I lived in one of the most popular ghettos in Nigeria six years back. The place is popularly known as Bariga and I lived there for four years. Living there gave me more experience about life especially because I lived there without my parents or guardian so I can say that I began to live my youthful life there first among people who were smarter and exposed than me. I made my first set of youth friends there and that’s why the place means a lot to me. Living in Bariga feels like the beginning of my life. I realized that life there is totally different from where I was brought up. Life there was kinda tough because those who lived in that area are not well to do financially so they just have to find a way to survive. It’s a ghetto and survival is a must. Well, I began to live there during my University days and I so much got used to the environment that after I graduated from the University, it was very important for me to move on to the next phase of life but it was difficult to leave the hood. So, instead of feeling bad about leaving the hood, I chose to visit Bariga once in a while and I still do that till today.
I was sitting in my living room one day and was scrolling through my phone to check my pictures and I saw what my life used to look like when I was in Bariga. I saw videos of my friends and I dancing in the trenches of Bariga especially when we go to the street parties or carnivals. I was in the mood to do that again so I called my friend whom we used to perambulate on the streets then. Her name is Mariam but we call ourselves Nigga and I can’t even remember how we started that. I called Mariam to confirm if she was in the hood.
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”Hello Nigga, what’s up?. Are you in Bariga?. I feel like coming right now,” I asked.
She responded and said, ”Oh yeah, I’m at home. I was even thinking of calling you because I was bored so we could chat but I’m glad you called first. Make sure you get here fast.”
I got dressed up and left my house almost immediately after I dropped the call. I got there and we exchanged pleasantries. We talked about a lot of things including the ones we already talked about on the phone earlier but the talk started becoming boring so we were thinking of where to go then I remembered that there is a jetty close to the hood so we went there. It wasn’t far and we chose to trek.
On getting there, we went to chill at the lounge and I sighted a fine guy. I was gazing at him and I guess he noticed that so he came to my table.
”Hello pretty, I’m Stanley,” he said.
I was so glad that I was staring at him and he eventually came to where I was sitting to say hi to me.
”I’m Bisola.” I responded with joy even though I didn’t want it to be obvious that I was happy he came to me.
Stanley asked if I could joint he and his friends on their table but I could not do that without having Mariam by my side so I took her along to his table and we all vibed together. I think I should say that our energies matched and we talked about our music preferences, politics and youthful age in general.
Finally, we went to the waterside and the breeze was so cool. Stanley suggested that we go for a boat cruise but I was extremely scared thinking the boat was going to capsize and may be it will be the the end of my life but I was wrong. That was my first boat cruise and I had so much fun.
On entering the boat, my heart began to palpitate even though I was already given a life jacket but I was still scared.
Anytime I the boat makes a funny move, I will shout ”arghh”.
”Be calm, it’s not a big deal,” Stanley said but I was having the fear of a first timer.
I could not control the locality in me and they laughed at me for being a first timer and a noise maker in the boat.
I think Stanley and I had a good chemistry so I rested on his arm to cool my mind. The boat cruise lasted for thirty minutes but I was scared all through even though I was told to be calm.
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You need to see how I jumped out of the boat when we got back to the jetty. I was so eager to get out of the boat.
It was getting late at night and I could not go home so I slept at Mariam’s house and on the next day, Stanley came around to say hi again.
Ever since then, if I ever want to visit Bariga once in a while, I always make sure I say hi to Stanley and we go on boat cruise all the time because he wants me to get used to it.
