The Extraordinary Story of How Great Nkor Survived a House Fire

It was around 11 pm in 2003 when Bethel Nkor returned home from a church service. He was carrying a keg filled with fuel when he met his newborn, Great Nkor, who was 1 year and a few months old at the time, in the hands of a lady cradling him to sleep. Great was struggling to sleep, and as a loving father, usually, the kids fell asleep whenever he placed them on his chest. So he would take Great from the lady holding him, but he needed to change because he was still in his pastoral outfit. He went inside to change his clothes to return later and carry Great.

While he was changing his clothes, the power went out, and he knew someone would immediately rise to turn on the generator. It was a family house, and anyone could take up the responsibility. From the room, Bethel stretched his head out to the corridor and announced to whoever was going to power the generator that he had dropped a keg filled with petrol beside the generator. “So be careful o,” he announced, and just as he was about to return to his undressing, he saw flames of fire coming out of a room.

Still naked, Bethel ran towards the room. “My thoughts were, Great, and the other kids were all still downstairs, there was no business for them there to be doing.” He wasn’t expecting any child to be there, but he met a boy, Joshua, who was sleeping and was trying to escape the fire by running into a wardrobe. He jumped in and saved the boy. After saving Joshua, the lady who was previously holding Great Nkor kept jumping and shouting and crying. “Who else is there? Is there someone else there?” Bethel was asking.

The lady pointed into the room, and at the far end, Great Nkor was sitting inside the fire. “My fire training kicked in, because I worked in the factory. So I lay down…