INSPIRATIONAL SHOT- Vandora: How A Beating And A Cracked Rib Changed My Life

Vandora epitomizes beauty in a manner that would make Aphrodite jealous. Despite the scar, she has got a figure like one chiselled out so finely by a divine Sculptor. She told me her story like this. "I lost my father when I was six. It was a situation that made life so difficult for my mother and three other siblings. Not that life was completely irredeemable at this point but having no father and being left with a struggling mother gave me the license to roam the streets in the quest to satisfy my needs. I became so notorious on the street. At a time, I was enrolled for a Senior School Certificate Examination but I chose to party and hop from one hotel to another while others took the examination. Jumping from hotel to hotel became my stock in trade. I was born beautiful and so richly endowed that an average man would not resist me. On several occasions I had received a tap on my buttocks from those crazy guys while I walked through the market. There were crazy advances too followed by catcalls. It was always a bad experience dealing with those guys but you wouldn't blame them. What mama actually gave me was a mountain in boots."

The 'mountain in boots' catchphrase got me and I smiled. She smiled back and continued. "It was a life that bought a fair share of embarrassment for me. There was a day a married woman tracked her husband to the hotel. I was the one that got the door when she knocked. She gave me the beating of my life and threw me out in the street naked- with my pants alone and no bra. I was glad the social media was still in its egg stage waiting to be fertilized. It was a viral type of moment. Then again, there was this day that I was locked inside by my mother so that I could not leave in the night to attend a party but I sneaked out and jumped the fence. While driving back the next morning, we got involved in a ghastly motor accident that took one of my eyes and left a huge scar on my pretty face. It put me in a situation that I classified as one that was worse than death. My frustration was over the rooftop, so much so that I found solace in alcohol and drugs. My life was gradually descending into an abyss that took no prisoners."

Vandora had gone through a thorough and well-structured transformation but you could still feel those pugnacious past in her demeanor. There was this toughness and a show of bravado about how she spoke. "It was in the hospital that my redemption started. And how I got there was funny but fateful. There was a day that I was confronted by a soldier who questioned my right to put on a camouflage vest. I was so high and under the influence that I tried to assault him. Two of the soldiers gave me the beating of my life that resulted in a cracked rib and a contortion. I got to the hospital unconscious. The first time I put up a smile was the day a friend came to see me at the hospital. She said to me, "they pummelled you. But, you are a strong girl. I learnt one of the soldiers lost a tooth. That was what infuriated them. They almost killed you if not for the market women that gathered…" It was a report that gladdened my heart. But, I was yet filled with bitterness and revenge. I was sad too because I was missing my alcohol and my joint; a situation that affected my nerves."

In the final stage of our discussion, she said, "The day before my discharge from the hospital. Two Jehovah witnesses members came to my bedside to see me. I was not willing to see them. To me, it was a waste of time but somehow I submitted to a bigger inner power. They were three; a woman, a young girl and a man. It was the preaching from the young girl that changed my life. She told me that my life could still change but the power to do so rested on me. She said that it was my sole responsibility. I got home a changed person. My mother and siblings were in awe about the changes they noticed. To summarise my story, I went back to school and graduated with Nigerian Certificate of Education(NCE). I later went for a Bachelor Of Science degree and this got a lecturing job for me in the end. I got to the office of a deputy vice-chancellor before my retirement. Today, I run a popular private primary and secondary school. I later got married to Jide, the love of my wife. We were blessed with two boys and a girl."

REFLECTION

You may not have the power to rule Nigeria (neither will you have the power to change how the world is being run). But you can change the little world around you by doing what is necessary at every instant.

No one has a hand in how our stories begin. We don't get to choose our parents nor our environments at birth. I quite agree that some folks' lives would have turned out better if they had different parents who did what was needed and necessary for their development. But it still does not overrule the argument that it is only you that can decide how you want your story to end. You have what it takes. If you search within, you can discover all the innate abilities that are relevant for your breakthrough. These abilities adorn your life like diamond deposits. They are there screaming for attention but probably, you keep wanting to be someone else. Stop living under the shadow of a 'fake you'.

Discover who you are. Then, glow and let the world watch you 'burn'.

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