I got a gift from birth.

I ran through my past and present life to figure out one thing I did naturally, something I wasn't taught how to go about it and it was difficult to choose one at first because I learned almost everything I know. Before now I am always scared to make mistakes so the fear of being laughed at does prevent me from doing a lot of things by myself. I don't get tired of learning as long as I am interested in the subject and most of the things I can do today were the things learned, I was taught swimming, laundry, cooking, and many other things. You wouldn't have a choice but to learn if you had a mother like mine, she does her things to perfection.

While thinking, I remembered I wasn't taught how to play football. I developed the skill naturally and not being able to fulfill my dream with it was really annoying, it didn't have much impact on me except for being famous in the neighborhood. Playing drums, constructing with wood, and doing little electrical work are not excluded but I don't have much to say about it.

Teaching is another thing I wasn't taught how to do and its impact on me was/is exorbitant. I taught my mates in junior & secondary school, I helped kids with assignments in the neighborhood and I enjoy doing it from time to time, even my mom asked if I was going to be a teacher since becoming a pilot was an unrealistic dream.

I picked up my first teaching job at 14, I had zero knowledge about professional teaching, and getting the job wasn't easy. It was hard because I had no teaching experience or went through teachers training, I didn't want to do a sales boy job which was common and I just love to teach so I preferred it to any job then.

I was employed as an assistant teacher for kindergarten class, the kids can be naughty but they are fun to be with. There was a particular day the basic two teacher didn't show up without notice, the headmaster needed someone to take the class and I volunteered. He agreed to let me take the class after many thoughts and he sat in the class for an hour to see how I was doing.

That class teacher didn't show up for a week, he was down with health challenges and I did the job the best way I could. By the end of the week, I got a home lesson contract from one of the parents of the pupil I was taking and I was so excited. The teacher resumed and I returned to my old class, the primary four students visits me every break and the bond we grew in one week was quite unbelievable.

I started having the feeling that I can do more so I left the job to search for another but my age wouldn't just make things easy. I switched to selling cards and making phone call business for another year, I got another teaching job at sixteen. It was a kind of probation job because the school owner employs nothing less than OND or NCE.

I impressed him and he put me in primary II for some weeks, I was taken to another class after some time and I did great with the job. I was moved to basic five where I remained till I left the job, my students meant the world to me. I was eager to always meet them in the morning and everyone still wonder how I relate with the kids so easily, little did they know that I was 5-6 years older than those kids.

Before I left the job, a sixteen year old boy was brought to the school. He completed his JSS3 in a public school but couldn't read and write, the proprietor thought he would be a problem and turned him down after he failed the entry test.

I requested that he was accepted and should be brought to my class and I also got a special kid as well.

It was a tough one for me but I succeeded with the kids, they all passed their common entrance and made it to the government schools of their choice. In my second year with the school, I won the best teacher award, and seeing parents give testimony and most especially from the mother of the boy who couldn't read or write got me emotional.

I quit the job and worked as a home teacher for another year because I needed the money to go to school, I said goodbye to teaching when I got a job that offered me around 30k+ every month.

I remembered going to a public school to meet one of my bosses then, I met some of my students in the school and they were screaming when they saw me. I was happy seeing them doing great and the first thing they said was, "Master, please choose JSS2 class". They actually thought I came to work in their school and they felt disappointed when I told them why I came. The person I went to see was surprised when he heard my story with those kids.

Teaching didn't end there for me, I taught my mates in ND 1&2. The money I raised from it was used to feed and even paid some of my tuition fees.

Staying in the teaching line helped me keep my knowledge intact, it took me five years before returning for tertiary education and I could have forgotten a lot of things if I didn't work as a teacher.

The rewards didn't come during my days as a primary school teacher but I enjoyed it while in the polytechnic, some of my coursemates were always around me. Teaching helps keep the things you know intact and I am so happy that I developed the skill naturally.

The disappointing thing about the profession is how they are been treated, they don't pay them well even though schools are making lots of money today. I wish to own a school someday, it will be a dream come true for me.

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