“Uzo ka Onye mma,” A Father's Affair.

"It doesn't matter who my father was, it matters who i remember he was."

Walk with me.

Growing up was a streak of memories. I used to keep a lot of diaries; therein contained documented events of my life. Although most of them are now far-fetched, my neural paths still retain some footage from way back. Like everyone else, childhood brought back so much nostalgia about the events of our younger selves, when our mountains were carried by someone else.

In my childhood days, social clubs were a thing. It was a big trend in the society I grew up in. Our fathers, back then, belonged to various social clubs. Whichever social club your father joined; the whole family tagged along. These social clubs were made up of lots of families. They had the elite ones, the average ones, and then the normal ones. It was more like a network of families from the same class who met and greeted at intervals for various reasons. Some of those social clubs were members-only, while some leveraged theirs to achieve various needs, ranging from business, work, contract, politics, class, and so much more. Back then, they had the popular ones like the “Peoples Club,” and the wave it created those days was massive. Everyone wanted to join, associate, or have some kind of affiliation with them. Their events were always filled with glamour, and they randomly organized events for show-off. Everyone fit into various social clubs according to your status as a person and the extent you could influence.

Today, most of these social clubs eventually no longer exist. Some metamorphosed into cooperative societies that assisted its members in various capacities.

We were not left behind. My father, Uzo ka onye Mma belonged to a certain social club named “United Emma Old Boys,” we called them “United O’ boys.” It wasn’t really a popular one, but the members were known in our small community. This was a group formed by pupils who learned under the tutelage of a certain brilliant teacher in my hometown.

As they grew into adults, they saw the need to unite themselves and created what gave birth to the United O’ boys. They also paid homage to the teacher by using his name, Late Mr. Emmanuel, in defining the club's name, “United Emma Old Boys Club.” The group grew with time and became a big social club for them. They had a series of monthly meetings at each member's house at intervals, and towards the end of the year, they organized a small year-end party for their families. Also, every 24th December eve, they killed cows and shared the meat among the members. This small club of theirs started with 15 men; it assisted them in various capacities, easing costs, making ends meet, and forming a smaller committee of friends that supported each other.

I recalled how I tagged along with my father on Christmas Eve with a bucket to fetch our portion of meat for Christmas and year-end celebration. These were moments we always cherished, and it made our bond stronger. These events happened for so many years, and we enjoyed all the glamour and fun it came with.

As time went by, life started happening. The moon started drifting away from the firmament; death took so many. Today, the popular United O’ boys just have five members who are still alive. The teacher who brought these men together is no more, and the club has reduced to a mere gathering of five men. One unique thing about these men was, despite the reduction in number, they still held their bond together, and that meeting still holds till this day. Although that social club is now a shell of what it used to be in the early 2000s, these men still converge to honor their pledge. Most of them are in their late 70s and mid-80s. They are all retired, and they no longer have the financial power to pull off the "Efizzy" of yesterday. In front of my eyes, I saw how life happens to people, events, and things. As interesting as it might seem, it feels like I picked up the baton from my father, Uzo ka Onye Mma. I’ve recently joined a little social club. Although it's still small, it does have potential to grow. Even as I’m becoming a full-grown man and father-to-be, I’ve been recycled into this father affair.

Yours brother & friend, Uzo ka Onye Mma Jnr.