Swimming to My Dream

Written by: Nola Metseagharun

In a village called Koko, there lived a boy named Omasan. Omasan lived in a poor home with his brother, sister and parents. Omasan’s mother was a petty trader while his father was a carpenter who made furniture.

Omasan was an A* student in Year 6. He attended a local school in Koko because his parents could not afford to take him to school in the city. He was a brilliant boy and his family and teachers were always proud of him. Every time, after school, he did his homework.

Omasan had a passion for swimming. He was a very good swimmer because his father introduced him to swimming when he was just a baby. He knew how to engage a lot of skills while swimming and made great effort to improve on it every day after completing his homework from school. He usually practiced swimming at a lake close to his house in the village of Koko.

One day in school, Omasan’s teacher asked, “You are a brilliant boy and you will soon go to the city for college. Which college do you want to go to?”

“I would have loved to go to Federal Government Boys’ College, but my dad said he does not have the money to sponsor my education beyond this primary school,” Omasan said with a disappointed and sad look on his face.

“Oh! That is very sad. But wait! I read in the newspaper that there is a swimming competition coming up and the winner would get a full scholarship that will cover his secondary and university education. You are a great swimmer and as your teacher who knows what a determined young boy you are, I think you should go for the swimming competition and give it your best shot, especially as it is free to register for it,” the teacher said.

“Thank you. But how can I win the competition? There are great swimmers in the city who swim in big pools. Not sure if I would go for the competition.” Omasan replied, sadly.

“You can Omasan, you can swim your way to your dream,” replied the teacher.

When he got home, Omasan told his parents about the competition and they enrolled him for the competition. So, Omasan took his swimming lessons even more seriously and started practicing different strokes in swimming. To get better, Omasan spent more time at the lake than usual. His parents and siblings always assisted him and encouraged him never to give up. He had heard about how difficult the competition would be and he did not want to disappoint his family.

On the day of the swimming competition, Omasan feared that he may not win when he saw how strong and nicely geared the children from the city looked but he followed the advice of his family and teacher and never gave up. The competition had three rounds. After the first round, Omasan came first while in the second round Omasan came second.

Everybody was anxiously waiting for who the winner of the final round would be and even Omasan was beginning to feel the pressure. Just then, Omasan’s teacher walked up to him and whispered to his ears, “Omasan, remember your goal. Swim to your dream.”

This gave Omasan extra motivation for the last round. He swam like he had never done before. After the final round, to his surprise, he came first place and won the price. His family and teachers were ecstatic.

“I can’t believe I won! I just swam my way to my dream. I can’t believe I am going to college!” an elated Omasan said.

Omasan, his family and teacher returned to Koko happy after he won the competition and scholarship that covered his secondary and university education. His dream was going to become a reality.

‘Swimming to My Dream’ is Nola Metseagharun’s submission for the Jordan Hill Writing Challenge for March with a focus on narrative prose fiction. Nola is a ten-year-old pupil of Corona School Lekki, Lagos.