BECOMING AN ENGINE ROOM

When I was in Secondary School, Government Secondary School, Owerri, that congregation of going-somewhere students, I belonged to the french club. At the supervision of our french teachers, we perfected the art of la-cram-la-pour of our french script. One of those scripts says something like,

"Dire que je suis Citoyen d'un pays petrolier, dire que je suis Citoyen d'un pays qui est geant d'un continent, citoyen d'un pay supposer d'etre un des plus riches du monde. Depuis deux jours, je n'aie mangeais que cet orange" (From the script Quel Pays. A character in the play was lamenting being a citizen of a rich Nigeria, yet suffering from hunger.)

Even though we didn't quite understand what the script was saying then, we would recite our parts in the drama, run up and down the stage like marionettes, trying to shine. And we did shine, winning the State level competition for almost 6 years if not more. We took the first, second, third and fourth positions at different times at the National Stage and we traveled to many places also.

One of our teachers at that time, Mrs Ebiringa, wrote those brilliant dramas; La Jalousie, Quel Pays, Le Mystere de L'Ordinateur, among others. She is such a genius. When she writes the drama, we will start the cramming and the other teachers will start directing. It was later we would unravel the meaning of what we crammed. But Mrs Ebiringa was the engine room of those french plays. She never ceased to amaze me, her creativity and imagination. We had other excellent french teachers but the success of the french club revolved around her innovation.

Then after we graduated from the school, she became a lecturer in Imo State University and little has been known about the french club ever since. She is still a lecturer there as I write this.

Looking back, I appreciate even better her commitment, her zeal and knowledge of her craft. I wonder how long it took her. But when you have one or two Ebiringas in your establishment, you will make progress, for her type is like a gift to a generation, like the light through which others see their dark tunnels.

Becoming an engine room most of the time, is a combination of talent and training and appreciation of small defining moments. I am wowed when I watch Usain Bolt on the tracks, Lionel Messi or Christiano Ronaldo in football and other persons who are the stars of their different niches.

In every company, someone is in the engine room, in every family, in a country, where ever. In every church, someone is the Engine room, praying. In a team, it could be the coach or a star person in that team. But it doesn't always take too much to be the engine room. Fulfilling that your little commitment could be what will keep the engine going. Will you do your best so that your own part of the engine will not suffer?


Today, I remember Mrs Ebiringa, the engine room of our French club, the Shakespeare of our winning dramas. May God bless her and all the people who are the engine rooms, making things happen, people who do their best to take responsibility where ever they find themselves.

 May your days be long.