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[Afua]

This happened when I was a child, about 10 years old. Something I’ve never forgotten. And never will. Neither will my dad.

My family and I lived in Nigeria for a while, but some of us would travel to London on holiday once or twice a year. On such an occasion, it was my dad and I travelling. We spent a couple of days in Lagos, which was Nigeria’s capital at the time, before setting off for London.

Lagos was and still is one of the busiest cities in Nigeria. Car horns constantly going off, taxis, buses, market traders, beggars, side-street sellers, shouting, arguments, dust and humidity; a city thriving with life, drama and activity.

So my dad and I were waiting by the side of the road, looking for a taxi to take us to the international airport.

I was reading a book.

My dad had a briefcase where he kept the documents we needed for the trip: passports, tickets, etc. There might have been money in it too, I don’t know, but he entrusted me with this briefcase.

So we were on the side of the road, waiting for a taxi.

A taxi came. We got in.

We’d been driving for about 20-25 minutes when my dad asked me where the briefcase was.

Everything stood still. My head spun.

I had forgotten the briefcase by the side of the road.

You could have sliced the air in the taxi with a knife.

Immediately, my dad told the taxi driver to turn back. I don’t think either one of us breathed on our way back.

When we got there, we couldn’t believe it. In this hustle and bustle of a street, the briefcase was EXACTLY where I’d left it.

There was a man standing next to it. As my dad approached him, he told my dad he’d been keeping an eye on the case, and that several people had asked about it and he’d said, “e belong to my oga” which means “the suitcase belongs to my boss”.

My dad couldn’t believe it. What were the chances the case would still be there when we went back? He couldn’t thank the man enough.

He reached for his wallet to give the man some money for what he had done, but when he looked up, the man had gone. My dad only looked away for a couple of seconds.

I didn’t see the man go or where he went. I wasn’t exactly concentrating. I was an easily distracted child --- remember I was the one who forgot the briefcase in the first place, so that should tell you something!

My dad’s convinced he was an angel. Maybe he was. But I’d like to think he was human because we all have the capacity to be an angel in someone’s life.

This man, this kind soul, must have seen us jump into the taxi without the briefcase. Other people probably did too. Many would have taken the case. But this man, this stranger, saw it and stood beside it, protecting it until we returned.

Plus he didn’t stick around for the money my dad wanted to give him, money he so deserved. I hope he received it in some other way. I really do.

His thoughtfulness, selflessness, patience in waiting for us and commitment to a man and a girl-child he’d never met --- was a beautiful rainbow of humanity we were so blessed to have experienced.