Chapter one Poor birth
The small village of ibedi in Ekiti was afflicted with strong and harmerring disease called lassa fever some years ago and in this small village was a couple called by a popular name ' Nothing ',though there real family name was Martin's but because of their poor status , nobody remembers their name any longer.
They were also affected by this terrible fever which had killed many villagers,that the village health centre booming for multitude of sick folks and were short of health workers to attend to them.The head of the Martin's family called Mr Matthew and the wife named as Mrs Benita, both were peasant farmers,they use to have a land of about one plot which they used for farming but during this out- break they sold it to takecare of Mr Mathew the husband who caught lassa fever at time, coincidentally Mrs Benita was also pregnant approaching her third trimester .She was always at the hospital to takecare of the husband ,in the process they exhausted the proceeds of the landsale on the sickness and there was nothing to takecare of Mr Mathew's sickness . In this very hard trial Mr Mathew died .It was such a horrible experience for Mrs Benita and her unborn child, considering the fact that they spent all they had on the husband's sickness and was left with nothing,couple with the fact that her own Parent had died and being the only child had nobody to turn to,her husband's family turned against her.She did all sorts of menial jobs to sustain herself and her pregnancy.She would go to wash people's cloth,sell firewoods,clear farmlands etc to survive with her unborn child.
Time of her delivery got near ,she's got nothing for anti-natal nor buy any baby item,she barely fed with her child ,let alone buying baby things.The day actually came while at a farmland weeding grasses for one of her customer,the baby cramp started and she was there groaning severally till she delivered her child on the farmland there.After so much time of self delivery service,she got home and cleaned herself up , neighbor s were so surprised to see her with child because she went to farm in the morning and came back with a child in the afternoon.They knew fully well that if she had been at the hospital,they wouldn't have released her.
Life goes on from there and she named the child after the Father Mathew ,they continued with the hard labour to raising the child ,cutting grasses,washing clothes etc,most times she begged neighbors for food for her child Mathew .The boy grew to 6years old but could not attend school because the mother could not afford it,most times,they begged to feed,do terrible labour both the mother and the little boy,their life was a full definition of poverty.Neighbours abuse them and hated them.
One great incidence befell the Martins family again ,Mrs Benita Mother of Mathew jnr was terribly sick and she would not recover for a long time and stucked with a 7year old boy who went all around begging and washing dishes in restaurant to come and take care of his poor mother,while this was going on ,the house they rented to live was sold and the new owner chased them away.The breadwinner junior Mathew and her sick mother had to move into abandoned hut in the farm.
There in the forest the young Mathew learnt bravery to ward off wild Animals and as well would hunt with a jack knife left by the Father,this time he grew upto 10years,he had mastered the craft of hunting,the virtue of bravery to hunt and protect his sick Mother .Every opportunity he had to come and sell his bush meats ,his peers and people would make jest of him and despise him.He lived with this derision for a lot time.All along no education,all he knew was hunting,at one point while he was 12 years old,he thought of an idea to build a cage and keep the forest Animals he caught to rear them,he would sell some and keep some in the cage there feed -ing them and growing them to have more babies.This one of the first exihibition of young mathew's native intelligence.By so doing he was increasing his husbandry and sell at free will,thereby making more money for his Mother and himself.So by so doing ,he was saving some few coins in the forest there .
Each time he came to town,he would see his peers going to school carrying bags,he would think to himself," How I wish I can attend school also".One day at 14yrs old,he decided to give school a trial,at this point ,he had at least some little savings to pay for the remote school.
Nobody could take him to school as a guard -ian because his Mother at this point could not even walk.When he got to the school,the school administrators were surprised to see a lonely boy all by himself came to register himself in school.They asked ? 'where are your Parents",he answered and said "my father is dead and my mother is lying down sick" ,they asked further? " what is your address" ,at this point he was confused ,he didn't know what to say, because indeed,how could he give a forest address,who will want to accommodate such Instead ,he told them a vague address.He registered at the first grade (Primary one at 14years old),he was always being mocked by his little mates,he was also always unkept,most of the time smelling.
Not too far from this time,every Parent of the children in the class got a wind of the fact that the poor boy had joined the school,they all warned their children never to have anything to do with this boy.He was always on his own,no friend and no play mate,everyone gave him a longrope distance according to the instructions of their parents.All these seclusions never bothered young Mathew but would be determined to improve on himself.No Teacher wants to waste their time on him rather they shun him even when he tried to ask questions .The bravity he learnt as a hunter,he translated into his education and became very bold and determine to learn.Eachtime he comes back from school,he goes into hunting,and his reared Animals ,he would go to Market to sell it.The little proceed he made ,he would use to take care of his sick mother and fend for himself ,also save a little part of it,little did this young business tycoon to be know that life was teaching him principles of success that would later bringforth greatness out of him.
Nobody gave him a chance at the first examination but he did well,from then he continued to grow well and increased in learning ,he would always stay behind after school for more practice and later go home for his husbandry.
At 15years old in second grade,he came back from school one day only to find his Mother lying down dead in their hut,he wept and wept,no one to comfort him,no relative and no neighbor.He could not go to school for a whole week.No one asked of him or care .He had to encourage himself and got back to school and focused on his studies,one thing about young Mathew is that,he was used to hard life, nothing comes to him on a platter of gold ,he suffered for everything .
His bravery in hunting increased and his saving increased as well,at one time while at forest hunting ,he encoutered a wolf,the wild dog tried to scare him and attack him but this brave young man was equal to the task as he pierced the wolf with a spear that is made up of a long stick and a tied knife at the head. This makeshift spear was a great weapon of battle in the hand of Mathew Jnr.
After the death of his mother,he would work on his hunting and save some money, considering the fact that his expenses had reduced.In school,he was trying his best ,being motivated by the neglect and rejection by people.
The native intelligence was in display at one time in third grade at 17years old when given a class work in Arithmetic one time and he scored the highest score ,he used the skill of his trading of hunted animal and saving to solve the problem and the teacher marvelled at him.
Another time groups of bandits of about ten adults came into the market to scare the poeple with matchets and Cutlass,young mathew was there and he exihibited his bravery once again and attacked them and they ran off,the makeshift spear came to the rescue once again.The villagers heard about it,but they didn't appreciate him,they despised his help and had no regard,because he was known to be one boy from the forest.
One time he was falsely accused at the market and beaten ,also got locked up at the village guardroom,until after two days that someone recognised him as their saviour previous weeks ago.Then they solicited for his release and was let go.
There in school,at a time ,they did Parent Teacher Meeting,all other children came with their Parents but Mathew Jnr came to represent himself and the whole people nodded their head at him and said " what a poor boy",the tale of poverty continued with this young boy,he had no clothes to wear,no proper meal to eat ,no friends and no family.He was a loner.The little savings he had was to pay for his school fees and buy few text books,he really was determined to learn and he was doing just that.
The young boy grew and at fifth grade at the age of Nineteen,he was mastering his education well and desiring to one day live a better life.Though Everytime the teachers wanted to refer to him ,they referred to him as " that boy without a future",this boy learnt to be discipline enough to handle himself well without any guardian.
He continued with his hunting skills and was making a bit of income from it.There was a day when at sleep at night,a big snake crept into his hut and while asleep,he was bitten by this snake and he woke to battle with this snake and the snake bit severally but he succeeded in killing this snake but at the end he barely survived on some herbs for antidote that he knew but still was paralysed for the space of three years.It was a terrible experience ,he could not hunt nor go to school ,he had to crawl to market to beg for alms everyday,his education ambition was killed by this experience.
It was so difficult to live alone and become a beggar after much effort to grow up and become something.In these three years ,he would constantly think of killing himself but the promise he made to his mother to rewrite the Story of the Martin's kept him going.It was hell for him ,he had to use his mouth to pick food to eat ,he could not use his finger and his limbs.
There was a miracle one day after three years of being in this condition,now he had turned 22yrs,the school had thought that he was finally fed up with school because they always envisaged such,so nobody bothered to check.On this fateful day,an old hunter came to his place to hunt ,the hunter saw him and wondered what a young boy like him could be doing in such forest all lone.He wondered and approached him and he was able to explain himself to this farmer and he took him to his place and nursed him back to his feet, after three years of suffering and beggarly life.
After coming back to his feet ,he realised that his dream to study can still be realised and he stayed with the hunter and continued hunting with him.The old man loved him because he perceived some good qualities about him ,he discerned that the boy is different from his sons who only went around gambling and loitering around without any desire to achieve anything in the future.The hunters children hated him,they found every means to oust him out but their father would not allow them.They hated him the more because their father would always compare him to them and abuse them severally.
He went back to school to complete his sixth grade and from there he continued on the seventh grade at the age of 24yrs ,he was always being mocked in the class but he never mind.Mathew Jnr was a bundle of many things but the determination to rewrite the story of his family drove him to be die hard school addict.
One day ,before the old hunter came back from his outing the children of this man had prevailed against him and beaten him to a pulp and dragged him out of the village and secretly abandoned him at the trunk of a vehicle going to the City .To them anywhere far from their house will do well but little did they know that far from home they gave him was down to the city of Lagos,where opportunities are everywhere..
The arrival of Mathew jnr to Lagos became a defining moment for him, because the city sight resonated with his dreams.He realised he had come to a place that looks like the place he had always dreamt of.At his arrival to Lagos city ,he had no relative nor guardian to hang out with.So he slept at the under bridge for a Long time.While under the bridge,he moved around to see if he could see some -thing to do to survive.After many days of walking around ,he saw a place that seems to be a bar ,also in it is a car wash.He approa -ched the man but the man refused him,but he kept on coming to the place and kept disturbing the man and begging the man,after a while the man gave up and told him to go join the car wash.
Mathew celebrated as if he won a jackpot,he was so filled with joy,atleast he had a place to make few coins for himself.Day in day out Mathew jnr will ensure to put his best in his work and it really paid off later.His address was still the under the bridge,until he discussed with his friend Tayo at the car wash who stayed alone..Tayo agreed to accommodate Mathew upon the discovery that he was staying under the bridge