Jennifer Amede @bestie_love

I've consistently noticed the vibration from my phone. I knew it was a call from either a family member or a close friend. However, it was uncomfortable for me to reach out and take the call because I was in a church service. On the constant ring, I decided to excuse myself and take the call. Fortunately, it was from a female friend. That alone kept me wondering why the disturbance and how urgent it was. Whatever the situation was, she wanted to distract me from the service.

Little did I know that it was a serious case, as she was crying. I kept asking what the problem was, then she said her dad was kidnapped on his way back from the office, and they hadn't heard from him. For one second, I was speechless, so she ended the call herself. Not too long after, she called again, saying they'd heard from the kidnappers, who were asking for seventy million. There was no possible way they could raise that money within the limited time. The situation was dire, and raising such an amount would be very hard. I never knew when I burst into tears with her.

At this point, we could do little or nothing but pray and believe in God for a miracle. So, we decided to take the next step and ask God for a miracle, which we did. After much conversation with the kidnappers, they were able to reduce the ransom to ten million. So, we started making calls, asking for help from all related friends and family members. Thank God we were able to raise the money they requested, and the payment was made instantly.

Life in medical school has never been easy, especially when it comes to professional exams. My God, the system is just designed to frustrate students' efforts. I had worked so hard for my professional exam. Going for series of night classes with my friend Angela. The experience has never been easy, but we believe together we can cross this bridge.

Paying the huge sacrifice for success and to make Mum and Dad proud. Every day, after each exam, we stayed back and have a recheck on our answers, and judging by our performance, I thought we're both doing well. And somehow, I was convinced it will all end in victory.

Finally, our results were out, and we both went to the notice board to check for our results with so much enthusiasm, just with little uncertainty. I was very excited when I saw that I passed. I wanted to celebrate, but then I saw Angela's face. I needed no other explanation; she didn't pass. "How can I celebrate?" I thought.

Angela looked so sad, and I felt her pain. Instead of partying, I sat with her and said, "I'm so sorry. You worked so hard." Angela smiled through her tears. "I'm happy for you, but I just wish it was me too." At that point, I couldn't help it, as tears flowed down my eyes.

"What's left to do with these broken pieces on the floor?" she asked. "Beauty can always come out of ashes," I said to her, and then she felt encouraged and was energized to sit for the exam again, and this time around, she passed, even better than I did, with two distinctions.

I still remember the day I stepped onto the scale before starting my 300L first semester. I was suprise to see 50kg. I felt a sense of accomplishment, knowing I'd maintained that weight since 2016.

As the semester progressed, I kept a close eye on my weight. By exam time, I had dropped to 46kg. I wasn't worried; I knew it was just a temporary fluctuation, probably because of the exam stress and other factors that might be personal. As at the time the semester was coming to an end I was back up to 48kg.

Life got busy, and I didn't get a chance to check my weight during those times. But recently, I decided to step onto the scale again. I wasn't too sure what it would be this time but to my greatest surprise I weighed 54kg! Wow I had finally broken through the 50kg barrier.

I couldn't wait to share the news with my friends Fatima and Ogechi. Those girls has always talked down on me each time we discussed about our fitness journeys, and now I felt like I had something to brag about. Fear my return.

Wisdom tooth pain is no joke. I’ve always heard my friends complain about how painful it can be, especially when their wisdom teeth started growing. I was always so scared of the day I would experience it for myself, but then it happened. One morning, I started feeling a slight discomfort around the back of my mouth. At first, I didn’t think much of it. But as the day went on, the pain slowly started to increase, and by evening, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. That’s when it hit me – it was my wisdom tooth coming through.

The pain was unlike anything I’d experienced before. It was constant, and I couldn’t find a comfortable position to sit in. I kept thinking about how bad my friend’s experience was and how much pain they had gone through. That night, I tried to get some sleep, but the discomfort made it impossible. I kept tossing and turning, praying the pain would go away, but it didn’t. It was only when the morning came that I realized something strange – the pain was gone. Just like that.

I was amazed. By the time I woke up, all the pain had disappeared. I could hardly believe it. It was like a miracle. The rest of the day came and went, and there was no more discomfort. I thought I was in the clear. And true enough, as my wisdom tooth finished growing, I never experienced any more pain. It was almost like it never happened. But I still wonder how I would’ve managed if the pain had lasted longer. Honestly, I feel so lucky.

There was a beautiful bag that always caught my eye whenever I walked by the boutique. Its lovely design and bright colors drew me in, and I found myself dreaming about owning it. Every time I saved enough money to buy it, life seemed to throw unexpected expenses my way, usually a medical bill or something related to family.

Determined not to let this bag get away from me again, I came up with a plan. I talked to the shop owner and asked if I could pay for it in installments. To my relief, she agreed. This was my chance! I made the first payment and walked away feeling hopeful and excited.

The first month went well. I carefully kept track of my spending, and each time I made a payment, I could almost feel the bag in my hands. But just when I started getting into a good rhythm, life threw me another curveball. I had to deal with a family issue and ended up with an unexpected expense that drained my savings. Suddenly, I was struggling to make the next payment.

I felt frustrated and defeated, but the thought of that bag kept me going. I refused to give up. After a few days, I picked myself up and thought of ways to make some extra money through freelancing, selling things I didn’t use anymore, and taking on odd jobs. Little by little, I started to rebuild my savings.
Finally, after what felt like forever, I made the last payment.

The day I walked into the boutique to pick up the bag, I could hardly contain my excitement. When the shop owner handed it to me, I felt like a rich person.

One day, I was really craving something fried, but there was no groundnut oil in the house. I decided to go with palm oil instead, which seemed like a decent backup. Things were going smoothly while I bleached the oil, but when I added salt, everything changed. A huge flame came up, nearly burning my face. I ended up dropping some of the yam slices on the ground.

In my fear, I quickly covered the pot to stop the fire from spreading and turned off the gas immediately. My whole body was vibrating, and the thought of continuing to cook was out of the question.

For the rest of the day, I couldn't even go near the kitchen. The whole experience left me too shaken to try frying anything again. That night, I ended up buying food from a nearby shop because cooking was officially off the table.

There was a time when I hadn’t yet secured a place to stay, so I ended up squatting with a friend in her hostel. I reasoned it would be temporary, but just two weeks after moving in, I noticed my hair had become infested with lice. It was shocking and frustrating, and after trying different things, the only real solution was to cut it all off.

This was my long, cherished hair that I had been growing for three years. Losing it because of the dirty environment around me felt so unfair, but I knew it had to be done. Even though it hurt to let go of my hair, my health came first, so I made the tough decision and cut it all off.

A week later, things got worse. The environment around the hostel became so unsafe that I was forced to pack my things and leave. It wasn’t just about the lice anymore, my safety was at risk, and staying there any longer was not an option.
Sometimes, the girls will complain of seeing a man at night walking around the girls' hostel and so many other disturbing things. Omo, thank goodness I survived.

For the past few days, I’ve been really sick, feeling drained and just trying to get by with some medication. Unfortunately, it wasn’t helping much, and I was still feeling miserable. But today, I decided to push myself and take a short walk outside, hoping some fresh air would do me some good.

After passing by the first street, I got an unexpected call from a friend I hadn’t heard from in over a year. It caught me off guard because we hadn’t spoken in so long. He told me he had a surprise for me and asked for my account number. I was curious, so I sent it without thinking much of it.

A few minutes later, I received an alert for 10,000 naira! When I asked him why, he simply said he felt I could use the money since he hadn’t seen or heard from me in a long time. It was such a random and kind gesture that it completely changed my mood.

I was so grateful and excited that I temporarily forgot about how sick I was feeling. I ended the walk right there, deciding to treat myself to some yoghurt with the money. I will get better from here.