We learn a lot of lessons and skill as we grow older on earth either formally or informally, if there is one skill we humans learn without being formally taught is how to survive. My first time of seeing first aid kits was at home, it was hung at the top of our fridge by my mum. I wouldn't blame her, she gave birth to 3 boys and if there is one thing we boys are good at is getting involved in rigorous activities which might result to injuries. I knew she usually make use of it occasionally, especially whenever my brother goes to the field to play football. As time goes by I began to fully understand what it was since I was taught in school in basic health education classes.
First aid kit is useful for many reasons but as a child I shy away from anything that would result to me sustaining any form of injury. I was never a fan of football, so sustaining injury from the field was never an option but the thing about injuries is that it can happen anywhere at anytime in places you never expected. If there was one thing I was known for as a kid, it was my level of curiosity. I always want to be in the known at every point in my life. There are times I got good rewards for being curious about something while there are times I get punished in the process.
There was a time during when we first moved to our new home at ikorodu, it was a new site filled with bushes and trees. One of the most noticeable thing we had in our compound then was a paw paw tree, I never knew who planted it. This specific paw paw tree had a lot fascinating features, one of it was that it was home to a lot of birds. Never really knew why the birds chose to build their nest on the paw paw tree because it is not that tall. As a kid, I desired to keep a bird as pet but my parents weren't really buying the idea. For the fact that I knew birds were nesting on the paw paw tree I decided to take advantage of it.
On a Saturday morning, my mom and dad has gone to work, I was in my mom's shop with her apprentice. I waited till she slept off, then I sneaked out. Like I said earlier, the paw paw tree was not really hard to climb, I quickly climbed up the tree, in no time at all my mission was close to being achieved but then I started noticing something crawling on my neck. I have written about it once before, One of the insect I hated the most when I was a child was spiders which was thanks to horror movies. Finding out a spider was crawling on my neck the only thing I could think was to jump off the tree and I did. The only issue was I landed on a sharp stone that pierced my feet.
I screamed out in pain but since I was the only one at home, no one heard me but that wasn't my greatest concern. All I could think of was a way to stop the bleeding before my mom comes back. I found my way to the first aid box, the only thing I was aware of that could stop the bleeding was methylated spirit, those days I only knew it as spirit, a liquid substance used to clean wound. I have seen my Mom done it multiple times, so applying it wasn't an issue. What I was not aware of was how badly it hurts when being applied. Immediately I applied it I understood why my elder brother usually scream whenever it is being used on his wounds. The pain wasn't pleasant at all but then I knew I deserved it.
The bleeding stopped, at least I was able to stand on my feet and pretend it doesn't hurt but still my mom found out. I was able to stop the bleeding but I wasn't able to stop my feet from swelling which resulted to me leaping whenever I'm sent on errand. She never really asked about what happened to my feet, all she did was find a way to heal my swollen feet. The funny aspect of it was that after my leg healed I still went back to climb the paw paw tree.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Knowing first Aid" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
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