In The Beginning….Let There Be Me

Today was turning out to be another boring day, not unlike the rest. There was nothing out of the usual to alert me to a happening that would define the course of my life. Here I am, a 16 year old, with dreams of making something out of her life. Once in a while, reality creeps in and threatens to turn my dreams into a pile of rubble. I am Aderinsola Johnson, and my goal is to be the best I can be and make something out of my life. I recently finished high school and am awaiting admission. In the meantime, my life is filled with routinely boring tasks, tasks that I would have never been caught dead doing. “Derin, the food is almost burning, come and put it down oooo…..” and so it goes on every day. Welcome to my world. Here I am, in my parent’s house, cooking with extreme glee in my heart, emphasis on the extreme. I just don’t get it. Why do I sometimes feel like I’m a slave in my own father’s house? To be honest, my dad does not exactly have a house. We live in a two-room apartment in one of the most not-want-to-live area in Lagos which translates to Mushin. I believe that my parents never intended on staying in Mushin forever, but Mushin is just like the Hollywood Los Angeles, where people with high hopes come to but in the long run have their hopes dashed against the rock called reality. My father came here with goals of being the next Dangote. Now, nearly 20 years later in Lagos, all my family can boast of is a seedy 2-room apartment in a face-me-i-face-you compound, 2 shops and four extremely wonderful and annoying kids, of which you’d already guessed by now, I’m one of them, actually, the first of the pack.

Today just not seems like a good day for me. This is the second time I sat for the UTME examinations, and not for any of the good reasons that might cross your minds. The previous year, I had gained admission into the Olabisi Onabanjo University, but due to circumstances which I’d rather prefer not to disclose, I lost my first admission. My parents were short on cash and could not afford to send a child to a state university. After all, no be only me wey my papa born. To cut the long story short, in order to prevent a repeat performance of last year events, I have decided to pick a school not only known for its ridiculously cheap school fees but also its reputation for producing the country’s finest graduates. You guessed right. It is the Obafemi Awolowo University, “the great citadel of learning”. From the time that I finished secondary school, I have been working as a part-timer at my dad’s shop. These days, sales boys seem to have one goal in common, carting away either my dad’s goods or his money, hence my father’s reluctance to hire anyone anymore.

This morning, I woke up to the news that our almighty JAMB had just released results of its just conducted examinations. To say that I was scared is an understatement. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been an A student with exceptional reading and writing capabilities. However, my brain is not as sharp as it used to be before. Sitting down at home for almost a year has drained me a lot and as such, I lack the motivation to read as I ought to. Now, all I can still boast of is my mathematical capabilities, which is still quite manageable. In the midst of all this, I know that no matter the outcome of my results, God has still got my back.

“Derin, where are you? We have got to go the cyber café before it gets congested. I cannot be stressing myself too much.” Meet my friend Aisha, the beautiful one. Well, I call her the beautiful one because she always gets all the boys and I get nada. We both took this year’s jamb together again, though not intentionally. Last year, she had made the mistake of choosing UNILAG, a school notorious for unfair advantages and she was not offered admission into her school. On getting to the café, we met a sea of hopefuls like us who wanted to check their results. I must say, JAMB is a total rip-off. Year in year out, the number of candidates increase while the number of schools remains constant. After what seemed like forever, it got to our turn. At this point, I am totally tensed and freaking out already. Images of sitting out another year at home flashed through my eyes. I just cannot bear the thought of it. I was already at the point of fleeing the café. As I imputed my registration number on the system, I suddenly remembered that there was a God somewhere and began praying fervently to him.

Then the results came up and you won’t believe it…….