Rebellion

7. Accidentally On Purpose

“Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.” – John Kenneth Galbraith.

•••

“You’re all welcome. Please may I have your attention for a brief moment?”

The general chatter ceased finally, and all gazes became transfixed on his. It was noon and he had rushed down to the venue of the camp hurriedly, immediately after the service ended at church. The campers had already arrived at the camp premises – Babmington Macaulay Junior seminary being the chosen school in question.

He had ordered the staff over the phone to tell the writers to await his arrival in the large, spacious school hall. It would seem that the staff were encountering some minor difficulties in keeping the teenagers in line, but he had no doubt that they would adjust to the rigors in due time. That however wasn’t his concern, his duty was to get the camp underway. Although it’s full activities weren’t supposed to commence until Monday, which was the next day but they were some minor things they had to undertake on the day of arrival.

The campers were sixty-three in number, an additional thirteen had been added to the emergency slots and they occupied seats randomly in the large hall. He figured he didn’t need an audio system before he could be heard loud and clear, since all the occupied seats weren’t beyond the third row.

“It’s a big privilege for myself and Leaf house as a whole to host this sort of an activity. We’re definitely breaking new grounds here, as I believe this sort of thing isn’t dominant at all in anywhere in the globe. Some people still ask me till today, Dayo why are you dispensing so much of your money and resources to helping people so much. No one helped you, yet you became successful. Let this same procedure be in place for the new generation also. But that mindset, my friends is totally wrong.

That’s why our country’s situation is complacent. That’s why we aren’t moving forward, why because the higher-ups don’t care about the people below them. If you asked them why they refused to help people, they’d tell you that no one helped them to the top, so why should they help people? Although it might make sense in some logical way, it isn’t exactly a positive way of thinking.”

He paused briefly to assess the attention rate of the teenagers in the room, and he ascertained that it was quite impressive. He couldn’t label their attention as undivided, or the sort they would render to an episode of – Game of Thrones, but for a speech – it was satisfactorily enthusiastic.

“Now, let’s circle back to point, please. I want to thank you all for honoring us with your presence in this camp. You might be wondering that we’re the ones financing it, and you’re playing no part in its running, therefore if anyone should be expressing gratitude it shouldn’t be us – rather you, but still it’s proper for us to do so. We can plan, and plan and spend our money, and dispense our resources but if at the end of the day no one shows up for the camp – it’d all be a waste of money at the end of the day. So, I want to thank you all and also welcome you to the camp officially.

If this was a Christian summer camp, this should be the moment where we’d invite the head of the church that planned the camp but this isn’t, so I’m just gonna progress with declaring this camp open. As you progress with this camp, I don’t want you to forget the true reason why you’re here. You’re here to develop your writing skill, that should be your primary concern every other thing is secondary and tertiary. Thank you, you’re free for the next two hours. They’d be a brief luncheon at 3. Dismissed.”

The moment his speech ceased, the teens all sprung up from their seats and scurried out of the large hall. The manner in which they dispersed made him doubt if their attention was feigned or actually real. Shrugging, he advanced towards the other end of the hall in which his staff was conversing and sharing a few words.