IN MY REVERIE...

1st October, 1999.
INDEPENDENCE DAY

As a child this was the day I always looked forward to, and why? Not like I knew particularly what was going on but it was a holiday, a day that I do not go to school. That day unlike every other public holidays, after having done my house chores, I sit in front of the television watching a group of people at the national stadium waving green white green flags , celebrating what in my inquisition my mum told me was a party to celebrate Nigeria’s birthday. “Why was I not included ?”, I would ask feeling that since it was Nigeria’s birthday, we all should be there to have a share of that big green and white coloured cake, which always caught my eyes because of my fondness for cake. Thereafter I would watch, man after man coming to the stage with the microphone to give some speech which sounded then like Greek to me. I can remember that after that they were always cheered and clapped for but what struck me most was their big, protruding tummies, which signified that they were well fed and made me wish my father was one of them. Sometimes, I would imagine father in a flowing agbada similar to the ones I see those men on TV wear, giving his own speech and bringing home his own chunk of the cake for the family to feast on. But father never did, he was a mere driver to Isioma’s father, whose father always brought home independence cake for her. I followed father to Isioma’s house on one of those occasions, I remembered Isioma giving me the green and white icing telling me it was the sweeter part and would be better enjoyed than what she called the brown chaff, the part which she ate. I took it, feeling lucky that I was finally having my own share of independence cake, oblivious of the trick which had been played on me.

1st October, 2010.
“independence day”

Now I am grown, reality has set in and I understand. I no longer look forward to that special day because I am disillusioned. I have come to understand that the cake I used to see televised was a symbol of the so much talked about “national cake”, which many scramble for but only a selected few have a share of it. Fifty years on, all I see is poverty, sick people, unemployed youths amongst other ills. Situations don’t even seem to be abating. They say a Goodluck is on the throne and things would get better. I try to be optimistic but most times as a form of escapism, I go back to my childhood reverie. Only that this time is not father I see but me. This dream of mine would be realized someday, I know, YES! someday.


This article was originally written for the Independence day contest on naijastories.com under the name Nwanne UK, it was also featured on  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11445817, BBC website on Nigerian blog round up: "Naija state of mind.''

"AFRICA AHOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

Anytime I hear the song "We are Africans" by JJC, it reminds me of Africans who have left their countries for a better life in the yonder, in search of an identity. I must confess that right from the first day I heard the song, I fell in love with it, my favourite part of it being "the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice". I have a friend who says “the black man is his own enemy;”at first, I tried to counter him but he reminded me of how many countries in Africa are celebrating independence this year, and the progress they have made so far. On hearing the above song, he asked why the musicians are screaming their lungs out, and that if they are actually proud of their countries, then they should come back to their respective homes.



I pondered on this for a while and asked myself , does “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice”, mean “ the blacker the African man, the more negative the news that comes out Africa is?” Often times, I’ve been criticized for being unpatriotic, but hey, I am a realist and believe in seeing things as they are and not living in a world of fantasy. Some weeks back, I read on BBC website on the resurfaced killing of albinos in Tanzania for meat and ritual purposes, and because of that, they (albinos) have gone into hiding. The thought of a human killing his fellow human baffles me, especially in this modern day. TANZANIA AHOO!!!!.


Another similar story is that of accused ‘child witches’ in Cross River and Akwa Ibom. The children are said to be the cause of the poverty and failure in their families. In order to change the family’s fortune, they are told by Pastors to bring their children for deliverance for a fee between $300 to $2000. The kids are then taken for exorcism which involves a process of torture and degrading inhuman treatment, till they “confess” that they are witches. In cases where things don’t seem to improve for the families as is usually the case, the families are told that the height of witchcraft in the kids is extreme and the children be sent out of their homes. Helen Ukpabio of Christ Liberty Church, is one who is reported claims to have delivered more than five hundred people mostly children. Ridiculous, I must say. CROSS RIVER, AKWA IBOM AHOOO!!!!!


Chansa Kabwela a Zambian journalist, sent some pictures of a pregnant woman who gave birth in a street outside a foremost hospital to the Zambian Presidential Office. Thinking the President would look into the matter, she was instead charged to court for spreading pornography. She was later acquitted. This still does not hide the fact that the President swept the main issue under the carpet. How can Africa blossom under such leaders, who don’t care about the affairs of his people but rather think of how to amass the nation’s wealth? This year seventeen African countries celebrate their 50th independence; many of them have nothing to show for it with their people living in abject poverty while the ruling class have whatever they want at their beck and call. In “Why foreign aid and Africa don’t mix” by Robert Calderesi, he says, “I once asked a president of the Central African Republic, Ange-Félix Patassé, to give up a personal monopoly he held on the distribution of refined oil products in his country. He was unapologetic.”
"Do you expect me to lose money in the service of my people?" he replied. “That, in a nutshell”, says Calderesi. “has been the problem of Africa. Very few African governments have been on the same wavelength as Western providers of aid.” How can you expect to constantly get aids from the Western World, when you don’t use it for what it was allocated for? PATASSE AHOO!!!!.


Nigeria is part of those countries celebrating its 50th year independence, 87.7 billion naira has been allocated for it. Misplaced priority, I call it, when the country is littered with unemployed youths and poverty stricken citizens who can’t even afford the basic amenities. The average Nigerian lives on less than a dollar a day, meanwhile there are those who have more than they ever need, while one can barely clothe himself, we have in the same country, those who travel overseas just to get the latest designer clothes. This goes to show that there is something wrong with our structure and mentality, and unless something is quickly done about it, much good won’t come out of Africa, we will only be like toothless bull dogs barking AHOOO!!!!


I remember I first heard the word AHOO in 300, the movie on the war between the Spartans and Persians. As much as I enjoy and love the song, I believe JJC could have shown their African Pride much better by being original rather than borrowing phrases from a Western movie. “AFRICA AHOOO!!!!!”

Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban

Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban

The Grossman Burn Centers Provides Care and Hope for Bibi Aisha from Afghanistan

At 16, her father promised her hand in marriage and she was handed over to a large family, who she claims were all members of the Taliban in Oruzgan province. "I spent two years with them and became a prisoner," she says. Tortured and abused, she couldn't take it any longer and decided to run away. Two female neighbors promising to help took her to Kandahar province. But this was just another act of deception. When they arrived to Kandahar her female companions tried to sell Aisha to another man. All three women were stopped by the police and imprisoned. Aisha was locked up because she was a runaway. And although running away is not a crime, in places throughout Afghanistan it is treated as one if you are a woman. A three-year sentence was reduced to five months when President Hamid Karzai pardoned Aisha. But eventually her father-in-law found her and took her back home. That was the first time she met her husband. He came home from Pakistan to take her to Taliban court for dishonoring his family and bringing them shame. The court ruled that her nose and ears must be cut off. An act carried out by her husband in the mountains of Oruzgan where they left her to die. But she survived. And with the help of an American Provincial Reconstruction Team in Oruzgan and the organization Women for Afghan Women (WAW), she is finally getting help. The United Nations estimates that nearly 90 percent of Afghanistan's women suffer from some sort of domestic abuse. "Bibi Aisha is only one example of thousands of girls and women in Afghanistan and throughout the world who are treated this way. Aisha is reminded of that enslavement every time she looks in the mirror. But there still times she can laugh. And at that moment you see her teenage spirit escaping a body that has seen a lifetime of injustice.

“To know that so many can breath easier and live a better life because of your support is to know that we have all succeeded. The gift truly does belong to the giver.”

- Rebecca Gray Grossman, Chair – The Grossman Burn Foundation

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ADDITIONAL CURRENT GROSSMAN BURN FOUNDATION HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE PROJECTS AND CAMPAIGNS

On the violence against women By Rev. Fr. Clement Muozoba

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In my culture, for one to quote his father is likened to swearing an oath. Though my father died early, I have many causes to quote him and even swear by his name. I learnt much from him. Whenever the year draws to an end, I feel the pains of his death for it was at such a time that he departed this world many years ago. One of the lessons he taught me early in life was my relationship with women. That day, I came home triumphantly after beating up a girl in the school. I told him the story, thinking that he would praise me for being strong. For the first time, he was so harsh on me and made me understand that whoever fights is a fool and whoever beats a woman is a coward. He further made me to understand that every woman is my mother, wife and sister and that on no account should I beat her. He ordered me to apologize to the girl and I did that the following day.

Another day, I returned home from school very moody. I was asked why I looked sad and I narrated how I struggled over pebbles for our arithmetic lessons with a girl. Unfortunately for her, I got them and she slapped me in frustration. I wanted to retaliate and actually raised my hand but my father’s voice was whispering to me, “Every woman is your mother, wife and sister. Do not raise a hand on her!” I let her go. When I told my dad this, he smiled and parted my head and told me, “You are learning so fast. Look, my son, you will be a good husband.” I smiled at the thought of being a good husband then and covered my face with my hands. When I returned the next day and told my father that the girl apologized to me in tears, he told me that she had good parents who talked to her. However, he quickly added that I should beware of women’s tears. Spontaneously, I asked, “Why? Do they burn?” My father simply replied, “You will understand later.” I thought much about this and only understood later.

Why I went on to narrate these experiences is because of the media report few weeks ago. It was how the Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adesina, in company of some thugs and his new queen, Olori Remi, assaulted his ex-wife, Olori Bolanle Adesina. It was said that they poured some poisonous powdery substance on the hapless woman which got her arms burnt. The reason for this act of brutality was that the traditional ruler wanted to forcefully retrieve some of his property in possession of his ex-wife. This brings us face to face with the abuses that our traditional societies have subjected women to even in this modern time. Most unfortunately, some women or groups of women sometimes participate in enforcing the practice of some of these pagan beliefs and superstitions on the womenfolk especially the widows, childless and unmarried women.

In some cultures and traditions, the women are generally believed to be nothing but the property of their husbands and hence, they have no rights whatever even in their matrimonial homes. They just exist for procreation and sexual satisfaction of their husbands, sometimes in polygamous families. In many occasions, when the husbands die, the widows are subjected to some obnoxious pagan practices especially the ones that will prepare them to be inherited by other men, many a time, against their will. In some places, they are forced to perform the Ajadu ritual in which they are taken to a stream in the dead of the night for a ritual bath. It is alleged that an unknown dwarf, pre-arranged for the purpose will perform the ceremony after which he will have a carnal knowledge of the woman, thereby ‘severing’ the bond between her and her dead husband such that no harm will befall any man that sleeps with her. They are so much intimidated to believe that they will die if they do not perform the ritual. It is unbelievable that the women themselves champion this. Many a time, the refusal to do this is behind all forms of oppressions against the widows, including dispossessing them of their husbands’ property and ostracizing them.

In the same manner, the dust-to-dust rites performed at funerals have had this belief attached to it. Many believe that if a woman pours sand into the grave of her deceased husband, the bond between them will not be severed. Therefore, it is believed that any man who goes to her will be slain by the spirit of her dead husband. This has caused some rumpus between the church and some local communities which now see any funeral of any Christian man to be a theatre of war against the church. Funny enough too, some women lead this war against the church and themselves, still preferring to remain in the dark.

Another aspect of this is the plight of women without male children or childless women. In many occasions these two groups are regarded as one because of the low regard for the female children, who in the ancient African culture are just mere alternative to barrenness. Some of these women have always been made from onset to understand that their lives are wasted. Many a time, their husbands discard them to marry brand new wives who are always available in different shapes and sizes, and are so convinced of their fertility. One thing our people have not come to terms with is that, in spite of the advance in modern science, it is God that gives children. Human beings are just collaborators. For this, the love for one’s spouse should be considered first above any other thing in marriage. The value of a woman should not therefore depend on the number of children she produced, whether male or female. After all, the women reproduce what the men gave them.

It is true that the people like the Deji of Akure have been taken care of by some punitive measures like deposition; the women should come out to free themselves from these shackles. As I rightly pointed out, in many occasions, the women are the cause of their own woes. Take for instance, the youngest wife of the Deji who accompanied him and joined in beating up his fellow woman. She could have stopped him from the assault if she has respect for womanhood. In the same way, it is the women who form the cartel for the exportation of their fellow women to foreign countries for prostitution from which they make high profits. In the recently concluded World Cup in South-Africa, it is said that of the 40,000 prostitutes imported for the occasion, Nigerian girls from different universities in the country were the highest in number. So what we lost in the pitch, we won in strange beds.

It is again disheartening to know that many women still subject themselves to some outmoded religious and traditional beliefs. A female lay reader was of the view that her monthly period is a ritual impurity and so, she could not ascend the altar to read in that condition. Another believed that it made her lose the state of grace and therefore, could not receive the Holy Communion that time. Most surprisingly, both of them are not illiterate. It was like squeezing water out of the rock to make them understand that, “Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it.” The greatest disease is ignorance!

This piece is not intended to portray the women as innocuous. They have their own problems. Some of them have been known to be behind the ruin of many men, including their husbands. Many have been known to be on the offensive against the men and cry foul at the reaction of such men. Their best weapon is to accuse the men of sexual harassment. It was said that Hon. Doris Uboh, a member of the House of Representatives for whom the women demonstrated against the way she was taken out of the chamber during the exchange of blows recently, was the first to slap a male legislator. The women demonstrators did not think of that. They also did not think of how some of the male legislators were beaten up and their dresses torn. That is real selfishness. Recently, the Nigerian nation was held to ransom by a woman during the period of illness of the immediate past president. It was only God himself that came to our rescue. Also a woman is said to have held one of the South-Eastern states in-between her laps, manipulating and financially draining it with her son, an ex-governor. Women achieve their goals with crocodile tears. This is the situation where their tears become more corrosive than raw acid.

However, these are exceptions. There are many wonderful women who can help liberate others. They should seek their rights and protect them instead of leaning on the so-called privileges granted by men. Women should encourage themselves to participate actively in politics and not just stay back to seek 30% political appointments after the men must have sweated to clinch the political posts. It must also be acknowledged that naturally, though men and women are human beings, they do not have equal physical strength. As such, men should protect the women where they should without taking undue advantage of them. The women should also help the men where they can. Men should ultimately remember that every woman is their mother, wife, sister and daughter and should not bear a hand in any violence against them, directly or indirectly.

Rev. Fr. Clement Muozoba

okochacm@yahoo.com

07060843010

On the violence against women By Rev. Fr. Clement Muozoba

"REFLECTION"

It has  been a week the news got to me but each time I remember Tee’s death, it sends shivers down my spine, worse still that it could have been prevented save negligence and ignorance makes the news more unbearable. The last time I saw Tee was during the Easter vacation, her inconspicuous bright coloured skin was enough to always catch one’s attention with her bulging stomach, signifying her second child on the way. She was my next door neighbour, a college of education graduate, but our greetings never went beyond,  “how is the family? and Baby nko?” She was a young  mother and wife,  in her mid 20’s I guess. Tee gave up the ghost on the 22^nd of July, after having gone for her usual ante-natal checkups and told her expected date of delivery, the only hitch being that it would be through caesarian operation, the same manner  in which she had her first child. On hearing this, she went to seek confirmation from her Pastor who talked his way into her husband telling him to bring her to the church for prayers where she would give birth through natural means. Though she gave birth through natural means with unprofessional midwives around her, she bled to death for there was no proper health care facilities and qualified doctors. Thank God the baby was saved. Now who faces the consequences? The Pastor who of course is living his normal life in his church,  her husband left in a devastated state or her two kids who are now in her mother’s custody?

Now consider another story of a certain man who attends one  of these churches where Saturday is their religious day of worship. On finishing his secondary school education in the 70’s, he had the intention of studying overseas but frequent reminders by his Pastor that Saturday was a holy day of obligation stopped him from writing TOEFL and SAT. It was until he got to his later years that he realized that his Pastors children were studying overseas and how? Surprising to him by writing their exams on the supposed Sabbath day. That event, he told me was the one of the turning points in his life and to compensate for this he made sure he passed down the legacy to his children. Many a times I have had people knocking at my door wanting to preach to me, only for me to see them much later going contrary to what they have preached. Now get my point, I understand that the human flesh is susceptible to weakness but what happens in a case not when it is a usual occurrence showing that you are just a mere contradiction to what you preach. I believe that we all should be living examples of what we preach and it is no longer news that certain people who pose as men of God are the most farcical and intolerable people to live with. Another striking feature is the emphasis that has been laid on success and wealth, and the cliché, “failure is not my portion” in churches. Yes, failure is no one’s portion, but the basic facts of life has been ignored that failure is a key part of life, and when the proper lessons are learnt, and used to one’s advantage it could lead to success. Sometimes I feel that little emphasis is laid on the means of attaining salvation and transferred to “wealth”, “success” et al in order to keep their congregation.

My verdict?  Who am I to be the judge? My only advice is that in whatever we do, we should believe that we all have God within us, if  only we open up our hearts to receive him. Be logical with yourself, people around you and whatever situation you find yourself in.  Believe more in God and  in yourself and shy away from “my pastor said…”, it is only within you to have that conviction. Most pastors after playing on your psychic will tell you what they feel you should know and will keep you in their church. It is only a form of escapism, shying away from the responsibility of making your own decision and a temporary solution to solving a problem which will only resurface much later. Honestly, I have seen quite a number of  “my pastor said …” incidences  having adverse effects on people. I am very certain that Tee would have been alive if only she had been more rational by heeding to the doctor’s recommendation of a Caesarian Section and backing it up with prayers.  Do your thinking yourself, it is necessary to ask for pieces of advice along the way but have it in mind that the bulk of the decision falls on you, and is your responsibility. Whatever the outcome, you are the one who will bear the consequences whether negative or positive, irrespective of how much sympathy those around you would show.

On a final note, never allow your emotions to becloud  your reason. Let us not fall into the snare thinking that to be religious is to be without reason or that to accept reason we must as a requisite renounce faith in Almighty God.

"Rebirth"

Welcome to my blog and as the title suggests it is my everyday life experience. Naturally, i'm not one who belives what everyone says, I filter and question things I see, read and i'm told a lot. A friend who was once dear to me said I 'critically analyse' a lot. Come to think of it, if I don't and accept what everyone says won't that mean that I am allowing their system enslave me? Nevertheless, I have a high tolerance level and  know when to give people the benefit of doubt. The purpose of this blog is to open the creative and thinking faculty and most of all to shock our sensibilities. I write like the Romantics but think like the Augustans and I love to be critiqued because that is the only way I perceive I can get better.