A thin line between fun and danger

Introduction

In todays story, i will be sharing a horrifying experience that happened to me as a kid while growing up. This event actually thought me a valuable lesson about overestimating my abilities and never to underrate the force of nature……..

I just moved in from Lagos to Rivers State with my family for the first time and we had to go to my grandparents house in the village to stay for a while before we settle down in the city. During our time in the village, we attended our community school and whenever school is over, we always go to play football. After that, we go straight to the river to swim. I’ve been beaten several times by my parents not to swim but I won’t listen.

I remember one sunny afternoon, after returning from school, I joined my friends and cousins to go play ball and from there we head straight to the river. But here’s the twist, I knew very well, I couldn’t swim. But whenever I’m with my life jacket, I felt I could handle anything. Everything was going pretty well and I was having a good time in the river, until some passersby fishermen in their boat noticed that I couldn’t swim and told me to leave the river. But I was adamant, insisting i could swim.

As evening approached and it was time to head home, i decided to take it a step further. I trusted my life jacket so much that i agreed to swim across the river with my friends, from one bank to the other. I gave my kid bro my dress and told him to follow the bridge with the others and wait for me at the other end of the river bank.

But one thing I failed to pay attention to was the tide of the river. It was stronger than expected even with a life jacket. Midway through the river, the current of river had pushed me under the bridge. My friends were far ahead of me, they had know idea what was happening behind them.

I was almost trapped in between the big pillars holding the bridge. My friends and my kid bro that was watching us cross the river, from above the bridge could see everything that was happening and they started screaming. The ones ahead of me couldn’t do anything to help as well because we were all still little around 11 years old. They could only watch In horror.

Fear gripped me as I struggled to stay afloat. It was as if my leg was been pulled from under the water and the life jacket was threatening to slip off from me since I didn’t buckle up the front of the jacket. The shouts from bystanders on the bridge added to the chaos. It seemed like a desperate situation with no way out because my legs and hands were almost giving up.

Fortunately, fate intervened. The same fishermen who warned me earlier to leave the river heard the commotion, rushed in with their boat and pulled me up to safety. I was so exhausted after struggling for my life. My tummy was filled with so much water. I just lay inside the boat crying as they took me to shore.

Meanwhile, my mum and dad had already heard the story. The story spread like wildfire in the village. My dad had to stop work because of the family emergency and rushed home. He got home and checked if I was alright. When he realized I was fine and strong, I knew I was in, for the beating of my life. My body was marked with canes all over. it was my mum that came to intervene when she knew I’d received enough.

As I write this post, I could still feel the moment of fear. This experience taught me to respect nature and also to know my limits. It’s not by power or the most courageous but I should always learn to listen to experience voices and to prioritize safety all the time. Surprisingly, the beating from my parents was not enough to stop me. I still learned how to swim in that same river and I didn’t get to use life jacket again. But now I know that there is a thin line between fun and danger.