I didnt expect to find

by Emem Effiong (Nigeria)

I didn't expect to find Nigeria

Shares

“I didn’t expect to find” All my life I have lived in the South, I never knew how life was in the North, living in the South was really cozy and smooth, because that’s what my parent wanted us to believe. I had to do all my schooling in the South because my parents told me life in the North was very risky and dangerous, and the was a lot of insurgency in the North. Each time we on the TV or log on to the internet we will hear series of bomb blast in different cities in the North that always sent some kind of fear to my system. But a day came that I really wanted to visit the North, I heard the road was very far since I was from a low income home, my dad had already promise not to sponsor my trip, he told me to stay back that I can always find something better to do in the South, that wasn’t my dream, my dream is to work from home and travel the world. On that faithful day, I packed my bag with the little money I had on me, my dad was still skeptical about my traveling. I headed to the bus terminal to buy my ticket, I was still contemplating, because of the insurgency happening in North, but I needed to kick start my career, I wanted to just start something; I never wanted to delay anymore. My dad will be alright. My intuition says nothing will happen to me and I believed that nothing will happen. At 6am we all boarded, most passengers were speaking languages that I didn’t understand. My neighbor who also thought I was from the North asks (KEI YANIYA, INAKWANA) I never answered because I didn’t even know what he was saying. The bus was about leaving from the terminal, all luggages were fully packed, the bus was already congested. I wonder how we were going survive a 12 hours journey with such congested bus. I had already boarded so I couldn’t ask for a refund, because things doesn’t work that way in this part of the world. When you pay no refund, you can either sell the ticket out to the next passenger traveling or loose the money. The journey started, the road was really bad, the first State we pass was Abia, though it was a straight road from my State, a lot of men and women on the road hawking, just to make ends meat. Coming from a low income country is not a good thing to imagine, everyday poverty keep staying at you and you do not also have the means to help. The driver needed to refill his tank before we could commence on the journey, the gas station was really crowed because of the amount of people hawking, I couldn’t even open my side window, because they were all dragging to sell, people bought, but I knew how much was on me I couldn’t afford anything right now, I needed to save some money for my accommodation and sightseeing. We headed out from the gas station, met a police check point, the driver had to stop for the police to search the entire passengers, that alone wasted close to 30minute of our time. After all was done the journey commence, the road was really far, I couldn’t sleep, because of the fear I had. We pass the next state Imo, it was as if the road kept getting worst, we had to use the first U-turn that leads to the next community, I counted about 12 communities to end Imo journey. We continue the journey, so many slumps and dirt on the road, people selling at the roadside; it was as if their poverty was different from that of the South. We progress to the next State Enugu, then Benue, then Kogi and finally we arrive Abuja the federal Capital of Nigeria. It wasn’t a smooth Journey because the distance was far, a 12 hours journey. It was fun but stressful, Abuja is fine, I hope it will be the beginning of my career. “I didn’t expect to find” a place so serene and nice for my career kick.