Dividends of Covid 19 Pandemic Lockdown

 You may never know what you are capable of doing until life challenges present themselves. We all have our experiences and stories to tell of the covid 19 pandemic lockdown such as sicknesses, anxieties, fears, hunger, death, loneliness etc. Mine are testimonies of personal growth, exploits, God's blessings, abundant graces and His abiding presence in my life. 

I never thought of nor knew I could go into serious farming at this stage of my life until the lockdown presented itself. It wasn't the case of hunger nor loneliness that drove me into farming but rather the need to be more productive and impact positively on our society. That was really the motivating factor behind this exploit. 

Luckily we had an unused 3 plots of land - the proposed site for the Holy Ghost Primary School, Benin City which is close to our Spiritan Community in Benin City. That automatically served the purpose. 

Though I have had some experiences of farming with my parents growing up at Nekede, Owerri. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverb 22:6). The pandemic situation opened up an aspect of me I never knew nor dreamt of earlier in my life. I and some of my community members practically did the entire farming activities. Presently we have more than enough to eat and spare from the farm - maize, melons, vegetables, tomatoes, cassava, yam, peppers, watermelons, groundnuts, okoro etc. 

When I narrated this experience to one of my little nieces, her immediate response  was  "uncle, I thought farming is meant for the poor people?" Honestly her reaction speaks volumes about our present societal value system which parents and the entire society need to work on seriously to save the future of our younger generation. The truth remains that farming didn't reduce my dignity as a priest but rather it afforded me the opportunity to physically exercise my body and add more values to the human society. There is dignity in labour, it affords us opportunity to hence our human potentials effectively and to express ourselves. 

The experience of farming this lockdown period never deterred me from carrying out my other responsibilities. I still had ample time to carry out my pastoral duties and conduct e-learning programs for our students.