Every young girl wants to hop into university right after their secondary education. That was my desire as well. After our graduation party, up came the Jamb exams which give access to university education. I had filled 3 courses with an Engineering background. My jamb result was just as good as it was but that couldn’t fetch me the needed admission I required. In retrospect, I wonder how good an engineer I would have been.
My journey to the university was delayed because dad felt that at 16 years old, I was just too young to engage with the muddy waters of the university system (if only he knew it will get worse by 2022). Then came the idea of enrolling me in other programs like languages, ICT, and the like. In about 18 months, God created a university in my dad’s likeness and I was off to school.
In the 18 months I spent at home, most of my friends had enrolled in the university. I remember the gist of lectures that some of them would share and how much I would wish I had such an opportunity. By the way, I gradually fell deeper in love with my language program writing both local and international exams.
Within this time also, my spiritual life had greatly developed and I knew partially what I really wanted in life. I engaged in service to humanity through the religious groups I belonged to. Those pieces actually fit into the ‘Edidiong’ I am today.
18 months was over and I was super ready to fly. My admission process was smooth and by my first year, I knew the GPA had to be between 4.5 to 5.0. I was emotionally stable and quite religious too. I didn’t need to be coerced to attend morning mass because it was already a habit I had developed for myself.
So just yesterday, I spoke to a dear friend who has a 16 year old daughter about to start university education. He told me that his original plan for his daughter was to have her spend one-year learning languages and another year in bible school before proceeding to the university at age 18. ‘Why the rush?’, he said.
For me, the things I missed out on within the 18 months of my formative life cannot be compared to the much I gained within that time. I gained confidence, patience, hope, gratitude, selflessness, wisdom nuggets, a flair for languages, and total dependence on God.
Life privileges may be delayed, but will never be denied.
How developed is your girl child?
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