Kachi's Diary[Childhood]

Ogwu Kachi sat in his room,tidying up as he leaves for his NYSC program in a couple of weeks.It was a windy day in the city of Asaba, Delta State and dear old Kachi is very gay. Whistling about as he arranges all his belongings. Disposing and arranging seem to be a splendid chore of him as he does it with a commendable speed. This speed is soon slowed when he finds his diary.

I am Ogwu Austin Kachi Born June 28th,1982 , and a Fresh graduate of Electrical Engineering,from Delta State University. You are Obviously reading my diary and you can be sued. I found diaries which I wrote years ago,facinating events I tell you. I have decided to compile the events of my entire life even though I know I can not write it all in the exact order which they happened,I hope to write it so humans can relate. Either make them look at life from a positive angle or commit suicide after reading. Worry not,my life isn't some Cinderella's story. It is so full of multiple events,I almost do not believe it.

MY CHILDHOOD;
I wasnt born into a polygamous family,but somehow it happened. A tiger of a father and a sheep of a mother. I had,(Yes,had. I heard a couple of them passed away)13 siblings altogether. I am the 7th child of the family. At the time I was born,Nigeria was facing some challenges. It was the Buhari Regime, 1984 - 1985: The
military regime headed by Major-General Buhari
consistedof senior military officers such as
Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, Brigadier 1. B.
Babangida and MajorGeneral Domkat Bali - all of
the Supreme Military Council. The
Administration's many decrees, military
tribunals and emphasis on discipline soon won
for it the characterisation as "the first true
military dictatorship, albeit benevolent" that
Nigeria ever experienced. My father worked for the government and he believed he was a military man. May your mind now soar on how we were treated. My mother was his first wife,Chisom Ogwu. A petty trader with a very good heart and was very quick to tears. I was about six years old when my father brought in the other woman. She hails from Ghana. Stella Kwesi was her name. A beautiful woman,so beautiful I always wondered why she married my father. Mr Ogwu wasn't exactly Prince Charming.

I remember that horrible day,my dad drove home at about 11pm at night. Angry, as usual. We greeted,he stormed past us,went inside,got my mother's belongings and started throwing them out. For minutes we were dazed,not reacting. We just looked at him. We heard a sound coming from the car,we looked up to see a slender figure draging what seems to exceed her weight,out of the car. As she walked into the light coming from the bulb in the balcony,we saw that it was a lady. A horribly dressed lady. Her make up-My immediate thought was that she was from the circus. She made her way inside the house with her luggage, not paying us as much as a glance. I saw mum's tears streaking. Mother didn't speak a word. She just packed her bags,shook us and left. That was the last time I ever saw my mother. Mother was an orphan,my siblings and I didn't know where she came from. She didn't have any friends. Father was the only person in the world she knew. I was sore. I never did like my father much but from that day,I hated him.

It was at about 6am when we heard the sound coming from the kitchen. I heard my older sister scream from the kitchen. She thought last night was a dream. She flung the door open to meet me on the bed. She wanted to cry. I let her, afterwards,I joined her. Our lives changed from that day. We dressed up and headed for school. We had to walk as father refused to give us transport fare. I got to school feeling very angry. English language was the first subject for the day. Mr. Ojo Adekunle, a small structured man was my class teacher at that time . A knock on my head jolted me back to reality. "What was the last thing I said?!" Mr Ojo barked. "I am sorry,I wasn't listening" I replied in between tears. He walked away and continued his lesson. At the end of the lesson,he called me and I told him everything. Jonah,my brother had again been beaten by bullies and Anwulika was punished for not submitting her assignments. Infact,everyone was generally sad. We all draged ourselves home in silence. Yes,I still remember. Every detail of one of the worst times in my life. We got home that day,met the 'night lady' as we now referred to her as. She welcomed us and served our lunch. At first,we refused to eat. Chinedu thought about it,I think,and begged us to eat. After the meal,Night Lady told us about herself. She wasn't so bad afterall but I couldn't help hating her so.

Life practically crawled by. Five years passed after mother had left and Night Lady,as I Still love to call her, had twins. Both boys. Least I forget,our wealth had started to stutter. We even had to change school. Father became a more bitter man then he was years before. He began to drink,beat up Night Lady even when she was pregnant.
Night Lady cried alot and I saw this look in her eyes. Very vacant look. As though her soul needed to escape. I pitied her.


He hit me and hit me again. I was the less preferred among father's children. More slaps landed on my face. When I got back from school on this epic day,I saw oranges on the kitchen table. Lots of oranges. I was hungry,so I took one. Father came home,walked straight to the kitchen and my name was the next thing I heard. He asked about the oranges,I told him I took one. Slaps upon slaps rained on my face. Night Lady came into the kitchen and draged me away but father pushed her and she hit her hand on the wall. Night Lady's arm is disfigured till date. My siblings began crying. After the beating of my life,he asked me to go buy twelve oranges. At about 11.15pm,my father sent me into the cold night. He said it was either that or he had my index finger. I saw it in his eyes,he meant it. I staggered into the night,crying. Losing my way was a piece of cake,when I discovered I was lost my head spinned. I had no idea where I was and I had no money. I then walked into a nearby mechanic workshop and slept there hoping to find my way at the break of dawn.

The car I slept in began to shake,I heard shouts. I posed to run out of the car and hands draged me out and beat me alot. They called me a thief. I raised up an arm and it was pushed down. After they had beat me to their satisfaction,they asked why I came to steal car parts every night. I explained why I was there,they sighed,shook their heads and parted one after the other. Leaving me there,helpless and confused. The entire me was bleeding. I managed to find my way home. I half expected father to be worried. He wasn't. He cursed and cursed.

Chinedu,my older brother died shortly after my incident. He died of malaria.Years rolled by,I became an angry child. My childhood did. Events just happened. I just didn't think much of them. I had no idea my life probably just begun.