Life of The Average African Child

Pain, hardship, play, early labour, are part of the life of the average African Child.

I was born and brought up in the Western part of Africa, Nigeria to be precise. A country where hardship is like a competition.

People boast of the hardship they endured while they were growing up and carry it all around like a trophy on their shoulders. It's so disheartening to hear that.

If you're born with a silver spoon and you grew up with everything provided for you, then you're part of the few lucky ones, and you're treated like an outcast in the midst of the guys who have been through a lot.

As a fair skinned Nigerian, I was laughed at and teased a lot when growing up. People would say, "see the way he's spotless, that's the sign of weakness. I can't follow someone like that".

Many boys would not want me to be on their team when playing football, cause they'd feel I don't have the stamina and agility to play. It was heartbreaking

To them, the black skin represented strength, and strength to them, came through hardship endured.

What they didn't know was that, I too had my own share of hardship. Yes!! But I didn't carry it on my shoulder like a trophy. I decided to be different. Because I feel children shouldn't be subjected to hardship at that early stage. So, I was not happy that I had suffered a little at that age.

They didn't know I used to walk 2km to school everyday, to and fro.

I once worked in a bakery where they had little machines so almost all the work was done manually.

I had once marketed sim cards on the streets just to make ends meet.

All these are the pains of the African child.

There's also the fun part. Lots of games that were not electronically operated, which made it easier to be played.

But in all, I appreciate the upbringing I got from my parents