Poverty...

Poverty.

No,I want chicken and chips as the main meal,then ice cream and cup cakes as dessert. Yes ma, the chef replied as he hurriedly returned to the kitchen. I continued sipping my apple juice. I was bored and so I strolled around my house.. Something caught my attention, it was a blue sweet  looking butterfly, it perched lazily on the purple hibiscus in my well mowed garden,I brought out my latest Nikon camera and took a picture of it, I'd add it to my nature collection.

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Farida! Farida! Farida! Yess,I answered sleepily as I drifted off into another round of sleep. Some consistent drops of water succeeded in waking me up. Alas it was raining. What are we gonna do,my twin sister fatima asked. I don't know Fati I replied with a dejected look on my face. Let's walk into that shed the owner isn't around we could stay there till the rain stops. But I'm hungry Fari she replied, so am I Fati, I answered back.

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The shed we walked into was just a little bit better than our tattered house which stood gingerly by the canal on the outskirts of Makoko. It was another rainy morning,another day in which we had to endure the odor oozing out of the canal, another day of almost an endless sweeping out of water from our tired wooden house, another day to be devoured by mosquitoes...... Why was life so unfair,why did our parents have to die,why did our secondary school education have to stop,why were treated as outcasts!! At 16 we live and fend for ourselves. What would happen to Fatima's dream of becoming a model and a t.v presenter?? What would happen to my dream of becoming a world class photographer?? Oh yess, my dream let me share it with Fatima.

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Oh please save it Farida!! I'm tired of your dreams! Yet another dream of me being a model and you a photographer?? Of us living a comfortable life, with chefs,house helps,gardeners and drivers?? Of us living in a mansion at Ikoyi or was it Banana Island this time?? Spare me of your daydreams or whatever you call them cos for the past 3years they haven't been of any profit!! they haven't changed the fact that we are hungry orphans whose habitat is a slum and whose job is to sweep,mop and wash plates at a canteen!! Instead of daydreaming Farida I'll suggest we look for a way to get to Mama faith fast food joint otherwise you know how mean Mama faith is,don't you?? Just in case you've forgotten let me remind you of the consequences of going late; no breakfast,little lunch and a reduced wage for the day, see you know we went to bed on an empty stomach,me I can't afford to miss breakfast o, ehen! Oya take this nylon cover your hair and let's start trekking.

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With tears in my already swollen eyes (due to lack of sleep), I obediently followed my twin sister on the long walk to Mama Faith fast food joint.

No Farida! You and your sister will make it, you'd survive it! Don't give up just work harder,there's a bright light at the end of every tunnel remember?? With a greater conviction and determination to overcome this phase of life,I walked hopefully and with a smile on my face to the Canteen.