Just when I thought that nice people didn’t exist anymore, I was served with the hope that they truly do.
A few days ago, I lost my two most important phones due to a very careless mistake – an iPhone 14 Pro Max and an iPhone 13 Pro Max. Both phones amount to a total of roughly 2.5 million naira at the current market value.
What made this loss even more distressing was the fact that I had stored critical files on them, including client documents, photos, notes, project lists, a few passwords, and numerous contacts of various fulfillment agents, none of which were backed up on iCloud. I couldn’t imagine the loss; I was deeply saddened.
On that day, my younger sister expressed her hunger and cravings for Pizza. To fulfill her request, I headed out to purchase the desired items.
But, as I reached my car, I realized that my key was still inside the house. In a hurry, I left both phones on the roof of the car and went back inside to get the key.
When I returned, I forgot to carry the phones and drove off unknowingly, completely forgetting about them.
I successfully got the Pizza and came back to continue what I was doing. But then I heard her say, “Senior, I had called you to get me fruit juice alongside it, but you picked my call and didn’t say anything.” I was like, “Wait! Wait! Oh no! What the heck!”
Frustrated and anxious, I immediately tried calling the two phones, but both of them were switched off. In my mind, I wondered what type of temptation this was. So, I logged into my iCloud to track the location but realized that my location was still the default one, and the phones had been switched off.
I immediately activated iCloud’s “Lost Mode Alert” and created an enticing offer for whoever found the phones, which had the message: “These phones fell from my car roof by mistake. If you return them, I will offer a reasonable reward. Please call this number ‘XXX’.
I fervently hoped that these unknown individuals would return my phones. Although on the Find My iPhone app, I could track their general location, but the data was not as precise as Google Maps.
As I analyzed their coordinates further, it became evident that two different people had found the phones, as they were in separate locations.
To my immense relief, the individual who had picked up the iPhone 14 finally responded. He identified himself as a Hausa gentleman and explained that he had come across the phone on the ground, suspecting it had been accidentally dropped. He assured me he was currently charging it and promised to return it the following morning.
I was filled with gratitude and relief. I decided to continue pursuing the retrieval of the second phone. Though it proved more challenging to establish contact with this individual, after a few failed trials, he eventually called my friend’s line and instructed me to meet him at their village council to retrieve the device. Remarkably, both individuals were Muslims.
The next day, I made the journey to meet them, and I was able to recover both phones. In appreciation of their honesty and kindness, I rewarded them with new phones each and some additional prizes. This experience reaffirmed my belief that genuinely kind-hearted people exist in our midst, even if societal forces sometimes obscure their presence.
While I did eventually regain my phones, I can’t help but acknowledge the element of luck involved in encountering individuals with such strong moral compasses.
Ultimately, I am grateful for divine guidance, leading these benevolent souls to my phones, especially at that present dark hour and without any vehicle matching the phones. Oops!
