Hunger screams

The story of Wunmi and Lanre

I sat with my laptop at the 2023 SDG summit curtain raiser, and while I listened to the A-list speakers, my emotions heightened. The tears flowed uncontrollably. The story of two boys who were distant acquaintances curated a torturing plague; it was too disturbing to just shove away. The pain from deaths that could have been averted is perpetually tormenting because you have to eternally live with the thought that if that one thing had just been done right, they’d still be here.

But if we paid more attention to our direct environment and the people in it, If we could quiet the noise, the loud voices in our head propelling us to do more when in the real sense we are doing less. If we could look further and realize the actual issues, I might have still been conversing with glee and joking with Lanre and Wunmi that Maguire wouldn’t be going to Munich due to the injury he sustained.

This is the story of Wunmi and Lanre. This is the story of two boys from different ends of life.

Wunmi was from a background of affluence. He had no dealing whatsoever with lack. Wants and needs were equally met. The only knowledge about poverty was the one Mr. Babalola forced him to learn in the social studies class. He was born into wealth and grew up thinking poverty was nothing beyond the definition in class, which was another muddle of words. He thought it was a fairy tale that contained no sense or logic, and he never bothered to comprehend it.

Lanre, on the other hand, dined with hunger day after day. The rapid surge of ghrelin hormone in his stomach caused hunger contractions in the early afternoon, beckoning on him to feed it with even a morsel of bread before his evening banquet of dumps from the big house on the street clearly had not learned a thing or two. It was now a thing of competition between him and his fellow street siblings, as whoever produced the loudest sound would be carried and cheered on by the other children. He knew nothing about wealth and considered it a dream reserved for people who did not include him.

How Lanre and Wunmi became friends was unbelievable because of the events leading to their friendship and the instant connection. One could easily conclude that they had known each other for years. They were from entirely different ends of life – the farthest ends of life.

One fateful evening, Lanre and the other street siblings were roaming the city in search of their evening banquets of dumps, as the dogs had won the competition and eaten all of the dumps before they made their way to the regular spot. They trekked miles and just before they gave up, they saw a magnificent building at the far end of the street, but they had no strength left in them to continue the journey. Resilient Lanre, who was the oldest, was not giving up, he volunteered to be the hero.

Shaking like a leaf, he made his way to the building which happened to be Wunmi’s house. Lanre’s walk to the building was the most excruciating moment of his life but he remembered the words of the madman on ìjììyà òsì street;
“Ìbèrè kó loníse àfi Eni tó bá sisé. Tó bá sisé re dopin, yo ba orí yìn'' meaning “doing something is not about starting it, it’s the person who ensures till the end that receives the praise and reward.”
Wunmi, who was on the balcony, saw something or someone walking towards his house from where he sat. He was in wonder but concerned about the nature of the figure. He watched how he trudged lifelessly towards his house like he had a mission.

Few more strides left and there'd be a complete feast, Lanre thought.
The next time Lanre opened his eyes, he was surrounded by angels in royal apparel beaming with radiant smiles (Wunmi's parents). He has had dreams, but never in this fashion. He'd have concluded that it was a dream but he never heard that they were angels in the form of small boys. And this small boy who was most likely his age was staring at him with something different in his eyes- maybe love, maybe concern. When he saw Wunmi, he realized that it was not a dream.

Wunmi loved Lanre like the brother Klinfleter’s syndrome – which the doctor described in simple terms as a chromosomal aberration – stole from him. Although he was deeply touched by the doctor’s verdict, he was not surprised because his dad had similar features to his mum; he had protruding breasts and deep curves.

He was both perplexed and disturbed when he discovered Lanre’s distressing situation. Inversely, Lanre was just trying to make this dream everlasting, and he did everything he could do to prevent a discontinuation of the dream, including avoiding making bodily contact with walls.
Lanre and Wunmi became very fond of each other, and their friendship blossomed. Lanre no longer had to worry about what to eat or drink. As Wunmi wished, Lanre was adopted into his family, but Lanre did not forget his street siblings; he still went out to play with them, and with help from his new family, he brought a proper meal for them daily.

Twelve years later, precisely 13th of July, 2020, the news of Lanre's death painfully shook Wunmi's world. The doctor reported that he died of mercury poisoning. Apparently, the excruciating years on the street caught up with him and led to his demise
Several months later, Wunmi was diagnosed with broken heart syndrome and lost his life during open heart surgery.

This is the story that tormented me while I listened to the curtain raiser. Collectively, we could play our little parts in achieving the no poverty and zero hunger sustainable development goals.

What's your little big part?