Amma's Diary; Episode 1: Post Nysc Experience

Hello Everyone, welcome to the first episode of my diary... Amma's diary. 

Introduction: Amma's diary is all about my personal life experiences, day to day activities; trilling, adventurous and happy moments of Amaka Nwachukwu.

Sit and enjoy my diary post... Come rock my world!!

EPISODE 1 –POST-NYSC EXPERIENCE

After a year’s nation call (NYSC) and dedicated service of having served my father land; Nigeria, it was a bitter-sweet experience to be back home to my family. After all, family over everything. I just dey feel myself as per, expired corp member who must have been missed in the home after a year of service in one strange village in Oyo State, Nigeria. It was sweet in the sense that the trauma of seeing my Yoruba students with over 15 tribal marks on one face; diagonally, vertically, horizontally and diaverthorizon was over! The thoughts of going to the market once a week and eating stale food that will be on heat minimum 2 times a day X 7 days was also over… Omo, ko easy o! Worse of all, the annoying sound of my name from the mouth of indigenes in that village! It was so bad that I had to doubt the meaning of my name which I had borne for over 20 years before then. Some called me Emehka. Others, Amake and the rest Emeke or “omo ibo”.  Kai! These Yoruba fellas can make someone regret his name o! What is difficult in pronouncing “Amaka”. Shebi if I had told them my full is Uzoamaka, perhaps, they would pronounce it as what? Ozeomohka. Smh!

Now, to the other part. I know it is like a home-sweet tradition for a long missed fellow to be celebrated on her return. Mum giving me options for meal, boiling water for me to have my bath, younger ones all around me to run errands for “free”, folks calling for morning and night prayers and thanking God for me, everyone remembering one past incident which happened in my absence and telling me the stories. Well, it is normal to feel comfortable but I bet you, that wouldn’t last for a long time so I told myself; “Ama baby! Don’t feel too comfy with this o, once another long missed fellow comes after your return, you will be treated as normal just as the word “normal” sounds”.

A month went by and there I was, still wallowing in the luxury of everyone at my beck after all. Gradually, the tender loving care was depreciating and one morning, popsy called my full name in a loud harsh voice… “Uzoamaka!” My heart kept beating but a part of me was not convinced if I was actually the one he called in that manner because I should still be enjoying my celebrity state and the effect of one year absence na… Woh, fimile jare. The next thing I heard was the sound of my bedroom door open. Gosh! Dad is here!! “why are you still lying down on the bed at this time? Stand up from there and go wash my car”. Chineke!! na me be this?


Waiting for mum to return from work so I can report the harsh treatment received by dad, she came in and I walked to the door to welcome her. In one of her bags were banana, groundnut and all goodies people buy on their way home.  As usual, I was to have a share from it; that which I took without informing anyone. *it is my father’s house afterall*. Whistling in excitement as I was eating my banana, I heard from the sitting room; “Uzoamaka, where is the other bunch of the banana I bought for daddy?”. Innocently, I came out with the peels in my hands, heading to the bin when I responded; “I have eaten them all”. “Chineke nna, is that why you came back? To eat what does not belong to you?”. Mum said.  Jesu! “Did they plan this together? why did I come back, like i was supposed to serve for two years. That was a harsh treatment” I said in my mind, feeling betrayed.

The law of see finish states that upon the overall visibility and most frequent association, the depreciation of value for an individual may be irretrievably worthless, thereby, making him inconsequential. My folks don see me finish I pondered. And again at 6:10am the next day, I heard in my sleep; “Uzoamaka, come and dress Michael for school and get him ready before his school bus comes!”. Opening my eyes, I saw mum standing right in front of me by my bedside. “I will begin to lock this door so that no one comes in to disturb my peace”. I said to myself… Haba!

And on and on,  it kept happening. I called a few of my jobless friends whom we served together to know if the treatment was same. Lo and behold, I counted myself lucky. “Amaka, I wish I were you; yours is even better. My dad wants to make me run mad in this house. Imagine him telling a whole graduate like me to clear the grasses in our compound” Chikaodi said. “my mum woke me up from sleep with a bucket of water” Ada said. I am a lucky girl then. But wait o!, did our parents hold a meeting to treat us like this? Not like they had a company for us to work in.

To be continued...