A Neighbourhood of Generosity: Where Kindness Abounds

My neighbourhood is a quiet place and I love that everyone is minding their businesses except for the greetings every time we jam ourselves outside. The way the building where I live is built makes everyone keep to themselves and there is no noise or distraction anywhere.

There are like 4 upstairs that lead to different apartments. Mine is situated in the backyard with lots of rocks and bushes, and another is in the front yard facing the road, there are other two which lead to the same apartment; that's where my pastor lives. One could go through the front upstairs and allow them to pass through the sitting room first while the other upstairs is in the backyard which leads to the kitchen directly.

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Everyone is friendly, kind and easy to interact with, but being a gentle and low-key person, sometimes they ask if I travel because I don't go outside. I may be inside for two days without stepping out of my room and no one would know I am at home.

On other days, I go out in the evening when I need to charge my phone at my pastor's place or just want to see what is happening outside, this is different from going to weekly church activities when I need to and that is when most of my neighbours know I am at home.

There are children in my neighbourhood whom I organize home lessons for every 3 days in the week which are Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They are fun to be with and their parents are accommodating too. Many times, I receive items from them as a way of appreciation and it makes my living here kind of interesting.

There are days when I go to my pastor's house to charge, the wife would give me yam, a bag of pure water and other foodstuffs telling me if I ever needed something, I should not hesitate to ask them because they know I don't talk or ask for anything. The wife would keep insisting I must ask anything because according to her, since they are ministers of God, church members bring in lots of foodstuffs for them and having in excess, they are willing to dash out to those who may need it.

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One beautiful thing is that I don't know how to ask someone to give me food or something else, but I receive with thanks when they give me. Like the other day, I didn't know I had run out of onions and it was when I had put beans on the gas that I realised I didn't have any. Getting such items around the area is difficult except you would take a bike to the main market to get those stuff and I only visit the market once a week or even in 2 to 3 weeks, that is when I want to buy in bulk.

I needed an onion urgently, so I ran to my neighbour, the one whose apartment is facing the main road as my kitchen window leads to a part of their apartment which is an open space for other things like washing and cooking. Thankfully, I met the mother at home and instead of just requesting the onion, I went ahead explaining my situation and giving unnecessary excuses as to how I didn't know my onions got finished - I felt shy asking for such things seriously 😅

Maybe she was happy that I came to ask for something for the first time or seeing that I was a corper in the building, I don't want to know, but her generosity melted my heart when she gave me 3 big onions, more than one that I requested. I felt so happy that I could ask and would be given.

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There was another time I needed some corn to make with beans and I stood outside waiting for hawkers to pass by but none showed up. I told the children that were around that if they saw anyone selling corn, they should come and call me. A few minutes later, a neighbour knocked on my door and as I opened it, she handed me 3 full maize that were harvested from their farm.

I didn't know how well to thank her because it was what I needed. Perhaps she overheard me telling the kids about corn or that they unconsciously told her that I needed at that point, I was grateful for such kindness.

Some days ago, I was so excited when the pastor's wife gave me 6 eggs when I went to charge at their place. I couldn't stop thanking her for such generosity to me. I got inside and added them to the ones I have at home making me have more eggs to enjoy for a few more days. Seriously, buying eggs now is so expensive and seeing an additional 6 from my neighbour brought joy to me.

Apart from my neighbours that I live with, I don't have any relationship elsewhere since I don't go out except when it calls for it. Living such a simple life has been one I have been used to for many years and I am comfortable with it.

My neighbourhood, though a boring and local one, I still enjoy it for the quiet atmosphere, everyone doing their thing with no disturbances and showing generosity to those around them makes it more enjoyable for me. The children are so much fun as I welcome everyone into my apartment whenever they show up.

They would call me, "Aunty Corper" 😀 and they are always excited being around me because of how they know once they come over, there is always something to give to them but when I need to scold some of them, I don't refrain from doing that and they comport themselves too. That is all I can say about my neighbours and neighbourhood.

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