"Come out, guys; we can't let this hoodlum intimidate us in our community." Yusuf cried out in a loud voice, and then I checked my time; it was about 1:00 am.
Before I knew it, I heard chants of the youth in our community, and then a knock on my door. I was scared to the bone, but then I mustered the courage to ask, "Who's there?"
"Tell Samson to come out", Yusuf, the youth leader, snapped back. Samson is my cousin, who relocated to our city over two years ago until the lockdown struck during the COVID-19 Era.
Everyone was stuck in the house as the government made laws restricting our movement and observing social distance. The first two weeks were tiring as people began to get bored of staying at home while some bad guys took advantage of the situation.
We started to hear of theft reports around the neighboring communities and many atrocities carried out by these "bad boys," to the point that our community was issued a letter stating their visit, which triggered Yusuf to call out the other youth for vigilantism.
Every night started with the burning of tyres and chants on the street: "We are fearless and we are outside; any bad guys, we will knock them down." I chanted alongside people I wasn't close to; though I saw them on the streets, I didn't even know them by their names. I would accompany my cousin outside my compound and sit with the other youths.
The bond started to grow every night since we were almost of the same age grade and we had a common goal, which was to keep the bad boys away from our community. We would start up a conversation to keep the street busy, we would sing, we would crack jokes, and in time, I started to know each person by their name, their voice, and the way they laughed. All of this began to foster the spirit of camaraderie in us all, so much so that we even created a WhatsApp group for our community as
nobody is more, and nobody is less.
During the daytime, the youth leader Yusuf will send memes to keep us laughing, strategies to follow to curb the theft rate, and encouragement to have some sleep during the daytime as the nighttime has suddenly become our daytime and vice versa since we would all gather together on the street to watch out for the bad boys and to secure the kids and older ones in our community.
The ladies in the group were asked to prepare light meals that kept the guys energized throughout the night, and in time, we became inseparable.
As soon as Yusuf's whistle was blown, "Come out guys" I no longer had fears, as these guys are now my brothers. We all came out of our houses simultaneously, and this we did for a very long period until the threat of the bad boys was over.
After the lockdown, the friendship continued as we organized a get-together at the beach to celebrate ourselves, and to this day, we still chit-chat in the group even though most of us have now relocated to different communities.
Image1
Quite a beautiful tale to read, your United resolve against the threat fostered a formidable and lasting relationship
Exactly, thanks for visiting.
Congratulations @amiegeoffrey! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 450 posts.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out our last posts:
Thank you.
Wow ! I'm happy to hear that y'all still talk. You all came together to protect your community. That's a great way of bonding with others.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Yeah, thanks for the visit.
!PIZZA !DHEDGE
Thank you so much.
Buy DHEDGE on Tribaldex or earn some daily by joining one of our many delegation pools at app.dhedge.cc.This post has been selected for upvote from our token accounts by @ravenmus1c! Based on your tags you received upvotes from the following account(s):- @dhedge.bonus- @dhedge.pob- @dhedge.neoxag- @dhedge.waiv@ravenmus1c has 3 vote calls left today.Hold 10 or more DHEDGE to unlock daily dividends and gain access to upvote rounds on your posts from @dhedge. Hold 100 or more DHEDGE to unlock thread votes. Calling in our curation accounts currently has a minimum holding requirement of 100 DHEDGE. The more DHEDGE you hold, the higher upvote you can call in.
$PIZZA slices delivered:
(2/20) @ravenmus1c tipped @amiegeoffrey
Hmmm, it was like a fairy tale but a realistic story for me. A courageous protagonist which is very hard to find these days. Anyway, yeah, to have a safe community one should take the initiative so everyone will follow.
Exactly, and it all ended well. Thanks for the visit.
That's right! nothing like pure tribalism to stand down the bad guys! That's why it was invented in the first place. Good job!
Yeah, you are right. Thanks for visiting.
When people come together for a common purpose, that force is incredibly powerful. I liked your text, thanks for sharing!
#dreemerforlife
Thank you for visiting.
This also made me remember one time in ikorodu when baddo attack most homes.
even the man that use to do like nothing about the world is his concern also came out as a vigilantee
it was a dark time but it even gave me friends i still talk to till date
Yeah, I am glad you can relate to my story, thanks for your time on my blog.
You’re welcome
Hmm, goals tend to bring people together whether good or bad. It is good that they had a good goal making them have a strong bond together and that they were able to accomplish it.
#dreemerforlife.
Yeah, the unity among us made the goal achievable. Thanks for the visit.
You are welcome
I can relate to how thugs started disturbing the neighbourhood during the lockdown and we had to come out to protect ourselves.
It was a tough time even though I don't stay in that environment anymore, I still communicated with the youth because of the bond we built back then.
#dreemerforlife
Oh, that feeling was so terrible, k trembled over the sound of anything. Haha.
Thank God it's over now.
COVID-19 caused so many disruptions in so many communities across the globe. However, what you relate here is an absolute nightmare. You tell us that people, “the bad boys”, rampaged in criminal fashion to loot and steal when folks where already at their wits’ end with fear over the disease. What you and your small youthful community achieved was wonderful. It’s especially gratifying because the camaraderie endured beyond the crisis.
Thank you so much for the lovely feedback and for coming around.
Living in constant threat and fear is such a terrible thing. I won't wish it on anyone. There was a shootout in my street today. This post just tells the determination people have especially when they come together against a common fear. Thanks for sharing
Oh so sorry, I hope no life was lost. Living in fear is such a terrible feeling.
Thanks for visiting.
Nice, you were brave to have joined those you didn't know at night. If the bad boys had come out despite your threat songs, I hope those strangers wouldn't run and leave you behind? 😃😃😃. But thank God nothing bad happened and till date you are still friends
Haha, I knew I was safe since my cousin was there too. Thanks for visiting.
So like this now you don get morale to catch hoodlums? Lol
That was a brave thing to do, joining hands with others to protect your community. Kudos to you.
#dreemport #dreemerforlife
Haha, my sister, they don teach me to dey strong o
Thanks a bunch.
I think we experienced this theft thing here too. And what beautiful bond was created amongst you all. This reminds me of a time when something like this happened during the crisis of Boko Haram
#dreemerforlife
Yeah, and even the end Sars period, how long was formed in a short while by total strangers.
Thanks for the visit.
I guess this is what they call friends by strange encounter 😅, reading this brought back a lot of strange and painful memories of the COVID 19 lock down, a part of me felt like I have forgotten but I guess not.
That was a good and courageous act done by the youth leader of your community, a lot of places could have really used the help of someone like that, a lot of people became victims of petty theft, robbery and rape during the COVID 19 lockdown. Those were hard times.
Pop in from #dreemport #dreemerforlife
Yeah, it was so courageous of Yusuf to call out the youth, the atrocities were becoming too much.
Thanks for your visit.
Your story has been selected as one of the best of the week and is part of the Magazine's 120th Featured Author
Thank you very much for your efforts. We enjoy the development of your work. Keep writing!Congratulations, @amiegeoffrey ! https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-highlights-magazine-120
Thank you.