I didn't have to go looking for a job. I was seated on the balcony of the two-bedroom bungalow where my mom lived, holding up my hands for young Kelechi to use as his abacus while doing his quantitative reasoning assignment when she walked up to me.
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She came over to inspect what we were doing, listening to the way I asked him to count and asked him questions that would stimulate his arithmetic prowess. When Kelechi was done with the final question, I held a palm up for him to slap his against, and then he took his workbook and stool into their own house.
When I looked up, she was beaming down at me.
“Was that an extra lesson session?”
I smiled and shook my head. “Kelechi likes me to help him out with his homework and I'm always glad to help”.
She nodded and turned to Kelechi’s house where he was telling his mother tales of how he was counting and achieving the answers in his book. The woman was not educated but she valued education and was doing everything she could to help her children come out as one of the best in school. I silently commended her for that.
“Well, you're very good at teaching. Have you ever worked in a school? Or taught an extra lesson?”
I shook my head again. I wanted this strange woman to get off my balcony and leave me alone before my mother returned and scolded me for entertaining a stranger. At least she was a woman and she was Mummy Kelechi's friend.
“Then you should consider it. My school is starting holiday lesson classes immediately after exams next month. You could apply to be an external staff and get paid for your services. Ask mummy Kelechi for my number if you're interested” she said and walked away.
Throughout that evening, I paced the length of my room worriedly. I didn't know if my mother would upturn her lips tightly or if she would relax her face with a smile and encourage me to go ahead with such a plan.
It wasn't long until I found out. She soon returned from work with a bag of garden eggs and a bottle of groundnuts. I was glad that there was something that would make us sit together and have that conversation. When she was done telling me all about how her day went and I promptly put all the sound effects required for her to be satisfied with my listening, I cleared my throat.
“Mummy, something happened over here as well”
She nodded her head urging me to go on as she bit into one of the juicy fruits in her hand and flung some of the nuts from her palm to her mouth.
“When I was helping Kelechi out with his homework, a woman walked up to me, she's his mother's friend. She said her name is Mrs Gabriella. She loved the way I was teaching Kelechi and offered to give me a job in her school this holiday….”
“Really!”
When my eyes met hers, I couldn't mistake the lights in them for anything other than excitement. A quick chuckle seized my throat as I inclined my head confirming her suspicion. She clapped her hands together in elation, bobbing her head up and down while we ate the rest of the meal in silence.
The following morning as she was on her way to work, she asked when I was supposed to begin.
“I don't know yet, I'm supposed to call her if I'm interested” Since I didn't own a cell phone then, my mom promised to let me call her with her own phone when she got back from work then she went on her way.
I half expected Mrs Gabriella to return that evening but as I taught Kelechi, she was nowhere to be seen. I then hurried over to his mother as soon as I was done assisting Kelechi with his assignment so I could get the contact from her.
My mother returned that evening with another bag. I was hopeful that I would see the reddish attractiveness of a watermelon or the yellowish beauty of a banana this time, but instead, I saw clothes.
“Since you're about to start working I decided that you should get some new clothes” she explained. I flung my arms around her neck thanking her profusely.
That same evening, I put a call across to Mrs Gabriella and she was extremely delighted to receive my news. She even invited me over to her house with my mom for dinner once.
At the beginning of the holiday, I walked into a classroom filled with seven-year-olds for the first time. I was to be their English and Verbal Reasoning tutor.
The holiday classes went on from the first week of August till the first week of September. By the second week of September, I was officially employed as the class teacher of primary 3B.
