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Enlighten Our Youth

Hey, Hannah here,
I was traveling today so I had to be up really early and let it just be said, I am NOT a morning person so I spent most of the car ride asleep. When I eventually woke I was bored and dizzy. I looked out the window and for the first time I saw, rally saw what growing up in the slums of Nigeria means.
A few days before I had asked my mum whether Nigeria is a third wolrd country. Now obviously I knew it wasn't first world but calling it a third world country seemed like... an exaggeration. It's probably because when I travel I get so carsick I just sleep throughout or maybe it's because all my life I've always been pretty comfortable.
I saw all these people struggling, trying so hard to survive and I feel so guilty for complaining that I don't like the new cereal my mum just bought. It makes me think. What if all these people were comfortable? If life was not a struggle for them?
I remember back to my primary school days. I went to a catholic school so we'd give to charity and my year we had this boy (or was it a girl?) from Sierra Leone that we were sponsoring for education. This boy (or girl) did't know us. We didn't know him (or her). All we knew was that we'd drop money into that little cardboard box and somehow, some way we paid for his education through it.
I'm all for education  but can a person do well at school when he does not have anything to eat? Can we claim we are making a difference in his life if there will still be no job opportunites for him when he's done with school. We can sit around and say, "I've made  a difference", when really all you've done is given him something to do so he wont go around begging on the streets for money at the age of 10. Education is great but what will it matter if he cant feed himself or his family?
His degree won't put food on the table, wont give life a meaning but at least he wont be decieved by conniving politicians with their deceiving tongues and their "big man" suits. At least he will know better than to steal money from his own government when there are people who are suffering, people who are going through, have gone through and probably will go through that for the rest of their lives something he can relate on a personal level with. He won't comfortably sit on his  chair gazing down at the rest of his people sucking the blood of his economy. What I am saying is that our government needs to work harder to make our quality of life better so that the education will not be useless.
 Give him or her an education and you may change his or her life. Enlighten him or her, let them know they have a choice, let them know of the suffering endured by others, teach them that no one has the right to come over and steal their childhoods, their jobs, their economy, their lives, teach them that they have the power, they get to decide what goes on in their country, teach them that all are equal under the law. Teach them all of that and you will change the future of a country.
The point I have been trying to pass across so far is not to not educate him. No, it is to enlighten him. Give him the real power of education, the sort that can't be stolen from him and one day he'll change your country and he won't be sucking the economy system out, he'll be feeding it. Growing as a country. Maybe just one day.
 I have been saying that if we'd educated our youth, enlightened them on all those things, maybe just maybe this country would have moved forward. Maybe when we hear our names in the press it will be for changing lives for the better, making a difference, saving people. Maybe we won't be regarded as a third world country. Maybe everyday will not be a struggle for many. Maybe more people won't die of undiagnosed diseases because they couldn't afford the hospital bills. Enough with the maybe's, forget about the past, it's gone now, all we have left is the future. It will take time, effort, determination and grit  but the results will be worthwhile. We'll have created a country where it is no longer a struggle to eat, where anyone would be proud to be from. It won't be easy but lets work together to achieve this. One person cant change the world but one person can  be the person, the human "domino", to start the chain reaction causing change. One person can speak and try to make her voice heard, one person can wake up from her carsick sleep, see that there needs to be change and try to inspire everyone else to wake up.
*                   **                              ***
This was actually totally unplanned. I wasn't going to go all "political", it just kind of came. I know I am not the oldest nor the most experience person in the world but I can tell that this country needs help and it starts from us empowering and enlightening the children. They are our future (or we are your future?). If you have any ideas you want to share, any thoughts or opinions just comment down below. Follow the twitter account @HKay05 for news and updates on the blog. If you want to talk, have an idea or opinion you'd like to discuss in private you can send an email to thelittlethings58@gmail.com. Share this link to inspire change in our country (any country that is)
I'm Hannah Kay and I'm just a teenage girl sharing the world the way she views it.

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 1, 2018 at 11:47 AM

    Good post, you’re really mature, but surely having an education will help a person get a good job and so they will earn money in the long run? A degree will help them get a well paid job and thus put food on the table, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hannah KayJuly 1, 2018 at 2:46 PM

    People do say I am way too mature for my age. You are correct but in the country I live in (Nigeria, currently) jobs are really hard to find because of the nonavailability of money. The lack of money is caused by the government, our leaders who are supposed to be "leading us into prosperity" are the very ones embezzling our money and creating the rot in our economy. I was not saying not too educate them that's fine but education can only take you so far in a country where everyday is a battle between life and death. I was simply saying it is better to enlighten them so that they do not get cheated by the government and it is best to do both, educate AND enlighten them. Thank you for bringing this misunderstanding to light,

    ReplyDelete
  3. voxclamantisJuly 7, 2018 at 9:51 PM

    Hello Hannah. Just happened on to your blog. I admire your conversational writing style. I also write little essays. They are not hard work, but more like just talking to somebody. Like everything else, we get better at it over time. Keep it up. You have an interest in life and a real gift.

    I am a 78 year old Oyibo living in Arizona. I’ve been to Nigeria twice and have friends in Abuja, Jos, Makurdi and Otukpo. Do you plan to stay in Nigeria? I think educated women are the best future for Naija, but the slow pace of change must be discouraging. - Michael Moore

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hannah KayJuly 8, 2018 at 9:51 AM

    I also enjoy these little rants they are really fun and I thought to share them with everyone I'm the hopes that someone with more power with see them and try to make change. I am trying to do my part to save Nigeria but sometimes it feels like no one is listening. Thanks for commenting, it let's me know that someone I'd actually listening.

    ReplyDelete

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