The Struggle Of An African Child 6 Chapter Six

Joe thought that moving to the village might not be the best option. Looking contemplative silent, he shook his shoulder and mumbled, "What's the point of living in the city when I can not afford to pay my rent and those at the village will be seeing me as a city man?" he looked around to check if somebody was watching him. Joe sighed and continued mumbling, "In the village, people believed that once one is living in the city he is rich, but what they did not know is there are a lot of city people who the villagers are far richer than."

Joe knew in the city one must buy whatever he needs in the market if he wants to cook, but there in the village, there were certain things like fresh grown vegetables, peppers, and other food one could get in his farm. Joe might not have a place to farm in the city, but in the village, one thing that was for certain, he would definitely have some portions of land to farm. Joe might not be paying rent in the village, he may decide to simply live in their family house until he had enough money to build his own house but in the city, paying rent was one of those things he couldn't avoid.

When Joe, Kate and Sam moved to the village, life wasn't that easy with Sam because he was not born in the village, but he was a strong boy who easily adapted in any situation he just so happened to find himself in. Sam was fluent at English but not at his native language. The villagers always made jibes and snide comments about him when he attempted to speak the language and that forced him to learn it very quickly.

Life in the village functioned quite differently from the one in the city. In the village, once they made it home from school, they all go to the stream to fetch water, go to bushes so they could fetch firewood.

Sam took to it like a duck to water. No mountain was too high for him to climb as most streams in the village have mountains or hills somewhere along their path. No bush was too scary for him to enter. Most time they derived joy in hunting, shooting birds with a catapult was fun to them when they were supposed to fetch firewood.

Attempting to fit in with the village boys did not make Sam to forget his ambition. As a courageous and determined boy, he looked for a way to make money. When he noticed that villagers played a lot, he stopped a.s.sociating himself with some of them who don't see life the way he saw.

Sam was not comfortable staying idle. He started looking for a means of getting daily income until he found some group of laborers in the construction site. Sam developed interest in the work and when he approached the site engineer and asked him for a chance to be doing the less difficult work for a means of daily income; the site engineer consented. He told Sam to start work the following day.

Sam did not mind working from sun up to sundown, as long as he would be paid. He could do any type of job available. Because of his cheerful nature, the elderly ones liked taking him to sites when they were hired to work there. Sam didn't like begging, and he was a giver. He wouldn't mind giving someone the shirt off his back if they needed it.

As an intelligent boy, all one needed to do was to tell Sam how to do something and he would do it well. Sam was taught how to mix sand and cement at the site; he started making money from it.
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Every evening, after working for the day, the site supervisor would come and inspect their work before paying them and when he got home, he put some money back: he was saving the money because he wanted to go back to school; the rest he gave to his parents.

One day when Sam had finished up work for the day, he was very tired and hungry: the bread, beans cake, and the bottle of c.o.ke he took for lunch was not enough for him as it was what the laborers normally ate at the site. Sam decided to stop on the way home and bought some yogurt, eggs and some other things.

Sam also bought the same items for his parents and as he was eating his own, a woman saw him, obviously thinking that the money was stolen, because she wondered how a little boy like him could have the money to buy those things, "Little boy, when I was at your age, I used to save money, I usually gave it to my mother to keep for me and at the end of the year she would use it to buy Christmas clothes for me, sometimes I use it to buy a textbook or an exercise book, and all the writing material I will use in school for the term. Even if you don't have a savings account, you should at least be giving to your parents to put up for things you need, rather than using it to be buying eggs. In fact during our time, we hardly eat eggs, if anyone sees you eating it, you would be considered a potential thief."

Trusting his intelligence, Sam had never been at a loss for words when there was a need, he always answered aptly. Without even looking at the woman's face to know who was talking, he answered, "My grandma died at the age of 121 years." Looking thoughtful, the woman said, "121 years? Oh, I see, for eating eggs?" Sam stared at her and replied, "No, for minding her own business." The woman did not say anything more to him and simply walked off.

Most time people will be too quick to judge one's tomorrow because of where they meet the person today without knowing one's back story. Every story has a beginning and when people don't understand the beginning of one's story they will judge him and even get mad at him. The woman did not know the beginning of Sam's story and that made her to judge him and even concluded where he was going in life. Sam did not allow anyone to write the last chapter of his life.

Sam was never a burden to his parents; he understood that depending on them would be a burden and so he worked hard to stand on his own two feet and provided for himself.

When the owner of the property came one fateful day, he saw the little Sam mixing sand and cement. Sam was the smallest among the other people on the crew. The man did not need anyone to tell him what had pushed Sam into the hard job that was too risky for a young child. Immediately the workers spotted him heading their way, they started hailing him; calling him "Chief" Sam joined the chorus. He was a liberal man; any day he visits the site, he would definitely give them money before leaving; he gave each of them N3,000 that was extra from their daily pay.

Chief asked Sam about his parents, and as he was telling him about them, Chief discovered he was very intelligent due to the way he spoke; he was able to speak both in English and Igbo language whereas the best the other workers could speak was pidgin. Chief developed more of an interest in him; moved with compa.s.sion, he asked Sam to take him to his parents' house.

When they got there, he saw the condition of his home and of his parents and knew they needed a little help, so he decided to make his father the caretaker of his property in the village, he also raised money for his wife to start selling foodstuff in the market It was a blessing coming in contact with Chief, because he changed their story. Joe and his family could then boast of eating three times a day.

Days of them begging and buying food items on credit were over…they could laugh at poverty. Moving down to Umunga his village was a blessing for them all. What they were not able to achieve when they were in the city, they were able to do when they moved to the village. That the city did not work out for them does not mean it will not favor others; and at the same time, that life in the village favored them does not mean it will favor any other person who just returned from city.

A lot of people in the village were looking for a way to migrate to the big city for a chance for a better life, whereas some of the people in the city are also looking for a way to go back to the simplicity of life in the village― that is the irony of life.

Chief was a philanthropist. Despite being wealthy, he considered everyone equal. He was not one to discriminate. He derived joy in serving others. He was always very humble. Most often one might see him walking in the street despite having a lot of cars. He had money to buy any car he wanted to. He was never too busy that he wouldn't mind playing chase with people in the street if the situation arose.

He walked freely and had nothing to fear. Unlike other rich men who didn't like helping others; most of them were always afraid to walk alone without an escort. Chief believed that helping the jobless people in the society would help to curb social vices. The main reason why some youths engaged themselves in vices was because they didn't have a job.

A jobless man can do anything to survive; he wouldn't mind collecting a penny to a.s.sa.s.sinate his fellow human being. A busy mind in the office will not have time to think of committing crime in the society. Chief believed that the best way to fight evil in the society was to engage the mind of the jobless people with something meaningful. Whenever Chief saw a talented person, he would look for a better way to keep the person busy. The intelligent poor ones he sent to school. He empowered a lot of youths in his community, and because of that, no one ever gave a thought to harming Chief.

The people who could have been a threat to his life he kept busy with something meaningful. He walked freely because he had nothing to fear. When one keeps people who might be a threat to himself or his community busy with something positive, the society will have peace of mind.

Sam and his parents benefitted from the Chief's kind gesture. Chief saw Sam as a wasted material; he picked him up and transformed his life.