Discovering Ewuru

"Ewuru is by the corner of the
main road". Those were the words
of the middle-aged okadaman that
conveyed me to the place
yesterday. Though i've always being a constant visitor to
this town, but i've never given it
much thoughts, therefore i fail
woefully to notice some of the
interesting features of the town.
However, my resolution before i boarded the bike yesterday
was "i am going to see this town with a pair of new eyes".

Ewuru is one of the towns that
make up Ika South L. G. A. in Delta
state. It has a long, fairly-tarred, dusty road that ran inside it, like
the arch of a banana curve. It has two major routes that led to other towns  and i will like to call them the "Entrance" and "Exit" routes,they are also interconnected.

Yesterday, i took the entrance route, which is a bypass from a major road, that was when i noticed the "by the corner" description the okadaman had earlier gave. The first sight that will greet a visitor is the V-shaped constructed drainage route, followed by the old tarred road,  that is being scrapped off currently to construct better and newer one. But i must confess, that road is an okadaman's pain.

Ewuru has other sides too. It
mingles in the awe of nature's aesthetic, like the friendship between yam and oil. There are the sleek-elongated palm trees that seem to whisper when the wind comes by, craved serenity which usher in the fresh and pure air, devoid of impure
gases that nearby towns and cities
harbour in their atmosphere.

Then, the people were  fairly hospitable and peace-loving, at least, no one harrassed or
accosted me when i went on a
spree of photo taking of the place.
I also noticed that Ewuru, like most african rural towns is a
closely knitted community. All
through my walk on the road, i got
unusual stares from the residents.
Everybody appears to know everyone, therefore strangers
like me were treated with lukewarm, and are looked on with skepticism. I also
noticed that the few persons i
spoke to were quite shy. There was the bicycle girl with her stack of firewoods on the bicycle backseat, which i presumed, came from the nearby farm, she only managed to mumble a greeting
to me, then rode off without giving me a second glance; then there was the kiosk woman that sold a satchet water to me, she didn't even bother to give
me a reply when i initiated  small talk.

Another outstanding feature i
noticed yesterday, was the style of
the buildings. All except few were
bungalows, with corrugated shiny
sheets that dazzled the rays of the sun. The sheets were fitted on the
heads of the buildings like the face-caps on golf players' heads. The small buildings lined up along the roads like soldiers on a salute mission. Some came with fence, others without fence. The outstanding storey building i saw stood on the rightside, near the sharp-bend of the road. It was a yellowish painted one-storey building, with its base as a car-park. It dwarfed the other
bungalows around it, in its height and exquisiteness. It stood like an eagle in all its glory, proudly announcing it to all who cares to notice "that i am the best here".

Most old folks in Ewuru are into
farming, the farmlands scattered
here and there bears this testimony. Some of the young people who are not in school, also help out the older folks in the farm, some explore the world of
okada riding, some operates kiosk
shops, while the remaining goes to work in nearby towns like Agbor, a resident on anonymity explained.

A first-timer in the town will easily
notice the happy atmosphere
amongst the people, despite the glaring hardship, for instance, there were half-dressed
happy and playing kids running
along the road with their ball, the older people playing drafts in turn while on-lookers around them chats, whistles, drinks, cheers and boos at the stunts of each players.

In terms of development and
facilities, there are lots needed to
be done for the people. First, the road under construction is already
giving off an air of 'to be abandoned soon'; the caterpillars and other heavy machineries of road construction are vanishing in an amazing speed from the
town. Electricity was seen, but it is
fairly constant,according to a
resident. In the area of water
supply, the people depend heavily
on boreholes, which unfortunately are quite few.
Again,though Ewuru is a small
community, but the health care
centre i saw cannot be desired by anybody. It is a stunted building which looked like the old village kindergaten school. For the schools, only its mere
imagination will be enough to puzzle the minds of the young ones on how bright their
future in the country will be.

Away from all these, i found
watching the people carrying out
their daily activities fascinating, the environment enchanting, with its clear sky and vegetations, the chirping of the birds soulful.
The crowning of my visit yesterday
was the discovery that the town is
yet to be devoured in pilferation of churches and evangelization centres, save for the
presence of the newly expanded
building of St. John the Evangelist
catholic church, and  other countable one room apartment churches. All these made my
visit to this relatively unknown, but beautiful town called Ewuru most eventful yesterday.

Below: pix of the road under construction, buildings, catholic church in Ewuru.