I was in a public bus going to Ajah yesterday and after the bus dropped some people off at a particular bus stop, a particular elderly woman entered into the bus. She was wearing a head-gear, a shirt, a wrapper, slippers with dirty feets in it and a rough nylon bag hanging on an arm.
She entered and could not pay for her transportation, good thing was that, the bus-conductor was a man and all he did was scold her for not telling him ahead that she had no money instead of entering the bus like she wa going to pay. When she was eventually dropped off at the next bus stop, I realized that, she had no specific place to go. She moved forward and climbed down the covet like she had a purpose where she was, but as soon as she climbed down, she was looking around like she was lost, she had no clue where she was. Then it dawned on me that this woman is looking for how to feed this night, she has no means of survival. Left a house with no transportation and no clue how to feed or move on.
I was so sad, I wish I knew earlier, maybe I could squeeze something for her. As I was thinking about that, an accident happened on new road involving a bike man and as I looked across the road, I found a guy on the dualises part of the road with blood all over his left leg and the blood flow was running down on the pavement. He had fear on his face, I felt his pain. He was sitting on the pavement there with some people who cared enough to tell him ‘sorry’ and tell him how to breath when things like that happens or telling their own story of how it has happened to them before, but not thinking of stopping a car to take him to a nearby hospital.
As we moved on, the driver’s phone was ringing and he did not pick it up. The front passenger then asked him something and he said “My brother is sick and admitted in the hospital, I can’t pick because I know I have to be there right now, but I have to work”.
The night was becoming so sad for me because I am a person with deep thoughts, I was already burdened with how I was going to write all these and share it with you then the driver asked the conductor if he was going home after that day’s round and he said he has no house to go that night, that he needs to hustle to get his own bus back since those he gave his bus to spoilt the bus and parked it at a mechanic’s workshop. He will need money to go get his bus fixed. So, he was not a conductor, but he had to do that to raise some money. To think some lady was already so rude to him in the bus earlier that night. He even said he will need to be a conductor for like two to three days before he can raise the money that can fix his bus.
This is the 100 percent life lived on the Nigerian street and it does not look like these will change anytime soon. These set of Nigerians are the ones who just die for no reason, they are the ones who have nothing for dinner, they are the ones who end up with desperate children who don’t want to continue that trend, they are the ones the Nigerian government and the rich don’t know, they are the ones that no one knows or care for. They are trying too hard, don’t say they are thieves tomorrow, or murderers or selfish or without conscience, kidnappers or ritualists. They have given in all the years to be better, but it seems nothing is working and when they are trying to savage their joy, the rich and the law just have a way of frustrating them back into the shell of penury.
Somebody please cry with me today for those that need a minute of comfort, that needs to see the sky blue again.
