My Town In Five Pics- Port Harcourt, Rivers state. Nigeria

Brian: Is a beautiful day, thankGod is weekend. I have all the time in the world to sleep and eat after all the stress with lecturers in school.

Is almost 9am, let me start preparing myself to go to the field.

Brian: mum!! I’m going out to burn some calories!!

Mum: where are you going now?

Brian: I’m going to chokmah international academy, playground at 24 with street D/line, Port Harcourt.

Mum: okay, please be careful! You know you’re to soft, don’t go and break your legs.

Brian: Okay

what3words

An hour 30 mins into the game, Phone starts ringing!!

Coach: who owns the phone? Is been ringing, nonstop!

Brian: coach, is mine!

Coach: whatever it is they are calling you for, I think is very urgent.

Brian picks up the call

Brian: mum, what’s the Matter? What’s so urgent that you won’t let me get home first? You have made them substitute me from the football.

Mum: (angry) will you shut up your mouth and head home immediately. Your uncle and I want to see you.

Brian: okay mum, I’ll be there.

Brian: coach, I’ll be leaving now

Coach: hope there is no problem at home??

Brian: no problem, my uncle sent for me!

Coach: okay

Brian got home, refreshed himself and rushed down to the sitting room to hear what’s so urgent that they had to end his football abruptly.

Brian: uncle good morning

Uncle: Good morning my boy!! Why I and your mom sent for you immediately is because of an opportunity that came up at my office at the Rivers state secretariat. You know that is were all the state civil servants work, so I was privy to such information. The Rivers state government wants to sponsor some people abroad to learn web design and they will be employed immediately on their return to Nigeria.

RIVERS STATE SECRETARIAT

But you have to rush now to the secretariat to pick a form and fill. Make sure you fill it correctly because that is where you will get a link to write an online exam. Once you pass it, your training begins immediately on Monday at the rivers state ICT Center. It’s a 6 months training. They will pick the best 10 among you people, make sure you give it your best if you succeed in the online exam.

Brian: yes uncle. in fact, I’m going to the secretariat immediately. Thank you for the information.

Brian hurriedly, went to the state secretariat, filled his form and informed his uncle.

On Sunday, he got his link. After several trials of trying to login due to the heavy traffic on the site, Brian succeeded in Writing the online exams and he got in for the 6 month’s training in the Rivers state, ICT Centre to learn web design. He majored on coding. They were 100 of them that got the admission and they needed only 10 of them for the scholarship to be trained Europe.

RIVERS STATE ICT DEPARTMENT

Brian had many challenges during his study. He had to battle with power supply, struggling his mother’s laptop to practice what he has learnt and his university education. It got to a point, he had to stop football and manage with candle lights to read his books due to the dilapidated power supply in the country.

Brian had never stretched himself this bad before and his mum was so proud of him. She had to sacrifice her laptop for the sake of her son and did all her business at workplace. Brian had never stretched himself like this before. His major challenge were “Java, php and python”. It kept giving him sleepless nights even with the help of YouTube.

His mum had to beg one of her colleague who’s into coding at workplace to come and assist her son. With time, Brian started picking-up and answering all the past questions, assignments and test given to him.

The 6 months was finally over and it was time for the main exams, that will determine who’ll be getting this scholarship to overseas. Brian told himself, is either A’s or nothing. He had never been this sure of himself before. The exams was over and Brian scored 87%. He was so happy himself. He was sure he’d scored the highest.

But the Nigerian factor started to play in. It was know longer based on merit again. The politicians have turned the scholarship program into “who you know”. Or “who is your godfather” in the state secretariat. People were putting there loved ones to fill the space. It was looking as if there was no hope for Brian because till now, he hadn’t received in any mail from the office.

The only hope he had was to put everything to God in prayers. Brian that have never gone to church in a long time, went to the nearby church close to him LOGOS MINISTRIES at GRA. He had to seek God in prayers because he has no godfather or any politician, who could mention his names among this cabal. He kept praying fervently.

LOGOS MINS w3w

Two months has passed and nothing happened. It was already looking like it was end of the road for him. Rumors were spreading that they had already taken the 10 people they wanted and not on merit. Brian was just so disappointed. His mom kept trying to console him but it did not seem to be working. His uncle at the secretariat was doing all his best to help his nephew. One day, his uncle’s boss happened to be passing and overheard his discussion with his friend, telling him, how will someone who scored the highest not be in the scholarship list.

His boss happens to be permanent secretary of the governor. He sent for his uncle and told him he overheard him explaining to his colleague about his nephew issues. That he’ll like to see his score. The perm sec confirmed everything and said he’ll try his best to see what he can do to make sure his nephew get the scholarship.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE w3w

A week later, Brian was called to come to the government house. That the governor would like to see him. That was the happiest day of his life. He rushed home to tell his mum the good news. They were all excited. The next day, he went to the government house. That’s the first time he’s entering the government house because that’s the governor’s office. The security and protocols was too much but he did not mind after all, his the governor, so is expected.

He finally had the opportunity of seeing the governor. He was the 11th person. They had to create a space for him because of his score. He congratulated them and gave them the necessary support and documents for them to prepare themselves for the trip.

Despite their shenanigans, Brian’s hard work, made way for him at last.

See you again next time!!

I will love to invite @diary-of-ima, @smyle and @eurogee to join this contest hosted by @artist1111.