Sometimes strangers do the most

Blood is no longer thicker than water nowadays; strangers help you more than relatives.

Most times, relatives only come close when they see you are successful and would want to be part of sharing your wealth.

After I lost my parents, none of my dad’s siblings or mom’s siblings were willing to help us.

We feeding from pillar to post; it was during the most hurtful moments of my life.

I watched my siblings cry themselves to sleep because they were hungry and they had nothing to eat.

There were days we have to till people’s farms so that we could afford a meal, while our uncles and aunts lived in affluence.

At some points, they blamed us for the death of our parents, and each time I wish that things were different.

I dropped out of school and started doing menial jobs and part-time works in a gas filling station so that my two siblings won’t drop out of school.

I worked from pillar to post to make ends meet and it was quite paying off.

Luck finally shined on me when I found favor in the eyes of the owner of the filling station.

He noticed that I speak English fluently and decided to hear my story as he said he didn’t like that I was doing such odd jobs at an early age.

I explained to him all that has happened to me, how my parents died, the attitude of my relatives, and how I dropped out of school to cater for my siblings.

This man had no children of his own; he and his wife adopted me and my siblings and sent us abroad to continue our education.

I graduated with first-class honors in petroleum engineering and I came back to the country to oversee the family’s business; it was during those moments that my relatives started coming closer because they saw I was successful.