seven months, then my dad.
So the whole experience was
very traumatic, there were
times when they quarrelled. It
was one of the most traumatic
experiences of my life.
So I went to live with my dad,
who had his own issues. The
separation just left scars on
everybody. My dad was never
around.
The least he could do was
come around and give us
money to buy food. So I
started skipping school and
missing classes, I became
"street wise". All of this
happened around the age of
9, and it was really terrible.
Those were the darkest days
of my life. I couldn't see
beyond every single day. It
continued for over four years
until I met some people who
began helping me. I didn't live
on the streets, but I did
everything all the street boys
would do; I stole things I
didn't need and every other
thing that a typical street kid
would do.
Question: Can you please
share one of those stealing
experiences with us?
Response: I wasn't a good
thief. There was this
particular time, the boys got
together we planned to go
and steal from a shop. The
plan was this, 'Whatever
you steal is yours', like
nobody was sharing anything
they got with another and
everybody got in swiftly, stole
what they had to steal, and
left. It was a big supermarket
so we just pretended like we
were buying stuff and we just
left when the job was done.
I was the last person to go in,
and I just didn't know what to
do because I wasn't a good
thief, and as I picked the
biscuit I was going to steal I
felt like people were looking
at me. Doing all these things,
I could tell it was peer
pressure and other factors like
my parents, but I couldn't stop
it at that time.
Along the line I changed
schools and when I moved to
the new school, the rst thing
that occurred to me was the
fact that I had a reputation in
the previous school I
attended.
(We are currently trying to
putting together a
documentary with people who
knew me in primary school
and my secondary school,
because I was two different
persons at those times of my
life.)
You see, all these transitions
were very timely, because
when my parents separated I
had just moved from primary
school to secondary school, so
the perception people had
from JS1 to SS1 about me is
not the perception that the
people in primary school had
I DARE SAY WE
SAVED MORE
LIVES THAN
THE NIGERIAN
POLICE FORCE..
about me, same with my SS2
to SS3.
One of the volunteers who
just recently joined the group
was my classmate in primary
school and when some people
began saying stuff about me
he could not believe it,
because I used to correct my
teacher's notes in primary
school. Then again in
secondary school I was like
rst or second from the back, I
skipped classes and all that.
Question: So let's go back,
rewind a bit and talk about
that one person who helped
you.
Response: I will make this
less complicated so you don't
have a hard time putting
everything together. I had a
cousin who came from Lagos
to school in Calabar and one
night he was telling us about
the things he used to do in
Lagos, how he'd go out to
help the community. He
would go to the barracks, talk
to the barracks chief, and all
the while he was doing all
these things, he was like 16
or 17. So what he would do
was that he would take a
message, rent a projector,
loudspeaker, go and play it
and then people would gather
and watch and then after that
he would make the altar call.
Then he would go to
secondary schools and give
kids stuff; he would just
basically help the community.
We were in a dark room that
night, when he was telling me
and my younger brother all
this and while he was talking,
I was crying in the dark but he
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