Ogssian Life Reminiscences
I was born before the civil war, and raised in a rural community where farming was the major occupation. My parents therefore, were farmers and I grew up following them to the farms and learning the rudiments of farming.
I am happy I am available to write into this new magazine named the “Renaissance”. Renaissance means ‘rebirth’,” reawakening “. This suggests that something existed before but not anymore or seems no longer there , and one wants to bring it back to life. This creates the vision of newness, innovation and advancement.“What used to be” is history. You hear people talk of rewriting history, or changing history. This is impossible. “What’s done cannot be undone”.
I was admitted into Government Secondary School, Owerri, along with twenty nine other boys, on September 6, 1954. The school ran three terms per academic year. Our first term in the school commenced in September, 1954 and ended in December, 1954. Football was played in this term. The school placed a lot of emphasis on both academic work and sports/games. Each time we came out for games in this football season, our Games Master, Mr. Ben Chukwudebe who took a lot of fancy for me, placed me to play at the centre forward position. I did not like playing the game of football because of its contact nature. I was afraid of getting hurt by the bigger boys. My classmates teased me by saying that I could not score a goal from the penalty spot.