My Life Changer

One of the things I would ever be proud of is my background. It's often said that no man on planet Earth doesn't have a home. My background is the best and I can forever brag of it. I would love someone to challenge my statement as a comment if you think yours is better than mine. Several special annual events are often organized by elders in my clan. I come from a cultural background where everyone is well coordinated and there is one love and unity. The theme of my family clan is, "United we stand, divided we fall." When I was very young, I often tried to interpret their motto but to no avail but now I have grown and I guess I understand it even better than some of the clan members, just saying, hehe.

As a way of bringing the families in my clan together, the clan committees often organize an annual get-together to revive any waning love and bury any emerging hatred between individuals in the clan. This get-together is what we often call, "Aju". I love to be part of this get-together because of two major reasons. The first is the merriment that follows the end of the get-together and the second is the lesson I often learn from the event.

During this get-together event, there is always excess food, drinks of all kinds, meats, fruits and games. It is always more like a separate celebration for the children as some often eat till they nuke, lol. The atmosphere during and after this event is such that there would be no death in the world anymore. The joy in the air often occupies more space than the oxygen for breathing. This was one of our family's clan celebrations that other clans envied. Some other clans had no choice but to copy our idea and named theirs separately from ours. I already detailed the first reason I often enjoyed this event. Let's get to the second reason.

This special annual event has been a life changer for me since childhood. This is why I would always be proud of my background because it shaped me from a young age and I am proud of them now that I have grown into a young youth. When I talk about my background, I am trying to bring together my family, clan, ethnic group, nation and continent as a whole. If I hadn't been born into such a blessed family, clan or nation, I wouldn't have such an opportunity to receive the special nurture and perfect childhood training I enjoyed.
Seems I am not hitting the nail on its head, let's go right away. Here's the main reason I feel honored to be a member of the "Agu na Abani" clan and join in the celebration of the clan get-together event.

I had the golden chance to be born into a family of a chief. My dad when he was alive was one of the chiefs of my clan. There is always this special opportunity given to the children of the clan chiefs and other members to let their children make a presentation during the get-together variety time. Though I was a shy type at a young age, my dad often convinced me to sing a special daddy's song as my presentation. Sometimes he often bribed me with promises of laps of chicken and salads. This was where my journey to overcoming stage fright began. Since this event was often held annually, I had enough time to practice my speech or song for a whole year. Through this event, I overcome performance anxiety and fear of crowds. Rather, I became a lover of music and dream to become one of the world's best public speakers.

On my first day facing those old Chiefs who didn't know that smiling could help a performer gain courage, I almost disgraced my parents. While I was on the plank-made stage, I began to sing the song, "Children Obey Your Parents", the old men and women couldn't even show a sign of cheers and appreciation, they all stared at me like a statue, I thank God I didn't lose guard. It was later when I finished singing and gave my conclusion speed that it seemed the folded hands woke up from sleep and began to clap, the squeezed faces lost muscles and warm smiles appeared. That was when I was assured I performed excellently. That day, I learned how to address an audience without stage fright or loss of self-confidence.

Though this clan event seems to be the best in my town, there are still other events in other nearby towns that we envy so much. My town is some kind of riverine, so we are mainly dark with growing rice and other water-loving plants. One of our neighboring communities has good soil suitable for the growth of yams, one of their export crops. This community often celebrates the "New Yam Festival". This is one of the biggest events in the country and my town envy them so much as this event alone attracts several tourists to the town. The event lasts for some days and it all has to do with different farmers coming out to showcase their biggest yams from harvest. During this period of the "New Yam Festival, every individual in the town will eat yam throughout the whole celebration period, though it is not mandatory.

Though I admire this festival celebrated by our neighboring town, I still love mine the most. I don't know how that festival would have shaped my life if I had been born into the background that celebrates it. In a nutshell, I am saying all this to simply pin down and get readers exposed to this amazing event often organized in my family clan and also explain how my first experience with the event modified my life till today.
Thanks for reading.
This is my participation for the #mayinleo day #28. The link of this story will be threaded to @leogrowth.
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