Azubike True Tales of a Teenager’s Village Life in Africa

Azubike started to do most home chores; washing of plates, sweeping of rooms and compound and a host of others when his peers don’t even think of those chores. At the age of seven, he could be said to be in the same business his parents were into. He would resume in the palm-oil mill at 3.30am, leave at 6.30 am to home where he had to go to two rounds of water fetching from a stream over a mile away from home. Most mornings, in addition, he would have to cook and pound ‘akpu’ fufu that a family of eight would eat, then eat his own before trotting off to school over three miles away. Most of the time, he would arrive at school late and so receive the appropriate treatment for that. When he comes back from school he had to fetch as much as 150 to 250 liters of water from a stream over one and half miles from the oil mill for his parents’ business, get goat food for close to fifty goats and sheep, fetch another 60 liters of water for home use every day and in addition get fire wood for both his parents’ business and for home use everyday. Thereafter, he returns back to the oil mill to help his parents out on their business and most time leave the oil mill by 9 to 9.30 Pm to go home and cook and eat and has only from 10 to 10.30 Pm to read his book and sleep. He then wakes up at 3.30am to head to oil mill once again! Despite all this , Azubike was still one of the best in his school and proceeded to college-graduation and amazingly had time for leisure- Tale of a typical African village boy! It is true.