GRACE THE MILLIONAIRE

There is more to a name than it sounds.The literal meaning and spiritual connotation of names are believed to have covert influence on the destiny of the bearer.

In the days of old, tradition and superstition allowed parents to name their children based on the circumstances surrounding their birth, days of the week, place of birth or after any spectacular event that season. That was why some people bore names like Africa, independence, manager, January, strongface, warmate, Friday, etc.

In each of these cases such parents obviously did the naming as a way of expressing their anticipations, convictions in a positive or negative light or deep-seated emotional pains.

This was the case for Mr and Mrs Opus Okaro, a young couple living in kuroama, a remote fishing community in the southern part of Nigeria in the early seventies. They were very poor and could barely boast of one meal a day. The husband, Opus, was in his late forties when he got married to his wife Beatrice.

Being an attractive young girl who had just turned 20 years of age when he betrothed her, he hoped her beauty would one way or the other compensate for his penury; and inadvertently, he resigned to fate and accepted his poor condition without much ado. Indeed, her approval of him because there wasn't any girl who could bear his situation given that he was one of the poorest young men in that community at that time.

Beatrice fell in love with Opus unconditionally; she had always believed the Bible passage that says "he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord." Anchoring her faith on this promise, she knew her presence in his life could change their fortune for good.she always encouraged him to be steadfast in his fishing business; seeing the possibility that by the grace and and favour of God, as he worked hard, some day they would start enjoying a life of riches.

It was her prodding and encouragement that kept him going. As a fisherman, Mr. Opus, barely eked out a living for his family from his daily toiling. Whatever he got in his outing was what his wife used to prepare their meal for that day. Their situation was so bad that even the poor in the community derided them.

They lived along the spread of a water front that was popularly called "suffer man area". The ramshackle thatch house he managed to construct from raffia palms and bamboo sticks had holes in the roof such that whenever it rained they used buckets to fetch stream of water to prevent flooding of the of the mud floor.

Their room was barely a twenty square feet space that contained an old bug-ridden mattress, which he picked from the bin; their kitchen utensils were so small that they tucked perfectly in a small wooden cupboard just as match sticks fit the box. Because there were no electricity in that area, the source of light at night was an old kerosene lantern hanging from the epicenter of the roof and lowered to a considerable height by means of a piece of rope tired to it's handle.

They had their convenience in a roofless raffia- made room linked to the river bank, in about ten-meters stretched, by means of rickety woods and planks which were also used as supports to hold the bathroom and the toilet over the river.

Nevertheless, it was a great joy for the couple when Beatrice took in a year after their wedding. They believed that children are a blessing from God; and also they hoped that what they couldn't achieve in life, their children would do for them when they become old. This was one thing that motivated them to raise a family even in the face of their abject poverty.

It was unthinkable to go to the village health center to register for antenatal because it was unaffordable. When her time was due for delivery they went to a quack matron in the community that charged a paltry sum which they even had to pay in four installments after Beatrice put to bed.

Much to his expectation, the child was a baby boy, given that a male child was naturally seen as the scion of the father and someone that would flag the name of family after him. With this, Mr.Opus was extremely happy as he invited friends and family members for the child's naming ceremony on the eight day after delivery.

It was a very windy Wednesday morning in the month of December. The weather was cold and icy because it rained the previous night, but even at that, most of those invited arrived just on time before the dawn of the day. The event was meant to be brief and so the guests that came didn't bother even as they were huddled up in the limited space within the room; as they watched Mr.Opus named the baby, "PATIENT" which means poor child in okrika language.

The entry of the child into this family of two individuals, who could not adequately feed themselves, was supposed to be something to be worried about. Raising a child is not only a matter of provision of food - which they lacked - but there are other aspects that bothered on clothing, health care and education, which required money.

However, since they have decided to embark on this journey of life by bringing in a third mouth into the family, how to survive was Left to fate. They toiled and managed whatever they had in order to wean the child up to the age of five. By this time, Patient started accompanying his farther to fish. Now, this was a harrowing experience for the Okaros because the luxury of giving Patient a good child upbringing was lost in their inability to fend for themselves.

Kuroama had only one mission school which was some kilometers away from where they lived. When it was time for him to be enrolled into primary school, his father couldn't afford the tuition fees even though the amount was small. There wasn't a secondary school in that region at that time and so those who could Afford it sent their children out to the city to further their education.

As a co-bread winner, Patient followed his father to the fishing port for a few years and gradually mastered the art. Not too long he got a friend who was also into fishing but was 12 year older than him. With time they partnered and sailed out together for his education. They would go fishing very early in the morning, take the catch to the market, sell and share the proceeds of that day.

Even though he has never attended any school in his life, his dream of being educated was like an invisible chord that pulled him towards an uncommon drive for success. His passion for education was increasingly palpable by the day and he wouldn't lose faith in achieving his dream no matter how long it would take him.

He knew he had passed the age of starting, but he masked the accompanying shame and humiliation with a cheerful look each time he saw his mate going to school everyday. He didn't let it discourage him , but rather, he worked hard to earn some little money which he saved to fund his own education. It was fortuitous how each time he was able to save enough to start school, and then his mother would be due to deliver another baby and without thinking twice he would use the to help her.

Supporting his mother through this period meant deferring his education for years on end. He had missed this opportunity for several years and so one faithful day he summoned up courage to ask his farther why there were still having children when this were not getting any better with the increasing mouth to feed and compounding family liabilities.

Having no better reason, his father took him outside, placing his right hand on his shoulder, explained that children are gift from God and should not be aborted. He looked into patient's inquisitive bright eyes with the aim to convince him the more and said, "moreover, having many children is wealth since no one knows which on of you will be successful to take us out of poverty or better still become the president of our country one day." At this point he tighten his grip on Igweinbo and quipped, "if God didn't bless us with wealth but rather gave us children who am I to change that?".

After listening to Opus speak for about ten minutes, he apparently had nothing to say to counter his position and so he let it be because after all, he was is father and therefore deserves to be respected and obey. It was not in his character to challenge his parents or contend with them on any issue and this was not going to be the first time.

Against patient's wish, the child bearing continued and he kept supporting the family until he became 12 years old and now having behind him, five female siblings spaced about one year apart. At this point when it seemed his mum had taken a break from child bearing, he enrolled to start his education at the community mission school. Strangely, all his age mates were getting into secondary school at the time he was entering, apart from Pabo, who was in form 4 because he repeated two classes. Patient and Pabo became best friends since he could not find his age mate in his class.

After spending two years in school, it became obvious that the desire and determination to achieve his dream of being educated started manifesting in his punctuality to school and academic excellence. Not deterred by the scorns and scoffs he received for wearing patchy and worn out school uniform, he tried his best to display a peculiar brilliance that attracted the goodwill of his teacher Mr. Angelus.

His remarkable class performance and profound dedication to his studies further caused Mr.Angelus to extend his support to patient beyond verbal encouragement, to buying of most of his school books which he couldn't afford. Worst still, his earnings from his fishing business were meager compared to the budgets for school prospectus and bogus family expenses. The money was always nevery enough; and this triggered inside of him a strong hatred for adversity . At this point in life he had resolved to do everything possible to wash-off any vestige of poverty he or his family was smeared with whether by divine making or human creation.

Unlike Patient, his friend, Pabo was a child with a different character which made him repeat two classes. He had wanted to leave his parents and go with his maternal in the city to further his education as his father had promised him last year.

His father was one of the teachers in the mission school and they lived in the teachers quarters in the school compound. Pabo's father was irascible, very strict and highly dreaded by the entire students in the school. Pabo, being the first child ahead of his two siblings, never had any good relationship with his father. As children, they could express their freedom of movement and speech only when he's not at home. They would scamper and hide for fear of incurring his wrought whenever they sensed his presence. Even though he wasn't a wife beater, their mother feared him alot; and over time, he seemed to have loved to be dreaded. What thrilled him most was when people can't look straight into his eyes when talking to him.

Consequently, Pabo didn't enjoy the warm and smooth relationship that was expected between a father and his son. This inhibition was the reason why he and his siblings always ignored their father and tended towards their mother for succor and solution to any problem they had. Over time, this affected him greatly as he became timid and introverted. He lost his self confidence and tried seeking freedom elsewhere but could not find. Staying around his father was like being in a prison so he kept praying to leave home soonest.