The stranger

Ikang (Light)

I learnt that I was picked by a church gate as a baby and being taken into an orphanage funded by the then wife of the state governor and supported by well meaning Nigerians.
Some other orphans were picked in the street at an older age than I and as such they'd grown a little by the street and has imbibed the negative street life so changing their beliefs and attitude was somehow hard.

The orphanage home was my first and only home I had ever had. The staffs were very passionate at their work, they made us a family and made us feel valued and loved.
We were taught basic education, principles, morals, Faith and skills depending on our age there.
My knowledge of the existence of a God was gotten there and since then I can't cease recognising him in my life but one thing I promise myself not to do for God and myself is to forgive my parents for abandoning me for whatever reason.

Unavoidable conditions had the orphanage shut down at my age six and since then the orphans have been roaming and sleeping in the streets fending for themselves as best as they can. The yearning for sense of belonging, association and survival sake has made most of us form and joined some illegal groups and has gotten themselves involved in illegal activities that has claimed their lives, physical abilities and fundamental rights.

The minority of us who didn't follow suit in the path of the majority has been doing what we can to survive by the side of the law like hawking of water and drinks, food items, body wears, rendering of domestic assistant services to the members of the public who doesn't mind seeking for our services etc and that's for the younger ones that didn't complete their skill acquisition apprenticeship in the orphanage while the bigger ones that completed their apprenticeship advertised their skills and get job offers, render their services and get paid.

The wise ones use their income to create more source of income for them that will eventually get them off the street while others misuse it with no plan.

As I didn't complete my skill acquisition apprenticeship, the first money I got after the closure of the orphanage was from being given #1000 for cleaning one man's car.

It's on a rainy day and the rain had stopped when I left the shade I was in to go look for what to do when I came across a shiny gray jeep packed by the road, being fascinated by the car, I unconsciously began cleaning the rain water on it with my makeshift handkerchief, wielding them off the beautiful car. I was unreasonably angry with the rain for attempting to mask the beauty of the car. Deep in thought and silent prayer of owning something like the car in future, I was surprised by the gentle touch of the owner on my shoulder that I almost scream my life out to the point of startling the man himself.
We both apologized after recovering and introduced ourselves to each other, he was a lawyer that resides in the municipal part of the city. He wanted to take me into his house when he learnt that I am an orphan but my polite refusal made him end up giving me #1000 note together with his business card telling me to contact him if I need any help.

I left happily and gratefully after thanking him to go start a life on my own.
I bought an empty crate of mineral, bought a bag of cold pure water and started hawking.
A bag of pure water cost #100 and contains 20 sachets of water and a sachet sold at #10, I make #100 profit from each of the bag I buy.
Seeing that selling of cold drinks is not a thriving business in the rainy season, I switched to garden egg with baked groundnut and that really increased my income.

I gave two of my fellow female orphans whom one Akon was a year older than I and the other was Atim fourteen but looked almost eighteen because of her huge body built and almost six feet height, I gave them #1000 each on their request to start a small business that would stop them from joining illegal businesses that will only mar them at the end. The zeal of living rightly that I saw in them was the reason I decided to help them when they asked. I mean they took to begging in the street instead of stealing or selling their premature bodies and they went as far as asking me for help when they could have easily stolen from me because they knew where I hid my money.
Fortunately they made good use of the money and ceased from begging. We ended up being acquaintances while still living in an uncompleted building. I didn't want to be friends with anybody who do not want to live legally or who do not value morals because most of our girls took to prostitution even at the age of eight.

Akon is the lousy and feisty one amongst us while Atim is the calm, calculated, quiet and formidable one, she is short tempered and looks very intimidating to most boys due to her big body and tall height. Most of the boys fear us for her. But she is a darling if you really get to know her, she rarely insult unless you really deserve it and she is very reserved and contented unlike Akon and sometimes me. And she is always our silent warrior that scare trouble away from us. I see her more like a senior sister that I didn't have.

Our income provided us with decent clothing, good water and food and some securities and we joined The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint that ignorant people including us used to think that it's a secret society or cult until we joined it and discovered that it's really a true church. We learnt a lot of life improving things there in which one was self reliance. And the church became my second family after our closed orphanage due to their acceptance of us amongst them.
We shied away from peoples pity treatment and offers just because we were orphans and for that reason we didn't want to seem helpless or be a burden directly or indirectly to anybody because we were very much able with good health, sane head, good eyes sight, hands and legs. We jointly rented a room in a public compound a year later and continued to do our business but we were constantly dealing with sexually abused attempts by the boys in the hood as we were residing in the ghetto like part of the city but with God by our side we're never abused.

"I want to enrol in an evening school so that I can get my first school leaving certificate" I told my room mates one day

"Oh Ikang that's very thoughtful, I was also considering furthering my education through evening school too" Akon exclaimed excitedly

"Me too" Atim concord

"Let's do that in the nearby school tomorrow if you're ready then" I suggested

"Of course because it's saver that way I mean with them dismissing after sun set and you know with these boys looking for who to sexually use." Akon reasoned

"Yes I think it's best that way." Atim agreed

"So tomorrow it's, I learnt their fees is also affordable." I assured while they nodded with excitement.

I got my first school leaving certificate three years later while Akon got hers a year later and was in junior secondary school two in that three years and Atim as well was in senior secondary school one later.
Surprisingly we were still living together and had become active Mormons. Members of "The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint" are called Mormons and the word Mormon is gotten from one of our scriptures.
Our church members treated us like family even when we refused to get attached to them.

Miss Adiaha, an award winning model and entrepreneur from our church built a shelter for all orphans when we rejected the accommodation she offered the three of us.
She bought a vast acre of land and built five blocks of houses in form of an hostel, each block had an upstairs and contained thirty rooms each with each room being fifty by fifty in size. After furnishing each rooms with inward supply of water, bed, toilet, bathroom and kitchen she dedicated it to every orphan around including us.
She called upon well meaning citizens to sponsor the project with provision of security and good maintenance and some people obliged.

The then commissioner of police made provision for nine volunteered policemen to be securing the property on shifts. So we had three policemen on each shift, morning, afternoon and night.
Uncountable rules governed us in the property like;
our curfew time being eleven pm latest.
Being quited if you fight or bring any unrest to the property.
Stealing was straight up eviction.
No permanent resident.
Repair immediately any damaged thing in your room during your stay and before quitting.

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