Obaba Museum

How ruthless! How wicked to see a fellow human being in dire need and walk away when you simply could lend a helping hand. This is a clear instance of a dog eating a dog.
It was nightfall and the clouds had come to a consensus to unleash fire and brimstone. It had just begun to rain heavily when I saw an unkempt woman trekking briskly with three children, all under the age of 7. From all indication, this woman was trying to beat rainfall to her destination, not necessarily for herself but her children. Unfortunately, the rain thwarted her effort, leaving her with no other option save, spending her last penny on “Okada” at least to reduce the battering effect of the rain on her children (it would be worse off if she insistently chose to trek home with them).

From her looks, this woman was probably a widow, and if she wasn’t, she and her husband were terribly stricken by poverty. Her initial decision to trek amidst the red signals from the dark clouds was perhaps in a bid to save her last penny for a makeshift dinner after the hustle and bustle of the day.
From a distance, I stood taking cover under the outer roof of a small kiosk that could barely shield a goat from being harassed by the rain, but I preferred it to walking home and getting soaked in the rain. I stood helplessly seeing this woman and her kids being battered by the rain. I saw the affection in her eyes for her children as she bent over them in a bid to shield them from the incessant stings of every drop falling from the sky. Then she beckoned to a passing “Okada”, who stopped abruptly close to her and her children. After telling the rider her destination, despite her predicament and that of her children, all that oozed out of the rider’s mouth was; ‘Madam, na 200 naira. If you no go go, leave am’, then he zoomed off, leaving the poor woman and her children at the mercy of the rain.

From where I stood, I felt a cold chill run down my spine. On a normal day, her destination should cost no more than 50 naira for a trip on a bike. This woman was even willing to let go of her last 100naira but the “Okada” man blatantly refused seeing that it was raining and she had no choice.

While I stood in shock observing that this man, who could also be classified under the category of the poor in the society, showed no sympathy for his fellow human, I came to the conclusion that the poor are the major tools for oppressing their poor fellows.
Why do we take advantage of horrible situations to extort and exploit our fellow country men? I asked myself.
Where has humanitarian compassion been relegated to?
Has the spirit of philanthropic gestures deserted us forever?
How did we get here?
We should be eager to volunteer or assist in evacuating people to safety with our personal resources amidst crises, invasions, natural disasters and other forms of danger that pose as threats to life and not just focus on commercializing our resources to extort one another. Why charge three to four times higher than the normal price in terrible situations?
Sometimes, when I look at the irredeemable state of humanity, I blame it on the wickedness of man to his fellow man.

Humanity can be redeemed with a change in our attitudes towards one another and that change begins with every individual.