Good morning Hivers, it's a good thing to be alive, breathing and writing to you again today though challenges don't seem to stop, struggles through life don't seem to cease but we still thank God for the gift and beauty of life. I woke up this morning about to go to work as early as 6am, took my bath, brushed and left the house as usual heading to where I will wait for the car that usually takes us to site because I work with a civil engineering company that specialises in road construction, along the way to where the bus will pick me up i saw a man sleeping outside under a mango tree in the cold weather wearing just a pair of jeans and a T- shirt that seems like it has been on him for some days and that got me curious because at a first glance he doesn't look like the usual mad men(mentally disturbed) people we see around with dirty clothes, smelling and most at times going through trash that has been dumped out in the street, so I decided to observe a little since i was up much earlier and the bus will be arriving 7:00 -7:30am so I got like 1hour plus to spare.
So I decided to slow my pace and thoroughly observe this guy sleeping outside in the cold, then suddenly he woke up as if he was been chased in his dream and that startled me abit because it was unexpected and then he was looking around as if he was searching for something or trying to figure out where he was. I was not the only one passing through that route but most people that was passing chose to just look at the man and pass ignoring him totally because it was not their problem, the few that tried to talk to him immediately left covering their noses as soon as he tried to explain his situation to them and this got him more emotional. I saw this man sat on the ground shedding tears though he tried as much as possible to hide it but it was obvious and because of that I was compelled to approach him also and ask what was the problem and as soon as I was close enough to the man, a body odour from the man hit me hard making me to finally realise why the rest left immediately so I just pretended like nothing is wrong and ask the man whether he was ok because he did not look like a mentally deranged person and the first answer that came from him was "I dey already" meaning 'his fine' so i was like but you don't seem fine and this time he answered me doubtfully "No worry oga na just small matter" in correct English translation he meant 'I should not worry myself it's just a small issue'.
I was about to go but my curiosity still got the better of me because I was kind of feeling that he was in severe pains at the moment and I decided to ask for the last time and he went ahead to tell me his story, he said he was travelling to Osun a state in Nigeria to look for work because he had an issue with his elder brother whom he was staying with and that resulted in him been asked to leave, but before leaving he received a call from a friend regarding a particular job in Osun so he took off and was headed there when the vehicle he entered was robbed in the night by armed robbers. The driver ran off immediately he spotted the arm robbers in the road that night figuring it was already late for him to reverse the vehicle, leaving the vehicle and passengers behind. He said everything on him was collected including his phone, wallet and all the money he was travelling with.
He said after the arm robbers left, the passengers had to disperse and run because there was no other vehicle in the road that night and most of them don't have phones to call anyone either, so everyone ran from that spot trying to seek for help from any nearby village and that lead him to the town where i met him, but nobody was willing to help that night because of insecurity and he ended up sleeping outside till the next morning. His story touched me and I felt compassion for him regarding what he just went through the night before and I decided to give him 3 thousand out of the 5 thousand i was supposed to use for the day so that he can get something to eat and i then directed him to a place where he can also get water to bath. He thanked me alot with abit of tears in his eyes for the little money i gave him saying i have saved him from starvation for the day and that may God bless me abundantly and I responded saying Amen.
I told him I had to go to work because i was already running abit late and hoped that he will find others that will help him so that he can continue his journey.
Alot of people are struggling and hurting but they don't show it and it looks like everything is ok on the surface while it is not, so please if you find yourself in a situation where u can help someone even if it is a little bit of help, do so because probably that little help is exactly what that person needed to forge ahead giving him abit of hope.
To those out there reading this write-up i hope and pray that when you find someone that is struggling in any ways do lend them a helping hand because a little kindness can can change that persons life and make the world a better place.