"Come out, guys; we can't let this hoodlum intimidate us in our community." Yusuf cried out in a loud voice, and then I checked my time; it was about 1:00 am.
Before I knew it, I heard chants of the youth in our community, and then a knock on my door. I was scared to the bone, but then I mustered the courage to ask, "Who's there?"
"Tell Samson to come out", Yusuf, the youth leader, snapped back. Samson is my cousin, who relocated to our city over two years ago until the lockdown struck during the COVID-19 Era.
Everyone was stuck in the house as the government made laws restricting our movement and observing social distance. The first two weeks were tiring as people began to get bored of staying at home while some bad guys took advantage of the situation.
We started to hear of theft reports around the neighboring communities and many atrocities carried out by these "bad boys," to the point that our community was issued a letter stating their visit, which triggered Yusuf to call out the other youth for vigilantism.
Every night started with the burning of tyres and chants on the street: "We are fearless and we are outside; any bad guys, we will knock them down." I chanted alongside people I wasn't close to; though I saw them on the streets, I didn't even know them by their names. I would accompany my cousin outside my compound and sit with the other youths.
The bond started to grow every night since we were almost of the same age grade and we had a common goal, which was to keep the bad boys away from our community. We would start up a conversation to keep the street busy, we would sing, we would crack jokes, and in time, I started to know each person by their name, their voice, and the way they laughed. All of this began to foster the spirit of camaraderie in us all, so much so that we even created a WhatsApp group for our community as
nobody is more, and nobody is less.
During the daytime, the youth leader Yusuf will send memes to keep us laughing, strategies to follow to curb the theft rate, and encouragement to have some sleep during the daytime as the nighttime has suddenly become our daytime and vice versa since we would all gather together on the street to watch out for the bad boys and to secure the kids and older ones in our community.
The ladies in the group were asked to prepare light meals that kept the guys energized throughout the night, and in time, we became inseparable.
As soon as Yusuf's whistle was blown, "Come out guys" I no longer had fears, as these guys are now my brothers. We all came out of our houses simultaneously, and this we did for a very long period until the threat of the bad boys was over.
After the lockdown, the friendship continued as we organized a get-together at the beach to celebrate ourselves, and to this day, we still chit-chat in the group even though most of us have now relocated to different communities.
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