THE TURNING POINT

It was about 4.30 am when I woke up as usual. The previous day was a very hectic one so  slept soundly. I went to the bathroom and took a cold shower.

 After taking a shower, I took a few of my books and placed them on top of my box. At first, I was hesitant to leave the dormitory. But was aroused by some movements outside the dormitory.  I remained  still and waited to see who it was. I knew it was still very early and wondered who these people could be. The footsteps grew louder and louder. I would feel like the people were like stamping their feet on the ground. I started trembling slowly by slowly and eventually I was trembling vigorously.

At that moment my thought flew back in time when we used to have massive and destructive students strikes. It was indeed very horrible. Such stamping of feet was common followed by smashing of window panes and latter the blasts of teargas by the police. Within my mind, I was now expecting the common helter skelter movements during strikes.

For some time I sank in deep thoughts of how strikes used to take place. Sure enough, I heard the first window pane smashed. It followed loud wails and chanting of the school slogan. It did not take long for the police to arrive there and it was evident that we had to run for safety. I together with other students ran as fast as we could to secure our lives. We ran through a big forest and past several shops until we reached a certain wheat field that had some thicket. It is there where we hid. Though it was very cold out there, we were able to catch sleep. I don't recall how long I slept because the next thing I heard was a pat on my shoulder and I woke up very fast and started pleading for mercy. "Don't harm me"

Alas! I was just in bed. Oh! It was all imagination. The two young men came near me and asked, "Are you dreaming?" "Wake up, let us go to class." Added another one.

I regained my conscience and realized that all that wasn't true. So the big foot steps were of these young men came who came to take me to class. They ensured that I followed them. At first I didn't understand what they were doing but I just followed them. In class they gave me sums to tackle. Mathematics was my worst subject. I tried to do the sums but I was not able to do any. I even despised myself that I will never pass in mathematics.

When they saw that I had a great challenge, one of them, Anton by name looked straight into my eyes. It was vivid clear that he was disappointed that I couldn't do any of them. Tears ran down my sunken cheeks as the reality dawned on me that I was in form four and Mathematics was mandatory. "Listen to me Joshua" he spoke, "All battles are either won or lost in the mind. What is there is not that you cannot solve mathematical problems but your take on the subject. Remember, your attitude determines your altitude. Start loving mathematics, enjoy it, have a positive attitude, you can make it"

His last words kept on echoing in my ears until I remained silent. You can make it.... You can make it.... And the echo dimmed and dimmed and dimmed. It is then that I asked Anton to show me how to do them. He did it so well that I saw that Mathematics was not hard.

I kept on doing more and more practice and believe you me, from getting Es in Termly assessments, I scored a B- in the national examination.

I really thanked my friend Anton who came in handy to initiate my turning point. I recalled those moments of that early morning when a myriad of frightening thought ran through my mind, so it was my turning point beckoning.