IN LOVING MEMORY - 3

 

 

Today, I write on the resilience of my dear mother.

“Premium Academy” is not just a regular family business to me. Of a truth, it holds so many precious memories and it reminds me of the resilience I need to achieve my goals in life.

Mummy quit her job as a teacher few months after we moved to Abuja to set up a day care centre to the amazement of everyone. This was one of the numerous courageous steps I saw her take in her lifetime.

I had just written J.S.C.E and was on holiday and so, I would follow her to the centre, where we would pray, gist, eat, sleep, wake up, thank God for a successful day and go home (since we had no pupil then). This routine continued for a while till we enrolled our first pupil.

Despite the very evident odds, my mother did not stop pushing for where she was headed. At a point, she had to move the daycare to the house. Frustrations began to arise from different points, yet my mum will still keep taking care of the babies as her very own.

Earlier in 2014, mummy told us she was starting up a school and it looked like a mirage to us until she got uniforms for her babies that were grown enough to hold a pencil and sing rhymes (she began with only two pupils).

Later that year, Premium Academy got registered and we began to work towards getting the necessary things we felt a school would need. We suggested better uniform options till we got what we all loved, we came up with a school anthem (what you get when your entire household is a full choir.. lol) and the school resumed fully.

The most challenging period for the school was when we had to move out of the initial flat that housed the school due to reasons the landlord could not outline or maybe “forces beyond our control”, lol (the landlord just showed up and asked us to move). It was painful and discouraging as we thought that was the end of the school, little did we know that God was pushing us out of what we termed “our comfort zone” into his perfect place of rest. In His miraculous way, he sent divine help our way and Premium Academy continued to function.

Mummy’s eyes were so fixed on where she was headed that she did not have the time to focus on those people who were trying to run her down. She once invited a fellow proprietress to the school’s function and the woman clearly stated that she does not attend functions of “small schools” (Like... was there no nicer way to make her point? this makes me wonder why some people feel comfortable with running people’s dreams down). That statement really hit my mum to the point that her tears dropped while she was telling me about it, but she said that she would not allow it to weigh her down and her school will become a really big one (I guess the statement was the fuel she needed to keep pushing hard). I watched her work towards the achievement of this dream.

As funny as this might sound, my mum drove her school’s bus till she passed on. She would go on at least four trips daily (two in the morning and two in the afternoon), each picking the pupils to school and dropping them in their various houses. I gave up on pressurizing her to get a driver when she told me “Debo, stop disturbing me naw! I love what I am doing and I feel happy whenever I am with these children”. She also used to say “Debo, I might not be here to enjoy the fruits of what I am doing o, but I can’t just sit at home and not do anything”. (With this, I did not need anyone to tell me that my advice was totally unsolicited..lol).

I watched my mum strive to fulfill her dream, gradually, yet with so much consistency. Penny by penny, sand-drop by sand-drop, premium Academy was able to move to her permanent site.

After we moved to the permanent site, mummy would come to school on some days to just admire God’s goodness to us. She used to say “the air in this place feels very peaceful, I don’t feel like going back home” (sincerely, I also find the air here very peaceful).

I know we have not gotten to even half of our destination, but we have moved way past where we started and I am grateful to God for trusting my mother with such a big vision.

This is my “heart-writing”, the scribbles straight from my heart in loving memory of my dear mother.

Comments

  1. MinusNovember 3, 2020 at 11:30 AM

    Wow, wow i am very sure she meant alot to those children because i always she early picking then up and bring then back home in evening, even those she was d propritress of the school, she act like a mother to them, as a guardian angels as a friend and also a shield to protect, May you rest on ma know your dreams are still been fulfilled by ur family, in blessed memories

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haruna David PrevailNovember 3, 2020 at 11:43 AM

    Wow...the road of a thousand miles begin with a step,not just a step but bold one.Mummy's death is one I can't suddenly recover from.Mummy has so much love for everyone.I love you and missed you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sunny JoeNovember 3, 2020 at 6:05 PM

    I could recall the early period when the academy started as a daycare I'd watch how mommy treated the kids with so much love and corrected them with resolute firmness albeit with love for their all-round growth.. You live on momma u truly are a tree planted by the rivers of water ♥️

    ReplyDelete
  4. Agbo DebbieNovember 3, 2020 at 6:21 PM

    😊💓💓

    ReplyDelete

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