Sister Dorcas is another such vibrant sister in the fellowship. She is my level mate and I guess she did pre-degree like me but I don’t notice her until when we were freshers. And trust me; I was always sitting on the noticing pew, the back benchers. You get to see who comes and go, who has the hottest heels or who is wearing the oxygen trousers. For those who don’t know what the oxygen trousers is, well Fashion Police 101, those over-zealous brothers who wear oversize everything; trousers, oversize, shirt or coat, oversize even the shoes, it has to be ancient in design. Obviously, the wide trousers let in air and the overall effect makes them look like astronauts in space suit. Well, astronauts need oxygen in space.
Even when Tiwa, my friend and I started noticing Dorcas, she is snobbish and does not hang around after service. After the benediction of every service, she picks up her bag, bones face and goes home. Well it is not like we were going to make friends with her or even chat her up in the first place. There was this hidden code in my church but it is not as prominent in the campus fellowship as it is in the youth church back home. You do not chat with other girls or other boys if you are male but a boy and a girl can talk freely and it is not uncommon to hear sisters say I don’t like friendship with another sister, a brother is my best friend because; they give any dumb reason. As my pastor will say, ‘both of you are nonsense’; the listening brother and the attention deficit sister.
Your outfit to church did the talking for you. You are looking good to church today; the other girls look at you and gossip you. The following week, they outdo you and you look at them and gossip them. And that means you will need a friend to do the gossiping with. That is Tiwa. Tiwa and I are still making up our minds on whether or not to befriend Dorcas because she is hot and beautiful and speaks well. We don’t bother ourselves with the local girls; don’t get me started on the Osun and Akure sisters, they speak so poorly and act accordingly. Ekiti sisters are trying though, at least most of them tend to be alma maters of the Federal Government College, Ikole and they were borders; meaning no heavily accented English diction.
Anyways, Dorcas joined the workforce and levels changed. We were the sinner and they are the saints. That was another hidden code in the campus fellowship, when you are in 200 levels and you do not join the workforce, then you are supposedly a sinner. Your salvation is not genuine and your life questionable. Then add the perming and the bulky hair because wool braids are always bulky, you are nailed with no question asked. Things are different now though, everyone now has bulky hair both the workers and the ordinary church goer alike. Is anyone getting my drift? What we once believed, hmmm may God take us all home.
I remembered one overzealous so called sister worker had consistently encouraged me to join the workforce, “Danielle, it is good to join the workforce; trivial things like your hair should not be a hindrance.”
She was really convincing, so for a while I was on my natural hair. It was this same sister who is naturally gifted in the hair department who says, “why Danielle, this your hair is so scanty. If I were you I would not even bother. I would be on low cut.” Soliloquizing in Spanish; me, cut my hair at the prime of my life. For what now? I was on low cut all my senior secondary school years and I don’t see myself repeating that.
But ignoring the silent holier than thou criticism, these workers are in themselves amazing. Or who combines the school workload with every day at the church because whenever there is not a weekly service, they had worker’s meeting, converts follow up, special prayer meetings as so on. And since they are doing what we ordinary members fail to do, all they need is our intercession; the silent apostle ministry. Be it as it may, no matter how bad I paint my characters, yet they did their quota for the lord in the campus church. The heaven trembling and demon chasing was not said for effect alone, it was real. They saved souls, eloquently reasoned out the word during service and made disciples of themselves, not a few.
©Tiana
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