Greetings!
Funmi, a sister of mine was a baby when we lost our mum, back then, she was just in primary 2, but I was in Jss 1 back then as I took from her 10 good years and this was as a result of delay in conception on the part of our parents.
When we lost our mum, family and friends of the family promised us heaven on earth, but all to no avail, they failed to fulfill all their promises to us.
I could remember, a woman, mummy Shade calling me aside to tell me that,
“Sam, don't worry, I will take care of you and your sister, see me as your mother as I would be there for you anytime, anyday.”
When I heard her saying this, I felt relieved and I thank her saying,
“Mummy, thank you for not disappointing your friend, even at death, God will be with you and your family too.”
As if that's not enough, another friend of the family, Daddy Zachariah also called me aside and he said,
“Sam, let me tell you the bitter truth, people would promise you heaven on earth today and afterwards, but my candid advice to you is not to rely on their promises as they would not fulfil any of what they have been promising or would promise you.” He continued and said, “I'm a witness of people's promises and I can boldly tell you that none of their promises has been fulfilled to us till today.”
When I heard this, I was shocked and it's at that moment I said to the man,
“Daddy, thank you for telling me the absolute truth, God would not depart from you sir.” He replied and said, “Amen.” He further said, “Sam, you now have to be a man and take care of you sister as that's the only person you now have as a conpanion.” “Okay sir” I replied. “Don't be deterred nor afraid, God is with you” he said. “Amen, thank you sir,” I replied.
After he had told me all these, I was just ruminating within myself as to why people would promise and refuse to fulfil their promises. It got to a time that I was like, this man is not telling me the truth, but lying.
I even asked myself as to why some people who are very close to my mum would not fulfil their promises to us.
So, immediately after the burial, people started leaving our house in their numbers and it's after they have all left that I began to know that we now have ourselves to ourselves and that, there's nobody anywhere.
Months after they have all left us, we saw no one who are friends nor family members and it's then that the reality of life was now dawn on me.
Although we saw our neighbors coming to our aid whenever we needed anything, we never saw any of our family and friends who used to come to our place whenever they needed the help of my mum.
The only person we saw was mummy Demola, our neighbor who helped us to adopt my younger sister, Funmi and that's how Funmi was living with them.
As for me I was the one fending for myself, after school, I used to go out and pick metals which I would sell just to make money and survive with the money.
With the money I realize from my hustle, I pay my school fee and eat out of it, atimes, I send money to mummy Demola to add to what she's using to take care of my younger sister.
Ab initio, mummy Demola used to reject the money as she would always asked me to use the money for my upkeep, but later, when her business was not that buoyant as it used to be, she decided to be collecting the money from me as a add up to what she's using. Although the money is not up to half of what she's been using to take care of my sister, I'm happy to be a contributor to my sister's welfare.
After Funmi graduated from the primary school, she sat for the federal government entrance examination and she came top of the examination and just because of this, she was offered a scholarship till the end of her education and this was what she used to study medicine and surgery in the university and she graduated with distinction and was sent abroad to further her education.
I too was able to sort out myself as I used my hustle to finish my education as a civil engineer and now I'm practicing.
As for me and my sister, we are now doing well, but this is not with the help of our neighbor mummy Demola who took up the role of our mother and now we are not just neighbors but family.
We have now adopted her as our mother and she's currently with Funmi in the US to help her take care of her first child, Samuel.
As for our family and friends of the family that have neglected us, they are now calling left and right to ask about us, but it's now too late. Although we are doing our own bit and taking care of them in our own capacity as we only return all the glory to God for being there for us.
Thanks for reading.
Picture sourced from metaAi.