FULL CIRCLE

Well hello there! 

How doth thou fare this fine day? Tis mine hope that thou farest finely. 

Welcome to today's gist. 

I had a really random drive down memory lane two days ago. When I was in Primary school, there was this teacher I had that I felt, and still feel, just looked at me and decided to dislike me: I came within her radar in Primary 3 when she became my class teacher and from then till I left Primary School, she made it a point of duty to show me shege, now I'm not talking about small things like over-flogging me, I'm talking things like making me do homework for her kids and her best friend's kids, who coincidentally were my neighbours, to the extent that I rarely went for assembly in Primary 3, things like making me copy notes for my classmates that were her favourites when I hadn't even copied my own notes. After Primary 3, when she was no longer my class teacher, the wahala continued albeit to a limited degree since she no longer had the unlimited access to me that being my clas teacher gave her, but she continued. And of course, mumu me, I no report; I continued to suffer in silence till I finally was through with Primary School. 

During my final term in Primary School, we had a variety of activities to celebrate the end of the session: individual classes had presentations and I think each of the houses had too. My house presented a 4-stanza poem among other things and I was one of the persons who presented on behalf of my house. However, before we were selected and given the specific stanza we were to take, everyone had to memorize the entire poem so I knew the entire poem by heart.

 

When the session ended, this woman, whose name I'm sorely tempted to mention, invited pupils to some children's carnival that was scheduled to hold in August at Aminu Isa Kontagora Theater Arts Complex -AIK to those familiar with the place (no worry, e get why I tell you the name). She now selected some of us to present the songs and poems we had presented during the end of session prize giving day at the carnival, I was going to be presenting the poem, all four stanzas of it. 

That fateful Sunday in August 2009 dawned bright and promising. After church, my sister, who was also selected to present at the carnival, and I got ready and my mum dropped us off at AIK and went to a meeting she had. We got in and shortly before the event started, this woman decided that she would be checking everyone in and driving every uninvited child away! The emphasis here is on the word "CHILD", we were children! If she drove a child away, how was that child supposed to get home? Most, if not all, of us had been dropped off by parents who were going to come and pick us up by the closing time so if you were driven, where would you go?

Guess who was driven? ME! She hadn't even gotten to my turn yet when she told me to get out of the line that I wasn't invited. I may have been a child at the time but I did understand what an invitation meant and I knew I was invited, because I had been asked to come present a poem at the carnival, e no get how dem want invite me pass like that! And she was the one who told me to come and present the poem oo, no be say na another person, na her. 

She pursues me and tells me to leave the event. She didn't even let me go inside to inform my sister who had already been checked in what had happened or to tell her where the bag with the clothes my sister needed to change into for her own presentation were, she plainly just pursued me. If you know AIK well, the event held at the indoor theatre. 

So there I was, ostracized once again by this woman and left outside. You know what I did? I left the entire place, went outside, flagged a motorcycle and told them my house address and asked to be taken there. Thankfully, the motorcycle rider was a good person if not na only God know wetin for happen. I boarded the bike, and started going home, before you ask, I didn't have money to pay, the plan was that when I got home, someone at home would pay. 

I always say the bridges in Makurdi seem to have a beef with my plying them on bike, I think this may be where our beef started: as we got to new bridge, we started becoming sandwiched between two trucks and in my small mind, I honestly thought we were going to be crushed, especially since the one coming at the back was speeding towards our bike, at least that was how it felt😅. I closed my eyes and said my final prayer, opened it and saw that the truck had passed us and we were on our merry way home😂. 

Of course, no one expected me to be home at the time so it was with a bit of a shock that my dad received me because he didn't understand why I was home barely an hour after the event was supposed to have started. He paid the transport fare then asked me why I was home and I explained everything to him. For some reason, we all forgot to think to call my mum to inform her of the development. 

My sister said she realized there was a problem when she began looking for me to collect the bag that contained her change of clothes and couldn't find me, she tried to raise alarm and this woman, the very same woman who pursued me, told her I must be around somewhere playing. My mum comes to pick us and finds only one of her children there. They began to search for me, this woman was even calling my name over the PA system! 

Finally, my mum calls my dad to inform him of what was happening and that was when we realized that we didn't call her, my dad apologized and told her that I was already home. She comes home and asks me what happened. I narrated everything to her and she was, of course, livid! Who drives a child from such an event? After tempers had cooled, we realized that the bag was missing; I didn't bring it home of course, and my sister didn't see it there.

We finally found the bag one year later; the woman found it and took it home and gave it to me the next year when I came for prize giving ceremony. 

But this gist isn't just about the woman's behaviour towards me (sorry that took a while to talk about). 

In 2011 I had a full circle moment, I was selected to represent my school at an essay writing competition and guess where the venue for that event was? AIK indoor theatre! As I stood on that stage, reading my essay, my mind flashed back to the day I had been denied the chance to stand there. I didn't win the competition, I came third position but I was selected to represent Benue State at the national essay writing competition. 

From October 2011 to July 2015, I lost count of the number of times I stood on that stage: for competitions, to give speeches, to receive awards… I was there quite a lot. In fact I became so familiar with AIK, it became like my second house, loosely speaking of course. 

And every time I stood on that stage, I remembered that in August 2009, I was denied the chance to do that. Now I didn't remember it from a place of bitterness, no! I remembered it from a place of gratitude and accomplishment. See, standing on that stage in 2009 was for some unrecognized children's carnival, nothing special, nothing to commemorate, maybe some pictures would have been taken to mark the occasion and that would have been all. 

But every time I stood on that stage from 2011 to 2015, I was doing something remarkable, there were cameras in my face, video coverages were made to air on the news, I even had the opportunity one time to present a speech before the then Deputy Governor and, I say this with the deepest sense of gratitude and humility, there was never a time when I was disgraced or wasn't applauded. 

So when I stood on that stage, I realized that it didn't matter that I didn't get to stand in 2009, the times I stood in the coming years were of greater importance, and it always felt like a full circle moment. 

The point of this whole, very long🙈, gist is to encourage you. You may be denied the opportunity you validly deserve now, you probably have worked tirelessly to be qualified for that opportunity and someone, or the faulty system we are in, denies you the opportunity to stand there. It'll be really painful, I say that from experience, but I can tell you with complete confidence in the God of Heaven that there's a bigger and better opportunity coming, one that would be even more beneficial than the one you have been, or are being, denied. Your full circle moment is coming and when it does, it'll be pressed down, shaken together and running over, you will even be grateful that you were denied the previous opportunity because it may have prevented you from getting this new big thing God has for you. 

I honestly don't know how long it'll take for your full circle moment to come; in this case, mine took 2 years and about 2 months, but believe me when I tell you it will come. Hold on to God, His plans for you are better than the ones you have for yourself, they are "plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11‬, ‭NLT‬‬)

God will make everything perfect in His own time and you'll be all the better for it.

Have a blessed February and see you next week!

Love,

Achenyo.