Bearing One Another's Burdens: Acts of Love and Sacrifice

There's this common proverb in the Yoruba land where I'm from that goes thus: "eniyan bo ni lara ju aso lo", which translates to 'humans cover your body more than cloths would", and "eniyan laso mi", meaning "humans are my clothes". These proverbs signify the importance of having people around us and the lengths we can go to protect and provide for our loved ones. In the literal sense, humans being cloths to one another is like we're like the cloths that cover our pains and protect ourselves from the storms of life. I've been privileged to have such people around me, and so have I been such to my loved ones, and today I'll love to share the experience that best portrays the proverbs I shared above.

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I'll be sharing two scenarios of how I cared for my loved ones during their difficult times. The first was during my early days after graduating from the university. I was lucky to secure a job where I earned something tangible enough to survive, and while doing that, I was on the lookout for another job. During that period, my ex-girlfriend lost her dad while she was in her 300th grade at the university, and that kind of spell doom for the progress of her education because her dad was the sole provider of their family, and his death means there'll be no one to sponsor her.

I could see how disappointed she was by not just her dad's death but also her education, which would be cut short. Since no family members were willing to help, I told her she should keep attending lectures; that'll raise half of my salary monthly toward her school fees, while she can hope to get others from her relatives. With that promise, her joy was ignited again, and she continues to attend lectures.

Even though it wasn't an easy task and my salary of 30 thousand naira wasn't even enough to make ends meet, yet I slashed it half monthly—that's 15000 naira monthly—and made sure we saved it somewhere until it was enough to pay her fee for her 300 level; the same was done for her 400 level, and it was from the same money she paid for her final year project.

For me personally, while some of my friends were like, Why will you be doing such to a lady you're yet to marry? My response is simple: if I don't do it, who'll? Besides, we're in love, and even if I wasn't dating her, if I had heard such a story, I'd try to help in my little way, even if it wouldn't be as much as I did towards making sure she graduated from university without having to drop out due to the absence of sponsorship caused by her father's death.

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To cut a long story short, I did donate half of my salary for about two years and three months towards this course, and I was super excited when she graduated. It wasn't an easy decision at all. On many occasions, I felt like stopping halfway due to complaints from friends, siblings, and parents who believed I ought to be sending them something tangible after I graduated, and yet I'm sending nothing, not knowing I was sponsoring someone else academic.

Fast forward to the present day; although we are no longer in a relationship, we are friends, and she is now a banker. Seeing her achieve this feast made me happy because I knew I was able to contribute to her advancement in life. On the other hand, I know that sometimes my friends make me feel like it was a waste of time and investment, but it is what it is.

The second experience I'll be sharing was that of my junior brother, who was sick to the point where he was in hospitals for months. I was working in another state when he was first diagnosed with the illness, and when it became something too serious and required multiple operations and attention for him to stay alive, I had to consider many factors and then came out to be there for him in that moment.

As my parents were old, I didn't want a situation where they'd develop another illness while attending to him in the hospital, so I made a very crucial decision that put my own life and ambitions on hold for over a year. To start with, I had to quit my job and stay with him throughout the time he was admitted to the hospital.

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I also had to break into my target savings for my biggest ambition back then. I've been saving some money towards a business I wanted to establish, but when his illness came and there was loads of demand for money for surgery and medicine, I had no choice but to spend my almost 2 million naira in savings on making sure he's well treated and getting back to a perfect state of health.

This decision wasn't an easy one for me to make, but he's someone I love and cherish a lot, and I can't have such money and watch him die because I want to chase my dream. Also, quitting my job and staying with him throughout those months wasn't easy at all; my life was brought to an unexpected halt at the expense of my brother's health and well-being.

That's about my experience with this subject matter. I hope you enjoyed the read. I've no regrets about what I've done and the length I went towards helping these loved ones of mine, and I'll do more for my loved ones if such a need arises at any time. I know they'll do the same for me.

Thanks so much for your time. Do have a wonderful day and stay blessed.

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