There are many stories competing in my head and causing my hands to quake and shiver as to which of them to pen down.This is only normal,giving that I, Jaja, was from a very young age, the favourite apprentice of the best story teller to ever grace this earth.


My mother,whom for the sake of reverence and respect ,I shall leave nameless in my stories,was an illiterate.Hence she did not possess the diction of Chinua Achebe which an education could have afforded her,nor did she have the worldy perspective borne of travels like a certain Ngozi Adichie.But in her own unique way,and with a lot of infused drama and African superstitions ,she told stories that made my siblings and I forget the pangs of hunger that usually accompanies having just had barely enough dinner to stay alive.


As her favourite apprentice, it was my self imposed job,and dare I say privilege to take out the family's prized wooden bench out of our home at night,and look for a breezy spot where Papa,my siblings,Mama and myself could get respite from the heat visited upon us by the" incompetency of the Government and personified through the electricity company".This was verbatim the words my educated but unemployed father used on many occasions  to describe the heat situation at our home.It became stuck in my memory.I would often belch out the same words to my friends with an air of arrogance,even though I very well did not understand the meaning of the words.


The bench breeze and eager ears was all Mama needed to tell her wondrous stories that had her audience/children captivated and transported into another realm.Sonetimes,when sales at the market where exceptionally good,Mama would often treat us to sweet oranges and invite the neighbour's children as well to join in as her audience.


Of course they had to bring their own family bench,and I as mama's favourite apprentice picked which story would be told......



- The writer ,JAJA OF OPOBO is a man of the pen and a lover of beautiful Women.He believes the world must hear his stories,and so at this time he is sharing snippets from his childhood.