A Leap Of faith - I got my limbs back

I love Nigeria my country. I love it in all of its languages, food and cultures. I love it even more for the happy nature of its people, no matter how bad things get. Or how else would it have been voted the country with the happiest people? However, I wish my country could do more in all areas; Health, Education, Basic Infrastructure, Power and many others instead our leaders are every other day standing in front of panels defending trillions of Naira that went missing.

Today as always, I write to you as a mouthpiece of the everyday Nigerian, hoping that you’ll share this story with your friends.

Or how else would I have been able to tell this story of a man who took a leap of faith on a limb that would have been amputated here in Nigeria but got instant medical treatment in another man’s country.

This is about a man who despite a rotting limb, was able to get on a plane to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. Usually on such journeys, one is required to present a clean bill of health. This man, by sheer fate, or maybe, he was able to evade the system, got through. It could be his distrust of the Nigerian health system or perhaps someone told him the “salvation” he needed can only be got in Arabia, either way, he got on the plane as a Hajj pilgrim from Ogun State, Nigeria.

Those who saw him before departure shook their heads in pity. They probably wondered why he still had the leg. “Isn’t it better to be healthy with half a limb than be unhealthy with one bad leg eating one’s life away?” they perhaps admonished.

On getting to Saudi Arabia, this man promptly reported himself to medical personnel. Unlike Nigeria where you have to first go get a hospital card, then wait hours on a queue before you see medical personnel to attend to you, those weren’t the case. Immediately, the medical personnel, on examining the leg, realized it needed urgent surgery. In no time, an ambulance was called in.

Saudi Arabia which is a country known for its great hospitality to visitors also has a policy of free health care for its citizens and, wait for it, visitors. However whether this happens all the time or it’s just for people on Hajj, I can’t confirm. But if you’re visiting the country on Hajj, and you somehow “develop” any illness, slight or serious, ofe n’igbala (meaning salvation is free).

It was in a manner such as this that this man got admitted into the hospital. Despite this, the medical personnel were considerate enough to understand that his hajj obligations have to be performed. So they made sure to take him to every point in a medical ambulance complete with a medical team on ground to give him immediate medical attention where necessary. AT ZERO COST!

Needless to say, this man arrived back in Nigeria, not just with two legs. He walked out of the plane on his two feet.

If this man accomplished nothing on Hajj this year, he’ll remember that it gave him back the use of his leg. Where many died and some still unaccounted for, he came back better than he left. Whoever this story is about, wherever you are, I hope I have been able to do justice to this as best as a very far third party could…

Based on a true life story.

#Stories