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Nairaland Forum / Entertainment / Literature / AMAZING: 60-year Old Man Attends Secondary School In Bomadi (459 Views)
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AMAZING: 60-year Old Man Attends Secondary School In Bomadi by kooletsa(m): 7:28am On Apr 05, 2016 |
BOMADI — "I DECIDED to go to school at this
age because I perpetually feel the pain of
being an illiterate in this modern world where
everything has to do with English and
education. I also do not want a situation
whereby someone else would interprete or
write for me if eventually I am chosen to hold
an office in my community,” says 60 year old
Adalabu Seribor.
The JSS II student of Izon College, Bomadi-
Overside in Bomadi Local Government Area,
Delta State, who lost his mother at a tender
age said though he was privileged to attend
elementary school like some of his peers
when he was taken to Ekeremor community in
Bayelsa to stay with a relation, he however
dropped out when he chose to return back to
Bomadi due to the strict regime of his
benefactor, a magistrate.
This is a true life story of a man, who
believes that anything is possible with
determination. Adalabu Seribor, fondly called
Oyibo by his community folks told Niger Delta
Voice the reasons for his return to school at
old age, a decision that has kept many people
wondering what he wanted to achieve in
school at such age.
Why I returned to school
Narrating his life story, he said: “I am sixty
years now and the reason why I decided to go
to school at this age is because I perpetually
feel the pain of being an illiterate in this
modern world where everything has to do with
English and education. My mother died during
childbirth when I was a little boy, while my
father was a hunter. I was raised by a
grandmother after the death of my mother and
later taken to a step-mother when my father
remarried.
“I went through discomfort and hardship from
my tender age to adulthood. It would interest
you to know that I was so tender at the time
my mother died that I was crying for food
while she laid dead. I went through struggles
all through my life. I was opportune to go to
school at my young age, when a relative, who
was a magistrate at Ekeremor in Bayelsa
State, took me to his house, but because of
early morning beatings due to my failure to
greet him when rising from bed, I fled back to
my father. I had no opportunity to go to
school since then, and continued doing menial
jobs to survive, which I am still doing.”
On his decision to return to school at his old
age, he said “I realized that without education
one cannot do well in this present society. I
also do not want a situation whereby
someone else would interprete or write for me
if eventually I am chosen to hold an office in
my community."
Makes a living pushing wheelbarrow
Seribor, who also explained how he managed
to combine his studies and work, “I am a
truck-pusher. After school hours, I go back
home to look for work to do, which I have
been doing to earn a living. I pay my school
fees from there. I am determined to complete
my education because of the pains in my
heart. Have come to realise that one cannot
do well without education in this society. I do
all type of menial jobs for a living: I pack dirt
from gutters, I pack sand, clear grasses in
people’s compounds and pack soak away
faeces in the dead of the night. I am a JSS II
student and by the grace of God I will finish
from this school.”
When asked what he planned to do in future
after school, Seribor said: “When am through
with my education here, I will proceed to
Teacher Training College because I want to
become a teacher. I want to teach and I
advised young boys and girls wasting their
time and years roaming the streets to go to
school. If I can go to school at my age, then
why are young people wasting their time and
opportunity to acquire education?”
Exceptional courage
Mr. Christian Agu, a business mogul in the
cosmopolitan community, described Seribor’s
decision to acquire education at old age as
unprecedented and historic.
He said: “I never believed that somebody of
this age will ever dream of going to secondary
school, it is quite amazing. I know him and I
sometimes call him to work for me. But I
never knew he had this determination. I want
to counsel young people, who have the
opportunity to go to school to emulate him.”
Also, his class teacher, Mr. Edesemi Anesah,
said: “my encouragement to him is that he
should hold unto his determination. He is the
oldest student in the school and my advice to
young people out there is to emulate him.” |
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