Describe Your Para: Growing Up In Bariga

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I grew up in a place considered a ghetto. My area is a popular city in Lagos state, Nigeria.

Bariga is a place people hear and get scared. In fact, it is branded as one of the hardest place to be in Lagos state.

I wont be talking about those beautiful things mentioned in the contest post alone but about my neighbourhood's ups and downs and why i love it.

My street is one that when it rains, everywhere would be muddy. This is this beauty!

We always hope for rain to fall because that is when the fun start. We would gather as kids and youths, and set out a 'monkey post' and played until we are tired.

We had this one big tree in the street. A mango tree to be precised. The mango tree is always guarded by the owner but we never give it a rest.

We would throw stones at it hoping it drops far so that we can catch it and run for it. Most times, the owner would shout and sometimes curse us for trying to pluck her mango.

The fun is in the attempt by many of us trying to eat a mango that looks ripe but the owner doesn't want us to enjoy.

My memory of my hood is a good one. Sometimes we gather together and make trap to catch crabs.

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We would use tins, wood, rubber band and onions to lure them out from their holes. We do this almost every weekends.

We were lucky sometimes to catch some and sometimes we got nothing. When we do, we simply boil and share among ourselves. When we don't we set the trap there and head back home.

In my neighbourhood, we run like almost every day! Why do we run, we run because there are people who cause trouble simply to snatch bags and collect people's money.

You can browse about Somolu Bariga to see some stories about the place.

So we might be playing outdoor games and suddenly, people would start running. You can't ask why you are running or what you are running from. You just join the run!

When everything is calm, then you will hear stories of how many people were robbed from that incident.

My hood was both beautiful with friends and also terrifying because of the bad eggs we had there back then.

But if you ask me about the place, i will say i love it because whenever i mention my area, people kind of look at me like 'you are strong' to have survived there. Some will look at me like am a goon! Lols!

It was a good neighbourhood but very rough and fun to be at the same time.

Thanks for your time.