SEC-S30W1: Anecdotes that teach: (A Broken Trust and A Painful Betrayer)

---

Hi friends, welcome to my blog. I decided to hop into this challenge because I found this topic interesting, of course I've got so much to share, I really do not know where to start from but I'll try and make it simple and as brief as possible.

Introduction.
Life teaches us lesson whether we know it or not. Some lessons are learnt either the hard or soft way. If you get your lesson the hard way, you might not be able to forget in a long while, some might even stay with you forever. I leant one hard lesson experientially some years back.

I'm glad I've gotten over the experience but have I gotten over the lesson? Definitely not, it still haunts me every now and then and this reminder keeps me in check any time I am becoming complacent. Let me give you the full gist.

How it all Started.

It was a remarkable and beautiful year for me, the year was just starting and was barely into the first quarter when my long awaited mobilization letter for NYSC came. I was going to be leaving home to northern part of my country, a journey that would take more than a day journey if you're novice on the road.

I was excited, not because I knew where I was going or what I was going to experience there but I was just positive and put my trust in God who is the only person I knew would journey with me and stay with me even as I stay for my 1 year compulsory service.

It wasn't long before i met people like me from various far locations and somehow we bonded, we were connected in a way, some came from the very place I came from while other came from very far place like the east. We knew we were all we've got over there and we've got to live as family.

We began to move together, vibe together, carry out our duties and responsibilities as defined by Nysc (National Youth Service Corps). We would go for community development service. Not something pleasant though because we had to do so many menial stuffs in the environment such as sweeping and cleaning public spaces such market, drainages, health care centers and so on...

But we considered all these fun because we were all together. All these activities gave us the opportunity to bond even more because we started knowing one another better. We knew the lazy ones, the hardworking once, the ones with leadership qualities, the ones with brilliant idea and so on and somehow we enjoyed our company

During days of clearance we all come together from our different and various location scattered around our PPA (primary place of assignment). Not everyone of us live together in the lodge, only some of us do, especially those whose place of assignment has lodges for corps member. Other folks live far outside their PPA but during clearance we all come together.

I said of these to say we became so close, and somehow we began to trust ourselves because we felt safe in our company, we believe none of us is capable enough to hurt the other based on the love and trust we have built amongst ourselves. This was actually my undoing, I trusted so much and it cost me so much than I can imagine.

What really happened...

On one fateful day, during a period when we are all making travel plans back to our various location after a successful service year. I let one of my colleagues into my room while I was taking my shower, she asked to see one of the item I had bought to take home to my parents who were eagerly waiting to see me.

While I was trying to describe the location of the item in my room right from the bathroom where I was, I didn't know she had already spotted the money I kept in my wardrobe. She must have felt it to know it was a bundle I had in there. This was the same money I had struggle to gather because at the time, we were suffering from scarcity of cash due to the election saga in the country at the time.

She pretended not to have seen the money and then told me she had seen what I bought and then left the room. She didnt pick the money at that instance because she knew I would find out immediately I step into my room from the bathroom but guess what, she waited till I was out, found her way into my room and then took the money...

How did she get in, that would be a story for another day, smiles. The part I do not like to always share. "Trust" made me do some silly things, and I paid for it dearly.
When I discovered my money had been stolen alongside my charger and power bank, I decided to talk to her amicably knowing she was the only one who knew I had money and of course the only colleague in the lodge. She played some funny trick saying her room was also broken into and her stuffs stolen as well.

She turned the whole scenario into an argumentative and quarrelsome situation just to save her face. The authorities got involved but the procedure of handling such situation would require that we all are grounded for maybe a month or two before they get to the root. I didnt want to go through all of that, my sister was getting married in about a week time, and I didn't want to miss it knowing fully well that the wedding was scheduled on the said day so I can be part if it.

It was a timely and strategic blow. I had to count my loss and take heart, I felt bad for days which spanned into month, thinking about how foolish I was to have trusted that my colleague who I had a special like for. I felt the back stab and betrayer. If it had been a random person, It wouldn't hurt so deep, but it was done to me by someone who should have protected me from such...

The lesson still lives with me, I find it a bit hard to trust today, although my personality still give room for trust but now with a constant reminded of my last experience, this then keeps me in check and help me not to overstep the boundaries I've marked out for myself.

This is the lesson I learnt during my service year and it was a hard one. As I type this I have this urge to reach out to that lady because ever since we departed over 3 years now we have not reached out to each other, this to me feels like I've not healed completely, it seems to me like I still have this subtle dislike for her which I wouldn't want to hold on to...

Everything is now in the past, I should let go, she should let go too. Just an "hello" would just be enough to make my heart perfect towards her and the whole incidence. Let me wrap up here. I trust you learnt a thing or two from my experience. Thank for staying till the end.
Gracias!

Regards
@lhorgic❤️