The Young and the Eager, for the Day 20 prompt

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The most recent time of my life I feel nostalgia for has to be my formative years in Eket, Nigeria. Hired fresh following a year of national service, with a starting salary that almost eclipsed my father’s; 30 plus years of teaching in a University notwithstanding. Prior to applying, interviewing and getting hired, getting into the software industry had been my realistic focus, driven by my interest and a sense that it was perhaps the most realistic option for me. The perception at the time was that to get a good job in Nigeria, one needed to be connected.; which I was not being from a minority ethnic group in a minority state.

In retrospect, I look back fondly on that time for two main reasons; the sense of camaraderie that being part of a cohort of intakes bred (I’ve stayed in touch with quite a few of that group even though it is ten years this year since I left that job) and an underlying sense of gratitude and  thankfulness for the opportunity to make something of myself I felt I had been given. That sense of thankfulness and of life being an opportunity that I have to make the best use of is one that I no doubt need to rekindle.