28 Aug 2008 |
|
| I vaguely remembered the last time I landed at the Atlanta Hartford International Airport. It must have been almost two decades ago. Since the Naira’s value kept depreciating, hopes of complete funding from home for a coveted graduate degree at Emory were soon dashed before I finally accepted my cousin’s offer to join him in Calif. The current BA boycott gave me this welcomed opportunity again. Today, it has changed a bit. It has blossomed. There were so many concession stands that you could possibly walk around in circles only to find yourself returning to the same location save for the distinct overhead signs reminding you which direction you should be heading for your flight. Delta’s Gate E02 was at the end of one hallway. Its waiting area was quiet and sparsely filled indicating the flight was going to be at least half empty. Oh good, I thought. I can lay claim to a whole row of empty seats and have my well deserved sleep in the last 48 hrs. 2025 was in-scripted top rear of his t-shirt. I wondered at its significance. I wondered if that will be the magical year of our salvation as Nigerians. I wondered if he had positive dreams about our beloved country. I had not even seen his face. I had not paid any attention to looks today. I was really just basking in the presence of all my fellow Nigerians. I had begun to feel that peace that usually engulfs me at descent into Murtala Mohammed Airport. Ah!….my country. How I wish many things for you: growth and development especially for the youths….the same youths we have deprived the opportunity to make us proud in our old age, whose future we have mortgaged so detrimentally that the inconsequential is now norm. I should be on the look out for a gleam of hope today. Seats 20 G and F were occupied. But I had been assigned 20 F and I really wanted that exit row. My legs are long and if not business class, then it must be this row, or else a miserable journey to Nigeria. The older gentleman apologized and excused himself to his original seat. “I really like these seats, lots of room”, I heard my seat mate say. I looked down to find a very young man smiling up at me. Yes, they are, I replied. I never envisioned the seats being this comfortable. “Good evening, how are you? I’m Ayomide. Am I glad I didn’t waste my money for a higher class of service? Can be put to better use…..charity or something”, I concluded. He shot a side look at me, smiled widely…”Maam, I don’t know you but I like you already”. And so, my journey really began. Efosa proceeded to introduce himself. He’s a Computer Engineer employed with a high-end computer hardware company in Wisconsin. He’s barely a man. I want to call him a baby. Afterall, if I’d started early enough I could have said, yeah, that’s my son! Hmmmm…how proud his parents must be. I say that knowing what this gentleman is doing. Being the adventurer and innovator that he is, he had heeded his company’s request and volunteered to transfer to Wisconsin from another U.S. city, hoping to continue the search for himself. Yes, he is an early riser. He found his passion early. Not a late bloomer by any means. He said he had become bored with routine work life. Weekends were spent engrossed in the mundane: watching movies and gallivanting around the house. He had recently bought a new house, at 24! He said introspective reality caught up with him during the lavish furnishing of his house. As a young uppity professional single, he had such financially ability. Next, he had contemplated trading his efficient and fairly new Honda for a brand new BMW. But he stopped, he said, asking himself if that should be his focus….material accumulation and vanity. He said his transformation continued and his life began to have more meaning. His values became intrinsically desirable. Pleased with himself and content with bare essentials, he left things at that. What cerebral conversation? His old party friends found their level. He lost a few for which he insists he has no regrets. More importantly, one of them, older, a professional just like him, became convinced enough that his new found value-laden ‘truth’, conscience, and servitude towards humanity are no brainer and undoubtedly more gratifying. They began to work together, and before long he joined Efosa in his humanitarian efforts. Efosa said he became unrelenting in his efforts and his weekends’ outlook began to have form. Essentially, his passion to contribute towards humanity found inception in charitable work. At that point, he proudly reached in his back pocket for a bulky well-worn leather wallet. He flipped out a picture of a healthy-cheeked young African boy who couldn’t have been much older than 5 yrs of age. The young boy from Lesotho looked happy and the content that radiated from his face was unmistakable. I nodded, proudly. I did not miss the light in Efosa’s eyes or the elation in his voice as he narrated his financial responsibility for several children at a monthly cost of only $40 per child. He may not be everybody’s Oprah but he sure was mine. He relaxed in his seat for a brief second, pensive. I smiled inwards convinced beyond any doubt that this young man derives unparalleled personal fulfillment from these activities. As if he could read my next thoughts, he sat up, shot me a look, smiled, got up and reached in the overhead compartment for his bag. He began to rummage through as I began to say….but charity begins at home and so badly needed in our own country. He replied hesitantly but definitely with even more zeal: “I want to show you something”. He pulled his hand from his bag and produced a grey T-Shirt with clearly bold inscription….. Please see for yourself. He gladly gave it to me, and I proudly accepted it. “This is what I have been doing. These shirts are free and for my project.” Tears of joy welled in my eyes. I was so overwhelmed at so much kindness and candor from such a young fine man that I felt compelled to know him better. He said his dad is a Civil Engineer who had found this village in the South-West which he thought could use collective help. It’s note worthy to add here that Efosa is Edo and not from that village. That wasn’t their first project either. There, they are on a mission to build a bore hole for the village. Lights went off in my head….water….that could mean an end to diseases……..I saw green agriculture…..food sustenance…good health….hope…and I began to dream of education…..wealth and the limitless opportunities that this one singular effort and selfless act can bring to the masses in only one village. To him, he said, it is one village at a time. Hmmmm….from the mouth of babes… His projects will include construction of other edifices of living for the inhabitants as well….. What a blessing! And at such a crucial time in the growth and development of our savagely impoverished country! I’m already very proud. I’m beginning to find meaning for the rest of my life. Mid-life crisis can be exchanged for mid-life awareness and volunteerism. My thoughts wondered at the last musings I never posted. I’m glad I didn’t at the time. There was too much ongoing in my personal life that needed to be cleaned up first. It’s very appropriate now. I will edit it for publication soon. My surprises at the agility with which conscientious Nigerians are, and continue, improving our tarnished image, most importantly, the lot of the underprivileged, surpass my expectation. I am so overjoyed. Believe me, when I tell you that things are happening…. No one is waiting for the world to change any longer. We are taking change to the world…. At home, less than two weeks ago, one bright morning, I indulged in listening to Ireti Doyle on the Silverbird TV channel. It was timely as I had been desperate for an avenue to penetrate the Nigerian scene by myself based on my ideas. I had begun to volunteer at a neighborhood medical clinic in appreciation for the good care they’ve given my dad. I teach them all I know…including a quick approach to reading and interpreting lab results to facilitate timely preventive care and in return they teach me tropical medicine. The relationship is more than gratifying, yet I want to do more. My answer found me. I heard Ireti interview two representatives of Ovie Brume Foundation. It’s a Non-profit organization primarily created to provide a safe and positive environment towards the empowerment of our youths. Theirs is an attempt to make a monumental change in youth’s lives thereby causing a shift from poverty-entrenched mindsets to hope and dreams of courage and empowerment. I was glued. Check them out at www.oviebrumefoundation.org I listened as the first speaker recounted how, only 8 yrs ago, he had become innovative by ensuing on selling books door to door. Yes, books. In the process, he transformed a mere beginning capital of 10,000 Naira into over 840,000 Naira that same year. I tell you, my heart almost exploded. Now, he no longer does that, but teaches essential subjects and trade to our youths as one aspect of his commitment to the cause. The other guest, a beautiful, confident and savvy attorney, had been practicing with a law firm in the U.S. before she decided, recently, to bring her skills set back to Nigeria. She had shunned jobs from reputable oil companies for a worthy cause towards empowering our youths. I listened in awe as she described her feeling of content and immeasurable delight whenever receiving a phone call from youths, even in the middle of the night, to simply re-assure them of her presence in their lives……………. If this did not do it for me, nothing else will….. How about you? How are you going to make a change? It’s our country, and WE have to make the change….. No skill is too little. Many are beginning to do something…. Search the NVS files…see for yourself. Nigeria is improving, slowly but surely. It’s going to take all of us to put the destroyers of life to shame and demand the needed infrastructure to manage our lives. We deserve that much! I add here that we can achieve very little, if anything, if the Niger Delta region is missing on our agenda for positive change. So, I’m ready….my daughter goes to college in less than one year. I know what I’m doing and will continue to do while she’s discovering education and life….. There is no doubt in my mind that even I can find someone, right there in my own country willing to hear and learn the little I have brought from my sojourn…… Life continues…. On behalf of every villager, I have invited Efosa to join us here in deliberations and discussions towards the salvation and emancipation of our people….. I thank you for your time. I wish you a thoughtful and prosperous week…. [The first villager who translates the next song into two other primary dialects to the satisfaction of at least two other villagers conversant in those dialects gets $50 from me…thanks.] ---Efosa, I’m grateful for your vision and courage as you join other pioneers in our struggle to improve our country….nothing is too little….every drop continues to fill the ocean and indeed our hearts…….Thank you. ---And you too, Edolphil, a young ICOBA, an aspiring Engineer, and my darling nephew….as you continue to ensure that I’m not out of touch on Ground Zero….Asa (Asha) is too fantastic!! Ayo is equally refreshing!! …….I dedicate this story to both of you…..my champions. ……………Twilight…From the Chronicles of My Misty Blues.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
# 
Your Comments
Please make The Square an enjoyable experience for everyone by refraining from gratuitous ad-hominem contributions, defamatory comments and off-topic posting. Such posts will be removed.