UNIVERSITY LIFE- (EPISODE 1 - 3)

Writer: DANIEL ARKOH FENYI
Call/whatsapp: 0242937017

                  UNIVERSITY LIFE- EPISODE 1

(Read, answer the questions below and send your answers to the writer Daniel Arkoh Fenyi on 0242937017. Don’t just read, LEARN!)

After I had graduated from Swedru Secondary School (Swesco), life became unbearably difficult than I anticipated. During my days at Swesco, the dream was that, upon successful completion, I would enroll in the University of Winneba Medical School (UWMS) and study Medicine. The dream to be a doctor was inspired by my natural inclination towards helping the poor and the helpless. 

Though my mum, a single parent, was financially humble, as a Mass Boy at the St. Daniels Catholic Church in Swedru, I never relented on my prayers. I made sure my early morning devotions were religiously exercised. My mum who also knew about the aspirations of his son worked diligently to raise enough money to cater for me. She, after the departure of my dad, tried her hands on several menial jobs just to make ends meet. Today, she was seen selling charcoal, tomorrow she would tell me, “Joe, there is no profit in selling charcoal, I want to go into selling footwear”. 

Life was not fun to us at all. Sometimes with tears in my eyes, I would tell her, “mum, I support you in whatever you do, go ahead, do it and may the God of St. Daniel bless you”. I always wondered why some people had life so easy and others too had it so difficult that even food to eat for the day was a big hurdle. Sometimes, I literally had to beg some of my school mates from rich homes to give me money to buy food.

I blamed it all on my father who had gone to follow Akosua, a lass who lived in our neighbourhood. I was too young to understand some of the things that went on but mum told me she believed Akosua bewitched daddy because he loved her (mum) very much but all of a sudden his attitude changed. “He would go out and not return to the house for weeks. When I confronted him, all he did was launch beatings on me,” mum said. “Never be like your dad, always stick to one woman, there’s more blessing in doing that”, mum advised. 

After school, I would join mum in the market, sell handkerchiefs and return home late in the night. Sometimes on empty stomachs, we would pray to Virgin Mary and go to bed. We were financially hopeless that I wondered if mum would be able to afford fees in the Medical School if I am able to pass. However, mum always assured me that she would do everything possible to put me through school. 

I studied very hard and my WASSCE result was good even though I couldn’t meet the cut-off point. “Madam, your son doesn’t qualify for admission, we take only aggregate six but your son had seven. Anyway, he had all ‘A’s in the elective subjects so I would consider him. I can see he is humble too,” the principal uttered to us when my mum and I went there to plead for consideration. He then told us that the fee is nine-thousand cedis (¢9,000). 

I gave my mum a sharp melancholic look and with tears in her eyes, she gave me a passionate motherly hug. I could feel tears drop on my head, mum was crying. All hope was lost…

TRIAL QUESTIONS

1.      Find the meanings of all the bold words as used in the passage.

2.      What is your conclusion on Joe’s dad?

3.      A. What is the grammatical name of the expression, “a single parent”?

B. What is the grammatical function of “a single parent”?

Watch out for Episode 2

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                    UNIVERSITY LIFE- EPISODE 2

(Read, answer the questions below and send your answers to the writer Daniel Arkoh Fenyi on 0242937017. Don’t just read, LEARN!)

All hope was lost but mum said, “Joe, I have sold the three plots of family land we have and the jewelries my late father left me so don’t worry, tomorrow you’ll come and make full payment so that you can start the school”. Considering the value of those family lands to the entire family, I knew mum had gone too far but hey, school first.

I made full payment three days later and was given accommodation. “Your room number is 34”, the porter said. I asked of the keys to my room but he told me there were other inmates there already so I needed not to worry. Upon knocking and entering, there were two guys already there. They seemed to know each other very well and were chit-chatting and giggling. It was my entry that halted their conversation. They welcomed and introduced themselves to me as Derrick and Michael, level 300 Mathematics students. 

Derrick and Michael, my roommates, were very rich; one could tell that even from their outfits and the kind of food they ate. While I was almost always busy with my Gari, they consistently ate expensive fast foods. These guys would sometimes give me money to buy “good” food to eat and sometimes buy some of my books and other accoutrements I needed as a Medical Student. 

Derrick and Michael became very good friends to me and so I confided in them all my challenges. Life with the duo became a little enjoyable. They bought me some of their expensive outfits and by the time I realized, I was living like a “dada-bee” on campus. 

However, somewhere mid-semester, Michael told me that they were running out of money because of my expenses and that they wanted to show me how to make money for myself. With all enthusiasm, I was ready to shed off poor living and enjoy life. 

The next day, they took me to a “meeting” where I was initiated into Gharvians- an occultic jama group on campus. The only requirement was to put on a yellow vest they gave me and attend their jama meetings every Monday. My problem with food, expensive books, dresses, and dating “expensive” girls was over. Mum wondered how I got money to pay for my 2nd, 3rd and 4th year fees but I lied to her that I had won a scholarship that covered my full fees every year. The truth was that, I could afford the full fees for the next three academic years ahead of me. Money was nothing. 

“Joe, this is your fifth year on this ground and you have to make your first BIG sacrifice”, Blackus, the leader of Gharvians told me. The sacrifice was to make the entire residence and everything my mum had burn down to ashes and rent a single room for her.

When mum called me one Thursday evening and amidst wailing, said, “Joe, my house has burnt down, everything is gone. I just returned from the market and I have nowhere to sleep. Everything is gone, my clothes, life savings, everything”, I knew that Blackus had taken what he demanded. 

I sent her money the next morning to rent a single room and she had to start life all over again. I felt guilty but there was nothing I could do. If I was not able to return all the investments she had made on me, should I take the little she had for herself too? Hmmm…

TRIAL QUESTIONS

1.      Find the meanings of all the bold words as used in the passage.

2.      What would you say influenced Joe to join Gharvians, peer pressure or poverty? Why?

3.      A. What is the grammatical name of the expression, “very rich”?

B. What is the grammatical function of “very rich”?

Watch out for Episode 3 (the last Episode)

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               UNIVERSITY LIFE- EPISODE 3

(Read, answer the questions below and send your answers to the writer Daniel Arkoh Fenyi on 0242937017. Don’t just read, LEARN!)

“…you know that your seven year study here is over and you have to pay your goodbye sacrifice to the group..”, Blackus said as I stood before him to bid him and the group farewell. I already knew that there was a goodbye sacrifice to be made because Derrick and Michael had already let me in on that, but as to the exact thing to sacrifice, I had no idea. They refused to tell me their sacrifice since it was a taboo in the group to tell others what is demanded of one as sacrifice. 

Blackus continued, “for your sacrifice, you have two options, the first is TICPEY- where you would sacrifice your own self and that means you would be sickly the rest of your life and the other, SENAM- where you would sacrifice the health of your mother and that means she would remain sickly the rest of her life”. Either of the demands was a bombshell. 

How can I be a sickly all my life? In fact, the big question was, if a fresh full-fledged doctor posted to the Korle-Bu teaching hospital allows himself to be turned sickly all his life, who would take care of him and all the expenses that would come? Mother?

 Also, after all that my mum did for me, having sold her family lands and jewelries just to see me through school, how could I sacrifice her health just for my selfish gains, how ungrateful that would be? 

However, simple logic demanded that I sacrificed my mum since I would be financially ready, as a paid medical doctor, to take care of all her expenses though she wouldn’t gain her health back again.

I was still thinking of which decision to take and what to do when Michael suggested to me that I should throw the question to the general public to help me. 

If you have any suggestion or advice for me, send it to me via whatsapp on 0242937017. Your advice may go a long way to save a life.

#THE END.

Thank you for reading all the Episodes (1-3). I believe you had fun reading them and learnt some lessons as well. Send one big lesson you have learnt from this story to the writer via call/whatsapp on 0242937017. Don’t forget to share the lessons with your friends as well.

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