Oladipupo Aminat
(PenMadame)
EPISODE 1
(Adulthood Before Adulthood)
I didn’t come to school to form SURVIVOR.
But somehow, being raised by a single mother automatically makes people expect you to be one.
They think you’re strong because of your background. Meanwhile, half the time, you’re just trying not to cry in class because your mom’s “I’m fine” on the phone didn’t sound fine at all.
Students on campus came from different homes.
Some came from parents who sent them money before they even asked.
Me?
I came from a woman who apologized when she sent ₦3,000 instead of ₦5,000.
And I still told her,
“Mummy, it’s okay, I don’t need much.”
Even though I did.
Being the daughter of a single mother meant;
•You grew up faster than your age.
•You learned responsibility early.
•You learned gratitude quickly.
•And you learned not to complain… even when life gave you reasons to.
In school, people thought I was quiet.
But they didn’t know I was constantly calculating:
“How much is left in my account?”
“Can I manage this food till Friday?”
“Should I tell my mom or keep it to myself?”
Still…
I carried myself with grace.
Not because life was perfect,
But because the woman who raised me taught me how to walk through struggles without making noise. Even when she never said it to me orally, I picked up the expectations.
So if you saw me smile on campus, just know it wasn’t because everything was easy.
It was because I was determined to make my mother’s sacrifices worth it.
And my father?
He did not even know anything about us.
As I heard, he eloped with another woman just two weeks after he and Mum divorced.
He fought to take custody of my brother and me, but the court ruling was in favor of my mum.
As much as I missed him almost every day, the thought of seeing my mother beaten to a pulp while still clinging to his trousers, begging for forgiveness, haunted me.
To her, that was what submission looked like—until she could take it no more and filed for divorce.
Despite all life had thrown at me, I still remained strong in school.
I was one of the lecturers’ favorite students in my department.
They gave me a name I found rather funny but true: “Igi Ìwé.”
I had never attended a tutorial, but I still managed to ace every single course. As a result, I was usually the center of attention, as my coursemates would ask me whenever results were out which tutorial I attended outside school.
“You had better tell us where and from whom you get extra sessions. Abi una dey carry masquerade enter exam hall?” they would tease.
Masquerade, in student terms, meant expo; hidden papers or phones often used to cheat during examinations.
But I had never used any of them.
My conscience wouldn’t let me, and I was someone who loved to see how far I could go in whatever I did. I’d rather visit the school library one thousand times to read than engage in any form of exam malpractice.
I thought I had everything under control:
school, friendships, my dreams, even my mother’s expectations.
But life was funny.
It knew how to pull the same darkness your bloodline once escaped.
I nearly lost myself…
And the past I feared most quietly found its way back into my life.
What past?
That……will be revealed in Episode 2.....