Greetings!
We weren't feeling the house thing, so a cousin suggested we walk to the river at the back end of the street, which we haven't visited for so many years. We've been away from the village and in the city for a very long time, and it's a really good opportunity to reminisce about those sweet moments we had in our childhood as we see the rivers.
We set off, took the corner roads in our backyard, and found ourselves on the road leading to the riverside. It was completely overgrown, but people are farming there as you can see the cassava plants in the photos below.
We walked past the cassava area to places where I think people were not permitted to farm. I believe this is due to erosion or perhaps a ban imposed by the community. The area was covered with guinea grasses and palm trees, and the ground was red sand, a result of erosion. You know, river areas tend to be sloped, causing flood water to run into the water bodies.
The palm trees there were not really owned by anybody, so whenever they bore mature fruits, any lucky person could go and cut and collect them. But you know, people don't allow the fruits to mature before they're cut because it's competitive.
We walked and walked very far towards the river to an area where we saw drainage gutters constructed into the river.
The drainage system is designed to collect flood waters from the village and channel them into the river as a way of disposal. The river has a high current, so even when floodwaters enter, they don't settle but flow away, always making the water clean.
Just before the riverside, we encountered a shrine, which is a very common sight by riversides in my country, Nigeria. I took a bold photo of it but deleted it to avoid being queried by the gods. Lol😂
I only left one photo, which was taken from a distance and that's the one below;
As you can see above, it's a very uncommon tree tied with white and red pieces of cloth and splattered with white powders or native chalks. That deity belongs to someone who worships the gods of the river. Oh, lest I forget, the water body of the river is said to be spirited and inhabited by mermaids, so people worship them for many things such as protection, fortune, and more.
At last, we reached the river, a big river with its depth not visible, covered with dirt and decayed elements from tree leaves and other debris. The river used to be much bigger than what we saw. What happened to it? Well, it's the modern age, and people no longer find interest in going to rivers for bathing and fetching water as we used to in the early 2000s. The lack of use has affected it, allowing grasses to overtake major parts of it.
It was a nice moment.
Thanks for reading.
This is for #wednesdaywalk