Charity Wednesday April 17 2013

Slowly but surely the year is ticking by. I woke 30 minutes ahead of my alarm. Now I wake my alarm and not the other way round. I go to work early these days too. As I was dressing up to leave, Ibe offered me fruits. I ate apple and carrot before leaving. There was a bit of traffic, it has become a recurring decimal in the morning unlike before. It was when I got to that I realized how easily I fell into the temptation of eating the apple and carrot in the middle of my fast. It never crossed my mind at all in the morning. Oh damn! How could I have forgotten?

This is what Igbos call ''Ihe oma na-asa afo'' meaning a good deed that purges the stomach literally. I prayed I should make such mistake again. The South Africa trip is for tomorrow so we were putting finishing touches to their plan. A plan that left me out. I prepared a few letters, scanned a few documents, worked on my blog, etc. I spent some time trying to think. I did think but I’m not getting any vibes yet. I don’t even know which particular dimension to channel the thought. Our office is located in an office complex housing other offices.

Earlier when I went to Mr. Tunji's office for a particular document, I noticed one woman carrying a baby along the passage. I didn’t think anything about the sight. I lost track of the time that passed before I saw her again. This time I was coming into the compound and she was leaving. She approached me and asked for N1000. All I had in my pocket was N1000. First I was like this woman has some nerve to ask me for N1000 commonly like she was asking for N10. Oh well judging how good I look and dress, N1000 should be nothing for me right. I probably own one of the cars littering the compound. At that moment that was my all but I had a very strong faith that God will provide.

I paid attention to her because I have seen her before. I don’t know what her mission was though. If it were those boys/girls, men/women that hang on the roadside begging as a full time profession, I wouldn’t have looked at her. Those crooked professional beggars make hard for you to know who is really stranded and needs help. Because of that, I always ignore those roadside beggars that keep begging for money to complete their transportation fare. I gave her N500 cuz the money was two N500 notes. I could've given less if it were in lower denomination.

Later around 3:30pm Ugo gave me cheque for N19000 to cover the money aero took from me during the booking that went wrong. Instantly I remembered the N500 I gave away. Going spiritual now, this could be my reward for giving out N500 lol. Call it good karma. It was late to cash the cheque today so it triumphantly entered my to-do list chart for tomorrow at the numero uno spot.