In search of greener pastures

"Ola! Ola!" Kaka (grandma) called out, "We're late. If we wait any longer, the sunrise will meet us at the farm" Ola gets up wears his farm clothes carries the basin Kaka had arranged put it on his head and hurried after her , it was a long walk to their farm. On reaching the farm, true to Kaka's words the groundnuts were ready for harvest. They got to work right away; they worked tirelessly for hours and then fatigue sets in, Ola went to take out something from the basin and after scattering the contents of the basin, He called out "Kaka ,did you forget to put the millet juice in the basin again?""Ehhhh, I forgot oh" Ola sits on the ground in protest," No juice, No work!" Kaka continues uprooting the groundnuts and Ola joined in of his own accord.

A man passes by and exclaims " ah ah! This boy, you're letting your old grandma work at this age?" Ola smiles and responds "She's still very strong Sir" when what He really meant to say was "Mind your business Sir." Kaka was indeed a very strong woman.

Ola's mother had him while she was in secondary school and she said she didn't know who his father was at the time as she had a few boyfriends and all of them denied her and DNA was not really a thing in the village then so Kaka had to take full responsibility for her only daughter's child and after His mother gave birth to him, she waited a few months and she ran away , Ola knew his mother from the one picture that Kaka had and showed him every now and then to remind him that she wasn't his only kin, He had a mother out there as well. 

He didn't care whatever she said, He had no mother! His mother, His father, His all was his Kaka. She was his only kin. Ola knew how Kaka had struggled to feed them and send him to secondary school while farming the small farm that her late husband had left her. It was a small farm but it was blessed with fertility. Some of the villagers were of the opinion that Kaka was a lucky woman that she even got a farm from her late husband as most third wives were left with nothing and asked to return to their father's compound after their husband's demise.

Ola was in his final class in secondary school, He was preparing to write his final exams. Kaka had made him a deal that if he passed his final exams, she would sell all the harvest for that year and give him the money to go be a doctor in the city's University. He smiles as Kaka calls him "'Doctor' with her accent, it sounded like she was saying "Doctoh" .

Ola did pass his Examinations, Kaka was proud and he was happy he could put a smile on her face, it was the least he could do for that she had given her all for him and she was still giving her all for him. His close friend in the village Oyi was already getting ready to take a wife and take one of his father's farms as inheritance to cater for his family but Kaka believed in him so much that she gave everything for him to further his studies.

Oyi was equally as intelligent as Ola but His father refused to listen to reason, Oyi was his first son and He was a Chief, He said his enemies would not laugh at him a he would not send his heir to the city to go learn the white man's ways instead of getting him a wife and making sure the young man rose to his responsibilities as the next head of the family if the occasion calls for it.

When the time came for Ola to leave the village for University, Kaka wept; for as much as she reminded him that she wasn't the only kin He had, she knew in heart that it was her and Ola against the world and now he was leaving her to go to school, she comforted herself that he would come back better and bigger .Ola took the iron box from home ,wrapped his best clothes and squeezed them inside he also kept the money from the farm harvest that Kaka had given him in the iron box, he carried a nylon bag filled with foodstuffs gotten from the farm and the other villagers who had come to bid the doctor in waiting goodbye. 

He hugged his Kaka and took a bike to a bus park in the next village where he headed for the University. The road was dusty and long, from his small village watta, to Imole town. When they reached the town, he could see beautiful houses, cars and lots of people just going about their daily schedule. He alighted from the car and took a tricycle to the University where he went to the school board to check for his name on the admission list, He checked for his name five times under the course 'Medicine and Surgery' but he didn't see his name on the list, He stood confused beside the board for He had passed his final exams well, "I deserve to be given the course of my choice" he thought.

He was qualified, why was his name not here? Was he going to go back to the village? thoughts flooded his mind like water from a broken damn when a boy tapped him on the shoulder "Have you checked for your name under the other courses?" "No I haven't, I applied medicine and surgery" he responded innocently. The boy smiles at him and walks away.

Ola thought to try checking the other courses and after checking for a while he sees his name under Biology , "so much for being a doctor" he thought.

He didn't know anyone in school , He was a village boy who was trying to make sure he achieved his dreams, in fact it was his first time in Imole. He went into the school; to the student affairs division to complain about the fact that he had nowhere to stay, he was told that application for hostel accommodation would not begin immediately and it would take time to get started; there was no guarantee he was going to get a bed space even if it did! 

The student affairs officer on seat shouted at him and asked him if he was wanted to sleep in his house, sarcastically though but Ola answered "yes" innocently and the man turned red with rage,calling him a bastard and asking him to leave his office. Ola was confused, the University was supposed to be a place for higher learning, why was a staff of the University conducting himself in such an unruly manner? 

He sat outside the office with his luggage not knowing what to do next. When it was closing time, the man came out of his office entered his silver peagout 406 and drove off. Ola thought the man would have pity on him and give him an accommodation but apparently the University was more "mind your business" than he thought. 

While he was thinking of what to do or where to go from this point, a familiar face walks up to him, He was surprised he recognized a face because he'd never been here before "Doctor, did you eventually see your name on the board" the boy asked, "Yes I did" He responded "Under Biology" 

"That's a good one , having accommodation issues huh?" the boy was prying "Yes" Ola answered . "Take your iron box and come with me, I'll help with the nylon" "why was the boy's smile funny when he mentioned the iron box?" Ola thought. He would later come to find out that the iron box was old school and that he was the only one in the entire hostel who was still using an iron box; the obvious village boy. All the other boys were using echolac bags .

He followed the boy into the hostel and into a room in a corner of the hostel building, He would later come to find that the boy's name was Hassan and He would be squatting with Hassan over the next few years of University.

Hassan was a 200 level student of Medicine and Surgery, He was a Muslim and a son to a highly connected man in the society. Being the son of Mr Abdullahi was the key to a lot of locked doors. Hassan was the only person in the hostel who was occupying one room alone instead of the regular three boys to a room arrangement because of how highly connected his father was. 

His mother was the third wife out of five, he was her first and only child, he had over thirty siblings, some were already married and others were spread from tertiary institutions down to primary schools. Hassan was a smart and a compassionate young man , he was nothing like his father. He'd never taken to anyone the way he took to Ola, He believed a lot in having his own personal space that it so was uncanny for him to even have friends sleeping over not to talk of bringing someone he barely knew to stay with him. The whole reason why his father worked the accommodation for him to be alone was because of his love for his personal space.

Being a village boy was something that Ola had to unlearn. His shorts and shirts immediately stood him out of the large number of boys at the hostel, you could immediately tell that He didn't belong and some of the boys given to mischief were already making fun of him especially Francis, Francis was one of the most popular boys in campus , He hardly cooked his own meals as his numerous girlfriends took turns in bringing him food, this was not an information they were aware of of course. 

With time , Ola also became popular in the hostel but He was now known as the village boy, Hassan had lent him some of his overalls, his senator wears but Francis and his friends still had a good laugh when they wanted to be crude, "looking this nice doesn't suit you ,Ola the village boy" they would say. This was so disturbing to Ola as he just wanted to study and become something for his grandma and himself, one day Hassan took Ola's box outside and burnt it.

He then replaced the box with a new echolac box and new clothes, He couldn't wait for Ola to come see his new clothes but when Ola did come back from class, all hell broke loose "Who gave you the right to burn my box and my clothes? Who the hell do you think you are? Ehn Hassan! That box belonged to my Kaka" Ola cried and stormed out of the room returned with the burnt iron box and pushed the new echolac, "I don't need your charity" he blurted out. Hassan had never seen Ola this angry in the few months they stayed together, not even when the other boys called him a village boy.