One thing about a broken promise is that it only affects the one hoping and banking on that promise. At the point they realise help is not coming like they hoped for, the burden becomes even heavier than it was before the promise was made. I know a lot of people who stopped asking for help because of a single help they did not get after opening up. Opening up takes a lot of courage, but many wait for you to open up and then promise to help, raise your hopes high, and then bring everything crashing down, not minding how you will feel.
A broken promise is like a broken glass. Even if, at some point, you try to make up for a broken promise by doing that which you promised, but not at the time you promised, it will not feel like it was meant to feel if it was done at the time when hopes were high and when that promise felt like the only way out, when that promise was seen as the light at the end of the tunnel. Once a promise is made, no matter how small, the one carrying the burden is filled with so much hope again. If they were feeling like life was leaving them, they become alive again hearing that help is on the way.
It was a rainy Saturday. It rained from the early hours of the day till late evening that day. I had nothing to eat, no money left on me, as I had just taken the risk of investing all my money in a crypto token a friend advised me to go all in on, saying that it was going to yield returns. I took the risk and went hard and, to a point, I was reckless. I even invested my house rent and had nothing left on me, hoping that when the returns started coming in, I would be able to recover everything and make some profit. I was new to crypto then, but my friend was already in it and had more experience than me, so I always followed his advice and anything he said.
The crypto token, instead of yielding returns, took from us. It rug-pulled and turned out to be a scam token, and all his analysis was wrong, and that was how I lost everything, leaving me with nothing. That Saturday, I had nothing to eat. I just lay in my bed thinking about where my meal for the day was going to come from. Nobody to call for help. At that point, I was not even thinking about how to recover my house rent. All I was worried about was how to get food because I needed to be alive to need a roof over my head.
When evening came, I started feeling like I was going to pass out, and that pushed me into picking up my phone and reaching out to an uncle and a cousin to ask for help.
"Hello, Uncle Chukwuma, good evening sir," I greeted with a faint voice.
"How are you, Kachi? This one you called me today, I hope all is well with you and your parents?" Uncle Chukwuma asked.
"Yes sir, all is well, but sir, I need your help. I don't know if you can come through for me?" I asked with so much shame.
"Anything at all, say it," Uncle Chukwuma responded.
Uncle Chukwuma is a well-known businessman. He owns at least 3 upholstery shops in the northern part of the country and 2 in the eastern part of the country, and all the shops are functioning and in good shape with the right people to manage them.
"Uncle, I have not eaten since morning. I don't know if you can please help me out with some money so I can get something to eat," I pleaded in a low tone.
"Is that what you are saying with such a low tone?" Uncle Chukwuma asked. "You know that one is nothing. Just send your account number. This is just 7pm. Between now and 9pm, you will hear from me and you will know that you have an uncle." He boasted, and his boasting gave me some level of confidence that he was going to come through.
"Thank you very much sir," I responded as he hung up the call.
The call ended, and I decided not to put all my eggs in one basket. Even though how much my uncle boasted was a confidence booster, I still did not want to take chances. I decided to call a cousin and ask that he borrow me some money and I would return it.
"Hello Nani, how far na?" I asked since we were close and he was only one year older than me.
"All good bro, hope you are good? You sound like who wants to die," Nani teased.
"You are right bro, I am actually going to die if I don't get the help that I need," I responded to let him know I was in dire need of help.
"What is happening? Hope it is not a serious problem?" He asked.
"No, can you borrow me at least 5,000 naira?" I asked. "I will return it by next weekend," I added.
"That one na less na," Nani responded in pidgin, meaning it was nothing.
Immediately, I had hope. I felt joy in my heart knowing that help was on the way and I would not have to go the whole day without eating.
"Send account number," Nani added.
I rushed to send my account number. I had so much hope, and at that point, the amount of regret for the investment that did not work out reduced, and I stopped beating myself up. At least help was on the way.
Nani's call dropped, and I had my eyes on my phone all through. Every notification that popped up, I rushed to check. Every 5-minute interval, I was refreshing my bank application with the hope that they might have sent it, but the bank did not notify me. The 9pm my uncle promised had passed. It was almost 11pm when I started realising that the help I thought was coming was not going to come. I tried calling them both; none was taking my calls again, and I realised that promises are just words and can only mean something when action is taken.
