The Ilorin Shock Episode 13

Episode Thirteen: Waiting Through Ramadan

When the fight finally calmed down, life did not return to normal immediately.

It only slowed.

Fear still lived in the air, but survival demanded that we continue. The streets opened little by little, people returned cautiously to their routines, and we too returned to ours quietly, carefully.

For us, the journey was not over yet.

The focus returned to one thing: my brother finishing the holy book.

That promise still stood.

That hope still lived.

Even after everything we had seen the fear, the soldiers, the running, the hunger we held on to that single belief: once we finish, we will go home.

Not long after the fight, Ramadan Mubarak arrived.

The moon was sighted.

And fasting began.

Ramadan in Ilorin was different from anything I had known before. The days felt longer. Hunger came earlier. Thirst spoke louder. From morning till evening, we stayed strong not because it was easy, but because it was required.

We woke before dawn for suhoor, eating quietly in the dark. Sometimes the food felt too small for the long day ahead, but we ate anyway. When the call to prayer came, we fasted with intention, carrying school, reading, and discipline on empty stomachs.

Afternoons were the hardest.

The sun was hot.

The body was weak.

The mind wandered.

Yet, my brother kept reading.

Page by page.

Verse by verse.

Even when his voice became dry. Even when his eyes looked tired. He pushed on because he knew what finishing meant to us.

At night, when it was time to break fast, relief came briefly. Water never tasted so sweet. Food never felt so important. But rest was short-lived. After eating, reading continued. Discipline did not pause for Ramadan.

Watching my brother struggle yet persist taught me something powerful.

Sometimes, strength is not loud.

Sometimes, it is quiet consistency.

Ramadan passed slowly.

Each day felt like a test layered on top of another test. Hunger inside hunger. Waiting inside waiting. But hope did not die.

We believed that once my brother finished, everything would change.

That belief carried us through fasting days and restless nights.

But life had already taught us something important in Ilorin 

That even when you are faithful…

Even when you endure…

The journey does not always end when you expect it to.

Still, we waited.

And we fasted.

And we hoped.

To be continued…. Episode 14