AUNTY DEE'S ONE KOBO FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

By Ebunoreofe Adedeji

Hola amigos! It means “hello friends”; if you didn’t know before, just say “thank you Aunty Dee” in your mind oo. By the way, its Spanish, So sister, brother, you can form foreign for people outside. Let me introduce myself – I am Aunty Dee. I don’t like using the full form of my name; it’s kind of embarrassing but I promise to reveal that to you as we go on in this journey of ours. So, my people, fasten your seatbelts and let’s drive through my one KOBO every student needs in the university. It’s not easy to be in uni o, I tell you. I’ve been there (I just finished though) and I understand so well. I’ll be sharing my experiences in form of a short story and I hope you learn from them. Have a fun time reading

AMAKA, THE S.S (S.S= SERIOUS STUDENT)
“Guy, abeg, just off that thing”- that was Zizi, one of my roommates. Zizi-strange name, right? It’s a nickname too. Seriously, it’s like no one actually likes their original name anymore. As for me, it’s not my fault, I cannot come and be sharing name with cartoon. I switched off my alarm, it was just 5:00 am in the morning. “Krang , krang”, I could already hear the porter opening the gates. I stood up and stretched my arms, then I went to the balcony to get a bucket filled with water. I started to make my way out of the room to the toilet when I saw Amaka, one of my coursemates on my floor. She wore a hoodie and black jeans, I could see she was coming from an all-night reading session. I quickly greeted her, and I hailed her - “Jacko, jacko, ómó l'abèrè, ìwé l'abí”. She laughed weakly and warned me to stop. I laughed and then I told her to go rest. We parted ways and I went to answer the call of nature. As I was going to the room, I just kept thinking about Amaka, this is the girl you will find all day in the library and all night in the reading room. I shrugged and then I advanced in my preparations for the day. Later that morning, around 8:00am, I got to the lecture theatre and I saw Amaka sitting in one of the chairs reading a textbook. I opened my mouth in surprise, then I started telling myself “Dee, you better be serious o, your mate is reading all day, she went for an all-night reading session and she got to the lecture theatre before you, better pray make tsunami no carry you” (tsunami means withdrawal from uni). I sat down quickly and I started reading, I was still marvelled by the actions of Amaka.

Some weeks later, exams commenced and my first paper was ZOL 101, a course in the department of Zoology. I saw Amaka as we were in the same hall for the exam. She looked a bit pale but I just thought she was nervous. We were called in and we were given the exam papers. Barely some minutes after the command to begin had been given, Amaka stood up, the chief examiner asked what the problem was and then she replied “Hola Amigos, je suis Amaka”. By now, all eyes were on her. She continued by saying “I am Amaka, the LOLO 1 of this university”. The chief examiner quickly ordered two male examiners to hold her strongly, then he called for an ambulance. I was feeling very sad for Amaka but there was nothing I could do other than pray for fast recovery. The ambulance arrived and she was taken to the hospital. When we finished the exam, the air was saturated with talks here and there about Amaka, the S.S turned wèrè (wèrè is the Yoruba word for a mad person). Some laughed, others shook their heads in pity. I went to my hostel and I thought about what happened, and I said to myself “Dee, you better don’t compare yourself to anybody, make sure you rest well o, before you turn to wèrè”. I said a prayer for Amaka, then I took a nap.

ONE KOBO: Your health is important as a student. Try to rest, eat and exercise well(IF YOU KNOW,YOU KNOW), but do not be lazy. Health is wealth, never forget that. Also, don’t be intimidated by anyone, just ensure that you improve on yourself and put in your best!