The Editor in chief of the International Newspaper Afrique International, shared his life experience and reflected on people’s different preferences and priorities. Philip Thomas shared his experience while living in the rivers state. In his facebook post, he shared that he learnt how to swim at a younger age in Ahoada, Rivers state.
He recollected that it would go to the river and swim twice daily – in the morning and later in the evening. I loved the river. I would visit my cousins often to get a chance to visit their stream with them. He shared he would spend hours observing the fishes and admiring the monkeys at the bank across us. Further, he designed miniature boats and test-run them at the stream at the glare of admirers.
Only when I visited Southern Ijaw in Bayelsa state and later on ANDONI, Opobo and Bonny Island in Rivers state did I understand what it meant to be on the sea. Further, he shared that he told himself this is not the same water he loved. He invited his readers to imagine being at the centre of the ocean. Here, they hundreds of meters of ocean surround them at all angles.
Working in the oil rigs was almost every young person’s dream in Port Harcourt. However, he shared that it was never his dream. I never wanted to spend nights on the sea in nowhere. Not even for those fat paychecks that the people assciated with the oil rig workers.
After he served, he got a chance to get some oil and gas certifications for free with Solomon Ndukaku Nkpoku. He declined and started my training on IT courses at NIIT at Dline, Port Harcourt. Philip Thomas shared that his friend did not understand him. He often asked why I did not want to join the booming oil sector, even when we got some training for free. While Philip told him he loved ICT. He confessed, in his post that he was not too fond of anything that would keep me longer at the sea.
Thomas added that the movie Titanic dreaded him. He also shared his views about the recent tragedy including several billionaires sailing in unlicensed OceanGate’s Titan submersible. He confessed that I couldn’t understand why anyone, would risk sailing in unlicensed OceanGate’s Titan submersible to that depth of the sea in the name of exploration.
But then, we are created differently. I still love the streams but certainly not the oceans.
