The extended family
Ahmed! Ahmed! Ahmed! , his maternal aunty shouted at the top of her voice from the staircase. He could hear her alright even if she just called his name gently, for she had a loud voice. He had to tell her to stop shouting his name all the time for she was disturbing the neighbours. For goodness sake, the day had not even broke yet. He checked the time and it was few minutes to five. This woman would never rest. He was sure that she was the one that always woke the neighbours every morning. They didn’t need to set any alarm. Each morning like this, she would always call him to start the day’s activity. His parents had died so he lived with his maternal aunt and other relatives. This is to say that it was her that owned the place but his other two uncles and other aunt, both from his maternal and paternal side lived with them. They also brought their own family with them. It was a battalion!. No one could make something for themselves, so they came to live with his aunty. It was like a curse!. The building was a two-storey with five flats. Each flat had a two bedroom, so imagine how they lived.
Aunty rasheeda was the only one that had made something for herself, the others did menial jobs to support their family but it was not enough to rent a house for themselves. She had told them her rules when she welcomed them into her home that they were the ones to feed their family and not her. She would not kill herself because she had a family. Anytime the children provoked her she would say “eni pa mi” which means you people will not kill me. That day Ahmed needed to go to the junction to wait for the person that always delivered palm oil for her. Aunty Rasheeda was the “jack of all trades”. There was nothing she did not sell in her two big shops. Provisions, foodstuffs, kitchen appliances and utensils, footwears and clothes e.t.c. the only thing she didn’t have was some major electrical appliances like fan, tv and so on. Everyone knew her in the whole neighbourhood. Anytime someone wanted to get something they were always directed to her place. He had just finished his secondary school and since his parents died there was no one to sponsor my education in the university. His cousins were lucky, they were still in either primary or secondary school so their parents took them to schools that they could cater for. He was the only older one, so that means he did almost all the house work. It was not easy for him at all. All his mates had gone to one university or the other, while he remained, he felt sad. He could never suggest the issue to his aunt, she would have his head. But he was not deterred. He had applied for scholarships that could help him further his education to any university in Nigeria, but none seemed to be forthcoming.
‘Ahmed, sho ti gbe epo wa, nibo lo fi si e?- Ahmed have you brought the oil, where did you put it? His aunt asked him. ‘aunty mi, o wa sinu nylon yi’- aunty it is inside this nylon bag, Ahmed replied. ‘Oya… gbe wa’, his aunt instructed him. ‘yes ma’ he said.
That day after helping his aunt to distribute the wares in the shops, he sat down and was lost in thought. Aunty Rasheeda had gone to one of her customer’s shop to collect some things. A man came to the shop and delivered a letter to him, he was a post officer. He opened the letter and what he saw shocked him. He had just been offered a scholarship to the University of Ibadan to study mechanical engineering. His joy knew no bounds. He didn’t know when he screamed. His aunt had to rush to the shop to know what had happened. When he told her, though she was happy for him but then she said ‘no one is going to help me in the shop again’.