Spirit Man

Ayanfe

I am the only surviving child of my parents. My name is Ayanfe. Meaning ‘loved with all your heart’. They had 5 stillbirths before I was born alive. I was told my grandmother performed a lot of sacrifices to appease the gods before I came to live. My mother departed the world as soon as I made my entry, a tragedy the Yoruba tribe from Nigeria call ‘fii emi ra emi’ meaning - take a soul at the expense of another soul’.

My father and grandmother brought me up respectfully and honourably. My father was a rich coca farmer so we had more than enough to sustain us and to send me to the best school in the city.

My Father loved village life.

“Ayanfe, I cannot cope with the hustle and bustle of city life. Besides, I love the fresh produce from my farm. I don’t need to pay for them like you do in the city. And I have Dele and Iya Agba at my beck and call. All my circle of friends are here with me in the village”, he said. Dele is my Father’s househelp, you can also call him an apprentice, who has come to learn the ropes business. A young man of twenty two years, he helps manage my father’s farm and household and he does it diligently with all honesty. We are so lucky to have Dele in our lives.

“Go and live your life”, my father said. “But make sure you don’t forget to come home every 6 months for your traditional bath with Iya Agba”.

Iya Agba is my grandmother. Iya Agba in Yoruba language means the elderly woman. I am told that I have been having this traditional bath since I was a baby, to prolong my life. Do I believe in tradition? I am not sure to be honest. I started going to church when I was 12years of age and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. While I honour and respect any type of traditional or cultural belief, I don’t necessarily have to believe in them.

City Life

In the city, I was nervous, scared and a bit confused. It was my first time on my own in a different world than I was used to. So I was clueless. I felt my eyes welling up with tears, I miss my father and grandmother, I miss my village. I am not sure what to make of the city but my best friend Bose told me not to worry that she will pick me up from the car park. Bose and I went to the same boarding school in my village but she had always lived in the city.

Her father, a disciplinarian, wanted her to come and experience the village life compared to the privileged life she’s lived with her family in the city. He thinks that will help to shape her life in a positive way. In other words, he didn’t want her becoming a spoilt brat. He wanted her to grow up humble and compassionate and also to understand the value of money.

As soon as I saw Bose, I was relieved. I remembered she told me tales of how people get kidnapped in the city. We hugged each other.

“ Ayanfeeee !” She screamed my name.

“I am so glad you are here. I have my things in the boot of the car as well, the driver will drop us on campus together.”

Bose and I got admitted into the same university. She will be studying Botany -the study of plants, while I will be studying Dramatic Arts, and our hostels are also different.

We settled into University gradually and in the first year, we had a blast. The best time of our lives. We made a lot of friends and socialised while also studying to make sure we get good grades at the end of the semester. It was all about finding the balance and not letting our studies suffer while socialising. There were many admirers of my beauty but I chose Adekanye . He was also a student at the University. He was older than me, at thirty years of age and doing his masters in Dramatic Arts. We were in the same department, which makes our relationship easier as we get to see each other frequently. The more time we spent together , the more we fell for each other.

For us, it was love at first sight. Adekanye is tall and lanky, his hair dark and curly, his lips full and sumptuous. He was very light in complexion - we called him an albino even though he wasn’t one. We spend most of our time together. Our friends say we are inseparable like the Siamese twins, joined at the hips. When I took him home to meet my father, he felt very welcomed and at home. But at my grandmother’s house, not so much.