Emmanuel I. Anyadike

REFLECTIONS ON A VERY CLOSE FRIEND. Emma's death came as a shock to us in the family. Wahehe, as I usually call you, I had called within the week to sympathise with you over the death of Amamchukwu, your cousin. Little did we know that it was the last conversation. In less than a week I got the news of your death. I have been reflecting on our lives together. Emma, you remained a very close friend from childhood. We started in class one in 1953 in St James' Primary School Nanka, lower Standard. We picked and licked ‘delicious' black ripe lantana seeds. Though very young and small we took part in fetching stones from the erosion site for the building of the first ‘zinced' St. James' church and we participated in carrying soil to construct the school football field. Happily as building professionals we could later design and direct the building of the present St. James' church and the ‘yet to be completed' Nanka Civic center or shopping mall. In class four we moved to the Upper Standard. Your house was closest to the school. During breaks we sneaked to the house for a drink of water and shared in whatever was left for you to eat after school. At the end of the final exams in each class we never forgot to bring along our ‘catapults' for the exiting hunt for birds, squirrels and rabbits. When we were lucky to make a kill, ten of us shared one rabbit or one squirrel. Though the killer took the head, we shared the remaining meat equitably and nobody ever complained of being cheated. Our usual activities at the time included compulsory Saturday work (olu Saturday), choir practice at St James' Church and the Children's meetings. We participated in these activities contentiously. At the completion of primary school we all dispersed to different secondary schools unable at the time to speak the English language fluently. We kept in constant touch through letter writing and looked forward to the holidays. It was always a great pleasure walking in a group from Nwagu to Afo-Udo and back to the admiration of many. Emma, we were a bridge between the old and the new, the first influx of Nanka children into secondary schools. A few weeks to our Higher School Certificate exams the Biafra war broke out. When we could not go back to take our higher school exams (as school classrooms were part of targets for Nigeria Air Force) we ended up being absorbed into the Biafra Army. We were lucky to come back alive at the end of the war. You can recall how happy we were when you joined late Dr. John Nwosu and I at Enugu to complete and take the Higher School Certificate exams. Government Secondary School, Afikpo had been moved to Enugu because the school was occupied by the Nigerian Army. Our study together was of great mutual benefit as we passed our Higher School and GCE ‘A' Level Exams very well. At the end of higher school we taught temporary in different secondary schools. I had given up my admission in Ahmadu Bello University for the newly established school of Architecture in Unilag and was making arrangement for you to join us when I was pained to learn that you had gone to Ahmadu Bello University to study Quantity Surveying. After our successful university studies we had always been very close. We fully discussed and fully agreed and approved of our respective partners before our marriages. I thank God for the wise choices we made because we never for once shared any problems in our marriages. Emma, our homes have remained very happy ones and our families have remained very close. I thank God for the relationship and I hope our children will take advantage of this. Emma, you developed yourself to the enviable height from the scratch, you worked so greatly, as a professional, served the church, the community and humanity very well. May the Good Lord honour your works and grant you eternal rest in Jesus name. Amen. Adieu until we meet again! Arc. Chief Ruby /Ebele Okafor and Family.