A Risk I Took That Change My View Of My Country.

While growing up, my dad always advised us (his children), and some of his words stuck with me, which have shaped the way I see the world and how I interact with it. He would say

Life itself is a risk, meaning every day you wake up to take another breath is a risk on its own. The best thing a man can learn in life is risk management because every decision is a risk, and one risk can either build a man or ruin him.

I have learn to hold this word in my heart, now before I make any move or decide on something, I always think twice about all possible outcomes, then go for the less risky one.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to my blog, and I also welcome you to the Hive Learners community. Today is a good day to talk about the risks we have taken that have shaped our lives, either positively or negatively. I will be sharing my experience with you. Take a sip from that juice as you read on.

As I said earlier, life is a risk, and there are so many risks I have taken, but I would never forget this particular one. This was a risk that has shaped my life and the way I think, and if I could take such a risk again, I would.

January 2023 was the year I registered for my national youth service. It was a one-year compulsory service to the nation, and during this time, there was a lot of news coming from the northern part of the country. The killing in the north, the kidnapping, bandit slaughter, and so on. This made many people so scared of going to the north. After I was done registering, to my surprise, I was posted to the north.

My thoughts about the north have been painted by what I saw in the news and what I was told. I believe the north was an Islamic state where Christians shouldn't venture into, and there were a lot of extremist Islamic people there. Even the Western Islamic people are somewhat scared of the Islamic people of the north. In my thought, the north was a dirty place with mud buildings, I had the same thought of how the europian look at Africans, that was how I saw the northern part of my country.

When I was posted to the north, the core north (Sokoto). I was scared, and my parent refused such a posting because of the stereotype they had against the North.

At a point, a thought came to my mind. If I don't go to the north, how would I be sure of what I have been hearing? I wanted to visit the north and see for myself. Was I scared of being kidnapped? Yes, I was. I was scared of getting my bus stopped by a bandit or getting myself killed, but I had to see for myself, and if I didn't make it back, then that was where my story ends.

I took the bold step of traveling to the north with the help of my military uncle, a top military personnel in Nigeria. I traveled for a day and some hours before getting to my destination. While traveling, we stopped at some state and I saw a whole different part of my country. I saw my people, people who are of the same citizenship as I am, people who bear the country's flag and are also wishing for a better tomorrow.

I ate with them and slept with them. I saw my country people wishing for a better north; they also didn't want that kind of life; they wanted a better life, and it seems we who have been living a better life in the west have totally abandoned them.

I saw nice buildings, tall buildings and nice roads in some state. I saw churches, people praying and laughing like there was no care for tomorrow. During my travels, when one of the northern realized I didn't understand their language well, he helped me translate and helped me get food I could eat.

The prejudice I had about the North vanished, and I saw a new, whole world. This was a risk I took that changed my life and how I saw my country as a whole.

If I had the chance to visit the North again, I would definitely do that.

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Thanks for reading. My name is Fashtioluwa.

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