Do you know what it feels like getting stuck in the middle of the sea? This was the experience of the volunteers on another adventurous day on the high sea.
Just like the way you crave for things you love and you are always prepared to chase them when given the opportunity, so it was for the volunteers as information was dispersed about an upcoming outreach.
The excitement and determination they showed as they set out to scout and verify the beneficiaries and location reflected also in packaging the palliatives – the attitude shows that people are passionate about volunteering.
It was another outreach; this time on a Friday, the Reach foundation with Burna Boy as the main sponsor of the outreach at Opobo, Rivers state, the Niger Delta part of Nigeria.
Opobo is best described as a place surrounded by a beautiful Island and there is a boundary between Opobo town and Akwa Ibom state. The town is made up of different communities. They are; Queenstown, Kalasunju and Oloma, Ayaminimah, Iloma, Minimah, Okpukpo, Iwoma, Ekereborokiri, Kalaibiama and Epellema. The outreach by the Foundation was at Queenstown and Epellema.
Volunteers trooped in their numbers to the briefing venue, organized themselves in a convoy and set out to Opobo, it was a beautiful ride and one of the farthest so far since the inception of the foundation.
Finally we arrived at the jetty at Opobo and as usual the energetic and happy volunteers offloaded the palliatives from the van and placed them in different boats as we shared ourselves into two groups since the outreach was in two different locations in Opobo, Epellema and Queenstown.
In a short while we were done with the onloading from the van and loading on the boats and we sailed off to the two different communities. It was a fun and smooth ride for the volunteers heading to Queenstown and Epellema, though we had some hiccups in the sea as we battled with the turbulent waves.
The people of Epellema and Queenstown were really friendly and accommodating and were willing to tell their stories. An elderly chief told us the beautiful story of Queenstown and England; they rejoiced as they heard that the outreach was sponsored by their son Burna boy as they danced to his beats and never stopped praying for Burna Boy who made it possible.
The outreach was successful, we didn’t experience any challenge trying to control the crowd, and communication wasn’t a problem as we spoke their native language.
Though it was successful but sailing back to the jetty from Epellema for the volunteers wasn’t easy as they experienced something that instilled fear in their hearts: the engine of their boat developed a fault on high sea but the boats stayed afloat. These were the words of a frightened volunteer: “our hearts were beating faster than the speed of light but thankfully a boat was sent to rescue them”.
To the Glory of God, we left Opobo as fulfilled volunteers after impacting lives and sharing in the real life experiences of the Opobo people.
Thank you, Burna Boy and for always showing up for the people.
