I was homeless but not hopeless

By Abimbola Abatta

I became homeless last year October. Never in a million years would I have ever thought such would happen to me. Even though I had not built a house, my brother and I rented a conducive two-bedroom apartment at the heart of the city.

We were orphaned at childhood. I was ten while he was thirteen when our parents died in a fatal auto crash. Our paternal and maternal families tried their best, but immediately we finished secondary school, we were on our own.

My brother and I had to engage in menial jobs to sponsor our education at the Polytechnic.

I had a steady source of income even though it was not enough, but I was glad something was coming into my account every month. I was teaching in a secondary school, and I was receiving N60,000 salary.

All of a sudden, the principal of the school where I worked called me one morning after the assembly period. He told me I could not continue with him as a staff. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I was stunned into silence. Pain suddenly struck me in the heart. I felt as if I would have blood pressure.

I had always known that when it comes to jobs, no employee is indispensable, but what made my situation more painful was the fact that I was one of the most loyal staff in the school. I had worked there for ten good years. I started on a salary of N20,000, and as it is common to many private secondary schools, I was teaching an average of six subjects.

Anyways, on that unfortunate day, the most painful part was that my former boss could not explain the rationale behind my sudden sack letter. I asked him several times to tell me what I had done, but he insisted that he needed fresh blood. I wept silently. The incident broke me than I could explain.

Where would I start from? What was I supposed to do? How will I survive this phase? I was determined to dust my curriculum vitae and submit them to different schools.

I was crestfallen as I left the school for the house. Within me, I knew everything happens for a reason. When I got home, I was shocked to meet my elder brother at home. He was a factory worker, and he always returned late at night.

Well, we were both shocked to see each other back home early on a working day. I told him what happened, and he responded that fate must have been playing with us.

He told me that he was laid off it work too. Some of his colleagues at the factory had plotted against him, and he was falsely accused of stealing some products at the factory.

The factory owner vehemently refused to hear from him despite his pleas of innocence. It would have been better if the month was drawing close to the time for payment of salaries. But the month just began, and we both did not receive a dime as compensation.

It was a double blow for us. We were supposed to pay for the house rent in September, but we had to beg our landlord for an extension. The plan was to wait till October ending when we would receive our salaries. The rent was N70,000.

Little did we know that luck was no longer on our side. My brother and I were both brooding on the unfortunate turn of event when we heard a knock on our door. It turned out to be our landlord and four fierce-looking men.

Upon opening the door, our landlord barged in. You should have seen how shocked we were. He began to yell at us to pay the house rent right away. He threatened that those men who came with us would beat us up and throw us out if we failed to pay.

To cut the story short, we were given till the next day to pack out of the house after explaining our predicament to the landlord. Indeed, some unknown forces were against us that day. Everything had gone wrong. From being jobless to being homeless. What else could go be the worst thing to happen to us? Maybe death.

The following morning, we packed our belongings very early in the morning. We had no destination in mind except the village. But we knew the village had nothing in store for us. What would we tell them? We had left home since we finished from secondary school. It’s been years. How were we supposed to start from the scratch?

We decided to go to a popular bridge in the city. After all, we heard that a lot of homeless people have made a home under the bridge. You might ask if we had no friends. To be honest, my brother and I were the only best friends we had.

We lived under the bridge for two months. We had to sell off all our belongings safe a few clothes and other necessities. The money we realised from the sale was spent on food and transportation. We joined some ‘boys’ at a construction site. We also run some other errands just to earn a living.

Meanwhile, I had submitted my CV at a lot of schools, but none called me back for an interview.

One fateful day in December, as I headed towards the construction site, my phone let out a shrill ringtone. It was an unknown number. I did not want to pick it at first, but I did eventually.

“This is Chief Adeshina. You might not know me, but I do. You taught my son, Kola Adeshina in SS3 at your former place of work. And he aced his examinations. That was his third attempt, and he had distinctions, including the subjects he had been failing before coming to that school.  I have been meaning to call you, but I keep forgetting due to work and my other engagements.”

I remembered the boy. I gave out my number to my students so they could call anytime they had a problem or the other. The boy had come to me that he needed my help, and I had taken it upon myself to take some extra lessons with him. He had five As and three Bs and one C.

Chief Adeshina told me to come and see him at his office. I went there immediately. He said he had gone to the school only to hear that I had resigned. I explained to him on that I was laid off one morning.

He made enquiries about what I had been doing. And I explained my plight to him. He told me he had vacancies in his industry. He needed the services of a civil engineer Fortunately, I studied civil engineering in school. That day, I got a job. He also gave my brother an employment letter to oversee one of the branches of him company within the state.

The employment letters came with accommodation and a vehicle for each of us. I was speechless by the event that was unfolding before me. It felt like a dream. I thought I would wake up to realise that it was just a dream, but behold, it was a miracle.

That was how the story of my brother and I changed almost overnight. We went from being jobless and homeless to being gainfully employed and having a roof over our heads. That experience made me understand that indeed, some unfortunate events might be a blessing in disguise.