Life is really in phases I must say, I remembered how eager my sister and I were to become high school boarders. My Mother made that decision because her work then was demanding and my father was then attaining a Bible school away from the state we were living and it was very stressful for mum to come back from work and then attain to us because most times she had to close late because of her position in the company she was working.
And so in the month of September in the year 1995 mum enrolled me in a girls high school, got me prepared by buying what was given to us in the school prospectus and the D-Day came I was to leave for the high school. The high is situated in a different Local Government and so my mum and I arrived the high school, at the school gate my box was checked by the boarding Mistress to be sure I had all the requirements, I felt really sorber that I would be left alone , looked at mum in the eyes and tears ran down my chin and mum hugged me and adviced I should take my studies serious and that soon my younger sister would join me. I was cleared and ushered to my hostel, I was given a bed and a wardrobe to hang my clothes.
Being a new student who was trying to familiarize with the new environment,I really got bullied by the senior students because I never had an older friend as a senior student who would speak for me. One of those night at about 7pm Nigerian time a wicked senior student by name Angela Donald approached me and asked if I was a new student and I responded yes and she said she wanted to send me on an errand to another senior student who lived in another hostel. She asked me to go and get a standing stick from the senior student.
My friends being a new student who didn't under the gimmicks in the environment I ran down to the hostel she sent me to and I remembered vividly the senior student name was Mary John and went inquiring of the name and finally I was directed to her and so I went and told
the senior student that I was sent to her to collect a standing stick and she been a wicked soul as well directed me to another senior student , she claimed it was the senior student that had her standing stick and so she sent me to another senior student by name Joy Victor and I proceeded again to another hostel and it was already getting late and so when I got to the hostel Joy Victor was I was directed to her.
Immediately I met with her I told her I was sent by Mary John to her to collect her standing stick for her, she got compassionate on me and was very angry and took me along side with her to meet Mary John ,when we got to her hostel ,she told her what she did to me was not fair and that if that were to be done on her younger sister and she got aware if she would be happy? She turn to me and said there was nothing like a standing stick in existence in the school and took me back to my hostel and scolded the first senior student who sent me to Mary John.
I thanked her for rescuing me that night and she told me not to hesitate to talk to her anytime I had challenges, she eventually became my school mother and really contributed to my Academic , she would help explain subjects I had difficulties because she was intelligent, after that experience I made sure no other newbie experienced that, I informed as many that came my way that there was no such thing should they come in contact with any wicked senior student. Indeed a boarding environment is entirely a different terrain with mixed multitude and different characters.
Thanks 🙏 for reading through my blog have a lovely week.