For more than forty days, Joseph and fourteen other able-bodied youths from various nations in Africa got lost in a desert, trying to enter Europe by foot, in search of a better life, which their various nations had failed to provide. Their vehicle had broken down in the middle of the journey, so that trekking was the only option they had, and going back was highly forbidden because home was never the best. In order words, it was better to die trying than to think going back. But after the fortieth day, two had lost strength out of dehydration and hunger, and died off on the road. Another two got devoured by a wild animal that attacked a makeshift camp they managed to build under duress when the journey became unbearable. And more fell out gradually like a torn clothe that got tired of staying with its faded parent fabric.


Hunger and thirst became their friends, and they survived like wild animals, eating and drinking from the desert, and their future became paralyzed because no one knew when his own death would strike like rapture, so that their life now depended on fate. They were also disconnected from the world, with no means of communicating back to those they left behind in their various home countries, and the only means they had to at least hear news of latest happenings in the world, a pocket radio, got silenced when its batteries ran out completely. Their parents, siblings, friends and girlfriends, were all forgotten, as they focused solely on their survival which was becoming more and more horrible as the clock ticked.


Joseph was the youngest amongst them, he was only twenty nine, and had joined the struggle of crossing to Europe by land and sea out of frustration. He was also amongst the three who were graduates, others are artisans, craftsmen and traders in their various countries, who had toiled fruitlessly for years in their home countries, and had taken this painful decision to travel to Europe by vehicle, passing through north Africa, were they would then board a smugglers’ canoe to either, Italy, Spain or France, and from there, they would head to their various destinations in Europe. But unfortunately, their vehicle had broken down at the middle of the journey, when it was impossible to go back, so that they were left with no other option than to continue on the path they have chosen; the path to trek to Europe by foot. And even if it was going to take them a whole year or decade, they wouldn’t mind so long as they get to their destination, it would be a justified effort......the story continues......

Another good story u hav got there.....enthralling,enticing,edifying and captivating with itz thought-provoking theme.....nice job dude.......

On the contrary,my only gripe about many forumites is dat d dnt comment afta reading a piece nt knowin how important their constructive criticism z .....dailynews.....we shal rock the naija young writerz club...

@Linus, God bless you abundantly....its so bad of we Nigerians....we hardly encourage ourselves to greatness....only like discussing irrelevant issues that hardly take us anywhere than infest more hate and tribalism....sighs...SMH...thanks once again Linus, hopefully we shall make a difference through that club by God's divine grace.

You have a good start here but be careful that you don't lose your readers by rambling too long.

We want to get to the action/conflict or dialogue quickly and later you can add some of these back stories.

@Myne, thanks, I have taken note of that...but how was the piece generally??

:oTouching §toryy,i jxt tik they were stewpid by nat going bk,i mean treking to Europe?!,sucidal[i]Touching §toryy,i jxt tik they were stewpid by nat going bk,i mean treking to Europe?!,sucidal[/i]Touching §toryy,i jxt tik they were stewpid by nat going bk,i mean treking to Europe?!,sucidal

@drimgal, u really need to finish the story...but I am afraid if it will be finished here though...maybe will be in the NYWC first annual anthology of original nigerian short stories coming very soon!

Sorry guys....here comes the story you had been patiently waiting for....thanks for your patience....really appreciate, but pls do drop feedback when you read, like that, I can improve and become more polished to entertain you the more....cheers!

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At the beginning of the journey, they chatted and laughed like friends, and those who couldn’t hear or speak English or Pidgin like the three guys from Togo and Benin, became spectators, while the others cracked jokes based on their national culture and tradition, and hence, the journey became sweet and lively to the extent that majority forgot the pains ahead. One of them, Iyawo, a Ghanaian and a tailor by profession, had told them about his struggles to make just one thousand cedes a day, which according to him, was as difficult as trying to pass thread through a needle’s eye. "I will work and work from morning till close to midnight, and I won't make up to one thousand cedes," he had explained, and everyone laughed, while some made joke with it at that moment, thinking that their sufferings were over, not knowing that the horror still lay ahead.



Meanwhile, Joseph and his friend, Peter, had remained silent because their own story was untellable. Firstly, Joseph graduated from the prestigious University of Nigeria with a second class upper division in Mechanical engineering, and also participated in the one year compulsory youth service, in which he was deployed to a state in the far northern Nigeria, where an Islamic religious set known as Boko Haram, used as a testing ground for their bombs. The only day Joseph realized that he was living in a ring of fire marked with death, was the very day he escaped a bomb blast that blew off a Church he had gone to for a Bible study. The bomb had exploded almost immediately he left the Church premises.



After Joseph passed out from the compulsory one year youth service, he began to apply for almost every job he saw either on the dailies or on the various job forums he found on the internet. For complete five years, Joseph was busy sending application letters to various companies, factories and even local outfits, and yet, he got no invitation for a written test to the extent that he began to wonder if truly the vacancies being advertized by the various companies exist or if they were a mere show off by the companies to raise their public profiles. He continued sending more and more application letters with faith, as encouraged by his Church pastor, and finally, he got invited for a written test. This time, it was the prestigious Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Joseph couldn’t believe his eyes on the very day of the test, only at his own center, he saw close to ten thousand candidates, and there were five other centers nationwide. After six months, the result of the job test came out, and Joseph was amongst the few that passed the test, and they got invited for interview, and he also went for the interview. But after the interview, the whole recruitment process was canceled on the grounds that the new human resources management of the company did not follow the usual company recruitment procedure in which a line manager and other top management staffs can recommend their own candidates.



Soon, every vacancy Joseph saw was requesting for at least two years cognate experience, and so he abandoned the issue of seeking for job and started planning on how to start his own business from scratch. At first, he started with a barber shop, which suffered setback due to inconsistent power supply, and for that reason alone, the business went bankrupt and folded.

...................the story continues........pls drop a comment to help me improve or to inspire me the more.....thanks!