I wash my clothes, make my meals — 91-year-old retired nurse

February 16, 2014 by Femi Makinde

   

 

Shoyele
| credits: File copy

Ninety-one-year-old Mr. Moses Shoyele talks about his experience in the Nigerian army in this interview with FEMI MAKINDE

 When were you born?

I was born on January 1, 1923. I attended Baptist Day School at Awe, Oyo State. After that, I taught for a year in Oyo town before proceeding to Iwo in Osun State. From Iwo, I left for Lagos in 1940.

 Who were your parents? 

My dad was a farmer and my mother was a petty trader and a housewife. My father was a polygamist.  My mother bore six children and I am her second son.

 How was your growing up like?

My growing up was tough. Before going to school, we had to do extra work to buy uniforms, books and other things. It was not easy at all in those days. Most times, we had to fend for ourselves because it was not easy catering for the needs of my elder brother, my half-brother including myself, attending school at that time. We wove baskets, set traps to catch animals and did menial jobs to raise money to buy some of the things we needed in school.

 What did you do after you left school?

I left for Lagos after schooling, I went there to stay with an uncle with the hope that he would help me further my education. Unfortunately, he couldn’t and was the one who suggested that I should enrol at a mechanic workshop to learn how to repair automobiles.

It was against my wish because I had always wanted to be a nurse.  I was a member of the First Aid group in secondary school. One day, I went to CMS Bookshop and met a European who was inquisitive and asked me what I wanted to buy. I told him I wanted to buy first aid books and he asked if I was a ‘first aider’ and I said yes.

He suggested that I should enlist in the army because they were looking for ‘first aiders’ for field ambulance. He said I would be selected if I applied and that morning, I went to the barracks at Obalende, Lagos.  I was selected and that was how I joined the West African Frontier Force in the 1940s.

 What was your experience in the army?

While we were in the unit, they organised a crash programme for us as first aiders cum nurses at General Hospital in Lagos.  After six months, they conducted an examination for us and those of us who were successful were absorbed into the army as nurses cum first aiders.  As the year 1941 was ending, we were moved to the Military Hospital at Abeokuta, Ogun State, where we continued our training and working on the field as well. That was how I became a nurse. As time went by, after series of examinations and courses, we were upgraded as nursing orderly Grades 1, 2 and 3.  We were posted to different departments after few weeks and moved to other departments to gain experience.  By 1942, the whole army unit was moved to Kaduna to set up a military hospital there.

While I was there, I had an opportunity to take some other courses. I was posted to X-ray department. There, I started some courses and eventually became an X-ray technician.

In 1943, I was already an X-ray technician 3. When it was time for the European personnel working in the hospital to leave, I was asked to take over the department. I was in charge of the X-ray department till 1946 before I was demobilised. Before that time, my colleagues had been discharged from the army. But unfortunately for me there was nobody to relieve me in the X-ray Department at that time and I was given another year. Initially, I felt so sad that my colleagues were going while I was still kept there but by September 1946, someone came. They gathered my papers and I was given clearance to go to Oshodi where I was handed my discharge certificate.

What happened after you were discharged from the army?

I went to stay with my brother in Lagos. He was working with a company in Lagos. Within the week that I stayed there something happened. I got a letter from the Military headquarters that I should go to Ibadan and report for work.  That was how I became the person in charge of the X-ray department there.  It was not a full-time job and the then Director of Medical Services decided that I should work in the ward as a nurse since I was qualified. He told me that I would return to work in the X-ray department if there was an emergency there.  So, I was working in the ward and at the same time in the X-ray department.

 How did you meet your wife?

I met her when I was still in the army. During the warm season, we were always given 30 days to relax. I went home during the 30-day-leave and a friend of mine, Mr. Oyewo invited me to his farm. He was a cattle rearer, so I went to see his cows and it was there I met one of his brother’s daughters, Grace Shoyele née Oyewo.  She was working on the farm, we chatted and I became interested in her.

 What attracted you to her?

 I was attracted by her smile and the way she talked. We started talking and that was how it started.

 How many children do you have?

I have six children comprising four males and two females. When we were growing up, we saw the value of education and thus decided that whatever it would cost us, we must educate our children. With my wife’s cooperation, we gave them the best of education.

 What are you children doing now?

One is a retired principal. He retired from Abadina Grammar School while another is a teacher at Command Secondary School, Lagos. One of them is also a teacher at Olivet High School, Oyo. I have a child in the UK who is a journalist, one is a lawyer and the last one is a quantity surveyor.

 How do you relax?

I ensure that I go to the garden every morning to do some physical exercises. I cannot do without exercise in the morning. I do this every morning after my morning prayer.

 What is your favourite meal?        

 I eat anything. I don’t have any favourite meal.  I know that whatever I eat will not harm me.

 Did you partake in the World War 11?

No, I was in the hospital doing my work. I was not on the field.

 Do you attend social functions?

No, I don’t do that now. But even then, I didn’t have opportunity to attend social functions because of the volume of work. In 1958, when the General Hospital, Iwo, was inaugurated, we worked day and night because the employees were few and we had many people to attend to. We went to work early and came back late. We only came home to freshen up and return to the hospital if there was an emergency. So, we had no time for social activities.

After the hospital was well established, we discovered that we had little time for ourselves. That was why we formed a club to interact. It is situated opposite Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State.

 Who are your friends?

I have no particular friend. Anybody that comes my way is my friend. My wife always complained that people visited me but I would not visit them in return. But I don’t believe that is how to make friends. I try to assist anybody who comes my way in any way I can.

 What is the secret of your good health?  

 It is God. I am alive and well by the grace of God. I think  one of the things I enjoy is that I don’t restrict myself to a particular meal.

 What advice do you have for youths?

 I want them to be careful with their lifestyle. Young people indulge in drinking alcohol and cigarette smoking.

 Where is your wife?

She is dead. She passed on over a year ago.

 How did you cope with your wife during the war?

I was not married then.  I married after I left the army.

 How are you coping without your wife?

 I have learnt to live on my own anywhere I find myself. I don’t depend on people to do things for me.  It is my habit. I do everything for myself now. I cook and wash.

 Are you considering remarrying?

Not at all. I am 91, what else am I still looking for? Why do I need to remarry? My wife just passed on over a year ago.

 Aren’t you afraid of death?

Death is one of the necessities of life. One must die. As long as one lives a fulfilled life, one should not be afraid of death. Death will come when it will come and one should be prepared for it.

 What advice do you have for nurses? 

The nursing profession is a noble one, hence one needs to put in everything into it in order to be able to help others. It appears that things have changed now. In those days, what was paramount on our mind was to ensure that our patients were given adequate attention. It is unlike now when nurses are looking for other things.  When I retired from the service, I started a clinic in Iwo and I was using everything I had for my patients. I don’t think anything is too much to sacrifice in order to help somebody in need.  I am always happy to help others and I think that is how every nurse should feel. Anybody who one helps will not forget one. Such a person will not cease to pray for one even if he or she has nothing to give. Prayer is far better than anything else.

 What was your most memorable experience during your nursing career?

There was a pastor who came to my clinic when it was newly opened.  His wife was pregnant and she was taken somewhere to deliver the baby. Unfortunately, they were turned back after the delivery. The baby was just about the size of a rat, so the pastor came to the clinic and said I should help him.

I had no oxygen tent in the clinic and asked him to take his wife and the baby to the hospital but he said they had been rejected there. I improvised a bed, bought a roll of cotton wool and used it as a cover for the tiny baby. I asked the mother to distill her breast milk and the baby was fed through the nostril. I fed the baby in the morning, afternoon and night. He was given glucose and breast milk. You cannot believe that the baby is big now. He is married and practising as a nurse as well. Anytime I remember the incident, it gives me joy.