Throughout our stay in school, we heard about communal clashes between Ife and Modakeke communities. However, it was often short lived and did not affect us much. But in the year 2000, the clash blossomed into a full war and caught us unawares. On the 8th of May 2000, Seni Osunade was nabbed on his way to the hospital. He was never returned to us. This was the single most traumatic experience for us as a group during our sojourn through med school.
We spent the rest of our time in part 6 spent consolidating skills and marking time before we could lay our hands on the elusive Dr title. We finished our final examinations on Wednesday 4th April 2001. Induction into the medical profession was on Monday 25th June 2001 at the MDCN in Lagos because there was yet another industrial action in Great Ife that disallowed the program from being held within the campus (an occasion that all medical students look forward to). Almost everyone therefore showed up for the University convocation ceremony which held on the 9th of November 2001.
The class set spent almost 9 years in Medical school, from December 1992 to April 2001. Even now you will find some colleagues who still need letters to explain the missing periods in the transcripts. It was not all bad. We spent so much time together that we are now more than friends, we are family and you can see the bonding and comradery, even now. Through the years, some have even put a ring on it, shout out to the Aregbesolas and the Oluyombos. We welcomed a few babies during out time in Medical school. Everyone took turns singing lullabies to Mofe; Shubby wasanother favorite.
We have enjoyed micro reunions over time, taking out time to send pictures to the group when we bump into one another from time to time. As we have gained, so we have lost and we take the time to remember our friends who are no longer with us. Seni Osunade, Biodun Adeniseun and Adeola Odetunde. We came, we saw and conquered. Indeed, we are thankful that we are here still. We have showed immense gratitude by looking back and giving to our alma mater. We take this time to say a huge thanks to everyone who contributed to the various projects by the class set. The first round of donations in Jan 2016 was made towards the installation of the Solar system for the Clinical skills Laboratory. We made the second call for donations in 2019 to contribute to the Ilesa Alumni students’ hostel.
©Boladale Mapayi 2021(Dates provided by Bunmi Lawal and other members of the Reunion committee)
If you enjoyed this, you can read the first part here.
Image from unsplash.
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