My Unsung Heroes [Part One]

Going through life is a wonderful experience, even more wonderful is the people you meet and the relationships you have along the way.

The people you meet in your life, make up at least 50% of who you are and even who you will become. This is a first hand experience for me. Looking in retrospect I realize that I wouldn’t be where I am or be who I am if not for the people God placed in my life’s path right from the day I was born. Each some how has made a contribution to my life. Either by words, actions, thoughts and prayers. Some have affected me negatively, but most positively.

I appreciate the people who have affected me positively, but there are some to whom I feel I have not done enough justice in thanking for their level of impact in this my little existence. To those whom I have not shown enough appreciation to, but in my heart I cherish them so much. This post is dedicated to these ones. The ones that cannot be appreciated enough for their impact in my life. These are the ones I call my UNSUNG HEROES

My Father

My father. My first memory of him was him teaching me to spell my name as a child. R-A-Y-M-O-N-D. The tone he used to help me memorize it, is the same tone i use to spell out my name today.

My Dad is a swell guy. He’s funny (I think I inherited that), smart (very smart), and very logical when it comes to analyzing a situation. I am from a polygamous home which means my dad married more than one wife(two to be precise) and contrary to popular belief, we live in one house very peacefully. no bad blood, even if it never lasts long. Anyone who has had an experience with how jealous a girl/woman can be would know how close to impossible it is to pull that off. That’s one of the reasons I respect my dad, he pulled it off.

We are seven children in total, and we have never lacked any of the basic necessities of life. not once. yes we don’t live the luxurious life everyday, but we can have anything we want, we can dare to dream any dream and that was made possible because of my dad. he took us to the best schools and made sure we never lacked anything we needed.

At home, he is the villain. This is because when you do something that gets him angry, he can narrate all the stupid decisions you’ve made in your life. its very embarrassing trust me ☹. But he never flogged us, not once (except for my eldest sister — story for another day). But in all, we love him with all our hearts, and we can do anything for him. The sacrifices hes has made and is making are hard to see. its easy to think he doesn’t do much beyond the basic things. it takes a closer and deeper look to really appreciate what he does. Its hard to see at surface level.

he doesn’t share his feelings and it takes a very sensitive person to understand him. And it took me years to actually see and really appreciate all he’s been doing since the beginning, even the things that I thought were bad, I realized he did them for our own good, and all this time, he always had his families best interest at heart. Even above his own. That’s why he is my Hero, my UNSUNG HERO

Sir Uyi Ibizugbe (Louis Noma)

The day I met Sir Uyi is a day that is impossible to forget. I had given my life to Christ before that time but I was still ‘trapped’ in the dogma of ineffective Christianity. A Christianity that never relates with anything tangible.

The day I decided to attend a meeting he organised started like any other day. I was not even motivated to go but a friend was going so I followed him. When I got there, they instructed us to speak in tongues before he starts to share what he had to say. At the time I had never heard of such before and I was angry ‘who does this guy think he is?’ I thought. But I did as I was told either way. After about 15 minutes, Sir Uyi came in and started talking.

From his first word to his last about an hour later, it was like a grenade exploded in my chest with every word and as I tried to mentally deduced it, it was like it set off in my brain. I just couldn’t comprehend the things he was saying. they were too radical for my mind. I couldn’t sleep that night I felt literal chest pains and couldn’t stop thinking of the encounter. Anytime I thought of the things he said, it felt like my head exploded. I couldn’t believe a man could speak like that. it defiled all my prior knowledge about God and his relationship with us. I wrestled with it all night long. in retrospect I can see that it was as if light and darkness were fighting for the dominant place in my heart that moment. When I finally slept and woke up, it was obvious light had prevailed. it was as if scales were removed from my eyes, as if I had been blind this whole time. It was as if i had been alive for the first time. The world was different after that day, and it has been different ever since.

When you have an encounter like that, it is impossible not to follow such a person. From that day forward Sir Uyi became my mentor. He took me and some others under his wings and was interested in our spiritual welfare and our future in a way I had never experienced before. it was difficult for me to react to such an immense care. He taught us things I didn’t believe could be uttered, and showed us a life that was far beyond my imagination. He showed me that God existed and that Jesus cared for me. He helped me build the foundations of my walk with God, and unlike the good things most men do, what he did has eternal value.

In him I saw what it meant for a man to lay down his life for his brethren. He sacrificed his time, his comfort and a lot more things I don’t know about just to see to it that we were established in the faith. he was not just words but actions too, So his friends nicknamed him “The Living Word”. So accurate.

Most of the fruits I bear in the spirit now were seeds sown by him. Even when he was not physically present, his words stayed with me, and at times when I stumble in the faith those words strengthen me. Except my mother, I don’t think anyone has prayed for me like him, and for that and the many other things that are too much to mention, I am eternally grateful.

You can begin to understand the depth of Gods love for you when he places a man like this in your life. A man who believes in you more than you believe in yourself. I may never be able to express the depth of my gratitude but he is my mentor, my Hero. my Unsung Hero.

Monsieur Sikito (My Secondary school french Teacher)

I was very fragile just before I entered boarding school. I didn’t know how to do anything. I had no idea how I would survive six years away from my parents and in the midst of strangers. I was scared, my mum was scared to. The school was in Benin and I lived in Lagos, it was too far for her to come visit every weekend or run down when there was an emergency, I couldn’t just go home if was home sick or if i just wanted to eat something better. I was alone, in the middle of nowhere.

My school felt hostile, until I met Monsieur Sikito. He stayed in the hostel and was our french teacher. He was a Togolese. My mum randomly approached him and asked if he could please take care of me while she was away and that was how I came to know the most honest and kind man I’ve ever met so far. He agreed and acted as my guardian from then on. He helped me go to the bank when my parents sent money and he taught me a few basic things I didn’t know. Like how to iron a shirt (I still iron it the same way till now). He gave me confidence and for the first time I believed that I could survive boarding school. He taught me how to be an individual and how to live on my own. How to be honest and how to make the right decisions.

The things he did for me are too many to mention and whenever I was going to make a stupid decision that could get me in trouble I always taught of him and how disappointed he would be if he found out. That simple thought, stopped me from making a lot of wrong decisions in secondary school.

He stayed in the school for three years and left when I was in Jss3, by then I was already established. Truthfully I didn’t understand what he had done for me and the impact and the difference he made in my life at that point, till I heard the story of other guardians who would withdraw my money without telling their ward and give the person only a small part out of what their parents sent. Thank God Monsieur Sikito came at the time he did, my earlier years, the years that I needed him the most.

It’s not easy for a man to take another person and call him and treat him as his son. But Monsieur Sikito did that for me. I never really got the chance to thank him enough and show him my appreciation as much as I would have liked. That’s why He is my Hero, my unsung Hero.

Tags: heroes, impact, life, people, story, unsung heroes