This is my first entry into the power of positivity contest... I'll be sharing a story about my mom and how her greatest desires came through. I want to thank @karenmckersie for organising this contest. It's a privilege for me to share this story.
(
) mom
I remember the day I returned from school and met my mom crying (I was still in secondary school). Usually I never like to see her, immediately tears started dropping off my eyes. Someone had insulted her earlier that day. How that she should be ashamed of herself for not having a child who's a B.Sc degree holder. I tried to console her but I couldn't. The next next Sunday she took us to church to pray with her Pastor believing God to take control of her situation.
She got married to my dad after her marriage with her first husband with whom she had 3 boys with ended in one of the most unceremonious ways, a story I wouldn't want to delve into.
She left her boys with her mother (my grandmother) since her ex husband didn't allow move into my dad's house with his children.
After over 25 years of my to my dad, a time span which had yielded 6 children, 2 girl(her first daughter my elder sister Kozy and my immediate younger sister Faith) and four boys (my elder brother Mizo, myself and a set of twin boys Prince and Emmanuel who both happen to be our last born). Out of this 9 children of hers none was a graduate and that's a big deal in Nigeria.
Her first daughter was growing up to be one the brightest and most intelligent young ladies around, she got into the university at the age of 15. Oh! "The world is hers to conquer", my mom must have thought to herself. Little did she know that her joy will later turn into tears. After 3 years of battling with carry over of courses as a result of missing scripts, she was withdrawn for academic failure.
(
) my two sisters
Kozy never gave up, and so the quest for admission began again, she had written JAMB between 2003 and 2008 but nothing come out, her results will only become visible after the admission process into the university for the session is over. Fast forward to 2009 and her younger siblings, myself and younger sister had just finished college, they've joined her and her younger brother in the quest for university admission into the higher institution. At this point her hopes had become tin but God was about to wipe her tears and that of her mom.
In November 2009 I became the first child of my mom to get admitted into the university, few weeks later my younger sister followed suit. In January 2010 my Elder brother also got admitted into a university in Ghana. There was joy and excitement everywhere but at the end of admission process Kozy didn't make in and so our joy was cut short. She said she is done trying, she was happy for us, at least her mother's tears will become that of joy in a couple of years time. But God wasn't done with us.
We were in our second year when she also got admitted into the university and exactly 7 years after I met my mom crying, God had blessed her with not just 1 but 4 graduates.
(
) me Faith in school
As I write this story with so much joy and gratitude in my heart, our twin boys are both in the university as well, her 2 of her 3 sons with her first husband have also graduated. Kozy my Elder sister is almost done with her masters degree program, Faith my younger sister is graduating with a distinction for her masters degree in the UK.
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)
She remained positive, never gave up and the tears that were meant to bring her down spur her up. To us those tears were the motivation we needed as a source of motivation to work even harder. It pays to be positive, and to never give up.
(
) during my service year.
The story is quite long and I appreciate you for taking time out to read.
All images taken with my phone.