Episode 5
Ola attended the local Catholic mission primary school, located in a small clearing surrounded by eucalyptus trees. Five buildings housed classes 1 to 7, a school hall, and the headmaster’s office.
Ola started Class One like any other child in the village. There was no nursery school in the village so learning started in primary 1. The primary One teacher, fondly called Iya L’Iwe, was a woman in her early fifties who taught in the local Yoruba language. Even the English alphabet, was taught in the local language.
Ola was to spend seven years in this school from classes 1 to 7. Growing up and attending this local school, Ola was soon to learn a bitter truth. Other kids avoided her, but she did not notice. Only one girl was her friend in the entire school. Her name was Bimpe. Only Bimpe liked to walk with her. Every other child appeared to avoid Ola. If girls were playing in a group and Ola joined them, the group would just scatter and everyone would go their way. Ola had no clue that news around the school insinuated she was born a witch and that was the reason for her parents’ death. Where such a malicious rumor came from, no one had any idea. Such interpretations of tragic events are common in the African belief systems where each event is associated with witchcraft.
Bimpe suddenly left for Ibadan where her father had found a new job, and Ola was left all alone with no friends at school. She would walk to school alone, and walk back home alone.
The only true friends Ola ended up with were her granny and Father Ronaldo. Granny knew how to entertain her with stories that made her laugh. Father Ronaldo told her Bible stories and she loved them. Since her only friend Bimpe was gone, Ola dedicated all her time to schoolwork, gardening, and cleaning the churchyard. Father Ronaldo understood the child’s pain and did everything to make her feel better. He offered her children’s storybooks, allowed her to watch children’s TV programs at the mission house, and helped Ola sometimes with her homework. So, although Ola was growing in a rural African community, exposure to foreign TV programming and books started shaping her thinking. And again, as she learned to read story books and the Holy Bible, she started looking at life from a completely different perspective to other kids in her community. In class, she would ask intelligent questions and teacher Iya L’Iwe would praise her openly and lavishly for her intelligence. This made the other kids hate her more.
Young and naïve, Ola wondered why other kids avoided her. The concept of hatred was foreign to her young mind. She kept to herself though, silently and painfully hoping that one day she will see her parents. The concept of death was not yet clear in her mind so she lived in hope of seeing her mom and dad returning someday. Talking to Jesus was one of the biggest mysteries to Ola. Yet, Jesus remained elusive although she wanted to meet Him in person. She kept on and on asking Jesus to visit her. He never showed up. The little girl wondered in her young man if Jesus hated her too and was avoiding her like the kids at school.
Fast forward, Ola completed primary 7 and passed the local national school-leaving examination in flying colors. She enrolled in the local government secondary school that was almost 10km away from where she and granny lived. Again, she had to endure the scorching tropical sun and torrential rains for five years, trekking to and from school five days a week and sometimes on Saturdays when they had extra classes.
Time passed by and Ola grew up into a teenage girl, naïve, strong-willed, and committed to her grandmother and the church. She also became a mass servant in the church, a role mostly performed by boys. Father made her read the Bible lessons on some Sundays in English. While some parishioners who knew her background praised God for sustaining her, others said Father Ronaldo was grooming her as his girlfriend. He was accused on several occasions of having amorous relations with young women in the community. Yet no one dared say so openly in his face and there was no proof that it was indeed true. Yet, Father Ronaldo was loved dearly in his parish.
Ola excelled in secondary school and after five painful years, she passed her junior WAEC examination and proceeded to high school. The church took care of her needs. In the course of her secondary education, she distinguished herself as a gifted athlete. Ola could run like a deer. She loved volleyball too and excelled in it. She led her school to the state volleyball finals in Lagos Island and they took the trophy.
Her fame grew in the village but to her, it meant nothing. She was still this poor girl living in a dilapidated building with her granny. The national volleyball coach who noticed this lanky dark-skinned rural girl approached her school to solicit her trial in the national women’s junior team. Timid Ola, although excited but not knowing what to do, asked the coach to go speak to her granny and Father Ronaldo. Her naïveté made the national coach, a no-nonsense Mrs. Olubami love her dearly. The story of her parents’ tragic death further drew Olubami to Ola and she treated Ola like a daughter.
As things would soon start working out in Ola’s life, she became a pivot in the national volleyball team. She also distinguished herself as a gifted sprinter. After winning first place in the Olympic trials in the 100m women’s dash, Ola was to learn quickly the meaning of the Bible verse Father Ronaldo had taught her. Father Ronaldo taught Ola that a person’s gift has the power to bring them before the great people of this world.
Coach Olubunmi invited and took Ola’s granny to one of the athletic competitions in Ikoyi Island and she was awestruck at the large crowds and loud cheering her granddaughter received as she ran along the white lines on the stadium floor. Granny had never seen anything like this.
Things were yet to take another dramatic turn as Ola was to compete at national level in Abuja. Granny was again asked to accompany her and they were to fly to Abuja in the airplane. This was too much for granny, yet she was happy. Granny wanted to be left alone to care for her few goats and chicken and tend the small garden that had fed her and her granddaughter all their lives. But, Coach Olubunmi convinced granny to go with them because she had another plan.
That weekend, since Ola and the granny were away in Abuja, with the help of Father Ronaldo, builders moved swiftly to the dilapidated building that was Ola and granny’s house and took off and replaced the roof. The house was plastered and painted while electricians wired the building. In three short days, when Ola and granny returned from Abuja and were picked up by Father Ronaldo at the domestic wing of the Muritala Muhamed Airport in Ikeja, they returned to a brand new home with furniture, electricity, new beds, and a paved courtyard. Granny could not believe her eyes. She fell down, cried, rolled over, and chanted praises to her ancestors in the local Yoruba language. The entire village had come out to witness this transformation. Nothing like this had happened before in their village. Tongues were wagging with people blaming Father Ronaldo for the preferential treatment of Ola and her granny. Another school of thought held it that Father was the one responsible for the death of her parents hence he was helping this family out of guilt.
Coach Olu took the opportunity to address the young people who had turned out to witness the transformation of Ola and her granny’s old house. She urged them to use their God-given talents to excel in life. She used Ola as an example to lash out at young people who had resorted to idleness or drug abuse and the girls who had dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancies. She told them Ola will be going to university for free if she passes her senior WAEC exams. Coach Olu urged the young villagers to see how seriousness at school and seriousness with one’s gifts can transform life.
Some of the onlookers rejoiced with Ola, especially the older folks who were present on the day of her naming ceremony when she lost both parents. Others frowned and walked away, saying this girl was some kind of ogbanje, a witch.
(to be continued)
GetUp&Move!
Ola was and is an avid reader. What about you? What have you been reading lately? Editors all over the world suggest books that matter to those who wish to improve their lives. Here is one of such books. Click here.