Good day everyone, welcome to my blog.
As an undergraduate from an average Nigerian home, it's not always rosey. There are days you would call home to plead for five hundred naira recharge cards so you can sell to sort some things on campus and you may be told that one of your siblings is sick or haven't eaten something decent in days so you have to manage.
These kinds of situations can only make you not just sit and relax when you know that you have to look for a way to support yourself. The real wave of having to support myself as an undergraduate hit during second year and not first. During my first year, I shared a hostel with these senior friends who usually come to my aid even before I call or complain about anything
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All things being equal,it was during that same period I joined the traditional dance group of my department on campus but I never really paid much attention to it. When these senior friends graduated then life happened, school became more demanding and the stipend from home seems like a nut in an ocean of expenses.
Almost the same time, my school celebrated her fifth years anniversary and our group was invited for a cultural dance. We danced, enjoyed ourselves and forgot about it. Three days later, our group leader handed an envelope to me. When I opened it, I saw two thousand five hundred naira in it.
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I asked what the money was meant for and she said Baba as we fondly call our HOD (Head of department) gave each of us who danced that envelope and he made it an order that we can dance at any show on campus or off campus so far we are officially invited and the invite comes with a pay. He also invited us for our first official party to come dance at his sixtyth birthday party the following weekend.
That was how cultural dance became a thing for me. It was an opportunity to learn, flex, eat free food and have a take home at the end of the day. Before the second year came to an end, a lot of primary and secondary schools around started inviting us to come coach their pupils and students for their end of section, Christmas or culture day’s party. It was such coaching exposure that landed me my first part-time teaching job. Do I still dance? Not often. Do I still teach? O yes, with passion too.
