Lady Shares How Her Primary School Classmate Who Hawked Pap Has Evolved As She Later Became An Associate Professor, And A Lecturer At A University In The UK

As shared by Mgbeodinchinma Cather on Facebook

When I was in primary school, I had a classmate whose name is Chetachi Margaret, we attended the community primary school in my area.

Now, Cheta is a habitual late comer, there’s no day that she doesn’t come to school late. Even the constant punishment from our class teacher could not deter her from coming late.

Again, she looks dirty and unkempt most of the time. Her school uniform is always rough and dirty. We later learnt that she hawks pap very early in the mornings before coming to school. And after dismissal, she helps her mum to hawk tomatoes, vegetables and any other seasonal fruit.

Cheta doesn’t have notebooks, except the ones given to us by the government, which is few by the way. She doesn’t have textbooks either. Her widowed mum couldn’t afford to buy them for her.

The last of eight children, her father died few months after she was born, and the poor woman had no choice but to ‘share’ her older children to her relatives. She stayed with only with Cheta.

She later became stricken with an illness that affected her legs, making her to walk with pain. This made Cheta to start assisting her mother to sell her goods.

She even goes to the farm too. Cheta is our age mate, but life’s adversities has made her take up roles that are too mature for her age.

Cheta borrows textbooks from us to read, sometimes, we tear blank sheets from our exercise books so she can gum them together and use. That was how bad things were for her.

But inspite the hardship she was facing, she never took second position in the class. She was always the best student. I don’t know the kind of computer brain God gave to that girl. Even on the days she missed classes, she will still end up teaching us what was taught on that day by mere reading through our notes. As an avid reader, she reads everything that comes her way; empty cartons, bread labels, signage, Cheta will read them all.

After our primary education, Cheta was able to secure scholarship to a government secondary school, that was how I lost contact with her.

Some years back, I got a Facebook friend request from a name that looked familiar, and when I went through the profile, it was no other person but our dear Chetachi.

Everything about her has changed, she was just glowing like the pebbles from the sacred river. Nothing about her showed the rough childhood she experienced. When I slid into her DM, we caught up on old times. As usual, she said it was my unique native name that made her remember that we could be class mates from primary school.

Cheta is currently an associate professor, and a lecturer in one of the universities in the UK. One of her older siblings was able to relocate abroad, that was how she came over too to do her masters and her PhD.

As we chatted, I remembered the poor girl who couldn’t afford a book, who hawked every day before coming to school. The poor girl who smelt so badly of rancid sweat. The poor girl who was deep into poverty.

Now, God has so blessed her that she can afford any book she wants to read. She doesn’t need to hawk anymore before she can eat. She’s no longer smelling of sweat, but of luxury perfumes. She doesn’t dress in tattered and old uniforms, but in designer wears, she’s no longer in the trenches.

What are you passing through today, and you feel it will never come to an end? Is it hunger, deprivation, just name it. I want you to know that whatever that is not enough today will be more than enough tomorrow. It’s only a phase of life, that rough season will pass and usher in a season of abundance.

When you look back at how far God has brought you, you will testify that he preserved you for a purpose.

So don’t give up on yourself. This too shall pass.

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Source: Mgbeodinchinma Cather| Facebook

Email: elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com