I live in one of the small towns along the highway, which connects big villages to big towns, cities, and nearby states. This area where I live is just like a big village, except there are no markets or restaurants there. Usually, I would have to go to the next big town to get groceries. Where I live, you can find small retail shops and medicine stores, just in case you cannot afford to go to the next big town to get what you want or need. Products here are always more expensive, and sometimes you won’t even find what you are looking for but opt for something else instead.
The houses in this area are tightly packed, with most sharing the same fence. Most people who live here built their own houses in this area because the land is cheaper, there is easy access to water, and there is also easy access to different places by road. The air is cooler as well. Other houses here are rented at a very cheap rate by commuter workers who work in the big towns.
The crime rate here is almost zero. I have not been here for a year yet, but in the few months I have spent so far, there has been almost no record of violence or major theft. It is something that gives me relief, as the compound I even live in isn’t gated, despite our raising our concerns with the landlord from whom we rented the house. He always promised to fix the gate, and he hasn’t.
What you can find in my area is the theft of livestock. Stray chickens, goats, or dogs whose owners are unknown or let them loose without monitoring get stolen, killed, and eaten. It is actually a thing of celebration, with hot drinks being poured to the ground first in honour of the Creator before being drunk. If you are not careful, you may be eating the goat of yours that you have been looking for.
It is not like major theft doesn’t happen here; it does, but only lone houses are robbed. As I have mentioned, most houses are tightly packed, so it is really easy to raise an alarm in a case of robbery. But houses that stand alone without neighbours are prime targets for repeated robberies. Most people who have lone houses are advised to wait until people surround them before they start living there.
In big villages like these, the landlords employ vigilante groups or local hunters—Olode, as we call them—to protect the vicinity from 7:00 p.m. until dawn. There are just so many places they can be at one time, and they usually operate in groups to keep the area safe. You may wonder if we have police in these areas; we do. The police do road checks, but they are unreliable as they are not consistent with them.
I know that not everyone is lucky to have a quite peaceful community like this, but I am grateful for my own, although it's mostly boring.
