Neighborhood School

By Laurent Ahiablame

Delta is a happy child and stellar student, but when her mother dies suddenly, Delta's life takes an abrupt turn downhill. She begins hanging out with other troubled teens and skipping classes, until her father, Akilee, manages to get through to her. His wisdom and her deep -seated love for him enables Delta to come to terms with her loss and carve a path that will make her a student leader for a bright future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098336479

Laurent Ahiablame

Laurent Ahiablame is a Togolese-born American hydrologist; novelist and writer; received a PhD in agricultural and biological engineering from Purdue University; published several scientific articles in his field of expertise.

Book preview

cover.jpg

Neighborhood School

©2020 Laurent Ahiablame

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Print ISBN: 978-1-09833-646-2

eBook ISBN: 978-1-09833-647-9

Dedicated to all public schools in the world that are struggling for resources to properly educate future generations.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

About the Author

CHAPTER ONE

This is the story of Delta Doah, who was 10 years old and an all-American daughter. Her father came a few years before from Togo, a French-speaking country located in the western part of Africa. He was a mechanic and worked long hours. Delta’s mother was an American born from immigrants who settled in the Chicago area from the Dominican Republic. The family lived in Chicago.

Delta was only three years old when her parents came to America. She spent her earliest years in Togo, her father’s home country. Delta had a younger brother, Given, an autistic kid with a tremendous artistic talent. Given was born in the United States and was four years younger than his sister. Delta herself was an exceptionally bright student.

Akilee Doah was Delta’s father and the only one from his birth family that lived in the United States. The rest of his family still lived in Togo. He had one older brother, Kwame. Kwame was a primary school principal. He was very protective of his younger brother, and his protective instincts only increased after their parents’ death. Akilee also had a sister, Djema, who was two years younger than him. She was a homemaker and lived with her husband in the next town over from Kwame.

Extended family is a reality in Togo. While the American model of family is mainly comprised of immediate family—parents, children, and siblings—there are no such defining boundaries of family in Togo. Akilee was quite close to his mother’s side of the family. He was not very close to his father’s family, primarily because all of his father’s brothers and sisters had already passed on. Some of them even passed away long before Akilee was born. He never really had the chance to develop a strong relationship with them.

Since high school, Akilee was nicknamed ‘Wisdom,’ due to his calm and understanding demeanor. He was captivated by philosophy and literature and liked to bring them up in conversations with friends and classmates. He was a go-to confidante for his peers, who always wanted to talk to him about their problems—which, at that age, usually had to do with girls.

In high school, he moved around with a large circle of friends. He was definitely a popular guy. He was close with two friends in particular, Koffi and Fodoh. The three of them were inseparable. The trio used to sneak out of the school compound during recess to go drink palm wine, which they got from a lady who sold it not far from the school. Somehow, they always managed to return before the end of recess and had never been caught. But they also always struggled to stay awake in class after recess, especially Akilee. With his stomach full of alcohol and the lack of sleep from late nights studying, he often found himself nodding off. They were making good grades while also having the time of their lives.

One day during one of his sleeping episodes, the philosophy teacher called him out.

Akilee, you are sleeping. Did you not sleep last night? he asked.

The class laughed for a good moment. Someone in the class yelled out, Sleeping Wisdom.

He woke up and remained wide awake for the remainder of the day. He was very embarrassed because he saw himself as a model student. He got good grades and had never been in trouble before. That event also spoke to him because his girlfriend was in the class. Akilee was determined to impress her, and one of the ways that he did this was through his academic achievements. Being called out for sleeping in class could have shattered her image of him, and he was determined not to let that happen. Akilee and his friends decided then to stop drinking alcohol at recess until they graduated.

Despite his love for literature and philosophy, and surprising all his friends, family, and former high school teachers, Akilee chose to study mechanical engineering in college. He had always been good at math, so the decision was clear to him. He could do something he was good at and earn a decent living. He did well as a student and graduated on time. After graduation, he took an internship at a private firm.

As a child, Akilee was raised Presbyterian. But it wasn’t until college that he became very religious. He went to church on Sundays and was very involved in volunteering and other youth activities. His church would receive missionaries every year from