It was going to be my first ever time to enter a plane, three students from my school just got a full scholarship to the prestigious Cambridge High , we were the best in the entire country, being from a poor home, i had no idea of how things were done in such places, we were required to bring our international passports for our VISA processing, and i didn’t have that.
Sometime later, i got a call from one of my uncle to come to Abuja so he could help me process my international passport in the liaison office over there, joyfully i packed my things and engaged in a 6 –hour journey from south-eastern part of Nigeria all the way up to North-Central, which was where Abuja is located.
It was a very stressing journey at first due to the bad roads we have in our area, but as we went on, we started experiencing a smooth journey as the roads were in good conditions and the scenery was awesome, i quickly brought out my phone and started snapping some of them so i can show my mum and my friends in school too.
Because i was in front seat with one other man, and i didn’t know anywhere, i would often ask him, “excuse me sir, where are we now?’’ politely, he would answer “ Ibadan, Ore, Markurdi, Kaduna, ...” and i would write it down in my little jotter.
Once we crossed a village where people had a mighty rock and water gushed from the spring, and the villager were doing a kind of ceremony around the spring, i asked him “ Why are these people dancing there sir?” He went on to explain to me how that the Spring was the water goddess of the land and the community offers oblation to the water goddess for favorable planting seasons after the harvesting periods, i couldn’t believe such superstition, anyways i wrote it down... i just had too many stories of my adventure to tell my friends.
As we went on through the journey, i subconsciously turned the man (whom i would later find out to be Mr. Wisdom), into my tour guide, i kept on asking him several questions and he always answered with brevity and illustrations. By the time we reached Abuja, he had to alight before me, so he gave me his number to call him anytime am free to talk, i was happy because i had just made a new friend on my journey..
When i got to Wuse II, i alighted and called my uncle to come pick me up, fortunately, they were already there to take me home, he had to come earlier for fear of kidnappers, it was a very long journey and we were supposed to go to the liaison office the next day, so i was allowed to eat and rest in order to gather strength for the next day.
It was on a Tuesday, i could remember because the previous day was a National Holidays, as i woke up, said my prayers and prepared my documents and myself for whatever questions that may be asked of me. I went downstairs, ate and we went to the Abuja Liaison Office.
On getting there, we filled the form with others who were there, My God! There were so many people there, and waited in line for the officer in charge to come and commence registrations .My Uncle had already decided that he will spend the whole day there because as at the time we came, we were the 87th people in line, inevitably we would have to wait till the 86th person is done with his/her registrations.
Suddenly, everywhere became as quiet as a dove as we began to hear whispers that the boss is here, i heard sounds of footsteps, and i raised up my head to see the boss and....
It was Mr. Wisdom, My friend from yesterday, i didn’t know when i shouted “Mr. Wisdom! "
Partly astounded, He quickly recognized me and came close and gave me a hug, i immediately introduced him to my Uncle, who exchanged pleasantries with him and he invited us into his office.
There my uncle explained to him the reason for our visit and he was glad, he told my uncle of all our escapades in the bus, after which he personally filled my forms and made my data capture and promised to bring my International passport personally to my uncle’s house (turns out he was living very close to them).
I went home that day smiling and imagining if i had not been as curios as i was, i would have lost all these opportunities, i had just experienced THE POWER OF INQUIRY.
Nice read. I leave an upvote for this article thumbsup
thanks for stopping by
This is awesome. What an experience? You never know who the person next to you could never who the person is. I always say and tell people to make good friends anyways and everywhere.
Dante is here no fearCheers
finally, i get it!
lemme goan gather my village people, we have celebrations to make..
Thanks for stopping by boss...