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Pastor's Intervention
When I graduated from the prestigious Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka in the eastern Nigeria, I was in my parents house in Enugu, waiting for my call-up letter for the compulsory National Youth Service. Enugu is a major city in the eastern region of Nigeria, popularly known as the 'Coal City'. This was because of the presence of coal mines in the city and the heavy coal mining activities there. It is a really lovely city, quiet and serene. The city is surrounded by hills just like Jerusalem. It has so many beautiful sights which I guess made the colonial masters very reluctant to leave the city even after independence.
I never had the opportunity to travel to the Northern part of the country, not even to visit my late elder brother when he was alive and was working there unlike my younger sister, Adaobi, who had stayed witRelated chapters
DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Orientation Camp
CHAPTER NINE I had a smooth journey to the orientation camp. It was a night journey. When I arrived at the Onitsha Park that evening there were my fellow Corps members everywhere; they were going to various states of the country for their National Service just like me. It was like another get together. I met most of my couresmates. It was fun seeing ourselves again. I sat beside the window in order to get a better view of the places we would pass through to get to our destination. The cool night breeze chilled my body as the vehicle zoomed past many towns and villages. The sights of the city at night was a lovely one to behold. The lights in the streets and in the various houses shone like stars in the sky. It reminded me of a childhood poem, 'Twinkle, twinkle little stars'. T
DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Spice Of Differences.
CHAPTER TEN As the scorching sun began to lose its power to the dusk and our shadows grew taller, our faces litted up with smiles because the parade for sure would come to an end with the appearance of the darkness. Every new day, deducted a day from the three weeks we had to stay in the camp. Everyone was eagerly counting the days. We could hardly wait for the last day.After the evening parade, the bugle sounded again for our dinner. Immediately after dinner, we moved to the hall where one form of entertaining event or the other would take place: It could be a live band, the NYSC band or our welcome parties, beauty contest, inter-platoon drama, dancing competitions, cooking competitions, talent hunt and so m
DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Paths Crossed
CHAPTER ELEVEN There was tension in the air over the posting of Corps members to the various places of their primary assignments. Many of us tried to influence their posting against the admonition and warning of the State Coordinator. Actually, no one wanted to be posted to the remote areas of the State: We all wanted the best places in the city despite how clear the State Coordinator had made it that ninety percent of the corps members would be posted to the villages where their services were mostly needed. But we all wanted to be among the ten percent that would be in the city. Better allow God, Who sent you to this region complete His job by posting you to your primary place of assignment. Dont try to influence anything because it may worsen things for you, some zealots amongst us preached.Some of us believed that the m
DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Primary Place Of Assignment
CHAPTER TWELVE On the day we were to leave the orientation camp. Everyone woke up as early as 4 oclock in the morning. We joyfully packed our luggage and arranged our property. The air was thick with tension that one could virtually feel it because our postings would be disclosed on that day. Everyone had prayed for a place very comfortable and suitable. A place where he or she would enjoy his or her service year and probably be retained by the organisation he or she served in after the service year. No one wanted the rural areas which had numerous service opportunities but most of them had no communication network, no electricity, no potable water, no banking system and no good roads. Things that would make life easy were non-existent there. It was a very scary option. All the regular activities of the camp had come to an end. The dramas, the drills, the parade, the lectu
DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Assignment
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Our service rendering had started in earnest. Everyone was busy with his or her assignment. We were bent on doing our best for the country. Though some of us that were posted to the village never accepted it. They refused to settle down in the village rather they kept finding their way back to Kano city at the slightest opportunity, to stay with their friends and acquaintances.Every morning I woke up by 5clock said my morning prayers and went jogging. When I returned, I freshened up, ate and dressed up for work. By 8 oclock, the medical laboratory where I worked, was opened for patients: diagnosis, preparation, and collection of clinical samples, were our major jobs. The hospital was always busy with patients. Ninety percent of the patients in the hospital were women and their babies.
DIARY OF A PATRIOT Keep The Dream Alive
CHAPTER FOURTEENOne fateful Sunday morning while I was still in Church in the the ancient city of Kano, when it started boiling again. There was a big pandemonium; people ran helter skelter as they scampered for safety because it was reported that there was a blasphemy against the Muslim holy prophet by a media personality who wrote on a Miss World beauty pageant already going on in the country. It was said that while he was writing about the beauty of the pretty models contesting for the Miss World crown, he wrote that if the holy prophet were to be alive, he would have added one of these girls to his wives or concubines. That was more than enough to set the entire city on fire. Protests erupted all over city and beyond. Some media houses feasted on the news as if it was a delicious meal while some
DIARY OF A PATRIOT Passion Over Reasoning
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Swiftly our service year began to run out. It dawned on me that there was a lot to be done. There was a thick cloud of unawareness over unhealthy and unfriendly practices in our villages and cities, both in the North and in the South that needed to be dispelled. The campaign Aisha and I had carried out was quite insignificant compared to the large number of people yet to be reached. We always sat together to conceive ideas and implement them. I realised that my life needed Aisha. My vision and aspiration needed her help, expertise and personality. She had become the miracle and the magic touch that my life needed. She was virtually the help and inspiration behind our accomplishment so far. I realized that it was not the northerners that were the culprits, it was their ignorance that was responsible
DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Acid Test
CHAPTER SIXTEEN...A year laterAt the end of our service year, Aisha and I needed to travel to our respective regions to continue what we had started; we had grown our organisation to a certain stage. So we elected successors to continue from where we stopped. Though we plan on setting up a branch in our state of origin.We had other plans; each of us was to convince our parents about our relationship. "Well, my father may not really mind, but my mother could prove a bit difficult for I am her only daughter," Aisha told me during one of our discussions. True, she was an only girl among six boys, as her parents had seven children. Aisha's father, though now a Christian, was a prominent leader among his people, and he was well-respected. Aisha had exchanged letters with her siblings as well as their father over a period of time, telli
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- DIARY OF A PATRIOT Love Wins At Last.
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Acid Test
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT Passion Over Reasoning
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT Keep The Dream Alive
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Assignment
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Primary Place Of Assignment
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Paths Crossed
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Spice Of Differences.
- DIARY OF A PATRIOT The Orientation Camp
