One Picture And One Story Week #33

Greetings friends, I would say this is his fate, this is where life has placed him. There is no opportunity, but I hope it will come. One day, appointments and notifications of success will come, I believe Okonkwo has been thinking of this all day, just read through

Okonkwo was born into a very poor family whose family means of survival was centred on his father's palm wine tapping and marketing and his mother was always frying akara (a local ball made from beans, half the size of an egg roll) to give Okonkwo to hawk. He had to do this since he was the eldest among his siblings and would be able to support the family, if he refuses to do this and besides himself will suffer the consequences too(hunger). Okonkwo is an obedient and humble kid so doing this will be very absurd of him.

He was always sad as his hope of becoming a medical doctor seemed unattainable, as his family, both extended and nuclear, was poverty-stricken. Each day, Okonkwo returned from selling akara and bread and saw his peers going to school. He was always ashamed of himself and sometimes became depressed, leading to Okonkwo flooding his bed with tears. His mother understood him and always told him that his better days were coming, and that tough times don't last.

Okonkwo managed to finish primary school with distinction, but he dropped out of secondary school on the last day. It was time to write the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate examination, but there was no money available. All that he hustled for was used in feeding, as his mum was a nursing mother of twins and giving such an amount of money out to starve wouldn't be advisable, so Okonkwo understood all this and kept working harder.

One thing about Okonkwo that his parents never knew was that he burns his candle all night, he reads as if he has hope and prays as if he has no hope. As it was Okonkwo's daily routine he turned on his radio that Saturday evening after waking up from his siesta. Shockingly, he heard something, the Nigerian oil company was about to sponsor the 50 best students that will pass their scholarship examination.

Okonkwo relayed the information to his mother but she was not happy because she thought Okonkwo had no time to read, since he has been selling all day, even though he had being a distinction from beginning he might not be able to win because of inconsistency. Unfortunately, he missed the WASSCE examination which he was supposed to write that year, so he vowed never to take the opportunity for granted. His parents had money to help him buy the registration form this time but were doubtful of his success though they kept praying for me.

I was just 2 months to the examination and Okonkwo was reading as if it was the next day. When the D-day came, he shuttled himself down to the venue, many underestimated him because of his outfit but he overlooked it and let it slide, his attention was on when his batch would be called in, so this time came and he was in, it was computer-based, full of calculation and brainstorming questions but he managed to answer the once he could, when the result came out, unfortunately, he was not in the first position and fortunately the second position and ranked highest from his state, Okonkwo was offered the scholarship, his state government offer to sponsor his feeding, clothing and part of his academic. This was how Okonkwo was able to raise his family from poverty.

I would love to read entry from my friend @hahdie, @omarscott , @hardphotographer and @wakeupkitty