The Struggle Of An African Child 2 Chapter Two

Joe, the father of Sam and Kamsi believed the rich man might not cook enough food that night. His wife, Kate was speechless and as a mother, she quickly ran to kitchen to look for a possible food to cook. Kate thanked G.o.d they still had some little rice. She cooked the rice but there was no stew to eat it with. "How could we eat rice without stew?" she asked herself. There was one option left― red oil. Kate turned the rice with the red oil and added small salt and that was how they ate that night.

To them, changing of diet meant eating garri in the morning for breakfast, white yam with red oil for lunch, then garri again in the night for dinner.

They don't have money to eat a balance diet; they only prayed to see what they would eat. They believed eating fruits were for the rich people because they could not afford to buy any. They only eat meat when they attend local functions or when their church organized a banquet or when friends celebrate birthday. They don't mind eating an extra plate and drinking to their full, if drinks were surplus, they would use empty can to store it and when they get home, they drank it. The only thing they can afford to buy when cooking was crayfish but it was not a guarantee each time they cooked.

Joe was a retired civil servant in the ministry of works whose monthly salary was N18,000 (less than $100) could not boast of saving money when he was working probably because of the hards.h.i.+p in the country had been going for his pension but at a point, he stopped. He thought if the government could not pay them monthly salary regularly when he was still working then they would not bother to pay them their pension. Some of the people who had been going for their pension died in the process but government did not bother to pay those who were still alive or even pa.s.s on the gratuity to the children of the deceased.

Joe discovered that a civil servant had no hope once he retires because he lived in the country where the poor ma.s.ses take care of the government instead of the government taking care of them─ politicians looted the resources made for the poor ma.s.ses. As a matter of fact, he decided to look for another alternative for getting money.

Joe woke up one certain morning and went to his friend to ask him to lend him his bike while Kate left so early to hustle for the day so that what happened the previous night would not repeat again.

Joe, the father of Sam, was lucky enough to get a bike known as 'Okada' from his friend, on the condition that he would remit five hundred naira for half a day and one thousand naira for a full day. Joe told his children to boil water as he left to get back to the hustle. Toward the end of the road, he picked up a pa.s.senger without knowing who he was. Of course, one does need to ask people who they are or what they are doing before transporting them but Okada riders are only interested in the money a pa.s.senger will pay.

When Joe arrived at the destination, the pa.s.senger asked to get off. He got down off of the bike and showed Joe his ident.i.ty card; he was a police officer. "You are under arrest," the mufti policeman said. "Under arrest for what?" Joe asked. "Under arrest for dropping you to the place you asked me to take you to?" he added. "You are under arrest for disobeying the law. Have you not heard the government has banned Okada?" the police said.

The incident appeared to be just drama to Joe. His children were waiting for him to return with what they would eat that morning. The reason why Joe told his children to boil a pot of water was because he believed by the time he dropped three or more pa.s.sengers off, he would have the money to buy what his family needed to eat for the day. He did not know that the worst would happen. They boiled the water twice.

The first pot boiled and evaporated so they refilled the kettle again. They were still waiting for their father to come back but their waiting was in vain. In a threatening manner, the policeman asked Joe, "Are you ready to pay me here or do you want me to take you to the station?" "Officer, I beg you," he pleaded but all his begging turned to a deaf ear. "I'm only trying to help you. If this machine makes it to the station, the case will change, you better pay me here. I'm just trying to be kind to you." The policeman said.

The hunter had become the hunted. Joe wondered why the person who was supposed to pay him for the rendered services, was asking Joe to pay him instead. Joe starred at the policeman who was in mufti and shook his head, apparently in total disappointment at what the police had done to him. Joe sighed sorrowfully and mumbled, "So because the farm owner was too weak to catch the thief, the thief in return accused the farm owner of being a thief as well?" Joe was still begging when the policeman collected the key from him. "Oga, you are wasting my time," the policeman said while trying to push the bike.

Joe tried to explain to the policeman that the machine was not his, but the policeman would not listen to him. He told Joe, "Your money is five thousand naira, but if this machine gets to the station, it will be ten thousand naira." Joe had no money with him and so there was no need arguing and bargaining with the policeman on how much he would give him. If he'd had any money at home, he wouldn't have had to borrow the bike in the first place and that would've saved him from being in trouble with the police. Rolling the machine away, "Oga, are you ready to comply or do you want me to take it to the station?" the policeman said. When the policeman saw that Joe was not complying, he took the bike to the police station.

Joe became more confused while walking down the road as he had no sense of direction. He was battling with a lot of thoughts. He couldn't decide whether to go to the station or not, even though n.o.body would listen to him without bringing money. The worst was that he had no money at home or in the bank and no one to help him out of the situation. A lot was going on in his mind when an oncoming car almost hit him. If not for the driver applying the brake, there would be a whole other story to tell. He was so lost in thought that he did not hear the horn when the driver honked.

Joe got some palm kernel, soaked them in the white garri he got from his neighbor and they drank―breakfast gone. They knew there was no hope for lunch that day.

Everybody in the neighborhood even in the market knew Sam's mother as a debtor. She would go to market and buy things on credit until she had money to pay and when some people could not stand it anymore, they stopped letting her buy anything on credit.

Kate would never forget an incident that took place in the market one day when she wanted to buy something.

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Pointing at what she needed, the seller said, "Madam, you're done." "Done? What do you mean, done? No, I'm buying this?" Kate replied. The seller turned her back at Kate and faced another customer who was also waiting to buy something. Kate waited patiently thinking she would be attended to but when it became obvious to her that the woman didn't want to sell her anything, she left sorrowfully. As she was leaving, the seller grunted, sighed in contempt and murmured, "You never paid me for the last ones you bought, you expect me to just keep giving you more and more?" The seller sighed heavily again.