The Call

The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 9 vs. 9-13 tells us about the call of Matthew. We jump forward a few 100 years and Matthew who was hitherto a tax collector…a public sinner…a scum of the earth has risen to the status of an evangelist. He’s credited with writing the first book of the New Testament. And all this because of one simple call, “Follow Me”. Most of us may not experience such a brusque and unanticipated call (that eventually turns your life upside-down and downside-up while giving it a 180-degree spin on all axes) but for those who do or who have, it is surely not a sweet ordeal but in the end, it is worth it.

I was just in Primary 4, a rambunctious bundle of energy. I was the noisiest, most-outspoken and most-intelligent pupil in the class but somehow i never got to be class-prefect (in retrospect, I can see that back then my noise-making needed control and making me class prefect will be tantamount to setting a rat to guard a kettle of fish). So break time had just ended and we had come back into class, sweating and I was still shrilling in that my beautifully annoying prepubescent treble (which my mum swears you could hear within a 1-mile radius). A teacher was doing post-break inspection of the classes but we didn’t know that this particular sister had been standing quietly by the window, watching the court of noisemakers which I was holding. So when she entered the class, a hush fell over all of us. We made moves to greet her but she waved it away. It was the school administrator and she was relatively new. (Ok let’s deviate a little. In the primary school I attended, my surname was to be reckoned with because the 4 of us-siblings had a penchant for breaking records be it academic and/or disciplinary records and we literally knew all the members of staff). Since she was new, she wouldn’t know I was the ring-leader of the class noise-makers. So I sat astutely in my sit, pulled out a novel from my school bag and was reading it like the good pupil I should be. I was surprised when her shadow fell over my desk. My heart nearly stopped when she told me to get up and come out to the front of the class. I was never good at lying so I didn’t even bother. My heart was slamming because I felt for sure that my parents would hear of my noise-making today. I almost peed in my pants when she called me by name. Jesus Christ! How did this woman know me? I mean I knew she was the school administrator but she wasn’t a teacher so she shouldn’t even know of my academic prowess or ADHD. And then I heard the words every pupil or student who has been unruly hates till today, “follow me to my office”.

I got to her office with my heart in my hand. She unlocked her office and said the three words that changed my life, “Please sit down”. It wasn’t a sarcastic form of politeness. It was real and genuine. And then she smiled at me and said that she knows all about me and my noise-making but I shouldn’t worry that I wasn’t hear for discipline. However, she had a different punishment in stock for me. I was to come to her office every day during break for the remainder of the term. At that point, I felt I had been done a great wrong. How can all my break periods just go because I was unruly for a few minutes? I wanted to complain but she raised her hand and shushed me as she made notes in I what I presumed to be “THE BLACK BOOK”. A knock was heard on her door and two other pupils from an older class entered her office. I felt these two had been unruly and will be doing time with me so I smiled to myself. She welcomed them warmly and asked if they knew me, and yeah they did know me or my elder sister…they knew the family. And I knew them too. At this juncture, she reiterated what she earlier said to me and they weren’t fazed. I was still at a loss as to how they weren’t remotely nonplussed by what I considered very disturbing news when she told us that we had been chosen to represent the school in a quiz competition. If we won, we will go on to regionals and if we win the regionals, we’ll go on to state. That was when it made sense to me. I had been hand-picked way before she even came to my class. I don’t know how I was chosen. I don’t know who even chose me but all I know was that she asked me to follow her and I did. Out of fear or out of a sense of duty I can’t say but what I can say is that I followed her and my life turned around.

The quiz we were to prepare for wasn’t a run-of-the-mill kind of quiz. It didn’t broach contemporary Primary School curriculum of Maths, English and General Knowledge. It was a quiz on the Holy Childhood Association which prior to then, I had only heard about from my sister who participated in the same quiz the previous year. The preparations weren’t easy. There were tonnes of bible passages to be memorized and discussed, canon laws to be learnt and dissected, handbooks to be studied and regular schoolwork to be covered. Within the space of two weeks, we had established a schedule: once it was 10:30am (break time) we would report for duty and remain there till 2pm. All the hard work paid off in no distant time as we worn the quiz, up to the state level. But that’s not the point of this story. Even after the competitions ended, I remained friends with her and once in a while still dropped by her office to say "hi" and have a treat of whatever she was having for tea-break or lunch.

For 6-8weeeks I worked with the kindest of women and the softest spoken of them all. She was a disciplinarian no doubt but had an amazing sense of humour that was contagious. She couldn’t bear a grudge, no not her and she had this regal air about her that made you want to please her. She did have a witty tongue and once or twice I did see her ticked off (never saw her angry) her self-control was phenomenal, a lady in the real sense of the word. In that short while, I learnt a lot about my catholic faith, the doctrine of the church, the bible and interpersonal relationship. I learnt to control my temper even though my ADHD didn’t get better. A simple “follow me” much like Jesus told St Matthew opened my young eyes to things I never bothered about before and made me want to do better.

Press and Readers Club, Drama Club were some of the healthier activities this dear lady encouraged me to channel my energies towards. She believed that break time was just a disaster waiting to befall me with my ADHD and so rather than playing (and getting injured or dirty or worse), I can actually do better things with my time. In the Press and Readers Club, you borrow a book from her, read it and then write a report about it. Each report was supposed to be ready exactly a week after borrowing the book but that was just too long a time for me. So I was borrowing one book and then when I’m done with, I’d exchange with maybe two other people who read as fast as myself but we’ll still hand in one report. Who was I, thinking I could fool her? She knew what I was doing but ignored me nevertheless, as long as the books weren’t getting torn. As the school year drew to a close, she invited me and my brother and some other people to her office and gave us portions of the bible to study over the holidays, in preparation for next year’s competition.

A new school year, a new class, new friends’ maybe? With Christmas at the end of the 1^st term, this lovely lady thought it wise to teach us the true Christmas story and how it all started…from the fall of man. She wrote a drama that chronicled all the prophecies about the messiah the result was a star-studded drama spanning centuries up until the very 1^st Christmas night. People volunteered to be in the play and she made sure we paid extra attention to our costume. It was really lovely. When time came for the quiz, it wasn’t as gruelling for me as I had experienced it the previous year but if I had only read the bible passages she gave me, it might have been a walk in the park. Well sue me! I was just in primary 5. I barely knew what my priorities were talking more of setting them straight.  In the course of our preparations, one of us dropped out because he lost the dad. She made sure we were super-nice and her herself caught a cold that she couldn’t just shake off. I remember her saying she had sinusitis. Anyway, we went for the quiz and we won again but lost at state level. She told us to cheer up, that we did our best and so we did.

I left primary school and entered secondary school. I still did go to visit her when I got a chance. So one afternoon, I come back from school and my younger brother tells me to guess what. In no mood for no guessing game, I tell him some choice words. He then announces to us that the sweet kind lady who had touched all our lives had passed away. Who knew she had been battling with cancer all this while? It was a very sad moment in our lives especially for my mum because I don’t think there’s been another soul who understood her boys’ like this woman did. Thankfully, my brother attended her burial and paid his last respect on behalf of our family to this sweet lady.

It’s been more than 15years since I met Rev. Sr. Uche Jane Okwuosa but the 2years I knew her changed my life and I’m certain she’s making ridiculously funny faces at us from her celestial perch and urging us all to do better. R.I.P dear friend.  

Things to pack when going camping

I’m not going on a round-the-mill camping trip. I’m going for a rural posting in community medicine. I’ve spoken to some friends who’ve been on this posting before and they all agree that it’s more or less like a camping trip. They have also helped come up with a list of the things one needs to survive on this adventure. I dedicate this piece to AQUILAS: 2012 Medicine and Dentistry Graduating Class of UNIPORT. BED and BEDDINGS: Unless you want to sleep on the floor or catch your death of cold, better come with something to sleep on and keep warm with at night. Ideally, a 6-spring mattress and pillow, bed sheets, wrapper/blanket and importantly a mosquito net should cover it. But if you do not like to carry load, like myself, a simple camp-bed and wrapper should do but beware of the elements. PRIVY and PRIMPING: Don’t forget that when day breaks, you have to ready yourself and so do come along with a bucket (or 2 for the ladies), a toilet bag (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, soap dish), towel, toilet paper and some waterproof (just in case you have to put some shots). A make-up kit containing the barest essentials (you are not going for a pageantry) like cream, powder/aftershave, antiperspirant, comb, hairbrush, deodorant and perfume will come in handy for personal grooming. APPARELS and ATTIRE: 2 pairs of Jeans, 2 pairs of Slacks, half a dozen t-shirt and you are all set. For your feet, sneakers or running shoes as we’ll be doing a lot of hiking, slippers and sandals aren’t bad alternatives anyways. For pizzazz, you can add a couple of accessories or play with colour but remember to keep it simple and decent, it is no reality tv show. Equally important is your ward coat as we are going there as doctors. As for stethoscope and sphyg, the jury’s still out on those. Above all, don’t forget to come with underwear, 3 sets will do just fine as you can wash them at the end of each day. FOOD and NUTRITION: Opinions vary widely on this topic. Some believe you should go with all your supplies from camp-gas to curry while others advocate you go empty-handed and but all you need there. I think the wise thing is to strike a balance (or even err on the side of caution). Take a few provisions that will comfortably fit into a bag while making sure your luggage doesn’t exceed 3 bags. MISCELLANEOUS SUPPLIES: Sunglasses; a lot of hiking under the sun won’t be funny without those. Water bottles; still for the hiking. Chargers and Extension; there’ll be light there, epileptic anyway but you still need to charge your devices. Crockery and Cutlery; you never know. Detergent; for those laundries and dirty plates. Insect Repellent Cream; we are in the tropics. Money. Mobile phone and Laptop; at owner’s risk nevertheless but I can’t imagine myself without them. Glasses and glass case; for the blind…sorry bespectacled ones. If you use contacts, don’t forget your solution. Dettol/Water Guard; it’s the wild outdoors. Towels and Tampons; ladies take note. Drugs; yeah! Very important. Analgesics for pains after a hard day’s hike or dysmenorrhoea and Anti-motility agents for Acute Watery Diarrhoea, Anti-pyretics too. Stationery; we are students after all. Endeavour to cover PSM while we are there both projectwise and otherwise. Other electrical appliances; as the spirit leads. Light Source: Be it a torch (rechargeable or battery-powered ) or candles, just come with something to fight the darkness. Generating Set: If U really wanna sit on luxury's lap. And while U are at it, grab a standing fan & an audio deck. They'll sure make life pleasanter. Harmattan: With its abrupt departure & return, its safe to expect to meet it there. Cardigans, Pullovers, Sweaters, Turtlenecks, Scarves, Blankets...what ever you need for the cold. Petroleum jelly too for the unusually dry skin. My deepest gratitude goes to Drs. Ifedi & Somi of Xenios Class who calmed my fears & filled me with all the knowledge I used to write this. This list isn’t exhaustive. I’m sure I left out a great deal but this is just to serve as a guide. Good luck.

Nowheresville

So far, being in final year has been blissful. Attend lectures when you want and wear whatsoever pleases you. If a test falls when it will inconvenience, talk to the Course Rep and he’ll fix it. And what about 75% attendance? Rotting in hell where it rightly belonged. Yes, final year has been quite blissful and our FYCA-Final Year Class Activity took things put the F back in FYCA. They say you know FYC is over when you go for your rural posting. Rural posting is a 6-8 week stint we do in the middle of nowhere (a where without light, water and GSM service but with plenty of rats, mosquitoes and sandflies) to complete our learning in the field of Community Medicine. The 1st and last weeks are often spent in school; the former is to instruct us about the posting while the latter is to evaluate our experience. Our own Rural Posting runs from 7th Jan-1st May. We’ve already been told to come with all the possible things we need to cope their and that attendance will be taken twice every weekday-morning and evening. Weekends are to be spent at your discretion. This rural posting is just upsetting me, I mean 6 whole weeks in Nowheresville? God help me! And attendance again? Who released it from hell? Well I’m keeping my fingers crossed and packing a huge bag to Nowheresville. I hope somehow there’s GSM service and GPRS at least to update you on my “adventures” in Nowheresville.

Key Players in the Learning Process

Learning they say is a continuous process. As long we live, there is always something for us to learn. Most of what we learn, we are taught: most of what we are taught is under formal circumstances i.e. in an academic/educational environment. I've had the opportunity of being tutored by variety of people. Hereunder is a classification of the types of tutors I've had, in no particular order. TEACHERS: They explain each concept in detail that I cannot but understand what is being 'discussed'(they don't teach). They understand the constraints and difficulties associated with learning. Hence, they are sympathetic towards their charge and will try as much as possible to make understanding the concept a favourite pastime. BROADCASTERS: Do you know how news is broadcast on TV? Well, the broadcaster reads the stories from a screen in front of him. That is exactly what broadcasters do in class. They just sit down and read out slides from their Notebook-PC word for word, paying no mind to how much you understand talk more of learn. RESEARCHERS: These are better of in the laboratories where they are either looking down a microscope or playing with sophisticated electronic gadgets. They are very good at whatever they do, provided it is not teaching. They are intelligent and intellectual high-flyers with a very long list of abbreviations(achievements) trailing their names. They know all that is to be known about their chosen field but cannot communicate or transfer this knowledge to another. EX-STUDENTS: Everybody who stands before a class to tutor was once a student. But the Ex-Students are the type of tutors students love the most because they have not completely let go of their 'studenthood'. They will always regale the class with tales from their heydays 'back then'. They also understand the intricacies and complexities of being a student. They will make very good classmates if they were not so overqualified. PONTIFFS: Pontiffs are neither priests or overtly religious. They are so named because they pontificate in class. They can talk for hours on end about everything & nothing at all. They talk; I hiss, I yawn. More talk; more hiss, more yawn, some sleep. As soon as they ask, "Do you understand?", there is a deafening response of "Yes we do!" and " Just shut up & leave", added silently. CLASSIC LECTURERS: They come to class for one purpose only, to lecture. This do by ensuring that facts leave their notebooks and enter the students' notebooks without passing through anyone's head. They do not go an extra inch talk less of the mile in their classes. Whatever you do not understand, you simply have to read up. They might be late for a class but once the bell goes, you have to read up what they could not teach "due to circumstances beyond our control". CEOs: Chief Executive Officers come to class, thinking it is their office. As soon as the topic for the day is introduced, they call out to their 'secretaries', "Write!". Once they start dictating, they never stop till their day...sorry...class is over. They offer no explanation as their memo...sorry...notes are often 'self-explanatory'. Why do we have textbooks & internet??!! MENTORS: A better term would have been Modern SOCRATES. Once they are in front of their charge, they do nothing but cast aspersions on the system, the government and any other thing that catches their fancy. They always have a word of advice or two for the 'LEADERS OF TOMORROW' but they keep forgetting to point us in the right direction by just shutting up and delivering their lecture. This list is by no means exhaustive. Please feel free to enlighten me on those I missed out or have never encountered.

Journalism; the Bane, the Pain & the Gain

It was a beautiful Saturday and I was grateful to God that today I’d get at least one extra hour of sleep. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on leaving my bed till 10:00am and then I’d have a proper breakfast, see the latest movie on my laptop and then go swimming. Afterwards I’ll go hang out with friends and then catch up on what’s been happening in our lives. The day was scheduled to end with a quiet evening that will give me the chance to finish the latest bestseller in my collection, a light supper and then sleep. So imagine my bewilderment when my phone rang at 8:00am. It was a friend of mine who wanted to know what was happening in school that day. “What is supposed to be happening?” I asked making no efforts to hide my displeasure. “It’s a Saturday” I replied acidly and eager to toss the damned phone away and get back to my sleep. He laughed into the phone in that way that makes you feel you are the brunt of a joke and yet know nothing about it. Of course he was not done with me yet, he intended for me to beg him to reveal the secret to me. On a normal day, I’d tell him to hell with him; if he won’t tell, then I won’t tell him the latest story making the rounds. This silliness of ours could go on for ten minutes but not today. Today I was in the mood for sleep and sleep alone. So I quickly cut to the chase and said, “Please dear, what is happening in school today?” He laughed a deep throaty laugh and said, “It is Convocation, the President is coming to school with a whole lot of dignitaries”. That singular information, no matter how casually it was tossed my way had effectively ruined my day before it even started. I had to get out of bed and do the thirty minutes weekday routine-Brew tea, brush, drink tea, shower, dress up, eat cereal and out of the house-on a Saturday morning. As I was doing that, I could not help but wonder how I got to this point in my life. I’m not one of those who go about claiming to want to change the world. I just wanted to do something I love and that was how I became a reporter for my school magazine. Of course it is only part time or so I thought at the beginning but now it’s a full time job that takes 25-30hours in a day. I’ve always loved writing be it stories or articles, true or false ones as far as I had a cause to write, I write. And my choice of words when it comes to re-enacting events paints a vivid picture in the mind of my readers. I thought these skills will get me to my desired height in the field of journalism. I’m yet to get there because somehow, I keep adjusting that mark a little more each time. So here I was rushing off to work for which I’m not being paid for, on a Saturday morning that I had planned to go perfectly well. Days like this just make me wish that I was not a journalist. Not just because I was leaving my well-made plans but because of the kind of day I was going to have. It will involve plenty of standing especially if there was no prior security clearance but even if there was, I’d still have some standing to do. Then lobby for interview grants and risk being beat up or called all of sorts of names by thugs…sorry security personnel. And then make notes as each dignitary makes his or her speech no matter how boring it is. At the end of the day, I’ll then compress all the notes I must have made (often running into ten pages) into a two page essay that is witty and captivating. Did I mention that this has to be ready before 10:00pm of the same day? So that is life as an amateur journalist or is it really? Well, when things get to this stage I just have to keep hope alive and believe that things will get better for me as they have gotten for my uncle. He’s been recognized but locally and nationally for his contribution to the world of journalism. Also people like the famed Christiana Amanpour of CNN who constantly puts her life at risk to get the story told and earns an annual 7-figure salary in dollars that is. What of Richard Quest who’s constantly touring the world and getting paid for it? Journalism might not be so much fun for me now but there is hope, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy New Year

I can hardly believe it, but it's a new year already. I guess some people will punish and discomfort themselves for the whole of January in the name of New Year Resolutions (LOL). As for me, I like to keep it simple.
A few years ago, I made a resolution to quit chewing gum & since then, I haven't (that took a lot of will power though and planning). I had to quit buying gum, learnt how to say no when someone offers free gum and find something else to divert my attention from gum.
Why all these ramblings you may ask? New Year's resolutions completely pointless. Of course they aren't at all easy to accomplish, but they are doable! So what is it you wanna resolve this year? Kick a bad habit? Be a better person? Don't let past failures stop you. Plan ahead and see how it goes.
As for me, I've resolved to cut off some bad influences from my life. In a matter of months, I'll be a doctor (I haven't quite wrapped my mind around that) and I had better start acting like one. Happy New Year y'all and God give us the strength to stick to our resololutions.