Thread by @AishaYesufu

@ilynem
My conversation with you inspired this write up and I wil call it #DreamForAll
As a child I discovered books and it opened up a whole new world for me. You wouldn't find me without a book. I read and read and read.

During holidays I read everything I could get my hands on. I read all the books my Dad had in his library. I read encyclopedia, books on psychology, motivational books. By age 12 I was reading Dale Carnegie and co. I read because I had to be reading something.

Ironically for all my reading I never developed the habit of reading Newspaper. My father was an avid reader of Newspapers still is. He used to buy 5 Newspapers everyday (Daily Times, Concord, New Nigeria, X X) I cant remember the other two then there was a weekly one on business

On Sunday my father would send me to Kofar Nassarawa to buy his 5 Newspapers. It was 20k for each and I would get 5 Newspapers for one naira. That was in the good old days before my father lost everything and never recovered.
#DreamForAll

When school was in session I had supply of books from other students. If they didn't give me I would get hold of the books read and return later😁.
#DreamForAll

My secondary school being a new school didn't have a library so what we had was books in cartons that were brought to the classroom every Friday (Not very sure of the day) and every student would pick a book to read for the week.
#DreamForAll

I would finish mine and exchange with other students. When I finish the ones of my class I would move on to that of other classes. Mehn I read!
#DreamForAll

Whenever I see someone with a book i have not read my body used to shake. I even asked an invigilator when I was writing my SSCE to borrow me a novel that I would read before the second paper that same day and return to her.
#DreamForAll

The invigilator told me she wouldn't be coming for the Paper 2 and so couldn't lend me the novel.
#DreamForAll

When I was a medical student in ABU Zaria my mates would be reading Grey's anatomy and I would be reading Robert Ludlum 🙉. When I was doing my A levels(IJMBE) at CAS Kano my mates would be jacking Physics I would be reading novels.
#DreamForAll

A girl once asked for a novel I was reading which I gave to her when I finished reading. When I tried to explain to her my department so she can return it to me she said: OH I KNOW YOU! YOU ONLY WEAR THIS DRESS. I laughed and laughed.
#DreamForAll

When I got home that day I said to my parents I didn't know I had become a celebrity in my school. People recognised me from wearing only one cloth😆😆😆😆😆😆
#DreamForAll

I had more than one cloth. I think I had about 3 or 4 and so in a week I would wear the same cloth more than once and she probably only saw me when I wore that cloth. Anyway who cares!
#DreamForAll

I have never been one to bother about what people said or tried to impress anyone. I was always someone people underestimate and I love it. I always love the look of surprise on people's faces when they realise their mistake 😚
#DreamForAll

Also I get mouth no be small. I think my ability for quick clapback is a gift and it helps me not to bear grudges because I give the answer there and there and forget.
#DreamForAll

I remember in Secondary school a fellow student told me My parents were poor & I was always shabilly dressed & I immediately said to her it's a pity her rich father can only afford the school that my poor father can afford. That shut her up & she was so embarrassed
#DreamForAll

Anyway back to why I started writing this piece, the books I read showed me a world that was different from the world poverty & living in the ghetto had imposed on me & I was not afraid to dream of that world & want it. My family could not understand my lofty dreams #DreamForAll

My family thought my dreams were impossible and I got ridiculed by my own family.
#DreamForAll

This was in a family where we sometimes had to go to bed hungry because there was no food and I would be talking about travelling the world. I would talk about going to every country in the world. Winning the Nobel Prize for Science and many other such lofty dreams. #DreamForAll

I had to dream not just for myself but for my family. I had to #DreamForAll
As the first born I was brought up with a sense of responsibility. I had to care and fight for my siblings.
#DreamForAll

I had to be the "boy" in the family. If you lived in the ghetto you know It's always fight! fight!! fight!!! Resources are scarce so people fought over everything. ( Kind of like what you see in the Nation today).
#DreamForAll

My mother had 4 girls before having a boy. I had to be the "boy" to do the fighting. I had to protect my siblings. Even as a child I never start a fight but if you touch any of my own either my siblings or my parents, I would come after you and come after you real hard.

Luckily for me I am built like a machine and FEARLESS. Even while I was in the University I was still engaging in physical fights with men. It was either you fight or you get beaten. Sometimes these fights involved whole family. Poverty is a curse.
#DreamForAll

I wanted myself and My siblings out of the ghetto and I was hard on them. Education was one thing I had to have at all cost. I saw the relationship between being educated and being rich and I wanted that education and wanted it for my siblings. #DreamForAll

Sometimes I had to stand against my parents when I felt some of the decision they wanted to take would derail that. My mother in 2014 thanked me for dreaming for all. All that time you were right she said. #DreamForAll

Those were the most humbling words I have gotten. It made all the time of being labelled stubborn worth it.
#DreamForAll

I was hard on my siblings. @muhammadfuraira can tell you more. Sometimes they tell me the things I did and I am like me???!!! I was more than a sibling to them I was a parent. It's a burden sometimes I wish I didn't have to carry but I am glad I did. I had to dream for us all.

I had to keep going because sometimes words don't mean anything you have to paint the picture. It has to be seen in practice. They had to see it can be done and I am glad I dreamt for us all.
#DreamForAll

Sometimes it might look hard fighting for Nigeria and sometimes you might be frustrated that others are not seeing it just remember you can dream for all. Some don't want to see it. Others refuse to see it. There are many who don't even know it exist.
#DreamForAll

The secret is to keep going and achieve The New Nigeria of our dreams so they can see it and enjoy decency of a country as it should be.
#DreamForAll

Giving up is not an answer. Let's give our best. I am a fighter and whatever I do I give it my all. I am also passionate to a fault. It's one of my failings though many point out to me it's not a failing. #DreamForAll

Sometimes I wish I can do things anyhow and move on but I am not wired that way. I would put my head and my all even if it kills me.
#DreamForAll

Its one of the reasons I am not interested in elective offices. It could end up consuming me because I "go carry" the work for head. I am not ready for that sacrifice. I like my occupation of #OfficeOfTheCitizen!
#DreamForAll

So in as much as those we fight for don't understand it doesn't matter because the fight for justice is a fight for ourselves.
#DreamForAll

I fight so that one day I would not become a victim. I fight so that my children would not have to fight. I fight so that my grandchildren would be born as Nigerians with equal playing field as any children from any part of the world.
#DreamForAll

I fight so that in my old age I would put my feet up and smile for the Nigeria that became. I fight for ME!
#DreamForAll