BN Presents How My Parents Met: Evangelism Led to the Realization of a Dream for Tobechukwu’s Father

Do you ever wonder how is it your parents met? It’s easy to forget that 20, 30, 40 years ago, all of the things that make communication much easier now were not in existence. The World Wide Web was only born in 1990. And how much longer before we began using it in Nigeria? FaceBook, mobile phones, smartphones which have become a staple in our life as humans, where were they back then?

It’s easy to take all of these for granted, forget that there was a time when meeting people to spend the rest of your life with was a more arduous task. Which is why we asked people, those who know, anyway, to send in stories about how their parents met. Arranged marriage, 2nd marriages, love at first sight – all the stories.

Today, we’re sharing the story of how Tobechukwu‘s parents met. Tobechukwu is self-described as ‘a lover, an undercover FBI, an aquaholic, a health enthusiast and globetrotter.’

The love story you’re about to read is SO cute! We loved it, and hope you’ll send us the stories of how your parents met.

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My parents story gives me goosebumps and I am always floored how God purposefully orchestrates our paths in life.

My dad grew up with his parents in the village, but before he left for the city, where his elder brother Basil, lived, he was dangling between his parent’s traditional religion and his older brother’s new found Christian faith. Uncle Basil lived in Aba and was an ardent Catholic believer who was introduced to the faith by his oga whom he served for some years. He was also an active member of the Catholic Biblical Instructor’s Union (C.B.I.U) where he grew in the knowledge of God and began to convert other people into the Christian religion, especially whenever he visited his parents in the village. This was how my dad first heard of God and began to entertain thoughts of converting.

Mum, on the other hand, few kilometers away from my dad’s village, just moved back home from Enugu after she lost her father to illness. Her mother, Achuwa, a poor widow left with three children to fend for was at wits end on how to cater to them. My maternal uncle, Barrister Ifeme, voluntarily became their breadwinner and was kind enough to offer my mum an opportunity to go back to school. Mum got into the Girl’s Secondary school in my father’s village which was the closest school around her at that time.

Mum, who was already a Christian, was the Christian Head Girl in her new school. So whenever Uncle Basil came to the village to evangelize, he visited the secondary school my mum attended and it was my mum’s responsibility as the leader to bring her classmates and friends together to listen to his messages about God.

In 1982, Uncle Basil died. When my mum heard of his death, she rallied around with other girls to pay their tribute during his burial. When she came into my father’s compound, for the first time, my dad who had a camera at that time took random pictures of visitors that came to pay their last respect to his brother and he captured my mother in one of his shots. Romantic like in the movies, huh?

My dad told me that he had seen my mother in his dreams four years before he took her picture so he recognized her from the arrays of picture he had taken. He then recruited his step-sister, Aunt Regina (who bears the same name with my mum), to go to my mother’s school and speak with her, conveying his lovely intention to marry her.

Aunty Regina became a major link between them and after few bants of toasting here and there, plus shakara on both sides, and all the lovey dovey stuffs lovers say to each other, she agreed to marry him (because, why not? He is a handsome fella).

She gave him a condition that he must convert to Christianity before anything else, and home boy swiped right for Christ. They’ve been doing this love thing for over three decades now, dishing out their very strict parental roles and doting on their grandchildren.

(I often wonder why Uncle Basil never shot his shot…or did he? Because mama is a stunner!

Never mind. I’m such a silly goose.??‍♀️??‍♀️)

You can send your parents’ love stories over to us to get a feature. Share their stories with us by sending a mail to features(at)bellanaija(dot)com. It doesn’t have to be anything long, only has to be enough to celebrate their love. We’ll keep you anonymous, if you want, but if you want to send us photos of your patents, we are happy to share.