This is not my usual kind of post
but I just had to write about this. This is a story of my Lagos experience. Is that even the right title for this post? anyway, Would
I consider myself an aje butter? Ermmm I think so. But hey I have kpaki in me.
Let’s just say I can be whatever I
want to be. Is me that have myself abi? Anyway sha back to the matter. I am one
of those people who would be inside their car looking at those standing at the bus stop (my sarcastic side is asking, if they don't stand at the bus stop where would they be?) waiting for bus and okada and keke (okada with roof). But best
believe it, I’m very very extremely thankful that I can afford to enter motor
and be chauffeured wherever I want to go, paying for cabs every other day. I sit in my car looking out at
those who can’t afford it and in my heart I just say ‘Thank you Lord, Thank you
that I can afford it’. Anyway somewhere along my consulting career life in
Lagos, I got a job somewhere in dolphin. One day I got a bank email alert and
believe me I wasn’t singing ‘I don get alert’ nope. I was singing a totally
different song. So anyway I decided I wanted to experience the other side of
life even though I could cry and whine for certain people and I would get cash
but nope I wanted to see the other side of life.
So I decided it was time to start
taking a bus to work. Which I had no idea on how to. I am clueless when it
comes to taking buses in Lagos. Infact the last time I climbed an okada (bike)
was 2007. But I woke up determined to find a way. I found a colleague (now
friend) who lives very close to me so she decided she would teach me, and that
was how my bus journey commenced. To cut the lonnnnggg story short, I have seen
it all; from crazy drivers to crazy humans. dead bodies just laying on the road. People living under the bridge,
eating and cooking and taking a bath. Dammit.
First I didn’t reminder how to
get on a bike. Was I meant to climb from the left side or right side? I was confused
sha. And let’s not even talk about the speed at which the man was going. Anyway
I found a way. Oya lets go there.
Got on the bus and it was cheap. Ehn
are you kidding me? People inside the bus were complaining it was expensive and
fares had gone up cause of fuel scarcity. I just smiled, and in my head I was
like you don’t want to know how much I pay for cab. We got down and I had to do
a long walk and the roads were wet and dirty. Damn mehn. At this point I was
thinking, ‘what did I get myself into?’
Do we even want to start with the
way bus drivers drive? What hell no. Can they just stay on their lane please? Another
Hell No. how about the bus driver who was driving so fast in his patched up bus
that the door of the bus came off on the express way? I kid you not.
Let’s fast forward to the day I had
to go to work alone. Ehn they for show my face for NTA that day. Of cause the
bus driver followed a place I had no idea about and that was where I saw people
living under the bridge. Some sleeping, some cooking and eating and some taking
a bath. I saw kids taking a bath under the bridge and getting ready for school.
I saw mothers with babies under the bridge and my heart sank. Where is the
father of those kids? Who got her pregnant? What kind of life is this? Long story
short, when the bus stopped, I had no idea where I was but the impatient driver
wanted us to all get down so he could get new passengers. I looked left then
right then left and my very confused Johnny just come mind told me to go right.
O ga o I am done for, today they shall declare me missing. Today that I decided
not to follow the crowd. Anyway I just decided to ask somewhere after 5mins yes
5 whole minutes and they told me I was going in the wrong direction and I should
turn back which I did. Eventually I realised I was on the other side of Obalende
wow anyway yours truly found her way eventually yippee.
Now let’s talk about the people
who forget that they are getting into the bus with other people and it is only
right to take a bath before coming out of their houses. I bet you are laughing
at me at this point. Some people smell like they have been living in caves
perhaps they have because what I have learnt in the past couple of weeks with
my experience is that anything is possible in Lagos.
I have learnt all kinds of
slangs, half of which I have no idea what they mean. I have learnt that agbero
is a profession. So don’t judge. School is for everyone but no everyone can
afford it.
I have learnt to appreciate life
and what I have. Appreciate the fact that I can still pay for cabs and have a
driver chauffer me anywhere I want. I have come to appreciate the roof over my
head and the warm bed I go home to everyday. Appreciate the fact that I can
have whatever I want if I just asked for it.
I no longer take for granted
where I am in life because it is not my doing but God. For those of us who have
and can afford the good life, we take for granted what we have. We forget to
take time out and be thankful for what we have because we are praying and
craving for what we don’t have. I thought about all those people living under
the bridge who have to take their baths on the road and eat whatever they see
or have to beg for, what they would give to have a warm bed, roof over their
heads and 3-4 meals every day.
God has been more than gracious
to me and I thank him for that. Today take a moment and be thankful for what
you have. Today don’t ask God for anything but simply just thank him for what
you already have because it is his will that you prosper.
Eko Oni Baje.
Stay beautiful
xoxo Chantel