To All Nurses Of The World; my nurse is 83 years old today

Apart from nursing me and giving me the first full sized breast to suck, she was a nurse to many children. She had the first maternity in her community and midwifed many children.

But beside this, I fondly remember her as the woman who picks abandoned children and nurse them to life.

Of all that she picked, I remember Joseph. We were birthdates but his mother died in the maternity ward and my mother took us home and we grew together like twins until around 6 years, his mother came and took him.

Another one is a girl called Chikaodi. After few months with us, at around 1984-5, her mother too came and took her. There was massive presence of forces in our house, the morning her mother’s spirit and others came visiting and she died, turned blue. I witnessed this.

But not all were reclaimed by their dead mothers. Tochi, is still alive lives in Irete and over 20 years old. John is over 30, married. These are the few I can remember because of the impact their presence in my mother’s house had on me during my formative years.

As my mother turns 83 today, the owner of the first tit I bit,  I wish to pay tribute to nurses all over the world, particularly Nigerian nurses and caregivers.

Through my mother, I have seen the sacrifices you all make daily to give life to others; nice to nasty patients; put in hard long hours and still come home to sons like me! My mother despite her schedule, had 6 of us, gave us motherly care and is still caring for her grandchildren.

Let me reproduce the nurses anthem in honor of my mother, a seasoned theatre nurse, a matron, hospital owner, entrepreneur, farmer and above all, the mother of Che Oyinatumba.

“We are called to serve humanity, endowed with the act and sense of caring. we are built on integrity and discipline, that transient through every generation. Immaculate and amicable, we are the source of hope to ailing ones. And the foundation for building a healthy world, together we shall stand.”