Helping Tokunbo

Good day everyone, welcome to my blog.

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning a few years ago when I met Tokunbo. Tokunbo was one of my students in year three junior high but the bond between us is like that of a mother and son.

What drew my attention to him was not brilliance but rather his weakness. Tokunbo always appears sleepy, hungry or absent minded or tired. Most often his homework is left unfinished and his class notes half copied.

This has been going on for weeks after he was registered and started attending my school and it got me thinking because once in a while when he was not looking all glomming, he appears to be someone smart

And from the way he iron his uniforms, polish his shoes and appear in school on Monday, one can tell that he is from a good home so I satisfied the investigative journalist in me by inviting him for a conversation.

*Tokunbo, how are you doing today?was the first thing I said to him the movement he got to the school field where I had told him to meet me during break. From what I saw he was a shy boy so all he could say was fine thank Mrs Grace without looking up.

I told him to have a seat and he did then I asked him have you got anything to eat today? He said yes ma,* *I had to pacify him to open up to me if he was hungry before he said *yes ma i am hungry but I will eat once I get home in the afternoon****

I had to be careful so I offered him a pack of biscuits and juice from the school mart. This I did by giving him money to buy. After buying, I gave him time to enjoy his snacks and by the time he finished eating, the break was already over so we returned to the class.

From then on, Tokunbo will always come to me though with a shy face when he needs anything or he gets in trouble with another teacher and I try as much as possible to be available for him. Then he came to me one Thursday morning when other students had gone for swimming, except for a few who did not subscribe to it saying Mrs Grace please do you have anything at all that i can eat? I am so hungry that my body is shaking.

The school cantain was not yet open and Truthfully, he was peeling and weak so I had to offer him my food flask. He took it and dashed to the school flied. When he got there, he ate the food like a hungry lion that devoured it in a few minutes.

When he finished eating I offered him some water then he said thank you ma in a very meek character. Then I asked him *Tokunbo, **what happened?***** What the young boy did next was to burst into an uncontrollable cry I allowed him to cry so to let out his pain for a while before finally petting him then he started talking

***My mom became a single mother four years ago when I was about to finish from elementary school, my dad left her because she chose her carrier over her home, they were always having misunderstanding every night, at the end of the day we had to move out and get this flat where we stay presently because she couldn't afford one closer to her place of work, she brought auntie Dammy to come stay with us.

***Mom goes early Monday morning and returns on Friday night, she makes sure everything that we might need for the time she will be away is available. I must be sincere,my mom is caring so I eat well when she is around. Once mom leaves, auntie Dammy becomes the madam of the house and she does a lot of things I do not like******

In short she abuses and bullies me and if I refuse to give in, she will lock the kitchen and make me go hungry for days.** At that moment, I was so angry then I asked him why don't you tell your mom?* His response was **she barely had time to sit and talk with me so I made up my mind to run to my dad*****. I told him no, don't do that , I will do something about his situation.
**
I left him for the principal's office and collected his file. From there I got his mom's number. Though it was not easy, I invited her for a one on one conversation about what goes on in her house in her absence. After confirmations she sent Auntie Dammy back to where she came from and turned Tokunbo into a boarding student.

During holidays, he is either at my place or goes to his father. I am happy I was able to help the poor boy

Thank you for taking your time to read through, Yours truly @elizy, a teacher, mother and passionate writer.

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