Sunday 24 May 2015

The Village Headmaster - A Short Story

She was the only girl-kid in the Dike loved ones. Tailing 4 boys, Chi-Chi was the child of the household and the love of all and the complete village.

Ariam was her planet; the only one she knew considering the fact that she has under no circumstances had the chance to study otherwise, situated in the eastern aspect of her vast Nation, Ariam was pristine, untouched by the so-named civilization. Life was dull however peaceful; at least she was confident of so a great deal love and a complete stomach at the finish of the day.

Ariam was a farming neighborhood created up of around 3 hundred guys, girls and young children. Yet then life will not be entire and story not properly told if one discountenances the Ahia Ariam or the preferred after-in-each and every- seven-days industry at the center of the village. Although her parents had been farmers who took pride in caring for their ancestral lands, Chi-Chi was no farmer! She was a lot more interested in what a legacy left by the Catholic Missionaries years ago has to supply.

Life in her African village was straightforward and un-assumed. As it was in such remote villages, Chi-Chi and other individuals need to should do without having electrical energy light, transportable water, and so on. Regardless of the visible absence of those implies of producing life additional predictable, her village was a entertaining location exactly where every person you meet on the bush paths to farm or the stream is a buddy or a relative.

The day in the Dike family begins at around six a.m. As the girl of the house, Chi-Chi knew her spot, roles and responsibilities as norms, culture and tradition dictate.

The village stream was around three kilometers away from her house. Given that the loved ones can not face the day devoid of water, she ought to get up off her sleeping position in the family members's preferred space and join her brothers as they and other individuals make their way to the stream. It was a looked-forward-to activity for her; a time to meet with pals, share one or 2 most recent village gossip, share in the interpretation of dreams of final evening and so forth. Yet this morning it was not around some dream, the mood was certainly distinct; the ladies and boys on their way to and from the Ariam Stream had yet one subject to share and analyze.

Ariam, luckily, was blessed by God and by the regional Government Authorities with a Key college to the visible envy of neighboring communities given that their wards ought to stroll the distance to St. Michael's Principal College . It was founded by the Catholic Mission of Saint Michael.

Stories around Mr. Okoro, a village headmaster was identified, told and retold in lots of communities exactly where he has worked and lived, some correct and some otherwise. However one issue that was accurate around him was the reality that he was tall and substantial, with such imposing physique, he tends to intimidate other folks- teachers and parents too. He was superior at his calling and a disciplinarian. That was the element that definitely sent jitters down the spine of his pupils.

Mr. Okoro, it was rumored, was in line for a transfer for but yet another Key college someplace. No one knew exactly where so each parents and pupil waited for the substantial news with fingers crossed. Every person wished him away so they waited with anxious care.

All such news ought to be passed by way of the village head referred to as Eze, who have to then disseminate it via the town crier. He is the man appointed by the village regular council of chief to go round the village at evening with a metal gong on his left shoulder and a rod to sound the gong.

It was just about previous eight final evening after absolutely everyone listened attentively as the man in his fifties produced his rounds.

At final the cat was let out of the bag; Mr. Okoro was due for Ariam to resume as the village headmaster the very subsequent morning!

It was a news received with mixed feelings; when some believed it was okay for an individual appreciate him to come enable mold the youth , most, mostly the pupils of the Main college believed otherwise. So one is able to study all the hush-hush toned gossips, all the extended faces worn by the youngsters like Chi-Chi's brothers as they went to fetch water from the stream.

She was in Main 4 certainly over-aged for that class considering the fact that her dotting father had kept her away from college as soon as it was time to start out with her age-buddies. She knew what to count on; Headmaster Okoro, she heard, was a no-none-sense sort of a man, it signifies no late coming to college, no skipping of residence performs, and so forth. yet Chi-Chi was determined to make the most of the improvement. Although other folks worried themselves sick around why it had to be their college, she was concentrating on how greatest to exploit Mr. Okoro's tenure to make a good results of her life.

That morning she was one of the very first to show up at the college obtaining hurriedly gone by way of her domestic chores which integrated the washing of plates, pots, and cutleries employed up the past evening, all those have been completed at the vast court yard close to a hut which served as her mothers' kitchen. Life in her village signifies most items have to be performed outdoors; all washings and toileting inclusive! The villagers maintained a measure of hygiene thereby maintaining visits to the well being center miles away at the barest minimum.

Living in her globe was living light years away from contemporary fact; it was nonetheless a globe exactly where parents, society demand loyalty and obedience, a living with no rancor, strive and anxieties recognized elsewhere, yes, that was what it meant to live in her village, exactly where you are anticipated to shout a resounding "yes ma" or "Yes pa" once your parents call.

That was her planet - Chi-Chi's globe. She had no excuses neither does she hope to manufacture some tomorrow. She was positive the sun will rise and set the day once tomorrow, she was certain of a green earth, pristine, unpolluted, no enemies to contend with only love and these she loves... that was what life was all around for her and she cherished every single moment of living in Ariam.

Nerry N. Raymonds from one particular. Handle Concepts Consulting, two. Education News Nigeria, and three. Nerry's Actioning Fraud Handle Concepts. Visit us currently at http://www.educationnewsnigeria.com.

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