CHAPTER SEVEN
NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS
Getting used to our new location was abit easier, the neighbourhood was friendly, tho not as populated like our previous place, but hey that was to be expected, we where actually outside of any major town and abit close to the border. We made another friend who was actually part Nigerian and part Benin Republic, so he could speak and understand English very well. Classes so far had been go well, which made me forget my doubt about the school status on accreditation. One Saturday i decided to take a walk round the area to find a Church that i could attend, i choose Saturday because thats when most church choir fix their rehearsals to prepare for the service on on sunday. I actually found three, one was abit far from my hostel, and two was very close to my hostel. So i decided my decision would be between the two closest to where i live, the plan was that the next day i would attend one then the next sunday i would try the other one then decided which i would finally stay.
Sunday came, i was so excited that i left the house as early as 7am. I got too one of the church, it was closed and i was kind of dissapointed
( lol not knowing that God actually saved me from that one. Later i discovered that the church was not really a Church but was a cult with strange doctrine)
I went too the next church which was actually opened, i joined them in prayers and the service started. I must say it was really nice, i took note of their drummer lol as ever instrumentalist would do when they see someone else playing, i began to access him to see how good he was and if i was better, i concluded that he was okay but i could do better. After service, i waited behind then i was introduced to the choir master who had the same name as me. He told me the time for rehearsals the next saturday. With exictment i was the first person to be present on that saturday, i join their rehearsals and i discovered that not only are they Nigerians like me, they where all Igbos, (Igbo is one of the three major tribes in Nigeria) so they usually speak their native tongue sometimes and they actually thought i was part of their tribe. Hahaha and i said notting about it.
I was introduced to the choir members and they told me i would play the drum for a particular song the next day. But here is the thing, the song they appointed to me was a native song of Benin Republic, which was kind of technical and difficult, i was already scared i would mess up on my first try. Sunday came and i was abit scared, it finally got too my turn to paly, all eyes where on me like they actually wanted to see if i could play or not, the song started and as i expected it was kind of difficult, so i started with s beat that was kind of awkward because i still needed time to blend in. I saw the disapproving looks on their faces, lol like just stop playing, you cant play. One cane to me and said, your drum beat is not correct. I smiled and nodded, what i needed was to get the hang of the song, so i could blend a beat in. But it would have been awkward if i just waited and played notting. I finally got the song and i changed my beating style to fit in. And i could see their surprised faces, hahaha they have not even seen half of what i could do. After service the choir master came and thanked me, he loved how i played and would love to see me more.
I was loving my new environment, i hd friends, a church, i played drum once again everything was okay tho as usual there where times we had notting, we had to eat just oil and rice without salt,there days we stayed without food only water for days but somhow God kept us alive then i fell sick, that was actually my first sickness since i came too Benin republic and i was scared i thought i would actually die. I was so weak i could not stand, i could not even eat (lol actually we really didnt have much food in the first place) i kept on throwing up. That experience made me realize one thing thou a person can never be judged based based on their religion but rather their heart. Who would have thought that it was actually a Muslim that would help me. It was like i was dieing, and there was no money to even buy drugs. It was the landlady's son eho was our friend and also a Muslim that helped me back then.
As time went by, most of our lecturers stopped coming to give us lecture, we tried contacting them and their was that the new location was abit far and the school has not been paying them. The school was going into debts. Then the news came. Just as i suspected, the University was not accredited With the Nigerian goverment. Which ment even thou i graduate my result is completely and totally useless in Nigeria, because the school is not known. Which means i cant even go for National Service. Thou i was till in my first year, but all the years i would spend here would be useless . Where do i start from? What would my friends say? Surely this would be another reason for them to laugh at me.
The worse of it, the University keep on denying everything, they continued their lies about the school being accredited, about how they are still growing and how they have plans for us. Comfort had started making other plans, she wanted to go back to Nigeria and start over again. That was something i could not bring my self to, my mother had invested so much here already. It was getting close to our final exams for the year, i guess the school could no longer hide it. They where in so much debts they came up clean, the school has not been accredited with the Nigerian government but they are making plans to do that and they also have partnership with another well known school that has been accredited, so when we get to our final year. The other school would be the one to give us their results. Their stories where total crap. But they promised that the next year things would be more stable, classes would be stable and the accreditation problem would be sorted out. As if that was not enough, we received another blow, the school would be going back to merge with the french section it broke out from. Which ment all the friends we had here, once again we had to let them.
I told the Church i would be leaving them, they where so sad, over the months they became like my second family, the Pastor was so angry with me for not telling them on time that i would be leaving. That they would have given me a gift to send me off. The plans was that after our final exams that year we would return. But we where given a holiday of two months. Me comfort and Emmanuel promised to surely return back after the holidays, we agreed not to give up on the university and on ourselves. We started the journey together so we would fight it till the end. We never knew that would actually be the last time we would see each other.
After our final exams we said our goodbyes to those around us, because our return ment we would never see them again, me Emma and comfort promised to be in touch with each other even when we go back to Nigeria. I was exicted and at the same time very worried.
I dont know what the future holds for me, why would i start from if the unversity falls completely? From the beginning? The thought of it made me weak, what about all my mom had invested, its not like we had more than enough to waste around. All i had was hope, i hoped the University would rise, i hoped this would not be the end of my future. But right now the future doesn't really look bright for me.
To Be Continued...
