TEACHER CHUKS; Season 3 (Part 13&14) – Opeyemi Akintunde

Part 13
TEACHER CHUKS; Season 3
Opeyemi Akintunde

“ Instability has been my greatest problem, I can’t stay too long doing one thing and that is because growing up, I watched my father marry five wives after my mother died. I am a product of not having stable people in my life.

Mercy, out there you will meet a lot of temporary friends, who will come and go. All these will affect you psychologically… You have a great Mum who has been there for you, forget her ways of discipline but think about the fact that if something goes wrong with you, she would be there for you.

I never had a woman figure who was there for me anytime I needed her. Don’t lose what you have got…

People call me dull, well that’s because my mother wasn’t there to teach me ABC, my father was looking for love after she died and when he found, each one of them came to the marriage turning me to their errand boy.

I never had time to study after school. I slept in class everyday, because I was always tired. To make matters worse, I was named the dullest boy in school…

They were right because I didn’t have my mother to help me improve my brain, but girl you have a mother who is trying to teach you the way to go and you don’t appreciate that.

If it was the old me speaking, I would tell you to go to hell and know how it feels., but since I joined this family since last week, I have felt the kind of happiness I haven’t felt in years.

I have learnt good things so I would just calmly say this to you, It would do you good to come back home.” Tunde said sharply and it was obvious he didn’t want to cry, but he moved to a corner where other boys surrounded him.

The place was dead silent…

“ Uncle Chuks?”

“What was I going to say?” I thought silently as these kids had said more than I could say, but I knew my silence would discourage them, but then Kenneth helped me out…

“I have something to say!” Kenneth said. He took the selfie stick

“ Hi, Mercy… I know you pretended not to know me the day I saw you at the restaurant, but I know you know me and we have been eyeing each other since we were kids, or better still I have had something going on for you in my heart since we were young.” Kenneth said and we were all thinking about what his point was.

“ I am sorry for saying this ma’am” he said referring to Favour.

“ You see when I was 12, I wrote this poem about you, That is how crazy I am about you. I have crushed over you since I was 11, when you newly came to this street and started attending our teenage church. It was my first attempt at writing a poem..,

‘Yellow like sunshine

You shine like a new ray

Slim like a well sculpted piece of art

Beautiful like a new born babe with no blemishes

Anytime I see you

My heart soars like an eaglet

Who has just been taught how to fly

I want to fly with you

To a land where it will just be two of us.’

I had planned giving it to you in Church one Sunday, but you remember Uncle Francis the teenage teacher, he found it in my Bible … He didn’t criticize me, rather he said…

“ I understand how you feel about Mercy and it’s not abnormal, but now is not the time to tell her, because she won’t take you serious. Do you know Mercy is a 100% girl?”

“ 100%” I had asked ignorantly

“ Yes, She is still a v!rg!n and one good thing about life is that you attract who you are.”

Mercy , you have been my goal wife and because of you, I kept myself for you, hoping that when I graduate from University I will speak to you as a man, but I am afraid if this goal can still be achieved. Will those kind of friends I saw you with the other day still keep you at 100%? because I have kept myself for you all this while…”

The silence that followed his speech was loud. I thought he was through until he brought a drawing from his bag. It was a charcoal drawing of Mercy in a wedding gown walking into darkness away from Kenneth who was dressed in a Wedding suit as he stood at the entrance of small well lit hut …

“ I drew this last night when I was thinking about you…I hope this speaks more than my words “ He said finally…

Some of the teens that were emotional were already tearing up…

I wanted to add my voice to their voices, so I took the selfie stick and said

“ You were able to say No to me back then when I wanted to forcefully rip you of your virtue and that was because your mother had raised a giant in a little child, however when I put in more pressure, you couldn’t handle or stop me, you had to invite your mother to stop me.

Your mother came around and saved you from my hands, but Mercy now that you have left home, when you face pressures that your strong self may not be able to withstand, who will you call to be your back up, who will you call to help you fight?..

No one…, Mercy, Your Mother wants you back, We want you back and I know God wants you back…!” I said

Abigael who had one of the best voices I have heard from a teenager’s lips sang this song by Hezekiah Walker

“I need you, you need me.

We’re all a part of God’s body.

Stand with me, agree with me.

We’re all a part of God’s body.

It is his will, that every need be supplied.

You are important to me, I need you to survive.

You are important to me, I need you to survive.

I pray for you, You pray for me.

I love you, I need you to survive.

I won’t harm you with words from my mouth.

I love you, I need you to survive.

It is his will, that every need be supplied.

You are important to me, I need you to survive.”

And they all chorused

“ We need you Mercy!”

“ I believe your Mum also has something to say” Kenneth said as he moved towards Favour to give her the selfie stick, but …

She shook her head in the negative.

Followed was the look of disappointment on the faces of the teenagers and youths. I immediately rushed back to Favour and pulled her aside…

“What’s wrong?” I forced myself to ask calmly

“What are you expecting me to say on the video? You want me to beg her? I can’t do such a thing! She is the one who has disappointed me and hurt me by running away to a boy’s place… Forget it! I can’t beg her, she is the daughter and I am her mother.” She said Crying like a baby and before I could calm her down, she stormed out of the compound.

.

Part 14
TEACHER CHUKS; Season 3
Opeyemi Akintunde

Favour was not planning on bending her rule. She felt we were all indulging Mercy.

At first, she reluctantly agreed for us to post our own bit without her talk, but all of a sudden she vehemently told us that we shouldn’t send it at all.

We didn’t post the video anymore and I tried to move on with my life. She was Mercy’s mother after all and possibly knew the best approach in raising her child. We didn’t hear from Mercy either. No one saw her in school.

Favour had insulted me out of anger when I tried persuading her to join us in calling Mercy back…

“ What do you know about raising children? You have never raised one, so don’t pretend like you know jack about it.” She had said.

That pierced my heart badly and I decided to let her be.

However, the incident had made me realize that the teens and young adults were highly talented and with the help of God , I could bring out something great from them.

“ Like I have been saying to you all for a while ,if you don’t want to invest your time in the wrong things , you need to start investing your time in the right things. Now is not the time to invest in boyfriends and girlfriends.

The time for that will come. That time is not faraway, but now is the time to build yourself, so that when the time comes to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you will be an asset to whoever is fortunate to have you as their partner.

Therefore I want you all to write out your hobbies and Talents with your names on individual sheets of paper, also write what you feel has been limiting you from using your potential to the fullest. The ladies should submit to Ajaara, while the boys to Kenneth.” I had told them

By the time I sat down to go through their list in the hour of the night, I was dazed at the list of potentials ranging from Drawing, Writing, Sculpturing, singing, spoken words, creative art, Rapping, painting, calligraphy, Photography, Dancing, Acrobat, Skating, Running, Swimming e.t.c

And….

The limitations were not much. Infact it was almost the same…

Pornography, Mast¥rbation, S€x addiction, Stealing, Drinking and Smoking, lack of parental guidance. Some of them had even started taking hard drugs. From their writeups, they pointed out they wanted out of these addictions.

“ Hmm… I think it is high time I went back to Baba Agba and ask him about the way out of Mast¥rbation, at least that knowledge can help with helping this teenagers” I concluded in my heart as I saw that as one of the challenges of the young ones.

*******

“ First, the person must find a good company. It is this company that will show him / her Love and acceptance. This company must be a sympathetic group not a group that will condemn him/her.

Meaning this person should find a firebrand church and open up to the pastor in charge or the minister. A female minister for a female victim. A male minister for a male victim.

For instance, what the Lord is using you to build right now is a community. So, I can say these kids have taken the first step towards their deliverance from Mast¥rbation, because you have started sowing seeds of the word of God which will grow to a mighty tree in their lives.

It is actually the absence of the Presence of God in their lives that is giving room to all these s€xual sins in their lives. Tell them to feed themselves with the Word of God, which they can start by reading a verse per day. Little drops makes an ocean. A verse of the Bible per day is a great start.”

“Point taken, First step was finding the right company which could be a Church, or a Christian group where such a person could be accountable to someone and grow spiritually” I reasoned silently as I took note

“ Because, Mast¥rbation or any form of s€xual slavery is not something to be silent about. One needs to voice it out if they want to be out of it. S€xual slavery is not a battle to fight on your own.

Tell the young ones not to be ashamed, but speak out and let the devil be ashamed instead, Let them take these s€xual slavery as a sickness or ailment. When a person has Fever, are they silent about it?” Baba asked still on the first step and I shook in the negative

“ It is by connecting to Spiritual people that he/she will receive deliverance, because sin is like onions, the closer you draw to God, the more you remove each layer of the quest for sin that has been deeply rooted in you.

Let them know the truth that they can’t be delivered in one day. It is their consistency in saying No to the s€xual slavery that delivers them in the long run.

Let them know that if they decide to stop today, the temptation to go back to the s€xual addiction or any other kind of sin will be the strongest on that day, but they need to fight it through, and with God’s help they will prevail.

Let them know life is a fight. They must fight against Mast¥rbation, pornography or other s€xual sins.

They must fight with the mind to win, because the ultimate plan of these s€xual sins is to destroy them. Therefore, if they do not stop and destroy the s€xual sin, the s€xual sin will stop and destroy them.

So once again, Let them know , that the temptation will return every two weeks , but the more they overcome, by fighting the battle everyday as it comes, with determination , the constant infilling of the Word of God and continuous stay among the good and right company, overtime the addiction will disappear completely.”

Note that as their minister, you need to constantly check on them and ask about their struggles. Their responsibility is to remain open and truthful to you so that Whenever, they fall, you can help them rise again..

“ Hmmm…” I said as those words were deep.

Secondly, the victim will have to….

CLICK HERE TO READ “TEACHER CHUKS S3” (PART 15&16) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE.