For this week, I decided to take an unconventional walk and visit where I was brought up for the #wednesdaywalk challenge. It was spontaneous and totally radical; not what I am used to but I thought it was not going to be bad especially given the fact that this is also in collaboration with the #makemesmile challenge. Read all about it HERE.
I grew up in Kaduna having been brought from Anambra in the East after the terrible split between my parents. My mother stayed with her aunt for some time before things went south and we had to move and stay in a woman's garage.
Looking at it, I have so many memories of this place with my Mom and late Aunt Zipporah. My mother would wake me as early as 6am to get me ready for school. There is one particular vivid memory I have of a very good friend who lived across. I used to have sleep overs at her place and had a massive crush on her brother. Funny how I can't even remember their names anymore.
I honestly wish I could go inside and take a look. I felt too nostalgic and melancholic looking at the house. Fun times that held so much value to me as an only child. I remember we would leave our respective houses at the same time for school only that they had a driver while my Mom walked me. I was always eager to wave at them and they would wave back.
The school was only five minutes away from the place we called home. I can still remember walking down holding Mom's hand to Custom's School.
The tree was still there! There was a woman that sold bubble gums under that tree. It was my favorite. I'd lick the essence and throw it out. I was way taller than my peers too which made it hard to forget or miss me. So, the woman would always expect me and when she wouldn't see me, she'd ask after me. Hehehe. I always reserved N5 to patronize her at the end of the school day.
I came across some staffs and I didn't recognize them. They didn't recognize me either. What has it been? 18 years? I thought well, that would be normal. But I would not forget the way my school compound looked. It looked the same only that the grasses seemed shorter and less greener.
This was where we'd take class pictures. Hahahaha! I remember how I always seemed to have issues with the photographer because I just couldn't smile! I'd end up giving a frown with my teeth wide open looking like some sort of broken doll. Hahaha! I have the pictures but no way am I putting them on the blockchain. I never knew how to smile as a kid.
The swings! I think this was where I developed the fear of swings. I can't get on a swing and let you push me. I'd prefer to just sit. Why? I remember letting a girl push and she did it so hard I was practically flying. I was crying and yelling for her to stop but she didn't.
In the end, it was a teacher who came to my rescue. I never spoke to that girl again and I never touched a swing unless I was in full control. What a memory!
We'd have the assembly here. It was always so cold and we were almost always in the school cardigan. Now, I understand that it was the trees that made the difference. Why my school always seemed to operate in a different climate.
That right there was my class room. I was popularly known as Mommy's Handbag. My teachers loved me for two things. First was my brilliance and second was my willingness to share what I had. Mom told me that one of the teachers confessed to enjoying my company because despite my moody nature, I was still a kid who enjoyed having fun.
Just before I left, I ran into two familiar faces who recognized me! They outright said it when I told them my name. One was so dramatic she put her hands on her head! I feared her eyes would fall out.
"Mommy's Handbag!" she shrieked, calling the attention of the other one. It was hugs and pleasantries after that, asking how my mom was and how life has been. I had them pose with some of the little ones and forgot to insert myself...lol!
Just look at the smiles on their wee faces. I was never able to smile like that. After a few words with the young ones and my former teachers, I left and thought why not just go all the way? Back to the ghetto where I grew?
Mom and I moved here when I was 9 or so. We've moved places over the years which I quite like as being in a place for long suffocates me. This was where I met a lot of people my age and first encountered the pidgin language. It sounded so foreign to my ears but overtime, I picked it and it stayed.
Maybe it is cause I am taller but it looked so small all of a sudden. I met Jennifer here (she's late now) and her brother whom I took care of like he was a brother and not a neighbor.
I remembered Major (he is late now), a dog after my own heart. He was the definition of man's best friend. I can't remember his breed only that he was huge and covered in white fur. His brother, Whiskey, was the polar opposite. Slender, brown and a terrible personality. Major would always bark him down when he tried anything funny with me which was why I did cry when I heard of his death.
I used to come to this store to buy Kuli-kuli / Crunchy chocolates😂. There was something special about her kuli. I loved using it to drink groceries🤣 (garri).
This had to be the most special house for me during that year. There was a club that I attended every Sunday evening. It inspired me to create mine as such a young age and it was a success. I got encouragements from parents of my mates and inevitably, envy soon followed so I stopped. I wasn't strong enough to deal with the isolation.
Merveille Academy. Oh wow! The memories that assaulted me were multiple. Like a Memory rush. My eyes grew hot when I recalled the years I spent here as a student. This was where I encountered genuine competition. Maria, Johnson and I. We were the leading team always fighting for the top spot.
Johnson was the mathematician. I and Maria were always under his thumb in that area and always tried to learn from him. He would generously teach us. Apart from that, he was an excellent artist. His drawings left me in awe.
This was our classroom. Thirteen of us in which I was always at the back. Because of my height mostly, but also partly because I hated being in front. Johnson sat with me too but Maria enjoyed the front row.
This was where we'd have assembly and also where the sellers would bring their products for lunch breaks. I spoke to the man in the photo above when I saw the renovations and he explained that the school changed locations two years ago. The land was now occupied by a church.
I concluded my walk when I came to this place. Before Jenny died and their family moved away, her mother made rice cakes (Masa) at that spot. I wasn't a fan of rice cakes then so I never got to taste hers.
Coming back to this place was what I needed to fuel my gratitude. I am not where I used to be and that is just something to be grateful for! I shared these pictures with Mom and we laughed and reminisced over them. I loved going back to my memories. I really hope to do it again sometime.
