Traveling to Okeho, Oyo State has always been one of my biggest dream but unfortunately, I lost my grandmother and I had no choice than to travel with my family members to have her burial and celebration of life.
As at 5:00 am on Friday morning, I sat patiently waiting for my dad’s friend to come pick me up because our car was filled up with luggages including my other family members. I started falling asleep until I heard his car honk horns. Immediately, I rushed outside with all my luggages, the jewelries I would use for the party, the gifts I’d share with those who came for the burial celebration and some other things that belongs to my mum.
“Good morning sir,” I greeted Mr Lobo, my dad’s friend who came to pick me up at home.
“Morning, come in and let’s go,” he said to me and I hopped into the car. After thirty minutes drive, Mr Lobo drove into a fuel station to get enough fuel to travel with. Along the way, Mr Lobo picked up Mr Waheed and Raimot, my friend.
Lagos to Okeho, Oyo State is nothing less than eigjt hours but after three hours drive, the car began to overheat. Unfortunately, that happened on the highway and a bushy area where there was no one to come help us check the car nor a place where we can find the mechanic. We all waited for thirty minutes for the car to become cool. It became cool and Mr Lobo started the car again for us to continue the journey.
After fifteen minutes drive, the car started to overheat again. This time, it was even hotter than the previous one and we checked the radiator. Fortunately for us, this time, we were able to find a mechanic.
“Can you please help me check what’s wrong with my car?,” Mr Lobo asked politely after he was able to approach the roadside mechanic.
The man checked every part of the car and said that the entire radiator is leaking so we’d have to change it. If not, the car would continue to overheat and it is even at the risk of getting burned.
“How do we get another radiator?,” I asked the mechanic because I was so scared that we were tje only ones on the highway. Sadly, there is nowhere they sell radiator around. If we are to get one, we should go back to the city which is about three hours away from where we were. After hearing this from the mechanic, we all became hopeless and more scared.
How do we even get a car or bike that will convey us to the city to get a new radiator?
We started waving at every car that passed by. We kept shouting, asking for help and eventually, one car stopped by.
“Hello sir, please can you drive us to the city and deive us back?,” Mr Lobo asked.
“Yes, but you’re going to pay a lot of money,” at that point, we didn’t even care about the money. All we wanted was get out of that highway.
Mr Lobo and I followed the man to the city while Mr Waheed and Raimot stayed with the machanic. My dad kept on calling to know if it has been sorted but by the time we got back to the spot where the car was, it was late already because it took us seven hours to get to the city then cole back. The mechanic was kind enough to ask if we could sleep in his hut. Even though I had never slept in a place like that before, I had no choice than to say yes.
We entered his hut, it was looking very dirty and messy. It was hot as well. There were mosquitoes and bed bugs. Just because of that, I didn’t have a good night rest. My battery was flat so I could not press my phone and I didn’t have a power bank.
Finally, it was morning. The mechanic woke up very fast to attend to us. He fixed the car and after testing it, we saw that it was in a very good condition. My mum became worried and called me until my phone went off and she could not reach me again.
Finally, we got to my village. We found it difficult to locate my dad’s home in the village because our phones were off and we could not reach my dad or mum for the address. Eventually, we reached them and they came to pick us up where we were. My scared mum hugged me when she saw me and saw all parts of my body where I was bitten by bedbugs.
We were taken to the hotel where my dad lodged and we all had a good sleep. We slept throughout the day and woke up the next morning to prepare for the party.
The hotel was very comfortable. The hotel room was snug as bug in a rug. I had a good sleep and had a nice time at the party even though I faced some challenges earlier.
