<center>**THE PLACE OF MENTORS IN CARRIER DEVELOPMENT.(Part 1)**</center> 


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SOURCE:      assets.entrepreneur.com






<center>**ONE CALLOW TEENAGER AND THREE WOMEN.**</center>




It would probably surprise these three women as to the impression they had on my artistic development at secondary school. I am almost certain they are unaware of the gravity of their individual roles in my life at the time! With the benefit of hindsight, I can only marvel at the bouquet of roles each of these God’s sculptors played in shaping my future, my creative development, and in the long term, my Christian ministry. I often imagine thousands upon thousands of sculptors are instruments in the mighty Hands of God shaping destinies, as did Mrs Elizabeth Okpagu, Mrs Onyechi and former Miss Azuka Mbanefo in my own case.

Mrs  Okpagu was my English Language tutor. Whatever appreciation I have for this subject derives directly from the influence of Mrs Okpagu. On her first day in class, Mrs Okpagu made a foundation-moulding statement. A smartly dressed woman strode into the classroom one crispy harmattan-laden morning, swept the room full of faces with a determined glance and said, 
_”Because you speak English in the various homes from which you come does not mean you would necessarily pass the subject. It is not as easy as many of you think!”_

With this opening, she had the undivided attention of thirty odd students as we stared with rapt attention. I decided there and then to tackle English with passion.

Thus began my tutelage in English Language during which my perspective toward the subject altered considerably. The Lord, foreseeing that I would one day put pen on paper for ministry purpose, had placed this woman along the path to ground me in the language for my larger ministry.

I affirm that I see the Lord as the Greatest Artist there is. God had never seen the whole of creation before He made them. I am convinced He only imagined creation, as forms and shapes in is His heart, and then spoke words for the Holy Spirit to concretise. I better appreciate the whole of creation because such ornate magnificence could only have come from the living canvass of a Master Artist. I came to this comprehension attending Mrs Onyechi’s classes.

As my Fine and Applied Arts tutor, Mrs Onyechi, a British woman married to a Nigerian, encouraged me to let my mind wander creatively before I put anything on my worksheet. Next, she assisted me to master the technique to describe moods and feelings in vivid colors with the nuances of light and shade. I learned that colors had temperaments and connotations, like words, and being critical ingredients of articulation for the artist, I had to learn their sublime nuances. 

During these experimentations, I grew flair for abstract thinking! The so-called humanists have stigmatized this noble task by giving it a quirky image; I deviated to study engineering. God did the first abstract thinking ever!

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SOURCE:             howng.com  

Miss Azuka Mbanefo, on her own part, was more a friend than tutor. She headed the school drama club besides teaching English and Literature-in-English. It was the drama club that brought us together. Of course, many people found it incongruous that a student offering Physics, Chemistry and Biology was so immersed in the drama club. Miss Mbanefo did think this at all. She had invited me to join the club after all.


Miss Mbanefo put me at ease so that the flower of my dramatic flair may burst from incubating buds; she worked with me to develop my dramatic skills in an unencumbered atmosphere. It came as no surprise when my first script and my first solo production won the first Inter-House Drama and Arts Competition of the College and college debate at Nigeria Television Authority, Channel 6 Aba.


These three women mentored me in different ways that I did not fully realize until long after these moments had passed. It is with the benefit of hindsight that I have over the years come to recognize the role they played in my development beyond being teachers.