CHAPTER FIVE
AWAY FROM HOME
All my life i had never spent a festive period away from home, but i was about too. School had been stressful but i kept pushing, it finally came to Easter period, normally in high school (secondary) we where always given a break that period, like two weeks or three weeks in some cases. I felt that would be the case here. We where told to even come for classes on Easter Friday. We had to beg and beg before the school finally agreed to give us the Easter weekend as break, which means we would resume class on tuesday after Easter monday. I would have love to travel back to Nigeria to spend the Easter, but i didnt have the cash for that kind of movement and the break was even too short for that. So this would be my frist holiday away from home.
Finally i could rest, but there was an issue, we where out of food, which means another trip of going to the border is required. This time Comfort agreed to go, the plan was that she would visit her uncle in Lagos
(a city in Nigeria, with Benin Republic sharing its borders)
Which means she would go on thursday and come back on friday, so o gave her My ATM card, for her to help me make some withdraws. It would be a waste if i decide to go to the border if she was also heading there.
Besides today is today she would come back on friday right? The idea was perfect.....
Comfort left on thursday afternoon. I could almost taste the things i would eat when the money finally came the next day. There was actually no ingredients in the house except for raw onion and groundnut oil. But hey comfort is coming back the next day, i can wait. I came form a religious family so fasting was not an issue. Its just one day.
I read alot of books on my phone and slept, Firday came which was Good Friday or Easter Friday. The expected day came sooner that i expected, i was exicted. The biggest mistake we made was the fact that we forgot to collect comfort's Nigerian phone number so there was no way we could reach her in Nigeria. We waited till noon, there was no sign of Comfort coming. I gave my self hope that she would be back by evening. The evening came, there was still No sign of comfort. I was already getting weak, i had not eaten since thursday. My friend and roommate Emma was already complaining but there was notting we could do other than to keep on waiting.
Saturday morning came, the hunger has really dealt with us, i was so weak to the point that i couldn't get up, i Just lay in bed reading novels on my phone, i couldn't even hold the phone, i had to rest in on the wall hahaha. I took a bottle of water by my side. The only thing i actually stood up to do was take my bath which was like hell because i was so dizzy 😵 . There was still no sign of Comfort
Emmanuel could no longer take, left the house in anger, after some minutes he came back with some vegetables, and was like David look what i found, lets prepare this. Looking at him i replied, where did you get this from and how sure are you if its eatable! He said his mom usually use it in cooking some native soups so he knows how to eat it and he picked them from a farm outside. Hahahah he actually stole someone's crops lol.
Remember i said we had no ingredients besides raw onion and groundnut oil? Where Me and Emma went to beg our neighbors for salt but based on the fact that they dont even understand French, rather they speak their native language, we spent over five minutes tryin to explain what we needed until we finally gave up. Emma decided to cook the vegetables with just onion and oil.
I have never been a fan of onion, i dont really like the taste, so most times i usually remove them when eating, and there are times i eat them. So i guess it depends on how am feeling that day. Emma brought the vegetables and right then seeing him walking down with the plate of unsalted vegetables, he was glorious! Before my eyes Emma was my savior..... That was how i felt until i tasted it.
I found a new respect for salt and other Spices, trust me salt is hero that needs to be respected hahaha
taking one spoon into my mouth i quickly stood up and left the house, i thought to my self God is this how am going to die? Out of hunger? All this while i was battling with how i could swallow what was in my mouth, i almost died just from the tast. Salt is in deed powerful. I was going crazy. Emma ate all the vegetables i dont know how he did it and i dont care to know, but i couldn't.
Easter sunday came, we came up with a plan to follow one of our neighbors to their church, it was a Catholic Church. They dont actually speak English but our reason for going is based on the fact that we hoped they would call us for easter dinner since we all went out together. The sermon was short
(no i didnt understand a single word they said hahaha)
after service, we went to their house, in the name of we want to teach their kids little English but all we want was food, give us some food please. We went back to our apartment without any food instead they gave us some chilled fruit juice
(hey its better than nothing right? But food was what we really needed)
Monday finally came, at that moment i had given hope on Comfort, i was even too weak to read novels, Emma kept on eating the vegetables, i still dont know how he did it without actually going craz or maybe he was already crazy enough to eat it. Hahaha.
monday afternoon came, i was already in another realm of hungerthen i heard Emma's exicted voice from afar, actually he was close too me but it sounded far lol. I choose to ignore him, until i heard it. it was music to my ear, a voice filled with melody that lifted my spirits, the voice alone was heaven. Comfort was back.
Actually i imagined things that way about comfort because at that moment i nolonger saw her face but all i could see was my money walking to me hand open... Hahahaha
she started explaining how her uncle begged her to spend the weekend with them and that she was not aware notting was left in the house, i didnt even pay attention to all that, i was After my money. She finally gave it to me, before i knew what was happening i found my self at our street junction buying food, till now i still wondered what gave me the strength and how i even got there. I came back i saw Comfort and Emmanuel looking for me, they said i left the house like i was not normal that they where scared. In the end we laughed about it, but honestly i almost died from hunger.
welcome to school life i said to my self..
To Be Continued...
