Congratulations to the class of 2023! Today is your day, you maaade it!! This is the day that you were all waiting for…..the day that we were all dreaming about. You will all soon face challenges you had never expected. But there is something that we must never forget in our lives, the only person you should try to be is the person better than you were yesterday.
I will never stop digging into my past, I was in my room reading my favorite book of all the time “ Unforgettable Night” written by Aime. I suddenly heard a voice calling my name aloud. It was my little brother Stiven I hated it when he called me by name, I always tell him to call me “kaka” which means big brother in Swahili.
I went downstairs and saw my dad with a young boy of my age. He introduced himself as Jack, to me it sounded like “Paka”, which means “cat” . Dad said Jack was my cousin and he was coing to live with us for a few days. Jack’s father died when he was three years old. He lived with his mother (my auntie). Due to the poor life they had, his mom suffered from a heart attack and became disabled, so she couldn’t work. Ten years later when Jack was 13 years old his mother died too. So my dad took him in and brought him to live with us for few days.
I hated Jack, so did Steven!!. And even my father and mom didn’t like the fact that he was in our house. He was so dumb I couldn’t even speak up. I could do anything to him. I used him in so many things and he was like our houseboy. Even Steven would just say “ yo Jack, get me a glass of water and I need my room cleaned like right now” and in a lower and humble voice Jack would say “ no problem”. Jack and I were sharing the same bed but I stopped sleeping with him because he smelled so bad ,so I told him to sleep on the floor.
A month later my father went to Jack’s school and asked if Jack can be transferred to the school that Stiven and I went to. They gave my father everything that belonged to Jack, including all the money that his mom paid for his tuition so that he could finish his high school. So Jack started to come to my school. I liked it because I didn’t have to carry my own bag again. The next two days I was in the living room watching TV and I heard my father in his room talking to himself. When I went closer I heard him saying “ I’d rather waste all my money for nothing than educate a child who is not mine. Wasting money is better than that”. That made me very happy because i didn’t want dad to get my report card along with Jack’s because Jack was a much better student. So dad stopped paying for Jack’s school.
Jack found himself a job and started working at 14 years old. I laughed at him each day he came home from work.Stiven would say “ Look there is Mr. Paka coming home from hunting mice” because he had to use all his money to buy himself something to eat. I remember one Monday at midnight there was a storm and the rain didn’t stop until 2:30pm. There was no school that day and Paka didn’t go to hunt. The next day he didn’t go to his job again. I went to him and asked
“ Hey! Paka why didn’t you go hunt today ?” I wasn’t expecting him to answer because he usually didn’t answer me.
But this time he said “ one day I will make it and I haven’t given up yet”
I didn’t know what he meant because his answer was very different from my question.
Five years later Jack was taken by the immigration of Australia because of the fact that he had no parents. He had to leave us in Madagascar, his home and where he was born. From that time I never heard from him again. My family and I felt like we were now in peace.
A few years later I graduated my high school but I couldn’t keep on going with my education because my father couldn’t afford to pay for the university and I had to start working. I had off every Friday so I preferred to take my old books and reread them.
One night I was lying on my bed reading my favorite book of all the time “Unforgettable Night” when I heard my phone ring. I picked it up and heard a voice mail saying “ Mr. Los , congratulations. You have been chosen to attend the University of Australia, please give us a call back as soon as you get this message”
I was so shocked. I called back and they gave me all the information I needed. I told my parents that I was going to leave them and they all wished me all the best.
I arrived on campus and started my freshman year. I didn’t pay for any fees or tuition. I thought I had gotten a full scholarship like other Australian students. But every month I received a letter telling me that I had to work hard and that one day my hard work would be noticed and I would make it. But the thing was that those letters had no signature.
In my senior year I received the same letter but this time there was a name on. When I saw the name I started to cry when I read the last sentence,
“ Paka has finally caught the mouse, are you ready to eat ? “ Then there was an address where he wanted us to meet. I was too ashamed but I had no choice. When I met him I couldn’t speak, but he looked at me and said we had made it and that tomorrow night would be unforgettable.
As the valedictorian of my class it was I who gave the speech that night,
“ I just don’t know what to say to you all, but today is our day, we made it. We have all caught our mice. Congratulations to the class of 2023 .”
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