BLACK SUNDAY

Hello beautiful Hivers of our time, welcome to a glorious midweek.
I can't continue without thanking you for taking out your precious time to go through my contents.
Today,my heart is a bit heavy for the story am about to tell.

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Now there is a usual thing we celebrate here in my country Nigeria. We call it "Child dedication" or what the western world call "Christening", where we take our new born babies to church after three months of birth.

My neighbor, the Adebanjo's was to take their new born to church for dedication. We were all excited because we knew how challenging it was for them before the child finally came. They have been married for six years and have a little boy Tolu who is three years old. Mrs Adebanjo wanted to have another baby and a girl too this time. According to her, she and her husband had planned on giving birth to just two children. So she wanted to have a gender balance family. So when she knew the gender of her child, she was happy because it was her heart desire: a girl. But the trauma set in when the child passed her due date , we all knew how traumatized Mrs Adebanjo was as she was always coming to meet my partner for remedies to the situation. So when the news of her delivery came to us, we were overjoyed.

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The date that was fixed for the dedication was here and we were all getting ready for the celebration. The church service was fixed for 10am and I was getting ready to be there in time. My partner on the other hand was helping out in the cooking and so wasn't ready for the church service. In fact she already told me that she wouldn't be attending the church service. She however begged me to take plenty pictures of the church service for her.

I left for church with other neighbors alongside the couple. The church isn't far away from our house by the way. When we got to church, as I was about to get a seat, my phone vibrated. I checked and it was my partner that was calling. She asked me if I woke Tolu up. Before I left, Tolu was sleeping in my house. I didn't remember to wake him up so I rushed back to the house to take him back to church.

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Just as I was entering the gate of our compound, I heard noises coming from the house of the Adebanjo's . I ran and saw how the ladies cooking were struggling to bring out Tolu who had fallen into the big pot of pepper that they were cooking. I rushed to help them pull him out. When I finally pulled him out,the women poured him water to wash the pepper off his body while I rushed into my house to get my car key. I put him in my car and drove straight to the hospital.

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When we got to the hospital, there was no doctor on seat at that time. However the nurses on seat,placed him on oxygen as he was gasping for breathe. I was about calling Mr Adebanjo when I realized that I had lost my phone. So I borrowed a phone from one of the nurses to call my wife and tell her the hospital I had taken Tolu to. Few minutes later, the doctor came in. He went into the ward Tolu was admitted and came out almost immediately.

He called me and asked me if I was the child's father. I said his father was on his way here. He said he would love to talk to his father and he left. It wasn't up to 20 minutes the doctor left me, the Adebanjo's drove in.

I rushed to call the doctor since Tolu's parents were already here. The doctor called them into his office. I heard Mrs Adebanjo wailing. I went into the office and realized that Tolu had passed away.

I have been traumatized since then. If I had brought him out quickly enough maybe he would have survived. I am just in a state where I can't even comprehend anything anymore. The pain and trauma Mrs Adebanjo is going through everyday cannot be fathomed.

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Permit me,I cannot put up the actual pictures of this whole event, I just want to respect the dead and pay tribute to the Adebanjos'.

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This is still a shock to me because everything happened in my presence. Just all of a sudden,a bubbly celebration mood turned into a mourning day.

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To Tolu,I don't know why this happened,I cannot question God but in tears,I say may your soul continue to be with the lord, FAREWELL TOLU .

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