Growing up, my family members never fail to remind me of how strong-willed I am. The truth is that once I set my mind to do something, nothing was going to hold me back. Looking back now, I see it as a good attribute, I don’t know why my parents frowned at it so much.
The story I am going to tell you today is about how I joined the Red Cross Society in my primary school even with my mother’s initial disapproval.
This happened in primary 5, my school had clubs like Brownie, Girls’ Guide, Boys’ Scout, Music, and Red Cross. The Red Cross was love at first sight for me. I loved its practicality in real-life scenarios, I loved the uniform (It was a white sleeve shirt with a badge even for starters, a pleated navy blue skirt for girls and shorts for boys, and also a beret before I forget the beret), the club also came with an ID card (no other club did that) and promises of excursions to Olumo rock for camping. Wow! I was thrilled and amazed. I made inquiries about joining the club, all I had to do was pay the necessary fees (Uniform fee only), and voila! Let the adventures begin.
I excitedly rushed home that day and told my mother about the club and that deadline for joining the club was a week away. She was quiet. I took her silence to mean acceptance. In my mind, if she was against the idea she would have said no outright or given a subtle disapproval. This experience also made me understand the kind of person my mother was after the whole ordeal. I came to realize that my mother’s silence could mean many things and that I should, even more, be worried when she was silent.
Back to my story, I kept reminding her each day after I got back from school that the deadline for the payment was drawing near. She still kept mute. On a day before the deadline, before going to school, I reminded my mother of how important joining the club was to me and that I would not have gone to school if she had not given me the money. Finally, she said: “Go to my room and wait for me.” Hurriedly, I went to wait as instructed. When she was done with what she was doing, she entered the room, locked the door behind her (I still did not suspect a thing) and the next thing I felt was the pain of agony from the koboko she had behind her. I knew this trick of holding on to something precious when Mother chastised me, so this time, I ran and hugged the television in the room. She realized flogging me might affect the T.V. so she asked me to leave the T.V. and I screamed NO! She quickly unplugged the T.V. and swung the three-mouthed plug at my head. Immediately, a blood vessel busted, and blood gushed down my face. The beating session was over (at least I was glad about that). My mother being a Medical Doctor with her practice quickly took me in for a stitch. I did not go to school that day. We did not discuss why the beatings occurred (till this day) nor did I get any apology for the head bruise. I impliedly recognized that it was because of my strong will.
The next day, before heading out for school, she approached me and gave me the money even without me asking. My strong will paid off at last. To this day, I am an active member of the Red Cross Society. What do you have to say about that?
This is LBS! – “A Reality-Check word from Prof. Bongo Adi”