Monday, October 4, 2010

Life May Just Be a Bowl of Cherries, but Death is a Bag of Rice

When the Captain sees a headline that reads "Death is a Bag of Rice," of course he has to investigate.

Amaka (not real name), a 27-year-old woman was one of the victims of the struggle, which ensued when some residents of Abuja jostled for bags of rice donated to the indigent by wife of the Nigerian president, Patience Jonathan as part of the independence anniversary celebration.

The single mother of a two-year-old girl had gone to work, at the spot where she runs a phone call business at Garki Area 10, when she heard there was a jamboree of free rice where anyone could have a bag or more depending on what your strength could carry.

[...]

According to the younger sister of the deceased, Amaka had already successfully carried a bag of rice to her shop when she noticed there was an avenue to still carry more. So, she went back to try her luck and met her death. She was hit by one of the trucks which was offloading the rice.

[...]

["Amaka's" sister], however, does blame the driver of the truck that hit her sister. But she also thinks poor coordination led to the stampede.

"I think the fault is not from the driver, people said the police there were just rushing and hitting people anyhow," she said.

The Captain is rather confused as to what actually killed this woman. Was she hit by a truck or was it the stampede that did her in? (The Nigerian English used in the linked to piece is a bit baffling.) In the end, that's not important, as the real cause of this woman's death was obviously her unconscionable greed in going back for that second bag of rice.

[234next.com]

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