Excited As Ever

Weeping in my heart is all I have done this weekend. I came across an article which I shared on Facebook. It was about the salary range of teachers in Nigeria, highly embarrassing. Yes, a few teachers do not seem to be caught up in this nest, many are managing but, a high percentage of teachers’ pay is rubbish.

I started talking to myself seriously.” Re-branding a teacher  who does not earn better than a water company truck driver is going to be a tough one.” Many teachers like me came into the profession with a vision. With the things happening in the education sector, it would take only an angel to do the job like it should be done. All I can say is, cast your mind back to why you started teaching, the lives you have changed and know that with you and I the world has become better.

“What will this child turn out to be ten years from today, a menace to the society or a blessing?” These were the thoughts rushing through my mind as I sat at the last row of a ‘danfo’ enroute Ota. Beside me was a little boy innocently sitting on his mother’s laps, both of them oblivious of what was spinning in my head. As I kept staring, I said to myself that his choices would definitely determine the outcome of his life. “But, what would influence his choices?” I asked myself. Suddenly, it occurred to me that children are very vulnerable and often times are shaped by the environment they find themselves.

“I want to work with children,” I told all my friends as I got back to school. There was no going back, I felt I had the passion required to lead children in the right path of life. For me, fulfillment had a new definition, it was being able to influence children positively thereby helping them maximize their potentials. Excitement filled my heart with the thought of it. To cut the long story short, after my National Youth Service Corps  (a mandatory service year for all Nigerian graduates), I applied as a teacher and  have been a proud one till today.

Shocked to my bones!!! I had believed earlier that all children would be nice and lovely, eager to soak up all the knowledge I had to offer; I was very wrong. It was a hard time coming to terms with learning how to relate to children from an assortment of backgrounds; children who had already picked up habits that can only make one cry.  You know what? Every time I am faced with a challenge on the job, I think about why I started it in the first place and it has kept me going.

What’s your story? Is it worth sharing? Please send a mail to idaraumosen@gmail.com and I would be glad to share your story with the world.