They were to purchase new or used, a thermo-time switch, a coolant temperature sensor, two injector nozzles rated at 5.5bar and a Fuel system pressure regulator for the Mercedes. They were to test it in the market to confirm the usability of the components and return with it so that it can be fitted.

We also gave the trainees an idea of the prices to expect as well as a brief on the assortment of tricks that obtain in the market place. To ensure a diversity of experience we sent two of the trainees to Onitsha (Mgbuka Obosi) and the other one to Enugu ( Coal Camp)

21.0 Behind the enemy lines - Visit to Mgbuka (Obosi )

Its really a jungle out there! the embarrassment encountered by the two trainees bothered on shame as the illiterate traders mocked them when they said they were looking for a coolant temperature sensor.

The traders convinced them that there was no such thing and that they would either have to buy the whole top cylinder unit or show them the part so that they could screw it out of any engine available.

The trainees insisted on the rating etched on the sensor, the traders replied that it did not matter so long as it fitted into the hole meant for it. One of the trainees came back with fairly used parts of the wrong specification. When retested, the components were not working.

The trainees insisted that the traders assured them that those components never goes bad as no one ever demanded for them and they believed them ( so much for education) .

His colleague excused himself on the return journey for an important appointment and was never heard from again

22.0 And then they were two

The trainee that went to Coal Camp spare part market for the pressure regulator just showed the traders the component that he wanted and immediately, over one hundred pieces of the pressure regulator appeared from various sources.

Armed with a hand vacuum pump, the trainee tested all and found only one working unit but by that time he was on the verge of being lynched by the traders.

The trader that had the single working regulator refused to sell and insisted that it was the hand vacuum pump that was actually damaging the regulator. They insisted that the regulators were ‘Original Belgium ‘ parts and as such had no problem .

Nothing beats practical experience! For the first time, the trainees saw another dimension to the problem of vehicle repair: The illiterate spare parts traders.

While the trainees saw it as an insurmountable problem, we assured them that this was the greatest opportunity available to them since they have just identified the need for educated and literate marketers of automobile spare parts.

23.0 Hit by a’ booby’ trap

 We still needed the some spare parts to complete the project, so we waited till the next Monday afternoon and sent the two remaining trainees back to the spare parts market in Coal Camp. This time they were to buy the components even if it was attached to other components.

The two trainees went to different areas of the market in order to speed up finding the components. They finally found the parts attached to other components. Unfortunately, they had to carry the components on their head and that was the error.

As one of the trainees was about to board a bike with the spare part on his head , a babe that the dude had been shadowing for years suddenly appeared on a taxi and screamed : “Charlie, so you are now a common mechanic !!!”.

This singular statement pierced through weeks of resolve, dedication and hard work.

With the trainees PR irrevocably damaged, he did not even come back to the training room. Our forensic department gathered these fragment of information in an attempt to piece together how we could have lost someone so precious, someone with so much prospect.

We would pay anything to locate and destroy this very lady and similar ones like her for we never considered in the least that the word that came forth from a mouth can end a career so abruptly.

24.0 And then they were Gone!

 The last of the trainees just could not continue the training program, because he kept getting calls from his cronies that had bought new cars six months after graduation, and could not seem to see an end to the training program.

He kept asking when he will start making money, how long he will have to spend before he could buy his own car. The mother, brothers, sisters kept insisting he submit his Curriculum Vitae so that he can get a well paying job .

He finally took permission to go for a wedding and later sent us a text message that he could no longer cope, that the pressures were just too much. That much had already been invested on him and that the parents wanted dividends. He was ashamed to keep asking them for more money after he had graduated from the university.

25.0 Epilogue

 It is interesting to note that we considered the training program a success because it had brought to light a lot of issues we would never have anticipated. It has also helped us revise the nature of our training program, the demographics of the trainees, the focus and the value of the training program.

We now understand that there is a minimum amount of suffering a person must undergo before certain issues in life become meaningful. Suffering is good for the soul and people have to suffer enough before they are forced to make drastic changes in their lives.

Attempting to help a person who has not gone through some soul destroying experience is a waste of time. It is easy to see that with the absence of Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Wars, many countries living in mineral rich areas just atrophy and waste both time and resources.

Difficulties calls up a persons internal resources and as such difficulties should be embraced as challenges and if you are not up to the task, you should be left alone without help until you are forced by circumstances to face them. Had the trainees lost their jobs and borrowed to pay for the true worth of the training program, perhaps the story would have been a lot different.

We also understand that for the mere fact that none of the trainees completed the training program is a testament to the structural nature of the problem. Regardless of the lip service paid by a lot of individuals and institutions on technological development in developing nations, very few of them are ready to invest in the human resources development necessary to achieve a sustainable technological growth.
Considering the deplorable state of the educational system, sponsors and parents must encourage the youths to acquire as much extra curricular skills that can help them cope with the rapid changes that the world is experiencing at this time.

In cases where the parents may not have the funds, adequate moral support can sometimes have more value that money in helping the individual cope with what ever difficulties he or she might be facing.

Unfortunately most of the trainees neither got the financial support they needed for the training program nor the moral support to help them go through the particularly difficult period between graduating from the university and getting a job. A lot of parents expect their children to succeed for purely selfish reasons while attempting to achieve their unfulfilled dreams through them.