03/09/2025
PART 2
YOU ARE ONLY A FAILURE WHEN YOU AGREE TO WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU
After all my effort, when it was time to return to school, I was only given ₦6,000. That was supposed to serve as both my transport and part of my school clearance.
At that point, I was beyond confused. Transport from my village to Calabar alone was ₦3,500 to ₦4,000. On top of that, my father’s funeral was around the corner, and I was also expected to contribute ₦100,000. With no one to look up to, the weight of survival was squarely on my shoulders.
But even in the midst of confusion, I held on. I struggled back to Calabar with that little money, sometimes trekking distances just to save transport fare. I still remember days I slept hungry, but I never gave up.
I started picking up little hustles in school just to survive. I sold things, ran errands, did part-time jobs—anything that could give me at least small money to eat and save towards my school needs. There were days I almost dropped out, days I cried silently, but I always reminded myself of one thing:
"You are only a failure when you agree to what they say about you."
The same people who called me names, who never gave me a chance, became my motivation to push harder. I knew deep down that my story would not end the way they predicted.
Through struggles with fees, feeding, and survival, I kept moving. Some semesters I paid late, but I never stopped attending lectures. Some nights I read with an empty stomach, but I never stopped dreaming. And by God’s grace, I kept scaling through one level after another.
Looking back now, I see that every pain, every insult, every rejection, and every lonely night was building me into someone stronger. I am not where I want to be yet, but I am no longer where I used to be.
Fast forward to today, by the grace of God, I made it through. The same little boy they once called a failure, the one they mocked and branded a witch, has now become a graduate.
