World Poetry Day: Subtle Lessons Learnt.
The members of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) CDS group of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was at Basic College Badawa, Nasarawa local government area, Kano State to celebrate the day in accordance with goal 4 of the sustainable development goals.
The students were cooperative. They gave answers to most of the questions asked. After the talk on poetry, we had corp members and students read out their poems to the audience. Thereafter, there was a spelling bee competition. I was particularly concerned about a student who was very popular among his schoolmates. Hassan was cheered up when he was called out for a spelling bee competition. He should be the oldest student from the look of things but he is in Jss1. He began with the school in January. His teacher said that as at January when he began with them, “come” and “go” was a difficult thing for him to say.
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Hassan is the tall dark guy in the picture. |
Fast forward to March where he could spell just about all the words given in the competition. Most often, he made hand gesticulations when he spelt words. He came out third in the competition because he could not beat the clock. Funnily enough, when he was asked to address the students, he could barely express himself in English. Like I was really emotional with how much he struggled to let those English words flow out of his mouth. Even in his little command of the English language, he could spell even difficult words – English words with foreign origin. In his speech, he specially thanked his father for sending him to school. Obviously, he was happy for the opportunity to get an education despite the challenges.
Hassan’s story may not be the standard for imitation in our lives but there’s a lot to learn from him. Barely three months into secondary school and his report is really impressive. Hassan has chosen to build on himself despite the condition of being the oldest in his class. People like him need all the support they can so that this burning enthusiasm would not die a natural death. In the end, we are our own excuse. Self, low self esteem, faithlessness, envy etc are our own enemy.
I hope to visit the school in the nearest future to still have a one on one discussion with Hassan.
this is so nice. I'm happy for Hassan. people like him motivate me to keep pushing.
ReplyDeleteThere's never a limit to what you can achieve. Keep pushing!
DeleteNice... Hassan's story serves as a beacon of hope for all embattled children in the northern part of the country.
ReplyDeleteVery true
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