Every human on planet earth has an identity. Our identities are made up of traits, character, attitude, perception, strength and weakness. Put all these together, then you can define what your identity is. My name is Kelechi, which when translated means "Thank God". When I was born, my parents saw me as a bundle of joy but the name came from my grandparents. From what I later heard, my first name was "Onyekwere", which means "Who would ever think that a child will born here". The name also has a history that can bring to remembrance an ugly incident that happened when my father was born.
My father was the first child of his mother. Gracefully, he was a male child, something that my grandpa had always looked ahead for. When my grandpa got married to his first wife, she bore him only a girl child. Since a man's relevance is measured through his ability to bear a male child, my grandpa's quest began. He was fortunate to marry a second wife and their first child, my father.
Down the line, someone was not happy about the development. My grandfather now has an heir that would inherit his heritage. My grandpa's younger brother's wanted her grown up children to inherit my grandpa's wealth since a female child does not have any share in her father's property. She had an evil agenda to slaughter my grandma which she carried out but she was arrested after she had my grandma when she was still breastfeeding my dad.
All these put together led to my name. You can now see that the name has a long history.
Growing up among the Yoruba people as an Igbo boy gave me a lot of opportunities. I can speak English, Igbo language, and Yoruba, what an opportunity to be able to write another man's language and even write it.
I grew up with my parents and siblings. It has been a very good background to who I have become. When I was younger, my parents accepted my cousins to live with us. Though things were quite tough, we pulled through. As I write this piece, I remember when we had to struggle to eat, cloth and even lay our heads. Today, I am glad for all that experience as it has helped shaped me to handle life issues.
This experience has also taught me to be a family person. I put family high in my undertakings. A practical aspect of life with an average Igbo man is the ability to foster a good relationship with his in-laws, neighbours and immediate family. I can proudly say that this trait is one of my strengths.
I love to take responsibility for my actions. This makes me more reliable. Over the years, that has been my watchword. My first job after graduation was teaching. I incubated myself in the teaching profession for over two decades, moulding leaders. Today, I have delved into administration while consulting for schools. I can proudly say that when I started teaching at a very young age, I never knew I was going to build a career out of teaching but here I am today.
Another thing about me that may catch your fancy is that I live a triangular life. I assumed this style of living after I got married to my wife. Before then, I was outgoing. I had scores of friends. We engage in social events where we discuss business, sports and women. Yes, women. They play an integral part in the life of man. During the period when I lived and walked around with friends, I noticed that I did not accomplish much. All my earnings were spent on fun, nothing more.
Now, the game has changed. It is now from home to work to church and back home. A lot has changed. I was an alcohol addict and a ceremonial smoker but all that is in the past now. I am a typical testimonial that marriage can change a lot of things about some people. All those friends are now far away. Though we still get to meet once in a long while, our meeting is not for drinking, smoking and talking sports anymore.
In my leisure time, I surf the internet and create content both in video and writing. Having studied history in school, my writing is usually about the past, connecting to the present and predicting the future.
Currently, I live in a developing area in Lagos, Nigeria. The community has a development association and I am the secretary. Here, we pull resources together to take on developmental projects to make life easy for all the residents. I try as much as possible to be a good neighbour. Once in a while, I go visiting my neighbours and we talk about our nation, family, academics, side hustle and whatnot.
One thing my wife told me in secret is to keep my identity. She was of the view that I am prominent in the town. Each time we walk together, there are scores of people who would like to exchange pleasantries with me. Most of these people are those I had crossed paths with while in the teaching profession while others are my ex-students. I have since tried to live a low key life, while ensuring to earn and make an impact from the background.
This post is my response to the #septemberinleo 7th Day prompt. You can read up the rules Here