CAPTIAN AMELIKA-By Chinwe Judith Okafo

    
 I have been this way as far as I can remember. A half man, living in a place I know too well. A place where I can easily walk to the market and come back blindfolded. The place which has come to be my abode. The village of my childhood. Once, I have gone to the city, to offload bags of palm fruits heaped in a pickup van.But what I had seen, sent me running home. The tall buildings, crazy roads, noisy streets, fancy dressed people, was something I could not relate to. So I had ran. Ran as fast as my legs could allow me. I can’t remember much about my childhood but I know my parents, my siblings and my peers. 

Once, I had tried to remember something, anything to prove that I am not what people say I am…..But no, I met a blank wall. So I am comfortable this way, comfortable when people say that I am “onye ara mara ihe”- an insane person that has sense.- because I have come to discover that in some ways, I am better than them. At least I have a roof over my head, have my mother who keeps leftovers for me, have siblings who secretly give me money when they see me. So I don’t have to worry about anything. I am happy this way.

My mother calls me “Uchenna”, my siblings don’t have any name for me, but the other people that know me too well call me “Captain Amelika” and this has been my name for long. I like the children in this place. They are the only friends that I have. They understand me too well, know when to sing my praise and when to let me be, but the adults….

They are always getting on my nerves. When I work for them, they cheat me; giving me one money when I work plenty. They say it’s a thousand Naira note. I tell them no, give me the money I know, Captain Amelika knows what they know. They laugh and shake their head, but I know what they know that two notes is bigger than one note.

I did not go to school but I am not dumb. My mother says that God created me this way for a purpose. She is the reason why I work so hard to get the money. I know my siblings are rich and have big houses but my mother always accepts the things I buy for her and the money I give to her. She says “Uchenna, you are a good person” but I say; “No mama, call me Captain Amelika…