked his wrist watch and it was a quarter past the hour of 10. He had stayed longer in bed than he planned, such was the effect Cynthia had on him. It was Monday morning, the morning sun was so intense that he hurried towards his car as he wondered how those in the Sahara were surviving. He was sure he wouldn't last a day in the desert. He had to wind down the car's windows for a while to let air come in because of the heat. He started the car, wound the windows up, switched on the air-conditioning unit, slotted in a CD into the player and Tony Tetuila's "yee! oye yeo o o o" filled the silence, then Eddy Remedy's "mi o sakomo, mio densigi, babi mi, sayo lawa yi o ooooo" and lastly Eedris Abdulkareem's "shegedegbederegedegbagede dan iska ubanku shege, fufufu, dodododo, baby iwo nimo fefe"
Pago sang along as he drove out of New Buka, The Remedies, they were the happening guys in town.
They were also poorer than other families, they lived in a one-room apartment in a crowded compound, they had lived there since he could remember, Ma'ami had a shed in the market where she sold agbo (local herbs). She told Siji that agbo had always been the family business, and had been passed on from generation to generation. Siji learnt the trade well and mastered it, he could tell what leaf cures what disease and how to mix the leaves in order to boost their efficacy. They didn't make much but they made enough to make ends meet, Siji had to go to public schools right from Primary and every evening when he got home, he would hawk agbo.
Ma'ami was not educated but she knew the value of education, she helped Siji as best as she could. She would always say "Awolowo was able to achieve so much for the Yoruba, because he was educated, face your studies and one day you will be greater than Awolowo"
Siji didn't know who Awolowo was but he seemed to be a hero of some sort, especially to Ma'ami,
"Who is Awolowo Ma'ami?" He would ask and she would always reply him by saying "He was the leader of the Yoruba, and he did many great things for us, many of which we are still enjoying, he built the Cocoa House in Ibadan, made children go to school free of charge, and developed everywhere"
Her answer never satisfied his curious mind so when he was in JSS 2 he summoned enough courage to visit the school's library to read more about this person Ma'ami loved so much. He had always wanted to visit the library but he thought only the senior students were allowed in because he never saw a Junior student entering the library. Not until his English teacher had urged his class to visit the library and read books in order to improve their English. So one afternoon during break he had walked into the library and asked the librarian for any book on Awolowo. The librarian pointed to a section of the library and asked him to check, after searching for a while he saw book with the name THE HISTORY OF NIGERIA SINCE 1890, he examined the front cover and saw pictures of some men and women with their names written below their pictures, one of them was Obafemi Awolowo. Siji started reading the book then heard the ringing of the bell signalling the end of the break, he hurriedly hid the book somewhere in the library and rushed back to class. The following day, he went back and continued. He kept visiting the library during break to read the book, it took him one month to finish it. The book answered his questions and told him more, he learnt about other leaders like Ahmadu Bello and Nnamdi Azikiwe and their great deeds too. He read more books to know better, and he soon knew a lot about his country, then other countries and the world. He would run to the library everyday during break to read, he simply discovered he loved reading and he couldn't have enough.
He was also an exceptionally brilliant and a very likeable student, all his teachers took special interest in him and some would even create extra periods to tutor him. He continued to do very well in his studies. He got the overall best result in JSSCE in the state and was given N20,000 award by the government.
He rushed home happily that day to inform Ma'ami, she was so happy and proudly told anyone who cared enough to listen about it. She served him two meats that night, it was an unforgettable day for him, not only because of the award but also because of what was revealed to him later that night
***
Pago stepped out of Mukoyo. He checked his wrist watch and it was a quarter past the hour of 10. He had stayed longer in bed than he planned, such was the effect Cynthia had on him. It was Monday morning, the morning sun was so intense that he hurried towards his car as he wondered how those in the Sahara were surviving. He was sure he wouldn't last a day in the desert. He had to wind down the car's windows for a while to let air come in because of the heat. He started the car, wound the windows up, switched on the air-conditioning unit, slotted in a CD into the player and Tony Tetuila's "yee! oye yeo o o o" filled the silence, then Eddy Remedy's "mi o sakomo, mio densigi, babi mi, sayo lawa yi o ooooo" and lastly Eedris Abdulkareem's "shegedegbederegedegbagede dan iska ubanku shege, fufufu, dodododo, baby iwo nimo fefe"
Pago sang along as he drove out of New Buka, The Remedies, they were the happening guys in town.
About the Author.
Soji Adeola Ayanleke was born about 3 decades ago in Kano.
He studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, he speaks Yoruba and Hausa fluently and he is trying to learn Igbo and Spanish. His hobbies are reading, writing and playing some indoor games.
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