TOLU'S DIARY

Tuesdays 10 am

Hi diary,

For your sake, I have turned ‘amebo’ as I eavesdropped on some conversations in my neighborhood. There is a saying that ‘walls have ears’; I’m like a wall situated in the middle ear to gather information. 
My neighbor’s house is one of the oldest and ugliest in the street. Mud house plastered like a surgery patient, open roof even though it’s not a Mercedes C-Class, absence of toilet (they have been representing the hood in shot-put event thrown at a thick bush in the vicinity) and no bathroom (occupants wake up before cockcrows to have their bathe). 

The occupants were given ultimatum by government after several warnings to be closed down. Aggrieved, this woman (in her sixties)  tried her possible best so that government won’t destroy the only building left by her late father. On a quest to build a toilet, she will wake up as early as 3am to pick bottles which is her only business for survival. The biggest bottle costs seventy naira only while lesser sizes are fifty and thirty naira. She has been arrested by guards and questioned severally at that early hours but they eventually gave up on her since it’s her hustle. 

Before the two months ultimatum given, she had dug a pit latrine for forty thousand naira (you know how many bottles she must have picked) through her early morning toiling. I felt sorry for her even though I didn’t know much about her or what led to her staying in her father’s house at her age; but I was moved by her hustling spirit.

Cements were sold at a lesser price when the sellers heard her story. Instead of begging (rampant in garages) or stealing, she fought hard to keep her possession. There are youths out there who are lazy as quoted by THE president (even though many of us deserve some accolades). They took to corporate begging, stealing, kidnapping etc to have a life despite their youthful exuberance. Trust me, it is not easy here in this part of the world but we can engage ourselves in many things to have a better life. I have seen a lady who got connected as a result of vegetable delivery on the island. Get rich or die trying. In trying you’ll get rich and won’t die twice. Diary you know we are about to blow, stay calm till next week.


Fasuyi Tolulope Samuel is a budding poet and novelist. He has featured in two ebook publications; Woman vs Man: A cultural difference and 'A woman's pot, a man's stomach': A collection of poem on delicacies both by Sandra T. Adeyeye. He has a B.Sc Hons in Microbiology from Adekunle Ajasin university, Akungba-Akoko Ondo state. A lover of artwork, music and football. Tolu hails from Akure in Ondo state. The single Youngman is interested in taking Africa to the world with his style of writing.

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