I knew of a stream called 'Obara' in Ifite-Awka, Anambra state, few years ago and then, the stream was full of life.

Flowing with zest and energy,Obara,for me,was fun to watch. It wasn't a big stream,it was a relatively shallow running stream that gave people of that village an alternative source of water from other natural and unnatural water sources.

Then came rapid development in that area of Ifite,with developers trooping in and houses springing up,a covert was soon constructed over the Obara stream to allow vehicular and human traffic more easily.

Obara lived and flowed through this covert before hitting a snag.

The Obara stream, about 2 to 3 years ago, was blocked with both sand and inorganic waste dumps.

The stream ceased to flow for months then and it was the raining season. Obara stream was filled to the brim with rain water but couldn't go pass the covert because of the materials that blocked its channel. The covert was later opened for the stream to resume its normal life again.

However, it got worse this year when the channel of the Obara stream was again blocked. With the raining season in full session, the Obara stream was dangerously filled beyond its capacity with the water having a thick dark colour. It was indeed a great site for mosquito breeding and worse still,there's an uncompleted building beside the site of this stream with people living in it. The stream threatens the foundation of building while the health state of the people living close by was also in for the threat. It also occupied some parts of the people's farm.

It pained me that a once appreciated gift of nature is now a shadow of itself,a resource that can't be made by man being wasted this way. How could nature be this disrupted?

How can Obara's life be damage this way?

I can't visit the Obara anymore to enjoy its flow,I can't watch its other interesting features.

I viewed it from the angle of "if this happened to a human" how will the person feel.

Our natural resources are treasures we must hold dear.

However,there's a good news, the Obara is coming back to life,though I doubt if it will ever regain its initial form, it's coming back to shape.

Work started on the Obara stream earlier this week and as I write this,the heavy accumulation of water there has now been drastically reduced as the covert has been unblocked and people are happy for it was hitherto an annoying site to behold.

I am happy, I am excited that Obara is back. Now,I will do more to make sure of Obara's full and sustained recovery starting with attending the residents meeting of the area to make suggestions on how to protect the Obara and also refuse disposal methods which is one of the things that blocked Obara's channel.

Obara is back,and I will help it live again.

I love nature!