It was another one of those days.
Dayo Jegede was stuck at his friend’s house on a Friday evening, and there was no electric power to do anything. He had been staying with Akin ever since the academia at the university had gone on strike for over five months already. Like millions of Nigerian students, he had tried to invest his attention in online courses and eventually in remote freelance graphic design jobs. Yet, any progress he could have made was affected by the erratic power supply in their area. He was two days late on a flyer design he was meant to send to a client in Norway, his laptop battery was down, his phone battery was teetering on 1%, and Akin’s nonchalant singing in the other room was beginning to get irritating.
Dayo slammed his laptop shut and stomped over to Akin’s room. “Guy, this thing dey tire me,” he said. “I just dey tire.”
Akin smiled. “How e no go ‘Tyre’ you? Oya, come ‘Sidon’ for my side. Make we talk.”
Dayo hissed. “I dey yarn you correct thing, you dey use me crack joke. I swear, I suppose knock you for head.”
“Alright, alright. Sorry. You never eat since, na why you dey frustrated.”
“Abeg, leave that side. I need to get this thing. You get fuel for gen?”
Akin winced. “I suppose buy, but the price don go up. So I no—”
“But them still go sell, shei?” He turned his flashlight to the clock, confirming that the time was a few minutes to 9pm.
“Well … but e go cost o.”
Dayo clapped. “Oya, do fast. Make we go buy fuel. Please, I go add money on top.”
He was well aware that his account was deep in the red, but now he was desperate.
Akin winked. “What if they don close?”
Dayo really did not have the time for banter, so he clenched his fists to ease the pressure that was building up in his arms. “Akin … please…”
Akin did not need further convincing. Within minutes, they were already walking down their street to get to the filling station along the main road. From the houses around them, they could hear the racket of other residential generators, providing electric power for their domiciles. It dawned on him that it had been a long time since they had experienced a truly silent night in their neighborhood.
Another result of this problematic country, he mused, hissing under his breath.
“Have you noticed that the sky is brighter tonight,” Akin asked.
Dayo turned to him. “Hmm?”
“The sky? It’s supposed to be dark, but because of the full moon, it seems a lot brighter.”
Dayo never ceased to be amazed at how Akin always seemed to keep an upbeat disposition despite all they were going through. It bordered on annoying most times, so Akin never dwelt on it.
They met a long queue of cars at the station, and a couple of people with their kegs ready to purchase fuel. Dayo wanted to curse someone, to let off some of the pent-up anger that had been building up within him. It did not help that the other folks in line were discussing the state of insecurity in the country, and the seeming futility of the forthcoming elections.
“All of them are liars,” a pudgy man said. “They only want to fill their own pockets.”
“Abi o,” another added. “None of these politicians can even tell us their plan. The money they used to buy their form, where did they get it, sef?”
“It’s not all of them that have no plan o,” yet another added, and he proceeded to explain why his candidate was the best of all the presidential aspirants. That led to another person praising his own candidate, extolling his effectiveness in potentially changing things.
On and on, the conversation continued while Dayo just shut his eyes and tried to keep his breathing even. He could hear Akin humming somewhere behind him. Neither of them enjoyed engaging in political arguments, especially in these times. They all hoped for better days, but ‘the sufferings of these times’ were so not comparable to ‘the glory’ they hoped would follow. It felt very hard to even hope, sometimes.
It took them close to 30 minutes before they could buy fuel, and they were soon on their way home. Dayo was hungry now, but what was primary on his mind was completing the design job on time. Akin was still humming.
Dayo could not hold it in any longer. “This country is the weapon fashioned against me,” he said. “I hate it here. I just hate it here.”
Akin placed a hand on his shoulder. “Guy…”
“And don’t try to make it sound better,” Dayo snapped.
Akin nodded. “You’re right. It feels hopeless. Many things aren’t working. It can be annoying and frustrating, and so discouraging.” They walked on in silence for a moment. “But do you know what I do, Dayo?”
Dayo arched a brow. “How you dey do am, sef?”
Akin pursed his lips. “I try to keep my mind on what God has done and what God is doing. And I’m thankful…”
Dayo hissed. “Guy, I know that stuff. But in the real world—“
“Real? What’s real? If I complain and mope, what does that give me? Even if issues change or I leave the country, there would always be one problem or the other. But God never changes. He is more real than the problems around us.”
Dayo was not ready to engage on that topic. “You make it sound as if it’s easy.”
“Trust me, man, it’s not always easy. It’s why I sing or listen to songs that keep my heart in that place. ‘A broken spirit dries up the bones, but a merry heart is good medicine’.”
Dayo smirked. “I think you just twisted that verse?”
“Did I? Oh I think I did…”
“But, Akin, this thing hard, true true.”
“Shebi you’re a child of God? And the fruit of God’s Spirit in us is Joy. It doesn’t matter what happens around us, He can help us to be joyful. Joy is a gift. The joy of the Lord is your…”
They were already approaching their apartment, so Dayo ignored him. He hurried towards the generator to fill it with fuel.
“Your strength,” Akin finished. “Come on, man, you left me hanging there.”
“Let us get light first,” Dayo said. “We can continue Sunday School after that.”
Akin helped as they poured in the fuel from the keg into the generator. Dayo could not wait to get back to work. So even though when he pulled on the generator cord it did not come on, he knew that it was just a minor issue. He pulled on the cord again…
…
…and this time, it cut.
For a moment the friends stared in utter shock as what they had thought would be their hope of electricity for the evening was snuffed out before their very eyes. They would have to wait till morning before they could get an engineer to fix this. Dayo stared at the broken cord in his hands, with no plan or course of action coming to mind.
With nothing left to do, he turned to Akin, whose hands were on his head. In the silence that followed, the inevitability of it all dawned on them, and they burst into laughter.
For Dayo, it was a nervous laughter of exhaustion, as the realization that there was nothing more he could do about his problems. Yet the more he laughed, the harder it became to stop laughing. The laughter made him feel lighter, like there was nothing more he could do. He was out of control as he sank to his knees and pounded the ground with his fist, choking on hysterics.
“Why you dey beat the ground?” Akin said between guffaws. “Wetin the floor do you, na?”
Dayo managed to make out the words, “Why are we laughing? We dey mad?”
“Don’t you see, Dayo? God is with us! Everything don mess up, but we can still laugh! We still have Joy. Isn’t that something to be grateful for?”
Dayo did not feel the confidence Akin professed, but at that moment, he wished he did. God had given them reasons to smile and laugh and, even now when things seemed bleak, he could still laugh.
Electric power was not restored that night, and Dayo had to turn in the design the next day. However, even though nothing changed, Dayo’s burdened heart was a little lighter that evening.
And that, he realized, was something to be thankful for.
THE END
Hi there, dear reader. Many times we go through situations that impose the bleakness of the times on our consciousness. The news seems choked with bad news many times, and it many times looks as though things are just getting worse around us.
But God is still in control. He’s still got the whole world in His hands. His Spirit within you can keep you Joyful. Happiness is based on what ‘happens’, but Joy is irrespective of what happens. In His joy there is strength to keep on standing, strength to do what you need to do, and you are lightened to even hear and see the wisdom and direction He may be showing you out of the darkness.
I pray that you find reasons to laugh, my friend, and that you keep on laughing. Be strengthened.
Did this bless you?
Have you had a similar experience you would like to share?
Do you need someone to pray with you in what you’re going through?
Please share and let me know in the comments. You just might be a blessing to someone here. Trust me, we all need it.
Emmanuel Onimisi 