Love and kindness; spread it.

I was traveling with my friend when our car broke down along the way. It was our first time journeying through that road. The road was very lonely and densed with roadside forest. Branches of trees from either side of the road shake one another above the narrow but tarred road.

I was scared of the quiet nature of the road. We decided to leave that spot as soon as possible in order to locate any nearby town so that we could invite a mechanic to help us fix the car. We took all our valuable documents from the car and we stood at the roadside waving the passing vehicles.

One thing I noticed was that the vehicles passing would increase their speed when approaching us. None cared to stop to render assistance.

"These people are mean. Imagine how they neglect people in distress." My friend remarked.

"I am not getting what is happening. Let's be a little more patient and see what happens next." I responded to him.

We continued waving for another thirty minutes without getting any response. The sun is setting and the birds are back in their nest with attendant cheeping. We were becoming frustrated but we kept waving at the passing vehicles to see if anyone would stop to assist us.

A few minutes later, a car parked about 100 meters away from where we were standing. The car stood in the position for a few seconds before reversing to meet us. The car parked and a young lady came out from it. He was alone in the car. She scanned through our bodies from head to toe as she walked towards us.

"What are you people doing here?" She asked us while still keeping a few meters away from us.

"Our car developed a problem and we have been trying to stop a vehicle that could either take us to the nearest town or render any possible assistance but none stopped for the past an hour."

"They won't stop. I know." She interjected.

I was stunned by that statement and I asked why the drivers won't stop.

"This area is notorious for armed robbery. They have used this tactic to rob unsuspecting vehicles many times. The road users have been advised to maintain a high speed without stopping for any reason. This advice was given to prevent people falling prey to the armed robbers."

"How come that you stopped for us? Taking the risk?" My friend asked her.

"Right from the day that people were being sensitized against stopping to render any help along this road, I knew that some innocent help seekers who genuinely need the help would be negatively affected. I heeded to the advice.

"However, as I saw you guys, my instinct told me that these guys are truly in need of help. I parked and looked deeply through my rear mirror and I was more convinced as a result."

After listening to everything from her, I was short of words to appreciate her for listening to her perfect and risk-free intuition at that particular point.

We hopped into her car and he drove us to the next town, 15 kilometers away and which happened to be her residential town.

"We need to get your car out of there as soon as possible. Mechanic can't fix it again tonight. Let's get a towing vehicle to tow it to town for safety."

She took us to the driver of the towing vehicle. They spoke in their dialect and I couldn't hear what they discussed.

"I have described the place for him. He will go with some security personnel to tow the vehicle."

"What is the service cost?"

"Don't worry about that. I have settled it."

I was surprised at such a level of kindness to total strangers. I later heard the details of how dreaded that spot where our vehicle spoiled was. That the lady could risk it to assist us was unexpected.

When the vehicle arrived and parked at a mechanic workshop, she took us to her family house, introduced us as her friends and we were given first class treatment. She booked a hotel room for us to spend the night.

The following morning, she came to meet us with a delicious breakfast. We sat for a few minutes to chat before going to where we had our car.

"I never knew people like you still exist. I lack words to appreciate your love and kindness."

She responded to me by going to memory lane to share her experience and her vow to serve as vessel of love to whomever she comes across that needs assistance.

"My dad was shot by an armed robber." She began while cleaning her face of drops of tears. "We took him to the hospital and the health officials refused to attend to him until they got a police report to show that he wasn't an armed robber himself. We pleaded with them to save his life first and later make him answer for any criminal activity traced to him. They looked the other way and that was how my father lost too much blood and died as a result.

"Since that day, I vow to show love and kindness to people in distress. I took a risk in your own case but I did that after listening to my instinct. Many people couldn't make it medically, emotionally or psychologically because they were denied the required love and support. I have dedicated the rest of my life to this kind of action."

We exchanged phone numbers and we became friends. We got our fixed car some hours later and left the town.

Till this moment, we are still very good friends. She taught me to spread love to not just the people that I know but also strangers.