My Superman: Living for Tomorrow.

By DAVID O. IDAHOSA

MY SUPERMAN

David, who always wanted to be a prolific and successful writer, later found himself taking a step further to live in a hidden world where villains live and dwell. He was committing crimes and was held behind bars. He saw that the more friends he was having, the farther he was walking from his dream. Despite that addiction to crime, which almost stole his life away, he still would not relinquish his dream of becoming something he feels inclined to bethat he so believed is what he will be judged with by God when he die. He said he could see that crime can also be a product of the law and as a lack of social benefit.

A young African born into a vicious cycle of poverty in one of the most corrupt countries in the world. And because of the political situation of his country, which was on the brink of a civil war, the lack of enough financial support from his impoverished family for him to run his educationso as for him to be able to secure himself from danger by having a profession to work and live peacefully in his country. He then decided to set on a formidable journey of life, departed thenceand traveled to Europe by land, passing through the Sahara desert, which he described as the hell on earth, to Morocco, and later to Spain. Reaching Spain, he proceeded farther on his adventurous journey that altered his life and dreamonly to make him discover the tragedies that later befell him and made him to send his ghost to live in the land where he was incarcerated by unending miseries, seeing his life in peril and his dreams turning into nightmares. In accordance with fact, he became less preoccupied with his own problems as he looked to the three major problems engulfing the world, which are hunger, wars, and terrorism.

He found politics more fascinating, and when he tried to ascertain the facts about it, he grasped that it was greed, power, and lust that were written in their agendas, and it was disturbing his faith and beliefs in humanity. He thought he could see how men chose to forbid love and peace, to embrace enmities and conflicts; he said he could see that if men cannot make a sacrifice to love their neighbors, they will find themselves paying prices for destroying each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Sep 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466948099

DAVID O. IDAHOSA

1. I am qualified to write the book because I have read too many books that I have come to understand that I am also a writer, and I can write a good book to also inspire many others just as I was inspired. 2. It is my dream to become a writer because the more I read, the more I come to believe in myself of becoming a writer, and being able to express what is inside of me to others, and also to edify them of the things of the world, that it can be a more better and peaceful place to live, if only we choose to love our neighbors than to hate them. 3. I was born and bred in Africa, but I am now living in Spain. I have traveled and lived in many places in Europe. I am jobless and thought of using this opportunity to becoming a writer.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

All David’s life, he has always wanted to be a writer—a prolific and successful writer. Maybe he thought he was not competent enough. And at the same time, he was having a strong passion for music. Music was his everything. His life was music and music was his life. About becoming a musician, he had tried everything he could since it was a thing he could not do without, but becoming a musician was far more than becoming a writer.

David was a good reader. He has read many great books, and upon the many books he read, he came to understand that creativity was his way of life. Although his principal reason for wanting to be an artist was for him to become sententious and being able to communicate with other writers and spreading the words to other people who hunger and thirst for it—whether by writing or singing or painting—to him, it is all the same. He once read in a book that ‘‘A man is fed not that he may be fed, but that he might work,’’ which he came to interpret on his own that he is not reading because he like to, but for him to procure knowledge, and this knowledge which later became inspiration for him to be creative.

Actually, we can see, if God became the first Person to create and set a precedent for other artists, why would God not be in favor of those who intend to be like him? God himself is an artist and at the same time, a scientist. The bible and other religions books tells us that God made man—which is to say he sculpted man—and that is art. He later breathe life into him—which is science. God made man in His own image, which is to say, man is like God, as God will always love man and want him to be like him.

So, after all and all, David then took the will to become a writer since he rediscovered pleasure when reading. Reading amuses and diverts him, so he think of other people who read. He once said, ‘‘I cannot in the life of me imagine why some folks would not like to read. Those who do not read, might not conceive what in life the already lost.’’

David here is two: 1st David and 2nd David. When he is with other people, he is one, but sometimes when he is with himself, he will automatically become two. He has always secluded himself, living a solitary life, while most people thought of him to be self-exiled. He thought people who are happy should just move on to be happy and let those who prefer to be alone to remain alone all by themselves. He said, ‘‘The more friends he was having, the farther he was walking away from his dream.’’ His conception about folks who live an enjoyable and comfortable life with no problems and responsibilities was too absurd. He thought these folks might not be able to explain what life really is. It might seem not logical or sensible, but it is a good thing to see one find a definition of life for himself, since life itself is a mystery which no scientist can explore. He said he could not grasp how and what made him to walk into the history of mankind that later captured the essence of his self-education. He said, ‘‘How in the life of mankind to see that it is a terrible thing to see one man laid down his life for others.’’

CHAPTER 2

Friday morning was the last day of the month as it was also the last day of the year. David, an African immigrant living in Spain, woke up from his bed at about 05:00 a.m, brushed his teeth, showered with a very warm water since the weather outside was very cold, and approximately, three degrees centigrade. To shower in the morning before going to work was not a thing he was habituated. But he did so that day so as to keep his body warm. He slipped on his blue jeans trouser, a t-shirt, then a sweater, and on top of that, a warm anorak jacket. To match, he wore his sneakers, preparing to go to work.

As he was accustomed to smoking a cigarette before parting for work, so he thought he was still having some in one of the packet he found on the floor of his room, but there was nothing inside when he checked it. ‘This is an obnoxious day,’ he murmured to himself.

As he left the door of the house ajar, stepping across the threshold, he found that it was rainy outside. Since there was nothing he could do about it, so he covered his head with the hood of his jacket, and with an umbrella, he moved on, meanwhile, he was to walk nine hundred meters to get to the train station where he could get a train. Waiting for the train to come, he met one of his friends who also was going to work and was waiting for the rain as well. They shook hands just the way they always do while in Africa. ‘Hey whats up brother,’ greeted David, first. ‘I dey fine,’ replied the boy. ‘Cold dey today o my brother,’ said David, again to the boy. ‘I bow o, wetin man go do now? man not fit say cold dey, make him not go work.’ replied the boy.

As they waited and continued to converse, speaking pidgin English—English mostly spoken by many west African countries colonized by the British. When the train finally arrived, they went inside and were sitting opposite to each other. ‘We are about to commence a new year,’ said the boy to David, looking at him to see if he was responding to his questions. ‘What do you think about it?’ he asked for the second time. David full of too many things running around his brain, was not listening. But the boy struck him on his lap and shouted louder, ‘hey brother! wetin be the matter with you? we dey both sit down here, and I said something, yet you not dey hear me.’ ‘Oh! were you talking to me? asked David, waiting a bit and proceeding with what he intended to say, as he watched the boy looked at him in disgust. ‘I thought you were talking to the other man sitting there,’ said David, again, wiping his eyes with the back of his right hand. ‘No,’ said the boy. ‘I was talking to you. I was saying, we are about to commence with another year.’ ‘Yes,’ said David. ‘I mean, what do you think about this country?’ asked the boy again. ‘Do you think we will be able to survive this economic crisis here in Spain? Actually, David being whom he is, was really not prepared to edify anyone about an arduous journey the country would have to go, which was inevitable, as long as the government was not able to provide a new strategy to confront the crisis.

It is true people say, ‘‘You do not run away from your problems, you have to confront it.’’ Agreed. But he said he disagreed to agree that the socialist party which was in power in Spain, was capable of setting the country free from the crisis. The Zapatero’s administration was not doing anything, but was just debating on the next step to take after landing the country into a deep hole. The intrinsic truth was that the prime minister, Zapatero, was indeed a good man, but he was not brainy enough to have been able to prevent the crisis. Although, there were economic and financial crisis everywhere around the globe at that particular time, but the one in Spain was just more than economic and financial crisis. David said, he saw how Zapatero was constantly lying to the citizens to get his political stand, and his political strategies to get the economy back in track, were not functioning. He said earlier that Zapatero was a good man, who would have preferred to always help the citizens by giving them more chances and opportunities. As a socialist, immediately he was voted in as the prime minister, he was on the brink of a revolution; he legalized same-sex marriage, brought the Spanish troops back from Iraq because he said he understood the war was unjustifiable. It baffled David to see how much his administration was spending little of what they have to help others who were in need; he also helped lots of illegal immigrants to become legal, even if they were to pay more than they were earning to get the documents—which was a way for the government to make money from the immigrants. What he was doing was worth praising, as it was a thing already forbidden in most European countries.

All David could say to the other boy who was willing to know what he was thinking about the New Year and the crisis in Spain, was that, God will be in control. But he knew in his mind that, ‘‘God helps those who help themselves.’’

When David finally stepped down from the train, he trekked a hundred and fifty meters to the place he was working, which cannot be referred to as work but begging. Yes, begging, if he might use the right word—it was begging.

He had decided to take this job, because there was nothing he could do to earn a living. There was no job and no government assistance from any source. What they normally do was to show a parking space to the drivers, and after parking, they might be given 1.00 euro or more, but usually 1.00 euro or less. Some might give then twenty cents, while some might also give them nothing. Some who thought these immigrants were exploiting the government of the state by doing this, would want to draw a scene by calling the police, because they understood it to be illegal. It was illegal, but it was their only means of survival. Since most of the immigrants doing it were illegal in the country, so whenever the police were called for, what they do is to ask them to present their documents out, if found illegal, they will be taken to the police station where the police would have to thumbprint them and give them some papers that will set a deadline for their expulsion to leave the country. Although, they were all also provided with a government legal assistant who then will later files an appeal to the court—to see if they will be given any chance to live in the country—and this was going on every time like this. But, immediately the police understand that any of them was legal, all they do is to advise him not to insult anybody, and also to be very careful, since some of their citizens were not happy to be seeing what they were seeing. Some of these people were also claiming they were forced to be paying, which actually was true and false. True, because some were being obliged by some of them to be paying. False, because many of them were pouring insults on them and were asking them to go back to their countries. Although, David also tried the best he could to lecture his colleagues on the issue of how illegal immigrants will never be given the opportunities like that to beg and earn money on the street. From David’s point of view, he could see that some of these people who were giving them money, were doing it voluntarily because they understood that they were suffering and needed aids. Some of them were also coming to give them clothes and food, knowing they were in need. He, being a person who had been to many other countries in Europe, knew it was a great privilege for them to be doing what they were doing in Spain, as it will never be permitted in Germany or Holland or France or Norway or Sweden. But he also understood that, while you are a refugee in these countries mentioned, the government will be responsible for your welfare. The governments of these countries were always responsible for the payments of the house rents and feeding for these immigrants, and as well, encouraging them to get some type of educational training to get a great paying job—helping them build their future. In Spain it was different. The very day these immigrants seek asylum, the same day they are to start thinking of where to go and live—whether they are to go meet their fellow country people so as to be told what to do or they will be kept in a refugee camp, where they are being deprived of their privileges as refugees. In reality, many of these immigrants were complaining of how human rights were being violated by the Spanish government, and for that reason, they were all fleeing Spain to other countries. It was also being noticed that most of the aids given to immigrants in Spain were from the churches and other voluntary organizations. Spaniards are said to be very sympathetic, but the truth was that the economy was not good enough for the citizens. David said he could see them as people who were willing to help, but the fact that they were not having enough, not to think of rendering out to others—this was making most immigrants sees them as selfish people, and to David, that was not true. He fathomed what was going on in Spain, he comprehend that the citizens are not that contented with their lives, but they are always filled with a conceit of their own importance, and were always looking at the immigrants with contempt, and the conception that they were better than these other people living with them was always there.

David who had actually traveled to other countries and had met many Spaniards living there as immigrants looking for a better way of life, leaving their countries, their families and friends. Many of them whom David had met with in Holland, Belgium, Swiss, Norway, Sweden and many more who were said to be living in Germany, U.k. and many other European countries. Most of them who said to have left the country during the regime of Franco, the dictator who said to had ruled and ruined the country for thirty-nine years.

David said he believe begging is out of necessity. And it will be foolish if anyone decide to take it as a job, because of the humiliation they get from it. He saw that he lacked confidence in himself by begging people to give him something which he he believed he could have if he was working. Every time he was going to do this parking of cars while he wait for people to give him money or insults probably because of the economic crisis, he was always sad. Many were concerned about the fact that they were blacks and were not supposed to be living in Spain. One of the lad told him he was lucky Franco was not alive, because he would have been seeing himself digging his own grave for coming to live in Spain. Another man also did ask them if they could please let them live their lives in peace by voluntarily getting their belongings and leave the country. David was overcome with remorse when he was told this, but there was nothing he could do about it, except to ignore him, because he believed people like that were ignorance that needed to travel out of Spain to other places to see how their fellow country people were living in other countries—so that they could learn how to respect others no matter the situation they find them.

So, when David arrived at his so-called place of work, he thought he will be able to go home that day with at least 15.00 euros or more. But he waited and waited with the other boys until at about 02:00 p.m when he still was unable to get 2.00 euros. Stunned by the feelings of hopelessness, he decided to return back home so that he could create time to do some hard thinking about his life.

When David finally arrived home and was all alone by himself, then appeared 2nd David. ‘Do you think you deserve to be living this kind of life that you are living?’ he asked. ‘No, I really do not think so,’ replied 1st David. ‘Yes, you do not, you deserve better than becoming a beggar. You are young, smart, intelligent and full of charisma, then, why not do something better with your life? Or maybe you like getting humiliated every time by everybody.’ And after he said that, he disappeared, leaving him there alone to think about what he just told him. It was at this very time he knew what he should be doing, so he picked up a pen and a notebook and started to write, putting celebration outside his life, even when it was the last day of the year when everybody were celebrating.

He came to learn that he was the only solution to his own problems, and that there was no one he could wait for to tell him what his desires were and how he could be seeing himself as a human being. Then, he said to himself, ‘‘If you want something, you have to put yourself in the way of getting it.’’

A week after this, as he walked himself into one of the betting-house in Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid. He did not actually entered the place to bet, but to shake hands and converse with some his country people since he was too lonely and was living a boring life at home. There appeared, eight policemen unlooked for, dressing on khaki suits and jeans, and were showing their I D cards. ‘Nadie se mueva, policia!’ As the betting-house was filled with immigrants—who were mainly blacks, the policemen took a premature decision that crime was going on there, and this decision was based on ignorance and prejudice—which was also inhuman and degrading. Everyone there were requested to present their documents since that was the only charge the could rely on. With voices very high as the black people were challenging them, the few Romanians and South Americans there were also claiming their rights as parts of European citizens. ‘‘We really do pretend that we hate each other, whereas we do. But by pretending, we have been able to tolerate and live with each other peacefully. It was so obvious the way the Spanish police in Madrid were harassing the immigrants and deporting those without documents back to their countries. Before the economic crisis, the hatred was there but hidden in everyone of them, until they all finally were given the authorization to harass and deport them. David said he found it so formidable to explain to himself why ‘‘People decidedly puts their blames on other people, whereas they are the cause of their own problems.’’

After the police finished searching almost all of them to know whether some were with drugs or fake currency or whatsoever that they were suspecting them of, some were granted leave. Because of how David was calm, the police noticed something suspicious in his behavior; they believed he was dangerous. One of them swiftly called him closer and asked him to present his document. David told him he just gave it his colleague who had first demanded for it. But the young man still was unsatisfied, so he demanded for his wallet, ‘dame tu cartera,’ he said to him. David gave him his wallet, and after much checking and checking, he came closer to him and said, ‘manos arriba!’ David raised his two hands up, and the policeman searched him very well from head to toe and yet nothing was found with him. David swiftly brought out a piece of paper that was hidden in his wallet and presented it to the policeman, letting him know it was given to him by the police as well. After the young man read it, he asked him, ‘estas alguna vez detenido?’ ‘Si,’ answered David, walking closer to the policeman and trying to explain the meaning of the paper he presented to them—which actually was a document issued to him at the police station, to make him understand that he is having a permanent residence permit in Spain and no matter the crime he will commit, he will never be deported, instead he will be jailed or treated like a Spaniard. The policeman told him not to fret himself about anything, but he urged him to be patience and not to utter any word. After David had waited until almost everybody held with him were all gone, so he went to meet the policeman again and asked him, ‘no se porque stoy detenido aqui, yo tambien quiero salir fuera como el resto.’ The other policemen walked closer to where he was to attend to him, seeing that he was rude and was speaking better Spanish that the rest Nigerians there. One of the policemen later asked him if he speaks English, not knowing that he was making a great mistake. David replied him, saying ‘yes, I do speak English.’ Then, the policeman said to him, ‘look! in your country, foreigners and citizens are being extorted everyday. Every policeman there are corrupt just like the governments are.’ ‘Do not mention that,’ yelled David. ‘You do not have to tell me there is corruption and bribery in my country. I knew that already. But I believe there is corruption here in Spain as well. Even in the U.s. there is corruption there too. So, please you do not have to be telling me there is problems in my country when actually there are more problems here already that you people are unwilling to identify not to talk of how to get a solution to them. Or do you not know there are very many Spaniards living in other countries?’ As he continued to edify these policemen about the problems in the country, and when he was asked to shut his mouth by one of them, he refused. They decided to delay him, and he became very incommoded, as he was waiting and waiting for them to give him his document and grant him leave like the rest. He was speaking in Spanish, and at the same time, speaking in English and was asking them to do whatever they wish because he said he had seen more than enough to keep on keeping quiet. So, he thought it was the right time for him to lecture them things about life since he believed they were never willing to learn. After more than one hour that he was detained inside the betting-house, he was later given his document and was granted leave. So he left, shaking the policeman whom they had both disputed—who was so astonished by the shaking, comparing it to the manner he had talked to them before.

Walking home alone, he began to converse with himself—a thing he found pleasure in doing. And anytime he was doing this, he thought it was a way for him to be interacting with his soul. He later went far to write a poem when he arrived home that day.

MY SOUL’S MY BEST FRIEND.

I might thought it to be a mistake,

While I’m waiting for the best.

Do you care to know

What I’m passing through?

Heaven’s door’s closed over me,

The Earth’s about to swallow me.

Sometimes I wish I’ve got wings

So I can easily fly.

When to structure, my aims,

A sabotage, always their aims.

In trouble when I am.

To talk to, when there is none.

To my soul, I have to talk,

Because my soul is my best friend.

Now that we cannot make it here,

I’m thinking of a new strategy.

You wanna take me with you,

So we should be going back home.

If only we’ve got one.

Where’s my home now?

Where do I call my home?

CHAPTER 3

David was born into a polygamous family of seventeen. His father, Idahosa, his step mother, his mother, three brothers, four sisters, four half-brothers and three half-sisters—of which he was the thirteenth child of his father and the sixth of his mother.

The Idahosa family were living in Benin-city, the capital city of Edo state which was twenty miles far from Lagos, the financial and industrial capital of the country, Nigeria—the country with the largest population in Africa.

At the time David mother gave birth to him, his father was already at his sixties. His mother, Veronica named him Osamudiame in their native language, which means, GOD STANDS FOR ME. Her husband, Idahosa was always sick, and because of that, he had to travel to almost every cities and villages in the country, looking for means and sources and to all hospitals and native herbalists around the country, and yet, he could not find a cure for a stomach ulcer that was destroying him. He was neither a Christian, nor was he a Muslim or an idol worshiper, since these were the three main religions in the country at that time. But he believed in everything as long as he understand that God is in everywhere. Maybe he came to adopt this suspension of disbelief, because of the stomach ulcer’s problems he was incurring which was rough and tumble for him. He was not a saint nor was he a sinner, but he never ceased to believe in one thing, the golden rule of ‘‘Do onto others as you would want to be done to you,’’ which he took to be his philosophy of life, and this he tried all possibly means to extend to all his children. In other words, he could be described as a man who believe in many or all gods, he was a pantheist. He once said to David—Look! my son, life is not how we look at it, it is something more than the way we look at it to be. Choose your own God, it does not matter where you find it. He could neither writer, nor could he read his own name, but he was full of education; he was an example of a defined illiteracy.

David’s father was born into a monogamous family of seven including his father and mother. He was name Idahosa, meaning—I hope in God. He once mentioned to David, that according to their superstitious beliefs, ‘‘A child’s destiny walks according to his/her name.’’ This, in David’s later life in the future, has led him to think of changing his name, Osamudiame to become David, because he read in the bible how great the name was, and moreover, he saw that his own native name was too long to be pronounced by many people living in civilized countries.

David’s family was born into a poor family who lived inside the farm near a village. Since Idahosa was a great storyteller, he was able to narrate the story of his life to him and his other children. How he was born and how his parents migrated from the city to go live inside a farm, because they needed to farm to outlast the periodic widespread-severe famine that almost send them to their graves. In the city, asIdahosa had said, the whole family and the entire people in the place where his father was born, were said-to-be bronze casters. They were using clay molds for casting bronze statues—they were all artists. But his father and mother decided to go and live in a different part of the world, leaving behind their artistic life to become farmers. At this period, everyone were having the right to take a land and start farming without another person interfering, so said, David’s father.

When his father arrived at that village, since they were not having a house of their own and there was nobody they knew that was going to harbor them, so they went to meet the head of the village who was ordained chief by inheritance by the villagers. The chief, then instructed men and women to render Idahosa’s father a help to construct his mud and bamboo sticks house which he said did not take them a week. So when Idahosa’s father gave birth to him, he was named in their native language, Idahosa, to say, they trust and hope in God, the giver of everything.

David’s father who was the eldest son of the five children they were having, became a strong and hard-working man, a persevering man, and was also a diligent person who was able to ensure a better life for his own parents and two brothers and two sisters. He became a home builder and was specialized in handmade brick working and scaffolding; he also became a building contractor. In those days, there were buildings with mud houses, so Idahosa was able to bring his family who were living inside the farm all alone by themselves to the village where he built a house for them to live with the other villagers. Not quite long, he decided to go live in the city, as he was making more money in his professional building jobs. But after a few time, the parents died, and David’s father said he mourned them so much that he almost lost his sight.

He later married at his twenties, and then after he had three children with his first wife, he decided to marry his second wife—since having many wives at that time—to them, was a count of wealth. He married the second wife who later left him, because she confessed of being a witch, according to what David’s father said.

After his second marriage failed, he did on his own volition, with pleasure and without fear of contradiction, moved away from his house in the village, allowing his other brothers and sisters live there and went to live in the city with his wife and children. During this time, Nigeria was still a country under the British colony and the people were all hoping to have their independence soon, making them think of coming near the city to live. He then laid a foundation for his third house and started building it, meanwhile he was already living in his second house in the city. He decided to have another house which was more closer to the city center, as the more money he was having and the progress he was making, the more he loved to walk closer to civilization. His wife then gave birth to another four, making it to be seven children and they were all living happily until at a time he met another woman and made her his second wife, which was the beginning of his stressful life events.

David was told by his father that at this very time, he decided to marry his second that was supposed to be his third wife who appeared to be the most wonderful person on Earth and is also the mother of David. And immediately he married her, that was when his stomach ulcer started developing into a strange sickness he could not find a cure to, all throughout is lifetime.

David’s mother, Veronica had her first son with another man before, but she lost him. So when she got married to his father and had a daughter, she named her Mary, because Mary was said to be the mother of Jesus Christ, and she had decided to christened her with a Christian name, since they were at the beginning of the Christian era in Africa. Veronica could read and write but not very good. The little she could understand about education, was what made his father fell in love with her.

His mother was born into a polygamous family. Her father was holding a chieftaincy title, meaning she was a well-to-do man. She, her younger sister, and her younger brother who later died at the age of forty after having had four kids, were all born of the same mother and were still very young when their father died, which made their mother moved away, leaving her children, not minding how they might survive in the village to go marry a wealthy man in the city. According to what David was told, Veronica’s mother, after having three other children for the man he went to marry, she was chased with a cutlass out of the house by the man. But after a short period of time, her second husband died and she became a widow for the second time.

David’s mother later had eight children, including David and her first daughter, Mary, while his father kept scrambling and tussling, looking for a cure to his stomach ulcer, which he never found.

A week before David was born, from what he was told, his family lost a great man that was said to be his eldest half-brother. He died of kidney failure, and was survived by three children, one of them who was born the same day with David, but later died at his early age. David’s father, who never was opportune, in the nick of time to have education, sworn with his life to reverse this and to possess the power to ensure a good education for all his children. But how was he going to do this when he was always sick and was spending the little money he was earning to save his life? So, that was the reason he was unable to fulfill that promise despite how much he tried. His first daughter became his first child, and she got married to a wealthy man whom actually nobody knew the type of job he was doing or how he met with his fortune, but was well-feathered and was a member of the moneyed class, with a luxurious lifestyle. It was later, when David grew up that he came to fathom how his eldest half-sister and her children and husband were always talking about money and wealth and it was the most essential part of their lives and was also the only good thing they believed. David saw that they were lured by the smell of filthy lucre and were happy with their lives.

His father was getting too old with the stomach ulcer sickness he could not find a cure to and soon became apparent that he was going to die. There was no hospital he did not attend, and there was no traditional herbalist with lots of experience that he did not visit. He once said to David and some of his other brothers when he was telling them about his life, since he was a good storyteller—both the story of his life and that of the impostors whom he knew. He said he ate every leaves from the forest, some which were poisonous and some which were not—and he was convinced by some herbalists who were having the experience in this profession and some others who were just impostors and were doing everything to make money. He said he did everything just for his stomach ulcer to get cured; he became older and was less vigorous and was much afraid of death, but more concerned about how David and his other brothers and sisters were to survive without him being alive. He love them so much, because he said they were giving him hope every time he was seeing them.

It came to a time when he stood as a guarantor for his nephew to borrow some money from a moneylender who warned them of how he was going to increase the interest if they ever fail to pay back in a given time. His nephew indeed failed to pay back, because he had an accident with the same car he bought with the money. Since there was no insurance company at that time, his nephew ran away, leaving the debts for David’s father to pay. Things then turned from bad to worse for him. So he started paying and was trying out different means on how to raise money to pay off the debt. It was not just paying the debt that bothered him most, but the interest. He knew he had to sell most of his properties, and that was exactly what he did. He could not meet up to raise the money, neither could he cater for his family, nor send them to school, the way he has promised. He loved education and has always said to his children, ‘‘Education is the key to success and the doorway to a better future.’’ Since he was illiterate, he thought it will be the best thing for him to render to his children according to how serious they want it, so as for them not to undergo the same degradation he too undergone during his youth. But all the good plans he contrived became a nightmare. Anything anybody does to amuse him, was only to cross with him. Actually, his rational explanation for standing as a guarantor for his nephew was to help him succeed in life. It is true they say, ‘‘Good people suffers from severe afflictions, while evildoers relish life more, each day and every day.’’ David said he could not imagine how in life someone could hurt a man with a good heart like his father. The peculiar thing about everything was that, his brother, the father of the man that landed him into this life of hardship and toil, never fret himself about it. ‘‘We do know who our enemies are when we strike a bad patch.’’—which goes with the saying, ‘‘A friend in need is a friend indeed.’’ The only friends that he could have during this hard time, were his four youngest male children he had with his second wife and the last born of his first wife. And thanks to his best friend, a lady who did the best she could, borrowing him money with less interest so he could pay off the debt, in return, he sold most of his landed properties to her. They both became two good friends. With joint effort, they both invested in agriculture. David’s father, knowing that the building of houses were no longer profitable the way it usually was, as there arise new methods of building houses with bricks, and moreover, younger people with innovation then took control as better professional builders. David’s father undeniably, with open arms, welcomed and admitted the new image and platonic idea that was drawing close to civilization. He made his debut as a good farmer and investor by investing on poultry and livestock farming—which was prolific. With his work being of a consistently high standard and his children being of a great consolation to him during all these time of a huge obstacle and frustration, he was able to regain his sensation of pleasure which is very important to every normal person for improving their physical and mental well being. This felicity is what energized him to be able to move on—though with his impeccable manners.

With the little profits he made from his livestock and poultry home industry, he was able to go to his village to re-invest in agriculture, this time not the way his father did, but in a larger scale. He was having lots of landed properties in his village, so that made it more easier for him. All he did was to cultivate the land and planted maize, yam, cassava, pepper, and so many other vegetables, but he flatly declined to accept that the village was a better place for him to live—for that, taking care of the farm became a difficult task, since he would have to go everyday with a bicycle to the farm which was four miles from the city where he was living. Yet he did not yield up, even when the stomach ulcer he was suffering from still was incurable. Physically and mentally, he was stronger than ever. His two wives, David’s mother and his step-mother were hundred percent in support and were always at his back. David said sometimes when he glanced at this, he was able to draw a comparison of his father’s life with Bob Marley’s saying, ‘‘Tis, he who fight and run away, live to fight another day,’’ as he was a great fan of this artist and love the inspiration he gets from his music.

After much sacrifices of time and energy to improve his financial situation, David’s father was able to realize the goodness of being capable to restore yourself as a man and as a leader in resisting every tremendous spot of trouble. Although he did this with the family’s supports he received. He has always blamed himself for being foolish to stand as a guarantor for another man to borrow money. But to David, it was not foolishness, it was just that he was only trying to be good, because he said he believe anyone can fall a victim, as every human being born by a woman is fallible.

The West African countries experiences uniformly high temperatures all year round, but there are two major seasons—the dry season and the rainy season. The dry season is when everywhere become drier and sunnier with less rain and less cloud cover and the temperature climbs as high as thirty-three to thirty-six degree centigrade. While the rainy season is when there is more rainfall and the temperature is in-between twenty-two to twenty-five degree centigrade.

It was on Monday morning in the middle of October, the beginning of the next dry season—at the time the sun was very hot and everywhere were dusty, that he was almost suffocating to death. David was dressed in khaki shorts and shirt and sanders to match. He was with his mother and they were both walking to his new school which was almost opposite his house. When they arrived there, they were asked to be on queue with the other pupils and their parents for registration of the new pupils to be admitted that year. Many women were there, holding their children close to them, with strident voices from different angles, making many unable to hear the instructions they were given. But all of them accustomed to it easily, as it was their culture. Women and their children with them were moving around from one place to the other in the random zigzag motion. Other pupils were going out of the school while others were coming in. Noise, noise and noise. For admission of new pupils, it was to be in the headmasters office, and some of the teachers attending to them were practically biased. It was said that some of them were demanding bribes and some parents were offering them so as for their kids to be admitted. Another way out was when you are related to any of them working there.

In those days, most children in Africa were born at home, which is to say, there was no way they could have a birth certificate which was only issued to children that were born in the hospitals. This was making admission for children born of poor parents more complicated. The only way to show that the child was old enough to be admitted, was to ask them to put their hands across their heads and allowing their hands to touch their ears at the other side of their heads. David who was six-and-a-half-year old, was able to touch his ear with his hand at the other side across his head, which gave him the chance to be admitted, as he was born at home and was without a birth certificate. Meanwhile, there were other pupils who were also admitted even as they could not touch their ears with their hands, but due to their parents position of influence or by bribery, things went all well for them. In Nigeria, it is always said that corruption pays more than honesty, and that was David’s first time to be experiencing it.

After David was admitted, he was so excited that when he arrived home, he went bragging with some of his friends who were yet not able to start. The next day, at about 12.30 p.m, he was already in school with his mother. They were given lists of books to buy and a prospectus of the school and were also given instructions on the type and color of school uniforms they were to be putting on.

It came to the time when he finally started the school, and when he did, he saw that most of the pupils that were admitted with him, were mainly the ones that had previously attended a day care or a nursery school, but he also came to understand that he was better than many of them.

His first day in school was horrible, as it was something new to him. He thought it was a new way for him to be staying away from his family and be closer to kids like himself. From Mondays to Fridays, he was always with a table and a chair on his head, dressed on his school uniform of dark green khaki shorts and shirt with white collar, walking to school alone. Things were becoming strange to him since he was no longer having enough time to play with the other kids in their yard. He discovered that illumination can only come from learning and it was very interesting to him, which made him started to derive meanings from what his father was preaching to them about education being the doorway to a better future. He thought he saw that the school headmaster and the other teachers were living far better than his parents were. In spite that his father was poor, but he loved him and comprehend the situation he was. He wanted to be seeing his father dressed like the headmaster, but he knew that was going to be impossible. And to make it possible, he thought it will be better if he start to dream like Joseph the dreamer in the bible and get his father out of the impoverished life he was living and make him live the life he wished for him to live. He saw that education was the only means and the only remedy he could be that Joseph.

One afternoon, when he was dressed on his school uniform, with a chair and a table on his head and was about to cross the road to his school, a car almost hit him, but the driver of the car was very careful to have been able to hold the break. When the man came out of the car, he started insulting him and was also insulting his parents who were not there with him for having left him to be crossing the road by himself. Other people who saw it ran quickly to the scene and advised him to return back to his house, but he refused and left them to where he was going to, because he did not want to miss a day without learning. He cherished the friendship of his classmates and always wanted to be seeing them. His first year in that school was like a volcano. Many a time, he witnessed his vital force hanging around his classroom while his body will be at home. He thought of not returning home several times when the school was closed, most particularly on Fridays after his school hours, knowing that he would not be seeing his friends till the next week on Monday, and moreover, because he would be asked by his father on Saturdays to assist him on the farm jobs, which he would have to walk twenty kilometers, waking up as early as 05.00 a.m.

Farming was his father only source of income, and anybody who was not willing to assist him, was actually proclaiming independence and would have to provide for himself every of his/her needs.

Farming in Africa was essentially based on manual labor and it was indeed the most strenuous work to do. At a time, David and his other brothers became inured to this arduous labor of farming and were happy about it, seeing it as a profession. It also came to a time when he was asking his father for permission to go work in the farm alone, making his father became very proud of him as he was also very brilliant in school.

His first term result was not too good and he came out 23rd out of 60 pupils in his class, and yet he was unhappy. But his form teacher cheered him up and praised him. After then, he knew he had to study harder to get close to the other pupils who were better than him. When the second term result came out, he was 19. The third term came and he took 4th, and that term was for them to be promoted to a higher grade.

The second year came, and he was glad he was with the same classmates that were in his previous class; he was doing what he knew will make him attain a better position than he had before. Despite that he was spending most of the weekends in assisting his father to be doing the farm work, but he was also improving his thinking and writing ability. The first term of his second year, he came out 3rd, and second term, he came out 2nd and third term, he came out 3rd again. The third year, he came out 1st from the first term to the third term. When he got to his fourth grade, he came out 1st for the four terms. This made some of his classmates worried, as the secret behind his success was undisclosed to them—which later drove them into a tempest in a teacup, at the end, leading them to jealousy and hatred. This became intractable for David. He was confused about this problem that he thought the best way to deal with it was to be friendly with them, but the more he tried to be, the more they were hating him.

He was one of the smallest child in his class if not the smallest, and he was also the most brilliant among all of them. In some British schools, an older or more intelligent pupil were elected to have some authority over younger pupils and some other responsibilities and advantage. Since Nigeria was colonized by the British, so they adopted most of their culture respectively at schools. When he was elected as the class prefect, most of the grown-up pupils became very rude to him and there was no way he could authorized them to do anything or else he will be beaten up after school, so he decided to quit the job, seeing that it was more than him, and also to be able to focus more on his studies, knowing there is an impact of education in improving the quality of life. Most of the girls in his classroom and generally around the school, were anxious to know him, as there were widespread rumors about him being the most brilliant pupil in the school even when he was at his fourth grade, still waiting for another two grades.

During this time, as a child he was beginning to apprehend the meaningful consequences one can accumulate from publicization or rather ostentation. He was not at the initial time aware of the peril he was imposing on himself till then. Although he could understand how unfortunate it was for him to be impecunious and to have come from a poor home. He was beginning to see how he was detesting himself for being alive, due to the fact that he could not withstand the jealousy and hatred that were coming from his classmates, friends at home, and also his brothers and sisters. His controversial life which he was unwilling to abandon was becoming very boring, yet so many girls were dying to know him. These were all contributing to his adversity, bringing tears of anguish to his eyes. There came a time when he started thinking everybody around him were talking about him anywhere he was. But even if all these were happening, there was still one thing that was still amusing him and made him believe he was from the profundity of his misery, it was reading. Reading was the only way he could see himself as human. While other kids were having fun, he will be studying, thinking fun makes people vulnerable.

One night, he dreamed he was alone, reading a novel which was very interesting. Some of his classmates came to ask him to follow them to play, but he refused, and as he did, they started shouting and laughing and making those strange noises and playing games, but he tried to stop them, and as he tried, he found their laughter and noisy games more coarse and vulgar. Immediately he screamed and woke up from sleep. His mother also woke up from sleep, asking him what the problem was. It was then, he understood he was dreaming. From that day on, he knew he would have to be very careful about how he play with his friends.

They say, ‘‘No money, no honey.’’ ‘‘Living in poverty seemed to be like living with cancer you cannot cure.’’ His devotion to study was not for him to be unique, but because he thought it was the only way for him to eradicate the poverty which engulfed him and his family. In the farm, every day, he and his other brothers and his father were working tediously for many hours so that his father could be able to raise money to pay all his debts and also to pay their school fees.

When he got to the fifth grade, he drastically changed some many things about himself by spending much time with his friends, playing football and participating in other sports and games—making him develop skills in different sports and acrobatics. Fun is good, so he thought—as he started having it. Yet, every time he thinks about the difficult tasks ahead of him, he will start to shed tears. Although that year was a remarkable year, as everything returned back to normal and his family were able to afford a better quality of life by enlarging their farmland, harvesting large amount of grains and other foodstuffs and making more money, but all with the supports of every members of the family.

It was a day before the last day of the school term, when all the pupils were to leave for their holidays which was to be for one month. David was alone on top of his father’s unfinished building with a flat concrete roof that was also near their house. He was always going there to relax and also to read—a thing he was customary for. It was really a nice place to relax and read because of the bright sun and most especially, the cool breeze. He was unable to read the novel he was holding in his hands, due to the too much thinking he was doing about the next day and how his school examination result was going to be, knowing he had spent too much time having fun than studying throughout the term. He was also thinking about his parents who were already in the village and were waiting for them to come over to join them immediately they get their exam results. He saw his heart filled with sadness and he could not do anything to alter the situation.

The next day, when he arrived at school, the name of the girl sitting close to him in the class came out 1st and another boy whose parents were tenants in his father’s second house, came out 2nd, while he was in the 3rd position. He started crying, and people around there came to cheer him up. He said he was crying not just because of the result, but because he was asked to go and live in the village with his parents to join them to work in the farm all through that month of holiday, which was like sending a soldier to go fight a war. He said he hated travelling to go live in the village for so many reasons. First, because there was no electric power for light, no water except the people has to go to the stream, and also, the roads were bad. Secondly, according to what he was told, most of the people there were said-to-be witches and wizards who were having the power to turn human beings into goat meats and eat them at nights. Seeing a cat at night was an omen of bad luck, especially when it happened to be black. There was also a belief that most of these witches and wizards were possessing the power of transforming themselves into cats at nights, which was very dreary to the many youths living in the cities that has come to live there. All these miserable feelings David was developing inside him, motivated him to start augmenting a hymn of hate towards his parents. Although loathing them was a thing he could not do, because he understood how they wanted him and his other brothers and sisters to succeed in life, so he thought despising them would be a better way.

He and his immediate elder sister, Tina, and two other of his brothers and sisters, one older and two younger, all arrived at their village at about 06:00 p.m, after trekking for five hours from the city. Seeing that their mother had already prepared their best meal for them, which was rice and stew—a meal that could only be eaten by rich people anytime and every time, but can only be eaten by the poor at the time of celebration, probably on Christmas and New-years days or on Easter day or sometimes on Sundays or when celebrating the country’s Independence day, which is every October 1st. Preparing rice and stew at that time was much more expensive than preparing any other meal and was meant for mainly the rich people, because of the high cost of living, and as the country’s economy was in an inflationary spiral of wage and price increase and the lack of job opportunities. It was at this same time, David said when he grew up and was living in Europe, he came to ascertain the reason why most people living in poor countries had decided to believe more in the existence of a supernatural Being than the people in rich and developed countries. He said he could understand that these poor people are left with no choice than to believe, since they could see it to be the only means to survive their everyday hardship. To many people living in rich countries, belief is probabilistic, since many have come to believe more in evolution, which to these poor people in the third-world countries is a taboo.

The next day after they arrived in the village, they started going to the farm, and it was every morning by 05:00 a.m that their father normally come to wake all of them up to get prepared to go to the farm. They were always the first people to leave to the farm and also the last to return back home. It was seen that they were working more than the people in the village. Sometimes, their father would have to hire more workers to assist them to do the farm work, since his farm was extremely