IRAWO: My Quest for Freedom 8

Hi. 

It has been a while since my last blog. I have been very sick. The blog just had to wait.

I am feeling better now. Thank God!

If you have missed out on this series from the beginning, start reading from here.

I proceed.

In secondary school, I carried out many activities. I enjoyed cutting grass on labour days, building ridges, planting, watering and harvesting of crops for agricultural science class, knitting, sewing, mending shoes and repairing wrist watches. 

I used to buy extra wrist watch batteries so I could repair watches in school. I got one or more plates of white or jollof rice or beans, stew and fried plantain in exchange for my repair services.

I did not like going out for my morning piece of work except when I was in JSS 1 where I worked in the principal’s house. We only worked on Saturdays. We cleaned her house and sometimes, she would give us food to eat. Senior Bukola Omotade was our work co-coordinator.

In JSS 2, my morning piece of work was to wash the bathroom. In JSS 3, I was allocated a toilet to wash. In SS1, I washed the toilet and later the gutter in the courtyard.  I always locked my toilet and a student would have to come and meet me to collect the key. She would have to provide a bucket of water for flushing and I would check after she was through. It did not matter if you were a senior.

In SS 2, I was made the room captain. I had to make sure that the rooms were swept and kept tidy everyday and for Saturday sanitation inspections too. I was also made the class captain and I held that position from SS2 to SS3.

Visiting days were fun. Even if my parents could not come and visit, I was sure to eat homemade food from a junior, mate or senior that offered to share with me. My mother would come during the week if she or my father could not make it on the Sunday visiting day. 

In school, I heard many stories about Ogbanjes, mammy waters, witches, Lady Kaiko, etc. Many students had nightmares and talked in their sleep. I always put down my mosquito net to add some form of protection for me whilst I slept.

Once, I heard a story about a girl in another school that used to remove her head to plait her hair by herself.

I heard about a girl in one of the other model colleges who died on her birthday. I heard she was an ogbanje and that she used to turn into a leaf and slip under the door, which was always closed at night, to go and have a meeting with her mates under a huge tree behind our hostel. A few students were actually possessed by evil spirits. I made sure I kept away from them.

Wearing bras and starting the menstruation cycle was a big deal for us. We would tell our friends and they would welcome us to the other side of puberty. From JSS1, my mother would pack Simple sanitary towels into my luggage.  I did not use these sanitary towels until I was in JSS3. I was thirteen years old, shortly before our JSS 3 examinations. 

The first person I told about it was Tope Alder. She screamed and was happy for me. I had come back from class on a Friday afternoon and I felt like I had urinated on my body. I checked and saw my stained pant. She took me to the bathroom and showed me how to use the pads.

On the next visiting day, I told my mother about it so she could get me more pads. She began to lecture me.

“Do not let a boy touch you. Don’t play with a boy o!”

I wondered what she meant because I had actually been playing with boys. I was a tom boy and boys were not out of my curriculum. She did not tell me exactly what she meant.

Anyway, that was how most of our mothers talked to us back then. It was a taboo to talk about sex. The mere mention of sex would feel like we had committed a sin.

It is no longer like that because I tell my boys about sex. I tell them why they should not engage in it until the time is right.

These days, sex is like pure water. There is also the issue of same sex. My boys know what all these things mean.

This is not the time to be mincing words with our children. The world has changed drastically.

I passed my JSS 3 examinations. I sat for twelve papers. I had distinctions in Mathematics, English Language, Fine Art, Agricultural Science, Yoruba, Business Studies, Home Economics, Christian Religious Knowledge, Integrated Science, Social Studies and Literature in English. I had a credit in Igbo Language.

For SSCE, I sat for eight subjects. I had distinctions in Economics and Literature in English and credits in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Government, Commerce and Yoruba.

I also sat for GCE in SS 2 and made all my papers.

At social nights which took place every Saturday evening except during exam period, I participated in fashion parades, cultural dances, dance dramas and dance steps.

In sports, I participated in long distance races like 1800m and marathon. I also participated in relay races. I was consistent but not fast enough for 100m dashes. 

And secondary school was over.

To be continued.