Chinedum and his parents were traveling to Umuahia and their car ran into a tipper carrying laterites. Chinedum and his parents died on the spot! On hearing the news I collapsed. My sorrow could better be imagined. I managed to survive through the burial ceremony, supplying those cooking with firewood and running errands: at the end of which I went back to my father's house and resumed the menial jobs to be able to feed.
I continued doing odd jobs on the farm, in gardens, going a fishing with elders until one day, a man from my compound hired me to work in his farm for 50k. At the farm he subjected me to a series of questions. First, he asked me to show him my father's lands; secondly, to hand over such lands to a man, no matter how closely related he was. In either case I objected and he was offended. He then vowed to kill me in the forest. I became afraid and ran and shouted for help. Unfortunately, because the area was far into the thick forest, no one came but help came from God. He pursued me with his knife but being younger I was too fast for him and fell into a pit of about 1.82 meters deep and was covered by the grass in it. He searched for me and after a while he gave up. I later struggled out of the pit and through another route returned to the village. I reported the incident to the elders in the compound but no action was taken - the common plight of orphans. This incident created real hatred in my young heart; no one loved me, no one cared. I reflected in my mind why anyone would want to kill me knowing I had no parents. Life was full of misery. Now I know that God in His love restrained the devil from suggesting suicide to me. I turned to the Church and became a full member of the Assemblies of God church in my village (I still am) but unfortunately no one cared even when some of the members knew about me. It is important to note that I became a full member of the church without knowing Jesus Christ. I never knew what it meant to be BORN AGAIN. If you are in the Church of Jesus Christ and find yourself in the situation I found myself, give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says: "Let Him have all our worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you" (1 Peter 5: 7 - Living New Testament).
In the midst of all these hardship and suffering ALICE appeared! Alice was a girl I knew during my elementary school days. She was five years older and from the same village. We were in the same class, sat on the same bench and became very friendly. With this childhood's 'love' affair, we promised 'getting married' when we would be old. Ridiculous! A child of 11 years then, without parents, no education, no food to eat, promising marriage to a girl of five years his senior! Alice later left for Akure for her secondary education and sent me dozens of 'love' letters.
The next time I met Alice, I was 15 years and she was 20. She had finished her secondary school education and was working with the Standard Bank Lagos (now First Bank), where her parents lived.
Alice having known my background and my plight took advantage of it. She told me to join her at Lagos and handed me her house address with N50 (Naïra: National Currency of Nigeria)! That was a fortune for a young boy of 15 years who had never earned up to N2 a day! This was manna from heaven and this meant that Lagos must be a wonderful place with plenty of money and the good things of life for all to enjoy. Then I must go to Lagos to make my own money and get riches too. Going to Lagos to my mind was my only way of escape. Escape from my father's enemies, escape from my enemies, escape from hunger and ALL my problems. Escape! Escape! Yes, escape from All that is evil!!!
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Chapter 2: The Initiation
« There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. » Proverbs 14:12
« But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. » Isaiah 57: 20-21
Delivered from the Powers of Darkness
Start from the beginning
