To talk about the beginning of January, it's necessary to take a cursory look into the Christmas period of December, because there's a correlation between then and now.
As Christmas was approaching, the song in everyone's mouth was, "There's no money".
With that, I had thought that people will not go home to the village for the Christmas celebration. Well, I agreed also that there was no money in view of the economic downturn of the at the moment. The celebration will be suppressed or low-key. So, I planned to simply sneak into the village to see my mother, and sneak out immediately after the New Year, back to town. I was not expecting to see many families that returned.
It was really so at the beginning but, as the Christmas time truly came up, people trooped into the village as if something was chasing them from the towns where they were living. I was shocked to see such a large number of people.
"What happened about the song of, 'There's no money?'" I asked in soliloquy. 'What made them change their minds?" I couldn't answer the question.
The village suddenly became agog with festivities of different kinds, ranging from marriages, burials, chieftaincy celebrations, child and even house dedications, name it.
I must agree that I enjoyed the celebrations and activities. Meeting old friends and making new ones are things to cherish. Besides, the unique environment of the village offers a sweet change from the noise and stress of the town.
Attending all the occasions was costing a lot of money but, one was forced to be there especially, when it involved a close relation or friend else, it will be counted as an offence.
Before it will reach to a point where one will be looking for the transport fare back to town, I packed my bag and sneaked back to Umuahia, my base on the 5th of January.
Reaching Umuahia, it was a ghost town. The burstling the town was known for had disappeared. To get to my house took a long time because of scanty of Keke operators.
The schools were to resume on 13th, and to wait for a week was not easy as everywhere was as if people simply ran away from the town. About 80% of businesses were under lock and key. No friend to visit. Loneliness became my companion.
When 13th January eventually came, as a teacher, I sighed in relief. I hurriedly went to school but, it was almost the same story of inactivity because most students were yet to report to school. However, teachers were around so, we just sat and chatted in clusters, reliving the holiday period.
Actually, I sensed the low turnout of the students right from the time I took off from my house. The atmosphere was as if people didn't want to wake up. Everywhere was quiet. There were very few vehicles and even Keke on the road.
It is expected that come next Monday 20th, the students would have woken up from their slumber to know that holiday is over, and that serious academic work must start in earnest.
The good thing is that already, the town has started bubbling once more.
