Law Of The Sun

Chapter Three: Iwuanyanwụ Nyere

It was after my 20th birthday that aunt Apu brought the news of my admission to me. Aunt Apu had felt I was too old to finish standard six and she made me take the first school leaving certificate examination in standard five

At 19, I was through with high school, applying for university was the next step. The thought of my home always rested on my mind and I wished they could all come to stay with me.
Ebube and Dera had written me so many times and I missed the moments we shared on the car.

Thankfully, Ebube's days of bed wetting were over but Dera was still the sleeper.

Studying for my exams was a sacrifice I had to make. Books were never found wanting on my reading table and aunt Apụ often complained of the introverted lifestyle I was leading.

"How do you intend to make friends at the university when you barely have any here?" she'd tease. I had enough friends in the books, the camera uncle Frank got me and the sun.

The orphanage which was just a few blocks from aunt Apu's home had been in need of a worker, so I found it an avenue to help kill the talk of keeping to myself. They had offered to pay a modicum of cash, barely half of the pocket money Uncle Frank gave me, but I had turned their offer down. How would I help the orphans if I charged them?

I had spent most of my free days at the orphanage with sisters from the convent, caring for children. I made tons of friends there, mostly children but they were friends. Two months after I began my work I gained admission into the University of Nigeria Nsukka.

Aunt Apụ was thrilled but we feared father's reaction. I was slowly becoming a rebel but it was my dream that made me one. I wanted to be like aunt Apụ and wanted other girls to be like her.

Father shot down the idea, while revealing grandma's deteriorating health condition. We had been summoned home by grandma five months after I began to study. School had been difficult like aunt Apụ had told me. The teasing from the boys, attitude from the ladies who were doing the right thing by training to become teachers, made me appear like an outcast.

One of the lecturers had once advised me to withdraw. He said I'd never make it in the male dominated work environment.

"Those men will trample on you, its better you give up now than later when it'll hurt more".

Father was still disappointed with me, but the thought of my dream kept me going. It did not matter if l had no friends, I am going to make it. One day girls like me wouldn't feel so alone and strange about being a journalist. They'll flood schools and their would be female lecturers too,those thoughts brought me comfort.

Before the end of the semester I had won a writing competition sponsored by the federal government that earned me recognition and even more jealous colleagues in school. Aunt Apụ was pleased when my name got to the papers.

"We’ll give this to your father" she had said. She had sent the newspaper to father but I never heard anything from him. One thing had changed; he seemed to lack interest in my studies and didn't hound aunt Apụ about withdrawing me.

Grandma died two weeks after we got home. It was a difficult time for the family. Uncle Joe, dad's elder brother had threatened to sell the old car, claiming it was of no use. How does one sell a part of the family? "Father had objected. I had learnt a great deal from father's issue with his brother. Sometimes change from the present is difficult because we fear how we can adapt to the future.

" Men don't like the idea of having female colleagues because they fear what the outcome might be."

But perception can and will be changed, fear often hinders beautiful things. Father had managed to buy the car from Uncle Joe, so we'd always have the car where it has always been. When father wants something he doesn't rest till he gets it, he was a stubborn man and I drank from his gene pool.