Hostel Changed Me!!!

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As humans, we really have no idea the amount of influence the actions of other people have on our decision-making. In the same way, our actions also influence that of others as well. You could do something and not really think much about it, but there will be someone who will be really touched and will decide to reciprocate it to someone else.

This is not isolated to doing good deeds. Even doing bad things can have that effect. Seeing someone you look up to act one way can influence you to act in the same way even when you know that it’s not the right thing to do. Such is life, and that’s why karma is real because everything you do will always find its way back to you. Whether good or bad.

In my own case, I’ve also been helped out by someone and I also transferred the love to someone else and it created a trend that was good and sustainable for close to a year.

This was during my ND. I was a fresher, I was just out from under my parents and I was still giddy with the responsibility of being in charge of everything that had to do with me. Especially in the aspect of finances. Now, I was getting monthly allowances to take care of all my school bills. I was just your average student who was happy to be out of the house.

Or maybe I was too happy because the very first allowance that I got was a complete miss for me! I blew through it as if there was no tomorrow. The thing is, I blew through it for a good reason, I spent it all on textbooks. As the lecturers were coming to class and introducing their textbooks, I brought out money and paid for them; one after the other.

Before I knew it, I had textbooks, but I didn’t have food or provisions except the ones I came to school with from home. Now, in my ND1, I stayed in the boy’s hostel, and cooking wasn’t allowed so many of us had to rely on provisions. I was going to buy them during the weekend, but in the days preceding the weekend, I spent almost all the money on textbooks. So, I had books and nothing much to eat.

I knew I still had a long time before the next allowance would hit and I was hesitant to call home so they wouldn’t think I wasn’t mature enough to handle myself when I was all alone. It was going to be a long and tortuous journey for me. But as luck would have it, it wasn’t!

My roommate, Emmanuel really came through for me during that period. He helped me out with provisions, garri, and sometimes cash to buy food. It was a sacrifice he was making for me and I really appreciated him, if he had not I would have really starved during that first month of mine.

And as a result, when I saw just how kind someone could be to a stranger because Emma and I had literally just met. We only met because we were both assigned to the same room.

That action of his encouraged me to be selfless as well. If I had something that someone else needed, I was never hesitant to give it. I can’t even point out one specific incident because it’s something that happened on so many occasions. And then, just as I was giving, I was also receiving.

It got to a point where it was literally impossible to be hungry in the hostel, especially if you were on our floor and in our block. If you go from room to room, you’ll definitely see someone who has something you’re looking for and they’ll happily give it to you. Some people who want to cook illegally but have only rice would go from room to room to gather all the ingredients they need. Then, they’ll cook and almost everyone will eat.

It was in that hostel I saw what kindness really was. In there, we weren’t trying to compete with each other or show off, we were just simple students who wanted to get through our schooling. And we did it together. And everything I learned in that hostel has helped me to this day. I stay on my own now, off campus but I still try my best to be generous to my neighbors.

If it’s something as simple as a sachet of pure water, a bottle of engine oil, or money for malaria medicine, as long as I can afford it, I have no problem at all giving it. I don’t do it because I’m hoping that they’ll think fondly of me and help me out tomorrow if I need them, that would surely be nice. But then, it would be nicer if because of one thing I did, someone else benefitted by getting yet another kind gesture.

Being a nice person is really sweet. And when you’re surrounded by nice people, life will be easy. We shouldn’t really have any problems as humans, we’re just the ones doing it ourselves. Simple as that. But that won’t stop me, as long as I can help out, I always will.

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_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.}

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_{This post is inspired by the third topic of this week which is Don’t Break The Chain. Feel free to try it out.}

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_{N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.}

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