THE EVENT THAT SHAPED MY

T H E E V E N T T H A T S H A P E D M Y

PERSONALITY personal essay David Akindipe // 12

It was a normal Saturday morning in all the casualties that happened while I was Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria. The weather unconscious were there in reality, causing was very hot and there was no power to me to think that some part of the thing operate our cooling system. My family had about the demons actually happened. My just finished praying. My dad was at work neighbor had to find a way to get me out. and my mom was taking care of my sister As a five-year-old kid, I was really and me. The heat inside the house was terrified. All I could hear was the sound unbearable, so I took a walk outside. of my mother and other people in the

Our neighborhood had a very deep well neighborhood screaming in fear, causing me next to my house. That was how we got our to panic, and then all of a sudden it all went water to shower because, let’s not forgot, this black. I was taken to our general hospital. I is Africa. The well wasn’t covered, leaving it then woke up with all these tubes attached exposed. The well had always intrigued me, and it didn’t make sense to me because I had just like Winnie the Pooh and his delightful never been to the hospital other than when I honey. My parents did not allow kids to go had jaundice. near it because of the danger it presented. I had just woken up while they were This was my opportunity to see what my injecting something into my wound and I parents were trying to hide from me. I did had never felt something hurt so much, other not get it at first until I looked down the well, than a rejection, of course. There I had and my heart sank. family friends come and visit and it assured

All of a sudden I started to hear an echo me that people still cared. I was in the and, as a 5-year-old kid, I was so intrigued. hospital for three days receiving treatment. As I looked down, all I could see was how The last at the hospital I had to get an x-ray dark and deep it was. Then, all of a sudden, because I broke some bones in my foot and I had fallen into this abyss. It was like I had some dents in my skull but all I cared was looking at myself as I was falling. My about was that I was okay and I didn’t die. head was hitting the surrounding areas, I was too young to understand how lucky I causing me to lose consciousness. Then all was, but I was glad to be back home. of a sudden it was like a fight between the The major problem that this event caused demons of death and “I had never been so fearful in my for me was trauma. I had never been so me. I remember a bunch of creatures whole tiny life. I was fearful in my whole tiny life. I was afraid of the dark, driving, even similar to demons scratching me and afraid of the dark, driving, leaving my house. Growing up it made me an introvert. my clothes, and leaving me for dead. It was like a movie even leaving my house.” I never tried talking to people about my and I was floating around in the water and experience because it made me sound all of a sudden a gigantic hand lifted me up insane. This incident caused people to use like something that can only be seen in sci-fi clarity my middle name (David) more because the movies. I then came back into reality and story is about a little boy who beat the odds