At one point in time in the lives of parents, they will have to make a lot of sacrifices just for the betterment of their children. Every parent wants their kids to do better than they did, but sometimes not all parents are willing or know what to do for that to happen.
Due to my experience, I consider myself lucky to have such parents, who know what to do and have the will to do things that are best for us.
While growing up my parents made one major sacrifice that made my siblings and I what we are today, if not for what they did we might never have graduated from school and ended up like most of our age mates whose parents were not willing to step up for them. Provide for their education or motivate them to get educated.
My dad who was not opportune to be educated vowed that nothing will stop his kids from getting adequate education even though he is just a farmer.
Farming in the part of the world where we lived was tough as there were no good access roads or modern farm equipment to make farming work easier, aid productivity, and great farm output.
We usually do all the farming work by ourselves. From the clearing of the farm to soil cultivation, weeding, and all other things involved.
For these reasons, our yearly output is not optimal but enough for my parents to take care of our basic needs, pay our school fees and save a little for family projects.
My two brothers and I will assist my parents a lot to do some of the work. But after our secondary school education, we had to leave them and enter into higher institutions hence the manpower in our farms became very low.
Before this time my dad had already started his house project in our hometown in Okene but because my elder brother and I were leaving for school which requires a lot of funds from them, my dad hard to put a pause on his building project even when his other colleague focused on building their various houses instead of spending money to train their kids in school.
My dad used to tell us that he would rather pause the project instead of not sending us to school and that our education is more important than his house project. He will say that education is the only legacy he knows he will leave us with. This alone is used to motivate us to strive and make them proud.
If he hasn't done that for my brothers and me, sustaining through school could have been very difficult for us if not impossible.
After we graduated, he was supposed to continue his project, herdsmen men came with their cows, took over our farmlands, and sent my parents and others out of the farm area. It's been over four years now, my dad hasn't had access to any good land to carry out any tangible farm work.
My brothers and I had a plan, we started the house project about a year ago, and now we are halfway through. Though the continued rise in housing material has been making things challenging we are striving hard to make sure it is completed at a scheduled time.
My dad's seventy years birthday celebration is coming up in three years. It is part of our plan that they move into the new house and mark his birthday in it.
Aside from the fact that this will further unite our family and bring us closer. We thought this would be one perfect way to thank them for their sacrifice and for choosing our education over the project.