Zubair and the Broken Radio
In the dusty town of Janguza, where the mango trees danced in the breeze and children played football with makeshift balls, lived a curious boy named Zubair. He was ten years old, with bright eyes that lit up whenever he discovered how something worked.
Zubair lived with his grandmother, Mama Lami, in a compound shaded by neem trees. Mama Lami loved listening to her old battery-powered radio, especially in the evenings when the news came on and music from faraway lands filled their small home.
One harmattan morning, the radio stopped working. Zubair watched as Mama Lami tapped it gently and turned the knob again and again. Still, silence.
“Ah, this radio has finally given up,” she sighed. “We’ve had it for more than fifteen years. It might be time to throw it away.”
But Zubair’s eyes widened. “No, Mama! Let me try to fix it.”
Mama Lami chuckled. “You? Fix a radio? You’re not an electrician o!”
Zubair grinned. “I may not be one yet, but I can try!”
That day after school, instead of joining his friends for football, Zubair sat on a mat under the mango tree with the broken radio in front of him. He had seen a mechanic open one before and decided to give it a try.
Using an old spoon and a nail as tools, he carefully opened the back. Inside were wires, tiny parts, and a dusty circuit board. Zubair had no idea what most of them were, but he noticed one wire had come loose.
“Hmm… maybe this is the problem,” he whispered.
He ran to the nearby mechanic’s shed. “Uncle Yakubu, please can I have a little piece of tape?”
Yakubu laughed. “What for this time, Zubair?”
“I’m fixing my grandmother’s radio!”
With a smile, Yakubu handed him some electrical tape. “Good luck, young fixer.”
Back at home, Zubair gently reconnected the wire and held it in place with the tape. He added new batteries from Mama Lami’s drawer and closed the back.
He turned the knob. Nothing.
He tried again. Still silence.
Zubair sighed but didn’t give up. The next day, he visited Malam Idris, an old radio repairman in the next compound.
“Malam, can you teach me how radios work?”
Surprised but pleased, Malam Idris agreed. For the next few days, Zubair learned about circuits, coils, and sound waves. He returned home one evening, full of new ideas.
He opened the radio again, cleaned the parts with an old toothbrush, and carefully adjusted the tuning wheel that had come loose inside.
When he put it all back together and turned the knob this time—crackling!
Then—music. Loud and clear.
“Mama! It’s working!” Zubair called out.
Mama Lami rushed in, her eyes wide with joy. “My radio! Zubair, you did it!”
From that day on, everyone in Janguza started calling him “Zubair the Fixer.” Neighbours brought their flashlights, toys, even old phones, and Zubair happily tinkered with them all.
And each time he fixed something, he smiled—not just because he could, but because he learned that with curiosity, creativity, and a little determination, even a boy under a mango tree could bring music back into the world.
MORAL LESSON
When something goes wrong, don’t give up. Use your mind, keep learning, and try different solutions until you succeed.
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