Growing up, we were made to believe that alcohol was entirely bad, there was no good thing about it at all. I think they made us believe this so we won't end up like those who drink to stupor or thugs who lurk around corners of every street; these were the set of people that take alcoholic drinks. Until my teenage years before I realised that what I believe or knew was not a full truth. People take alcoholic drinks without getting drunk and mishaving, there are people who just enjoy taking alcoholic drinks.
Also, I later got to know that alcohol has it benefits and many of these benefits ranges from production of medicine to production of other product like methylated spirit and cough syrup. I have also seen some elders add local alcohol (gin) to herbs to make it more effective and probably extract the juice in the herbs faster. I also read that moderate intake of alcohol helps keep the heart and circulatory system in good condition.
I was in my 3rd year in secondary school at that time. I had never taken alcohol and I knew it is never a thing I would like to take. I had a best friend back then, his mom had two shops side by side where she sells food stuff and drinks in the forst shop and variety of alcohol drinks in the other shop. We usually have our sport activities every Wednesdays from 9am to 11am then, we go for a 30 minutes break.
There was a particular Wednesday during the sport activities, I got too tired and decided to rest inside my classroom. I got there and met some students in the classroom chatting and having fun. I saw my best friend with some other guys from the next classroom arguing so I went to them to know the reason for the argument. They were arguing about alcohol and the number of bottles they could finish up at once without getting drunk. I sat down very close to them because I was enjoying their funny conversation. My best friend, Emmanuel, brought out one local gin from his bag, must have stolen it from his mom's shop.
Emmanuel gave one of the guys with him to drink then he called me and I said I trust him that he wouldn't dare to bring alcohol to school because it's against the school rule. He told me it was a real one and said I should confirm myself. I took the bottle from him and poured into my mouth, just before the alcohol got into my mouth, I perceived the smell but it was too late to stop, it had gotten inside my lungs already. My goodness, I felt so bad that I trusted him and got messed up. It was so hot and bitter, I ran to the kiosk inside the school to get a candy to add some sweet taste on my tatse buds.
I went straight to the field to continue the sport activity. About an hour later, I went back to eat since it was time for break, the classroom was messed up. I saw Emmanuel walking and falling back to the floor while trying to hold a girl in the class. It happened that he had another bottle of gin in his bag which he drank all alone when I left for sport activities earlier. He was so drunk that he couldn't walk or see clearly. The girls in class were already screaming because he was really hitting himeself on the floor. I helped him get on his feet and made him sit on a chair. Some boys and I were able to keep him at rest till the closing hour.
He couldn't walk on his own so we decided to surround him, about 15 of us, while two others held him in middle so that it wouldn't be obvious that something was wrong. Our plan worked well until the next day on the assembly ground. The school authority somehow found out about what happened and called everyone involved, including me. We were 5 that were directly involved in the alcohol case. We all narrated our stories but I wasn't spared, I was flogged with other boys in the school hall. Mine was 10 strokes while the remaining boys had 20 strokes. I cried so much and felt so embrassed in front of the whole school.
I received a suspension letter from the school authority, I went home afterwards. I gave my parents the letter and explained all that happened. My parent weren't bothered, they followed me to school the next; the parents of the other 4 boys also came. The school authority cancelled the suspension after a meeting with our parents. But we got a punishment for two weeks which was to water all the flowers in the primary section and secondary section of the school.
Another time I took alcohol was on January 2nd this year. I was invited to a beach hangout by some friends; these guys had planned the whole hangout. One of the guys offered me an energy drink that was he called it so I drank it and from the taste I knew it wasn't an energy drink because it was bitter and my facial expression showed it. He laughed and told me it was a local gin.
About 5 minutes later, I started feeling headache and I was loosing my coordination. So, I sat down on the sand for long time so I won't do anything stupid and get recorded by my friends. I stood up when I felt better, then, I joined them to have fun, eat and swim till evening. I don't think I'll ever like alcohol, it is just not my thing.
This is my entry for the #Aprilinleo monthly initiative day 20.
Read more about it here April Inleo Monthly Initiative