Saint Bottle

     Mazi phenco okiro is my name, for those of you that don’t understand igbo language, Mazi means mister, so, I'm Mr phenco okiro alias saint bottle. Yes, that was the name given to me in 1994 when the demon that took me around 26years to exocise was first taking roots inside me. 

       For clarity sake, I'm 48, Hair black with hand full of scattered whites here and thereReceding front eye black, nose a little flat, I weigh about 75 nowadays before it used to osciliates between 56 and 65kg. I was of a opinion that a man must be engaged either in womanising, smoking or drinking. After considering the three, I decided to go for a drinking ’94 when I was first learning the rudiment, I was into all brands, then, I used to wonder about some people that clam to have brand in beers without their brand being available, they will not drink. According to their excuse, other brands disturbs their system. I don’t actually have a brand, I take all. I take even palm wine without any side effect.

      Then in 2014, I found out that I was not the one drinking the alcohol but the other way round. I Could not believe that a liquid contains 5.2 percent alcohol will be powerful enough to control me till 2014. I decided in my new years resolution to stop any thing alcoholic, and I was surprised to be adding new brands to the ones I was into before. Infact, I was of the opinion that the resolutions was being broken intentionally not as a result of being weak or helpless, but I realized that I was deceiving myself. I was really helpless as far as the alcohol was concerned. First, I became a little suspicious I tried to do away with the nickname saint bottle but to no avail I tried to use force to achieve that aim without success. At times, I will be holding a bottle of beer in my hand warning people not to call me that name again, people will burst out laughing, they even referred to me as mad saint. All this incident occurred in the year I made up my mind to stop alcohol. Could you believed that in the village meeting that same year, I was avoiding the alcohol they brought at the meeting for my people believes that meeting means drinks so in any meeting there must be drinks. I positioned myself at the back to avoid that alcohol and when drinks was being shared, the idiot sharing drinks started looking all over for me instead of doing his duty. I refused drinks of every kind there and they forwarded the drinks to my house simply because when I refused the drinks there, many people refused to drink too believing that something must be seriously wrong somewhere for me saint bottle to have refused the drinks. that night, I found my self drinking the same alcohol I refused earlier in the morning. Event like the one I described was one of the reasons my resolution always lasted only hours each new year. I will make resolutions before twelve mid night every new year, before 10am, I will find my self attending one meeting, ceremony, coronation, weddings, being in the midst of former school mates or business associates. My resolution will come to an end that very day it was made. I find it difficult to do away with former classmates and business associates without crippling myself. I was debateting whether being alcoholic is more dangerous to being poor. When my nice was getting married in 2018, I was invited and giving a lemon drink, it was the first time in memory that I remembered drinking something besides alcohol and water. I was even waiting for alcohol for I regarded the lemon drink as an appitizer. To my suprize, it had a spiritual effect on me. I felt it immediately it entered my system that some foriegn intruder entered me.

“It felt like holy water” I said

“What?, asked the sharer”

“That drink you gave me” 

“You mean the lemon water?”

“lemon water, is that the name?”

“Yeah, you need more?”

“Yes please”

I ended up drinking about four more bottles before leaving the ceremony. That was in august 2018, by December I had fallen back to my old habit of consuming alcohol. I was fighting seriously to remain sober for three months and failing I added alcohol to the struggle and initialy, I was made a laughing stock by my fellow exercisers, I could not do five push ups where most we’re doing two hundreds. For five months, I was still on ten push ups. I found out that the society I found my self in was not helping my struggle at all. In this society, when you refuse drink from someone, he will think that you don’t trust him, that you are suspecting him. If that person has a shallow mind, the enemity will extend to family level. I saw in the newspaper and the internet that there was something called alcoholic anonymous association but in this city, there was nothing like that. The instructions I saw in the net regarding this group don’t work in the society I found myself . Sharing experience, hope and strength will induce more drinking in the society like mine. The idea was not to mention ideas or stories relating to drinking, stories like that makes people to dream of alcohol. I foundout that I was making progress by the number of bottles I consumes each month, it had reduced alot. 

         I decided that the best I had to get to where I wanted to be is to sit down and choose between myself and appeasing people and society norms. In the new year of 2019, I decided that it was to be made the year of enemity. I decided on tweleve o’clock midnight that I will not touch any thing outside lemon water and I will limit my outing to the bearest minimum. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t easy. I started with lemon water in place of alcohol that very day, in the villages meeting I attended, I got up and left before the sharing of drinks. At the new year celebrations, I requested for lemon water when the alcohol was offered. It was not easy at all. The temptation was overwhelming. I was being drawn like magnet on sighting empty bottle. By August 2020, I found out that I was not being drawn like magnet to a beer bottle on coming In contact with it any more, I equally noticed that I can think clearly then. Even the quality of my communication improved then, my retentive memory improved also. I was even wondering whether I was becoming addicated to lemon water. Which will become another problem, I thought and seriously believed that all the toxic in me has been washed away. I don’t want the lemon to become another demon I will be fighting so, I turned my attention to it and I was surprised that it wasn’t hard struggle like the alcohol to contend with. Whether covid-19 contributed positively to my defeat of alcohol that demonic years, I really don't know which was the most demon I faced, all I knew was that by January third 2021, a year plus into the war, I was still marching stronger.