Follow @Escapades007
Dan, the narrator of this story is one very
angry man. And you can understand the reason for his anger after reading his
story.
Have a nice weekend everyone! (Patience)
An orphan's world
For some, the wedding vows are words that are
taken seriously, a commitment to be there for your partner 'through thick and
thin, rain or shine, for better or worse.' For others, though, they are just
mere words, uttered without much meaning being attached to them, as part of the
wedding ceremony.
M My wife Sherri belongs to the latter group.
She fits in perfectly to the 'fair weather' type of person, you know the friend
that stays with you during good times and disappears into thin air when
things are not going well. We were together for six years during which we had
two lovely children and built a happy home.
But all this did not mean anything to her. At
the slightest hint of trouble, she dumped me and the children and ran away with
another man. If someone had told me the day of our wedding that my bride would
do such a thing to me, I would have told such a person that he must be crazy.
You see I loved my wife so much, she was my
world and my life revolved around her. I thought the feeling was reciprocated
but time proved me wrong.
But I have taken everything in my stride as I
have most of the things that have happened to me in my life. When you have
lived the kind of life I have lived, you tend to become philosophical about
things as I do.
My parents died when I was about ten years old.
My father first went, followed by my mother less than a year later. My two
siblings and I were shared among relatives of our parents. I went to stay with
an Aunt while my younger brother and older sister were taken to my father's
cousin in another town. My Aunt was not a bad woman. She treated me quite well
like one of her own children. It was her husband that was the problem.
The man hated me from the moment I set foot in
their home. He would beat me at the slightest opportunity and threaten to throw
me out on the streets where he said I belonged as an orphan. I still have scars
on my body till today from those beatings that man gave me including the one
that nearly landed me in the hospital. All because I mistakenly applied bleach
to one of his shirts he had given me to wash and damaged it. It was the
neighbours who rescued me that day or he would have beaten me to death!
And what was my Aunt doing while I was being
brutalized by the husband, you might wonder. While she was against the way he
treated me, she could not do much about it. She was afraid of him as well as he
used to beat her too. In fact, he beat everybody in the house, including his own
children. Anyway, living in that house was horrible and there were times I
thought about running away but where could I go?
When I finished primary school, my Aunt's
husband was not ready to sponsor my education further. Since my Aunt had no
money of her own, I had to stay home for a year until one of my father's
friends came to my rescue. On hearing about my situation, he arranged for a
scholarship for me in a school run by the church my parents used to attend
before their deaths.
That was how I was able to attend secondary
school. The church took care of the tuition and books while things like
uniforms and other items had to be supplied by my Aunt as my Uncle wanted
nothing to do with my education.
My Aunt, who was a full time housewife did
not have the money to even pay for my uniform so I had to hustle to meet up.
After school, I would go out and do all kinds of odd jobs just to make money. I
carried loads at the marketplace, hawked bread, water and other items in
traffic; I washed clothes for some families on our street, worked on building
sites and did other things that brought in money. It was tough combining all
these with my education and also my regular chores at home, but I was determined
to not just stay in school but do well, excel and succeed in life.
You can see from my story so far that my
growing up years were tough ones. In a way, they kind of prepared me for the
future as an adult; those years toughened me up and gave me a 'thick' skin that
enabled me cope with whatever challenges life would throw at me in later years.
Entering the business world
Despite all the challenges I faced, I had
a very good result at school. My dream was to further my education at a
university but lack of funds killed that dream. Later, I settled for a diploma
programme at a polytechnic which was self sponsored with the little jobs I did
here and there. I worked in a few companies after the course with the intention
of saving enough to study further. Due to the poor pay, saving money was a
problem so I gave up that idea and decided to go into business fully. A good
friend introduced into the import business which I started with the little
capital I had. The beginning was tough as customers I supplied goods would owe
for months, thus tying down my money.
I however, perservered and after a few
years, things began to pick up. I started making money, which I plowed back
into the business. To help me in the business, I brought my younger brother
Tony to stay with me. I had left my Aunt's house as soon as I finished my
diploma course and was living on my own in a small room I rented.
As my business grew, we moved to a bigger
apartment and I even bought a car. Then, one day, I won a big contract to
supply some goods to a company and that was the turning point of my life. From
the money I made from that job, I was able to buy a plot of land which I
immediately started developing so I could have my own home. I also invested in
shares and made other savings. Life was looking good and I was grateful
to God for all the wonderful things he had done in my life considering my poor
background.
My days of hardship, when it was a big struggle
to be able to afford one meal a day were finally over!
More blessings were to come. It was this
period that I met the lady who would become my wife. Sherri was a secretary in
one of the companies I used to do business with. She often assisted me a lot in
the course of doing business there and with time, we became very
friendly.
Soon, love blossomed between us, at least
on my part. I loved her for her cheerful nature and she was caring too. We got
married within a year of our meeting and we could not be happier. To cement our
joy, Sherri gave birth to twins two years after we tied the knot. You can bet
that I was one happy man. My business was doing well and I had a wonderful
spouse as a partner who fully supported me in all my endeavours .
To Be Continued...
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator and other individuals in the story.
Comments
Post a Comment