Name: Uchenna Emmanuel
Batch: 2018 Batch B
State of Deployment: Abakaliki, Indiagu LGA, Ebonyi State.
I served in a village where the only day you can buy enough food stuffs is on their market day. Outside the market day, you will have to buy the few your hands can get on, costly.
The market trades only on ‘eke’ days (every four days), and in the evenings.
It starts by 4 pm and closes by 7:30pm (when everywhere becomes dark).
This made me and my roommate to start counting the market days. On every market day, we would buy all the stuffs that will carry us till the next ‘eke’ market day.
One of the ‘eke’ market days, my roommate was busy with something; so, i decided to go and buy some food stuffs alone.
The market does not have shops where the sellers can keep their goods. So each seller comes with her basin of either garri, fish, pumpkin, fufu, etc and places it before them.
They create a long small path where buyers can walk through to buy from each seller. While the sellers sit with their goods on the left and right sides of the path.
On every market day, you will see different dogs in the market. Although they don’t bite people, but they always move close to the fishes and meats.
My roommate complained that those dogs might run away with someone’s fish one day.
On that day, I met someone I had never met before in my life. I have seen people with the same issue, but her own is unusual.
After I had bought some foodstuffs, I went to buy ogbono seeds from one woman.
She grouped her ogbono. Some were sold at the rate of #50, while others at #100.
Because they don’t speak central igbo, and also since i don’t understand their dialect, I prefer talking with them in English.
So, I asked her (ogbono woman) to put 3 bunches of the ogbono seeds for me. She could not understand me.
I was busy speaking English in the hope that the woman was understanding me.
I never knew i was just talking to myself.
This woman couldn’t understand “put three.”
It was my first time of meeting such a person.
What strikes me dumb each time i remember this, is that the woman is still very young.
I can tell you that the woman is not more than 42years old.
It was her neighbor that became our interpreter.
When i asked her neighbor why the woman couldn’t understand common “three,” the neighbor said, “she didn’t go to school.” “Nobody sent her to school.”
Even without going to school, she should understand at least “go,” “come,” “three,” and the likes.
My late grandma could speak a bit broken English when she was alive, even though she didn’t go to school.
One funny thing is, in as much as this woman couldn’t understand simple English, she knew how much change to give me. She could count money very well.
It is true that this woman won’t go beyond Igbo land to do business, but at least she is hardworking.
Instead of resorting to begging, or involving in vices, she chose to hustle. She left her comfort zone.
I have met a guy that didn’t go to school. But he speaks and understands broken English, yet he is lazy. He chose to steal instead of hustle.
This woman didn’t allow her lack of education to become a limiting factor to her.
So many people resort to vices and laziness simply because they lack one thing or the other.
This woman don’t know how to read and write, yet she left her comfort zone to earn a living.
Some people can read and write, yet they prefer laziness to striving for success.
Success is not measured by the level of education you have.
Stop bragging that you went to school.
Stop telling us that you’re a graduate.
We don’t want to know how many books you have read.
We don’t want to know any of these things.
What people are after is what you have achieved so far.
Don’t take lack of formal education as a yardstick to measure laziness.
Many people did not go to school, yet they’re doing better than those that attended school.
Do something today
I believe in you
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