I have been offered a hand of help many times from people I do not know (strangers) and from people I know from afar but have never talked or connected with before. It has happened in school, my village, my current city of residence and, in fact, everywhere.
The one I chose to share is the one that happened in the village, and it is an encounter I cannot forget in a hurry.
I drove my dad's motorcycle to a distance village to meet a friend. At that time, I was in secondary school and I was well connected with a lot of friends whom we visited often. It was when I was coming back that the motorcycle knocked off and stopped working on a road that had bushes on both sides, and the spot was very far from any residential place where I could seek help or get a mechanic to fix it.
I stayed there, touching everywhere, especially the plug area, to see if it would work, but nothing happened. I did all my best, but my best was not up to the task. By that time, I knew I was in hot soup already.
I checked again and saw that the only option left for me was to roll the bike to the nearest village and get a mechanic to check what was wrong. The distance was a long one, but I had no option. So I began to roll, and when I had rolled for some distance, I would stop and try to kick it again to see whether it would start, but all my efforts resulted in nothing.
There were motorcycles and cars zooming past at high speed because the place had a smooth road and was bushy. I had no intention of stopping anyone for help because there was no way anyone who was not a mechanic was going to stop and help me, but to my surprise, a car stopped and the driver asked me what was wrong. I just told the man, who was alone in the car, that my motorcycle had just stopped working and I had done everything possible but to no avail.
The man came down, and when I thought he was going to check the bike, maybe because he had some mechanical knowledge, he instead offered to carry the bike in his boot while we drove to the nearest village to look for a mechanic.
The whole thing was surprising to me. I quickly looked for a nylon to fasten the tank cover very well to prevent petrol from pouring, and we carried the motorcycle into the boot and drove off. We got to the next village, located a mechanic spot, and dropped the bike. He waited a little to see if the mechanic could fix it in his presence, but he could not wait any longer because he said he was rushing somewhere. He gave me three thousand naira to pay for the mechanic’s service when he was done, and then drove off.
I could not stop thanking him enough, and even when he left, I kept thanking God for bringing the angel in human form my way.
Thanks!
