A Positive Example of Community

This past weekend, I travelled by train from Lagos to Abeokuta and back again. It was exciting and I had a grand time!

On my train on the way back, I had an experience that has left an impact on me.

There was a fracas relating to tickets (I believe the train attendants sold more tickets than there were seats on the train; more on that later). As a result, I had to sit on a seat other than the one assigned to me, between 2 people, one of whom had a little baby.

Scarcely had I sat for up to 2 minutes before said baby starts cooing at me, reaching doggedly for my phone, smiling drooling smiles at me and being so darn adorable. I loooove babies and am always excited to play with them, but this day I would have rather just stayed on my phone and taken my Duolingo course to wind down. But the baby kept reaching for me and when a baby reaches for you, you drop what you're doing and pick them up. It's the law.

So with
permission from her mum, I took my new friend Erioluwa in my arms and played with her, eventually watching nursery rhymes with her on YouTube (wanna know if you're ready to be a parent? Well, how many times can you watch a 4-minute high-pitched rendition of 10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed before your brains liquefy?)

Eri's mum was obviously happy to be getting a break from her 'fulltime job' like my best friend will say. She took some time to catch up with work on her phone and later just to breathe and get lost in her thoughts. Then we noticed another baby about 1 row ahead of us. The child's mother and Eri's mum made some conversation and the babies were very interested in each other.

Before I knew what was happening, Hench Baby's mum (no, the kid was built! like a brickhouse) was handing him over to Eri's mum, thanking God for the break she was getting from her weight-lifting baby.

Suddenly, I was struck by the beauty of what was happening in that moment. Here were 3 women from different walks of life with with no prior knowledge of each other, standing in solidarity, forming an unspoken community where burdens are shared and joy is easily disseminated. 

In many civil unions and marriages, the burden of child-rearing is borne absolutely by the mother with rarely any respite. But on this fateful day, 3 women stood together; relying on each other, counting on the kindness of each other, and sharing their precious babies with a travel-weary aunty.

PS: My moments with Eri were 10 times better than any Duo lesson could ever be!