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SUGAR IN MY GARI

I wish to share with you this morning, a brief occurrence in my life in the year 1988. But first how do you feel when you wish for something in life, you couldn’t get and you are so close to it?
It was on a Friday night, I woke up around 11 pm looking really hungry and tired, mum and my siblings had gone to the vigil, my elder brother was as then living with my dad, my elder sister was living with an uncle, I couldn’t really remembered why I did not go to vigil that night with my mum.

My status as a physically challenged person with mobility till now, is not so precarious, I can walk very well with my two elbow crutches, I have a device called ‘callipers’ its an iron bar attached to my legs that makes me firm and strong, every night I remove this callipers so I could be freer in the bed when this callipers is removed, I become less firm on ground though I can still walk fine but there used to be a limitation to the distance I walk.

So that fateful night, I was very hungry probably I had slept too early before my mum went to church, they dare not wake me when am sleeping because if they do, I will not see sleep till the following morning again unless I woke by self.

When I woke, I searched for food, there was nothing to eat except gari to drink, drinking gari is not bad till today, it remains one of my favourite meal but I am a sugary person, couldn’t just drink it without sugar hmm .. Never mind! Don’t advice me that sugar is not good for the body, I know but am an addict and I can’t just help it, may be that is why I don’t drink beer, for me, it’s just a bitter stuff.

So I took 20kobo and I went downstairs’ my house to buy sugar, direct opposite my house was this Mama Lati that sales sugar and stuffs. Darkness had eaten deep into the night, every where was silent and dark but I could see mama lati still displayed her stuffs with the aid of what we call ATUPA (lantern) I was looking at what I wanted to buy, I had money to buy it but my legs couldn’t take me there. I waited for about an hour outside my house waiting for a passer bye to at least help me to buy this stuff I needed but no one walked pass

I headed back inside looking very bitter and dejected why me? I had money to buy sugar but …. Hmmm.. .i was drinking the gari without sugar and I was crying, I wasn’t crying because I did not apply sugar, I was crying because I had money to buy it but I just couldn’t get it

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Comment by OSENI OLUWATOSIN ADEJOKE on December 7, 2009 at 9:11am: hi
that night most have been a very bad one i know for real, what if i had to tell you that i have cataract in my left eye............................when i was very little still in my primary section class, every one around me do call me a one eye person or at times a cat eye girl.......................cause then it was very big and very obvious...................................at list then, i have only one friend in my class and the rest do take big advantages of my disabilities..it actually got to a point that any crusade around our area is all i do attend looking for a miracle for my left lost eye...i could still remember that i went into a week fasting and prayer all for the recovering of my left eye. have insert sugar without water and at times with water into my eyes or at times my urine...................................but with all my effort people still complain when i look at them thinking i was looking else where.....my nickname then was ( awo ibadan bi enin wo oyo) i hate this name but then things changed.....................gradually.i tried going in for treatment when i was ten years but it all happens that i was the one next in line for the operation when another woman shouted that her son was the one in line................my mum was very angry because we have been there in the hospital for three days.my mum could no longer wait for her own turn for her only girl operation,i mean seeing lost of people coming for check up and giving lots of testimonies of how it all went perfectly...............my mum could not with stand the way the woman was shouting so she gave her a free pass

twenty minutes later we all lent that the boy died during the operation...................instantly my mum bent down and look into my eyes and said to me, my loving girl you are beautiful just has you are..................i am not ready to loose you now.the doctors came out after thirty minute of mourning the dead boy, then they asked who is next in line......my mum gave no response,she held my hand so tight not whiling to let go. she dropped all necessary process at the hospital and we both headed home.
she started spending all her last penny in getting me imported drugs which are very expensive. each for 50,000 nara and i have three small bottle of the drugs every month to use.
then the big iner part of my left eye which was looking like a cat eye started getting smaller,but still i was asked not to take your best food gari, grandnurt oil, grandnurt, eba, mostly any thing with starch.

i can hardly see clearly with my left eye,but one can hardly know if there is anything in it from afar .thanks to my darling mum......so you see we are in the same club.