STRIVER a short story by Sobowale Olufunke

Smoke filled the room as he struggled to breathe while he carried a half bag of rice. He was a 15 year old boy, that had been without food all day long.

Saliu Mohammed lost his father at the age of 7 and with his mother was on her sick bed he had no more family to help him and his poor mother.
He and his family were sent out of the house they were living since they couldn't afford to pay the house rent. Soon they found abode under a bridge somewhere at Kano state.

He saved his daily allowances for his dying mother and his junior sister, Aisha who depended on him for food.
He engaged in menial jobs like hawking cold sachets water, lifting loads for different people he was a drug addict and a pickpockets.
His daily allowance was #3500.

Saliu and his family woke up on a Monday night only to find some cobblers destroying their loads telling them to pack out that they can't stay there anymore.

Saliu was dispirited, he had no where to go , his mother was dying and she couldn't even walk. She eventually died walking, in search of a new abode.

Aisha was the only family of his left, and he was going to do anything in his power to help her. He was disheartened, and he didn't know where to start from.

Saliu walked into a shop, all he wanted was to buy bread for his sister and a man in his mid fifties also came to buy something and he wondered why they were carrying such an heavy, dirty load.

He, Gowon Ibrahim asked the children some questions and he found out that they had nowhere to stay, no food to eat.
He pitied them and took them in and after their first meal, he took them to a room to sleep
The next morning, he bought clothes for them. After a month he had them enrolled in a near by school. And on breaks he had Saliu help him out with at his large farm. Things grew from there and they became like the children he never had.