Traumatic experiences have the ability to leave very deep scars in one and in my case, not only did it leave those scars but it got to a point where even its mere thought or mention, could trigger more trauma. An incident occurred when I was eight years old, and since after, I have not been able to overcome my aversion to snakes.
I had been living with my Grandma for about a year then and it was the harvest season. I woke up that morning to a beautiful Sunrise, grandma was in high spirits and according to her,
"There's indescribable joy in labouring and then reaping the fruits of that labour". She always felt like that during harvest seasons.
It was a brisk walk to the farm that morning as I held onto my grandma's hand. The vast farmland stretched out before us endlessly as I admired the corn fields. I was never to know that danger lurked.
It was swift, it happened at a very high speed, a cobra snake darted out of the corn rows and I think I must have stepped on it or something, I can't really say, and sank its fang straight into my heels.
"Grandma, Grandma, snake", was all I could scream.
I knew pain, then I felt my heart bursting, then I felt unable to breathe, then I felt I was loosing consciousness, then I felt I was fast fading into oblivion, then I heard grandma calling out to me as she heard my screams from a distance away.
She quickly cut a twig from the Palm Tree and placed it in her mouth as she made towards me (This was to ward off any intrusion of negative supernatural forces, she later told me.). With urgency, she tore off a part of her wrapper and tied my leg above the site of the bite and then placed her mouth, to suck out the venom. Herbal concoction was later plastered on the bite site, all these I saw while I lay back, praying I survived the whole ordeal.
At the chaos that followed, the farm hands and neighbours went in search of the cobra which they eventually ended up killing ( It is believed that this would nullify the venom in the body of its victim and aid the healing process).
I did get well and my wounds did heal well, with no scars at all! But emotionally, I was haunted by that incident, I never recovered from the trauma till date.
No, I didn't get swallowed by a reticulated python, Burmese python or green anaconda.... Lols... But The snake that bit me was the cobra (Naja nigricolis), whose venom can kill in 2–6 hours, and I did survive to tell the tale.
Its mere thought sends shivers down my spine and reignites a fresh sense of dread.
The fear lingers on and I am determined to make it a life–long adversary.
All photos are mine and of me.
Thank you for stopping by my neighbourhood.