Chronicles of Babushkaba: Chapter 1.

Travelling the world had always been a dream for Babs. Don't be fooled by the tittle, Babs is short for Babalola. Babs left home at the age of Eighteen and from the streets of Sapele he ended up traveling the far reaches of the earth. For now, those are stories for another time. I was simply an associate to Babs, barely a footnote in his story, (though he might say otherwise) and after seeing his antics and the ways he used to get in and out of trouble, but yet he was the unsung legend I have decided to tell you about. This is the story of Babs and how he came to be called, Babushkaba. So sit back, take a cup of tea and relax. It's going to be a long journey.

According to Babs, he left his home on a Sunday morning because as poor as his people were they always ran around preparing for church and he wasn't an avid believer in religion. He did agree that there was a higher power but he didn't particularly think any religion had the best idea about who or what this higher power was and what it could do. He left on a Sunday because he didn't want to say goodbye to his parents. they worked hard for him to be a doctor but that's not what he wanted. He slipped out the house early Sunday but he met his mom in the parlor and she said to him in her heavily accented yoruba,

"Babalola, my son, I have always known your heart was not here with us and that your mind has been on the world around you, but are you sure leaving us is the right choice to make? You're barely a man and I hate to think of what will happen to you on the streets of this our country if you leave us, why don't you stay until you're older?" she looked upon him imploringly, in that way a mother looks at her children and makes them give in to her wishes.

Babs almost gave up his dreams right there and then because he had expected to have to shout and fight for freedom if he was caught but after she spoke so calmly he began to think, maybe he was being foolish, he thought. Then it came to him, this same woman, his mother, had always told him to follow his dreams so why should he delay now?

so he replied in his own yoruba which was much lighter than hers, he said "Maami, I have to go. If I don't, I won't be happy and maami, I want to be happy. I promise ma, I'll come back to you" saying this he hugged her goodbye and turned to leave. She grabbed him and held him for even longer as if memorizing his feel and she began praying for him under her breath with tears in her eyes. After sometime she let him go and she told him to go before his father and siblings woke up.

He walked to the door and with one last look he left the house. He never went back, and he only saw his family once after that. 

After leaving his home, basically an hut which he shared with his parents and 4 other siblings, Babs took one half of his savings (the other half was under his bed for his family to find), he went down the street to the park knowing he had been to basically everywhere in Lagos helping his father based on the nature of his job as a carpenter and because he also worked for a lot of high profile clients. He could have given them better living conditions, but he'd invested all the money in their education and for this, Babs was grateful, but it was time for change and this change came in form of heading to the bus park, doing the Nigerian mini-mini-mynee-mo. and he ended up on a bus going to Jos, paid his  transport and got in. He sat between an hausa man and another yoruba man, there was also a goat in their row, you could guess who it belonged to, yes, you guessed wrong. it belonged to the yoruba man. After about two hours, the bus took of and the story of Babs began.