Hold Up Experience
I travelled somewhere by mini bus and got into a serious hold up that kept me there for over thirty minutes. The road was under construction, so the hold up was really much, one of the most intensed I've ever seen. I had no other option than to spend the moment looking around, observing how people were moving up and down, with all amount of seriousness. I'm happy I wasn't in a hurry or rushing to anywhere.
We slowly moved and stopped in front of a market, and I saw how ticket collectors were harassing a woman because she hasn't paid for her ticket. They seized the woman's property, the woman was literally lamenting and begging them that she just came to the market and hasn't sold anything yet, and she only has 50 naira in her bag. The ticket fee was only 100 naira, but truly the woman didn't have it, she showed them her handbag.
The woman was almost crying, but the ticket collectors had made up their minds already. I sat close to the window, so I gestured to the woman to come close, I gave the woman some money to pay them and get her things back. The woman happily got her things back, the smile on her face was everything for me, somebody's mother made to beg people that could probably be younger than her children, not fair. I discovered she was hawking sliced pineapples, not worth so much money, why didn't the ticket collectors let her go? so I thought to myself.
As the cars began to move, we soon stopped at another spot where I saw army officers trying to ease the hold up, I admired how one of them dressed, so I smiled and waved at him. Initially I wanted to be a soldier when I was a kid, but it didn't just work out because of the nature of the country. Just when the soldier was about to talk to me, the mini bus moved to take the space in front so that another car won't step in, hold up wahala. The army officer got angry at the driver, and warned him not to try it ever again. He asked me how I'm doing and where I'm headed which I replied, he then told me "till another time, okay?". I was happy talking to the officer, and today I even thought of going back there to check if I'll find him. Such a hold up unfoldings.
We slowly moved and stopped in front of a market, and I saw how ticket collectors were harassing a woman because she hasn't paid for her ticket. They seized the woman's property, the woman was literally lamenting and begging them that she just came to the market and hasn't sold anything yet, and she only has 50 naira in her bag. The ticket fee was only 100 naira, but truly the woman didn't have it, she showed them her handbag.
The woman was almost crying, but the ticket collectors had made up their minds already. I sat close to the window, so I gestured to the woman to come close, I gave the woman some money to pay them and get her things back. The woman happily got her things back, the smile on her face was everything for me, somebody's mother made to beg people that could probably be younger than her children, not fair. I discovered she was hawking sliced pineapples, not worth so much money, why didn't the ticket collectors let her go? so I thought to myself.
As the cars began to move, we soon stopped at another spot where I saw army officers trying to ease the hold up, I admired how one of them dressed, so I smiled and waved at him. Initially I wanted to be a soldier when I was a kid, but it didn't just work out because of the nature of the country. Just when the soldier was about to talk to me, the mini bus moved to take the space in front so that another car won't step in, hold up wahala. The army officer got angry at the driver, and warned him not to try it ever again. He asked me how I'm doing and where I'm headed which I replied, he then told me "till another time, okay?". I was happy talking to the officer, and today I even thought of going back there to check if I'll find him. Such a hold up unfoldings.
