A DREAM COME TRUE ( Student's inspiration to success in education, Chapter 3)

It's another week of the inspirational story that can lead to student's success in education.

Source

The following day, Chief Atanguma Esenowo was on his way to the school with his son, Asuana. He would have defied the instruction of Mr Effiom but for the fact that he had deep respect for the man, and his wife, Akon, would not allow him to rest. Akon kept reminding her husband about the appointment he had with the headmaster the following day. So, early in the morning, Akon dressed up Asuama and sent him to his father, as a reminder. When Chief Atanguma saw that the son was already dressed for school, he was forced to dress up himself, and in a moment, both father and son were set for the school.

When Chief Atanguma got to the school, he went straight to see Mr Effiom, firmly holding Asuama's hand. It had been a very long time since Chief Atangūma visited the school. After all, what business had he with Western education, when his passion was for all his children to be trained in traditional vocations, such as palm wine tapping and oil palm harvesting, which to him did bring immediate material gains.

"Oh Chief, you are here! You are highly welcome. Feel quite free", Mr Effiom greeted warmly. "Good morning 'Akamba Tisa', how did you wake today?". Chief Atanguma greeted back. It was a normal way of greeting when two close friends met, even within a short space of time of not seeing each other, to ask about the previous night's rest.

"Oh everything went well!", Mr Effiom responded warmly and ushered his guests to a seat in his office.

Mr Effiom hurriedly tidied up what he was doing to personally attend to Chief Atanguma. On his part, Atanguma used the opportunity to look round the office furtively. There were several equipment and other things in the office which were very strange to the visitors. Mr Effiom finally finished what he was doing. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Chief, you are welcome once again. I thank you so much for keeping to your words. You see, there is no substitute for education. It is the best and enduring investment parents could make for their children. I have seen in this particular child what he would be in the future. He needs to be given a chance to go to school," Mr Effiom counselled.

All what Chief Atanguma could do was to nod his head in agreement, but deep in his mind, he did not quite agree with the headmaster. One thing about Chief Atanguma was that once he had taken a stance on a particular issue, it was very difficult to make him change his mind, However, Asuama was registered in primary one and handed over to Mr Effiom who assured Chief Atanguma that the child would be taken good care of in the school. The two men shook hands and Atanguma left. Mr Effiom took Asuama and handed him over to a primary one teacher by name Mr Ekom Nsidibe.

On his way home, Chief Atanguma was meditating on the advice of Mr Effiom. He could not understand why education should be the best investment for a child when schools would be milking parents dry of their lean resources in the name of school fees and other sundry charges. In most cases, a child would drop out and all the fortunes spent on him or her would go down the drain just like that. As he was meditating, he suddenly became like the biblical Pharaoh. His heart became more hardened against Western education and he regretted personally taking his son to enlist in such a wasteful enterprise called education.

Asuama was getting used to his school by the day. He was liked by every pupil in his class because of his brilliance. He was a very humble, quiet, respectful, kind, and hard-working boy. These attributes made Asuama stand out among other pupils in the class. After just about one term in the

school, he was inade the class preſect in a class of 50 pupils. His class teacher, Mr Ekom Nsidibe, had a liking for Asuama. Like the headmaster, Mr Effiom, Mr Nsidibe was a lover of education, counsellor, and fatherly. He was always joyous whenever he saw a brilliant, humble, respectful, and hard-working pupil. He never wasted time in helping Asuama in some little school items he might lack, such as pencils, exercise books, crayons, sharpener, etc.

That is the end of chapter three see you in chapter four.

I am @udyliciouz