Take the light

On a number of times I have wished that PHCN take the light and not just because I am afraid they may not being the light for the next two days😄, but because of a beautiful kind of peace I enjoy when electric power is taken.

The fridge because quiet, the fan silent, the TV shuts off, neighbors music from their speakers stops and the sounds of the birds are heard in my room as I lay on my bed, the sounds of cricket even in afternoon, the sound of moving cars streets away as the cool breeze causes the curtains to dance to IRS rhythm. 

Serene.

It’s in this moments that you think about your future and then you remember you past and then examine the present times. It’s in this moments you remember friends you have not thought of in years and the momeriss you share together, the present friends and how much you treasure them and your family and how far you have gone with them always being there by your side.

And then you begin to appreciate how beautiful God is and how beautiful he has been to you. His thoughts permeates your heart as his love begins a reality. 

All this we enjoy before we hear the fridge come on,and the fan begin to roll and then the sound from the TV and then the neighbors speakers come on and we are back, consumed by the atmosphere created by the restoring of light and we become slaves to the light as we are bound to get caught up the Frenzy.

The Bush Rat

I didn’t know how to feel when my Dad told me that there was a ‘bush meat’ in the kitchen and that I shown use the water on fire to remove its hairs like its down for the feathers of a chicken. Inasmuch as the usual bush meat frenzy cut up with me, I did not want to be part of the hard work of making the ‘bush rat’ into a ‘bush meat.’

I must say that this is not just Okete, this is Oya (a bigger version of the bush rats). It was lying down dead in the kitchen bowl dead and I could not even bring myself to touch it. I imagined what the skin would have felt like and I did not want have anything to do with it. I did not even mind not eating it.

Luckily, my brother came in and he was more than eager as he quickly pressed his hand against its body and even raised it to examine its full structure. He quickly used the now hot  water to remove its furs and the Rat became naked. Dad took over from there as he opened it up and made it ready to food. I eventually rinsed it and placed on a coal stove to be barbeque.

Thats how my family made me an accomplice to a crime against nature. Killing and eating what should be conserved. And to think my project topic is on Wildlife Conservation😁. But the meat was sweet.:mrgreen::mrgreen:

My Paternity Test…Pt 1

​It was a big issue. Infact, they called it a spiritual issue. They all argued on who my Father was and although I was convinced that I knew my Father, they refused to take my words for it. Then Tobi suggested that we go do a paternity DNA test to find out who my Father was.
We then went to the Ward, sorry, I meant the Word. And we waited and the result read.
       “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

And it went on to say, that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
Kayayaya…They Ward, sorry world was shocked. 

Mid-Term Break

This was one of the best things in life as a young boy. The joy of ending school work on a Thursday and the ecstasy of not going to school on Monday was just divine.

The sweetest part of it all was not telling Mum that the following day was our mid term break. On that Friday morning, after prayers, we will just stroll around and then move to our room to chill as opposed to rushing morning chores. Then Mum will shout, ‘shey you people are not going to school abi?’, and we will give her the big boy, licking lips as we rub our palms against each other like those music celebrities on TV.Then as she attempts to make it a really big deal, we just calmly say ‘We have mid term break’😎. 

Mehn!!! Nothing compares to that feeling. We were literally on top of the world.

PS: all this Jagaban something did not stop us from washing our clothes on Monday evening and using towel to dry it so it could be ‘wearable on Tuesday’. And all the plenty assignment sef from teachers who do not understand that God rested on the 7th day and that we need rest too, we rush the assignment on Tuesday morning before rushing to school. 

#comedy #nolstagia

Be going straight

I don’t seem to understand why a lot of us cannot say the word ‘I don’t know’ when we actually do not know. What exactly is wrong with saying you don’t know,it’s not like it’s a crime under the Nigerian Constitution.

You ask a common Nigerian for how they sell a bottle of groundnut, you would most likely hear something like this. “Ah, groundnut? hmmn…groundnut is now costly oo(he is using style to guess the price), groundnut is now #450 per bottle except you give her bottle sha, shey may give you for #400. 

Aah!!, on top something you know Nada about.

If you ask where is our president Buhari, you will hardly hear ‘I don’t know oo’. What you will hear will sound like ‘ hmmmnn.that Buhari, he first went back to his village and then travelled to Mecca before he went to Los Angeles to open spare parts shop’. Brother, just say you don’t know.

Recently, on our way to Gboko,Benue State, we missed our way and so we had to ask people we met cus it was getting dark. And although almost all of the people we met were not sure of the direction we were going, they all said “be going straight”.

Soon we all soon  chorused it with anyone we asked for direction, immediately we noticed that this persons did not know what we where we were going to but was still going to say something, we joined him/her to say “Be going straight”

.

To rape or not to rape?

Is this even supposed to be a question in mind of any sane human in the first place? But somehow, I sometimes feel this humans who we now call rapist have asked themselves this question at one time or the order or at least something similar.

There is therefore a serious need to teach our men, both young and old how to say ‘NO’ not just to their wives when they ask for money for soup, but to their desires.

Desire is usually not properly discussed when the issue of rape is raised. And I believe desire is core, because its the very beginning of all evil.It is from the desire of men that all evil is birth. Interestingly, desires are not wrong by itself, its what we long (desire) after that make it wrong. For example, the desire to have sex of a man to have sex with a lady is not wrong of itself, however the desire would be wrong if he plans to have sex outside marriage.

All Men must their realise that their desires are theirs and they can control it. Just like the desire to eat, the desire to shout or the desire to sleep. You can decide not to gratify or satisfy this desire. Control should therefore be central focus for all who desire to talk and educate about rape and other forms of molestation.

Ladies, would not be left out in this discuss. Although, in recent times, ladies have reemphasized the fact the no woman deserves to be molested even though she is naked, of which I totally agree. However, I still believe that somehow dressing decently may ‘reduce’ sexual desires in men. Of course, nude dressing cannot be the cause of sexual harassment, but it surely adds to what we see today. Its like selling watermelon or apples. You really get people to buy when they see the redness of the inside of the watermelon or the freeness of the apple. This also applies, that when ladies expose their bodies, the steer up the desires in this men.

Ladies, must also learn not to put themselves in terrible positions like walking in a lonely place in the night as this exposes them to the wrong persons. For this will be like walking with a lot of cash in my hand as I walk into a street of criminals and expecting not to be robbed.

Finally, inasmuch as we teach men to control themselves, ladies most also learn to protect themselves. For together, we can bring an end to this menace plaguing our friends and family.

Get use to hugging

​We can make this world
a beautiful place
if we toss away frowns
and put smiles on our face.

Abolish that burden 

of complaints you’ve been lugging;

begin building bridges

and get use to hugging!

Awkward:o

I have found myself in very awkward situations, but today’s awkward experience seems to the chairman of all awkwards. This is my story.

I went to see a close friend,Anthony whom I last saw in my Jss 2.  Anthony was really cool and calm and was now in the Dominican University, a catholic school for people who had plans on becoming Catholic priests.

After greetings and sharing how he got into the university, I asked him where everyone was since the whole place was quiet. He said they were around and that quiet was a norm.”how could a University be this quiet I asked myself”.

The highlight was when someone rang a bell, and every male came out to pray at the Church. As they entered they knelt down with one knee, I was confused as to what to do, so I attempted to kneel but found myself bowing. It was altogether the confusing state of affairs.

Then they started chanting the psalms, and although my friend held the book up for me,I was careful not to chant along. It was really weird. They also bow their head in a ‘drop hand and head’fashion after the end of every chant.

We then went to eat in the dining where the bowl of Eba was dropped and later the soup was brought. I asked my friend to serve me before I do something totally against norm. I served the soup myself and when I did not pick meat at the beginning, I just left it. Anthony soon discovered and drew up a meat from the soup and gave me.

Before the meal, there was this weird ‘Holy Mary’ prayer that was chanted that made my staying really weird since they repeated it for about 3 times and I did not know any part of it.

They whole walk around the compound was really weird as I was not sure if to shake the Catholic Sisters who came around. When I finally came out, I felt like a bird out of its cage. Free as the weird, never to be  caught in such situation.

Boundaries 101

I am no expert in this matters, I just think many of us have to be more aware of boundaries in our relationships cus everyone has got the line where you cross and the relationship gets sour.

It ranges from “do not read my messages”, ” do not call me after 9pm”, “don’t give out my phone number without my notice”, ” always knock on my door before entering”. The fact is, the list is endless.

This boundaries are sometimes the basis of our friendship like ” you hate people touching your head? OMG…I hate it too”. Sometimes this boundaries are what destroys our relationships when one party is not aware of the boundary or does not take the boundary serious. Its usually more difficult when the aggrieved party dies not clearly spell out the line.

Now, to the purpose of this exposition

I think we need to seek to understand boundaries of everyone around us. Don’t go around acting all jumpy not caring what the other person feels in the name of being funny or an extrovert, be a thinker, be considerate.

I also feel sometimes we need to clearly state those boundaries clearly so the other party can properly coordinate him/herself, thus helping ourselves. Inasmuch as the person is not God, we might need to let the person know the boundaries clearly. Where the person still goes ahead, then you know that the person should not be occupying ur space.

Lastly, cut the other person some slack. Try not to take offence for every ‘crossing the line’. Try to correct in love and let life continue. We all make mistakes. We are all learning.

The Tempest

I remember when I had to change school at SSS 2, I was neither excited nor sad at changing school, but I must admit that it was quite difficult leaving the few friends I had to a school of uncertainties.

My first few weeks was almost similar to getting lost on an Island with nobody to talk to but trees and stones. There was two of us who were admitted to SSS 2 Art class that year. The other was a ‘she’, and unlike me, she got along really quickly. 

Part of the problem was that I was put in front of the class, which really made being comfortable really difficult.When teachers asked questions and nobody knew it, they just start with those in front. Our Maths teacher did not help matters, he was in love with knew comers, and so he practically directed all the questions to us, new comers. Life was hell. 

During class break my routine was ; go out, buy a snack ( fish rolls/tangarine), go back to class and continue reading my dear Shakespeare novel, The Tempest. And indeed my first few weeks was ‘the tempest’.

In the hostel, it was a different life altogether. But it was quite better in the hostel, at list I could ‘introvert’ myself to the back of everything as against sitting down in the front row in class.

****************************

So, going back to MHS brought back nostalgic feelings and a strong reminder of the transiency of life. It was just like yesterday that I was trying to cope with the ‘mind rattling change’ now I have more greater issues to deal with. All in the spirit of “Trying to cope”.

Have a great day and keep coping.