When life is hard

Chapter one

My name is Jonas,and I am the only son of my father i was born in the tenth of October,1996.

My parents gave birth to me in a small hospital in my town,my dad's name is Mark and my mom's is name is Bridget. They were treated badly by the people even before i was given birth to and when i was born my parents for the first time in their life's ate fried rice.

My family was the family that was so poor to the extend that poor families in our town called us poor people.

My father loves to watch ball any kind of ball which include basketball, football,handball and others even when he don't Know how to play and my mom supported him in any thing he did.

When I became two years old my father every Fridays,take me to watch football with him and told me that  despite the fact that I was born in a poor family "let me always think big in other to achieve big and also, that was the mistake he made",I didn't understand what he meant but i kept it to hearth.

My father played with me as if everything was fine,and then my father developed cancer and the doctor said will should bring three hundred thousand naira before he would start treatment and because we were poor will couldn't raise up to that amount and on the day my father was to die he called me and said"Don't allow your present condition to discourage you,you can make it for i have failed but you haven't so think big" and he asked me to promise him that i will not fail just like he did and i said i promise him,then me called my mother and told her that he what sorry,he then kiss her and died in my mother's hand. I and my mother cried and then after buried my dad,I was three years when my dad died.

My mother started doing any kind of job so that i will not stop my school. When I began five years i developed passion for sport,and then started training not minding the fact that i was five years,I trained six hours every day and when I was seven years old i started playing with peolpe of seventeen years. I was good in playing basketball, football,and handball games.

My mother Bridget my name supported me in any way she could and when i became third teen years ago our town and our  neighboring town conducted a match that our town came first and I played all through the match and the finals my mom came to watch me play that was the best day of my life.

When i became fourteen of age a year after the match I was discouraged because my plan was so that i could be famous and rich so that i could help my mother but instead nothing and my mother asked me a question,she said "what makes you happy" and i said sport and she then said if sport makes me happy i should go for my passion. I thought over it and concluded that weather money or no money passion drives someone to success.

I started training 8 hours because of what my mother said,two months later was my mother's birthday and my uncle was present my mother brought out garri and salt to eat but when my uncle saw it he told my mom that she should not eat garri today and also that today was her birthday the 24th March,2010. He then gave me money to buy rice and some other things so that we can cook fried rice that was the second time i ate rice in my life. My mom was so happy so the extend she told me that we will cook the fried rice and eat it little by little so that it can reach us for four days so bad but,we had no choice because we don't know when we will eat it again maybe next ten years. I was happy to see my mother cook a very nice food apart from soup and eba(garri) that was the best day I have had since after my father died,but as we were eating I noticed that my mom was a little bit unhappy so i ask her what her problem was but instead of answering me she started crying and took about 20 minutes for her to stop crying and for her to say what her problem was,she said in front of my uncle and i that it was the rememberance of her husband that made her to cry and started narrating how he helped the people in their town before i was born my uncle,uncle Peter told her that her husband my father was dead and we should not cry about him and also he told that death is something that will come and even him he is no sure if he will awake up the next day and even if he would he don't know if he will die tomorrow and so after taljtal my mother cleaned her eye and continued eating.

After eating my uncle took me to his farm land and showed me some of the plant that had growed and also he told me that i don't have to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of its self and said that he is telling me so that any thing i have in mind i should do it now,if I want to make a change i should do it now and after he was done with speaking he ask me i understood what he said and I said yes,then we left the farm.

As we were going back home he received a call  and gave me 10000 naira to give my mom that he was called for an appointment and he couldn't miss the appointment that he got to go and said that i should not make my mom angry because she is a widow and said also that I should take care of her and protect her. When i got home that day I gave my mom the money and left for training because i wanted to make a change i my family.

Five months after that day my mom developed an illness,she was very sick and when we went to the hospital the doctor said that my mom has cancer and that if not treated she could die. I cried that day because i don't want to loose my mom again and then i was just 14 years old if i loose her who will take care of me and also my greatest fear was that if she dies all my dreams of making change is dead so I prayed,cried and prayed two weeks after my mother came back from the hospital and the doctor told us that she still have cancer and so she have to always rest so it will not lead to early death but me I was not interested in what the doctor was saying my joy and happiness what that my mother recovered and so I was greatful to God and also to my uncle Mr Peter for his financial support.

Two months after the incident was my birthday 10th October  with was going to make me fifthteen years but a week to my birthday something i happened that week was our festival and in that festival they normally tell all the children to come out in the village square to dance and that was what happened they called from 8 years to 15 years and i was among the person who came outside and then started playing the drum for us to dance i danced so well but because the leader of the chiefs was there he didn't follow the normal way of selecting the best he just tell the monarch that we are in modern days and as such since he is the leader of the chiefs let him pick the best and the best is usually given 100000 naira,he picked his son and nobody could say anything because if anyone argues with him he may kill the person .

After everything I went to meet my mom and my mom told me that i should not worry about the matter and that i have made her proud then everyone went home to prepare for the festival and also the festival is done at night and it is called osin festival. In the festival boys and girls dance around fire in also drink palm wine although the night,we did the festival and the festival was good it allows poeple to make new friends like me  I made three friends which you will see in chapter two.

That same week the last day it was to end was my birthday. My birthday was the worst day of my life,i will never forget that day, see what happened in chapter two