The weight of unforgiveness lodged in the heart, Is an albatross that hinders enjoyment of peace!
Its weight drags you down and keeps you low, Making every other thing go so slow!
Forgiveness is not an easy feat, When we revel in the bitterness of it all!
But do remember that holding on to that bitter vile, Is simply holding on to dead waste and pile!
Holding on to that heavy weight, Is giving heavy rent-free space in your head, To business that has no business being there!
Even the weight of not forgiving yourself, Bears hindrance to your future!
Never equate seeking justice to a crime, and bearing the blunt weight of unforgiveness.
They are not the same! Neither are you Lady Justice!
Unforgiveness takes a prisoner! And that prisoner is you!
Do not equate trust and forgiveness, For they are both not the same!
Trust lost by an erring party, may be regained if they work for it. You can choose not to trust, or to trust with a pinch of salt. It is called being cautious, wary, sensible or careful.
You cannot choose not to forgive, Because this applies to you!
The act of unforgiveness is like poisonous lead! In the spirit of your life, whose effects soils your waters!
This is a gift that you must give yourself! It may not change your past but, It will define your future!
Set your heart free! Let that grudge go!
Set your heart free! Let that hurt and pain go!
Set your heart free! Let the healing begin!
Set yourself free! Unlock that door!
I never said its easy! But take a step, spread your wings and fly!
You have been transformed into a mystical being who has the ability to do magic. Describe your new abilities in detail. How will you use your new skills?
Try not to waste time on darkness that robs you of your light!
How you spend your time, defines who you are or who you become!
Some people suffer from major ego-dysfunction and seem to dwell only in dark, negative auras; that once you get sucked in, they rob you of the light and energy that you require for yourself and others!
They are not interested in your time nor the positive energy that you channel to them, but the narcissistic pleasure they derive from waste!
Remember that change cannot be forced down a person’s throat! That person has to desire the change itself, because true change starts from within to without!
You may share your empathy with all, but choose wisely those who dine in the inner cores of your heart!
Use your light for greater good, your life will be better for it!
”Hia!” ”Is this not where I hung the shirt?” Ikem queries the silent night. His brand new blue second-hand T shirt with the Chelsea logo was gone! Could it have been carried by the breeze? ”Ah! Ah!” ”I just washed and put it out here not too long ago to dry in the light harmattan breeze!”
His other frayed shirt is hanging and flapping in the wind as if in mockery of his thoughts. He knows in his heart that one of those crooked eyed boys in the neighbourhood has pilfered the new one! ”Maybe it is Jude that took it o.” ”Jude!” ”Jude!” ”Jude!” he bangs on the Jude’s door, to no response.
This reaffirms his decision to go home to the village for Christmas in a couple of weeks and proceed to Onitsha with his cousin Chuks. “From the look of things Chuks seems to be doing well at Onitsha.” ”I will join him and start afresh from there.” ”I am tired of this place!”
”So what am I going to wear for tomorrow’s event now?”
He had just walked out of the dingy common bathroom of their quarters bare-bottomed feet; the sling of his worn-out slippers had finally died a natural death on his trek back home after a hectic days hustle.
It was dark in the neighbourhood. ”O boy, these NEPA boys have dismantled and collected the wires o”, says his neighbour Jude, seated on a heap of cement blocks outside, enjoying the nights fresh air. Their light connections are haphazardly and illegally done, coupled with their inability to settle the NEPA officials with something for the weekend.
Child naming ceremony
Ikem chooses not to let such things bother him right now. He is moving to higher grounds in a few weeks time, besides he had purchased quite an assortment of apparels including two new sandals and sneakers that he will launch over Christmas in the village.
As a matter of fact, if fate continues smiling the way it has been these last couple of weeks, ”I might even consider buying a G.S.M torch light phone and a few items to take to Mama and Nwanneka.’‘ ”It is almost my turn to collect the accumulated funds from ‘Isusu’.”
He felt happier than he had in a long while as he quickly washes and hangs his shirt to drain before he retires for the night. Tomorrow will be a good day, he whistles as he goes along. Papa Emma’s is having the child dedication of his twins, and surely the celebration will be followed by several plates of rice and meat coupled with free drinks to go around.
Party Jollof rice with plantain and moi-moi
He plans to join them to go to church. He has not been to church for so many months. It was tiring attending church services that were fast turning into fashion parades, whilst he had nothing fashionable to wear. It always made him feel ashamed.
Now! The new Tshirt he planned to showcase tomorrow has disappeared. “Thank God I didn’t wash the Chinos jeans as well.” ”I will just have to wear something else!” He muses to himself.
Links to the earlier series are at the top of the page. Thank you
Quick Glossary for words that you might not know:
Child dedication: Child dedication is a symbolic ceremony undertaken by Christian parents soon after the birth of a child. This rite is intended to be a public statement by the parents that they will train their children in the Christian faith.
Chuks: A shortened form of an Igbo name given to boys which could be derived from Chukwuka, God is greater, Chukwuemeka, God has done so well, Chukwudi, God lives, Chukwuebuka, God is very big etc
Isusu: An informal means of collecting and saving money through a savings for the enablement of kith and kin ventures.
Harmattan: Harmattan is a cold-dry and dusty trade wind, that blows over the West African subcontinent, from the Sahara Desert into the Gulf of Guinea between the end of November and the middle of March (winter).
Hia! Just an exclamation like Oh dear!
Moi-Moi: Nigerian steamed bean cakes made from a mixture of washed, peeled black-eyed peas, onions and fresh ground peppers (usually a combination of bell peppers and chili or scotch bonnet). A very protein-rich food that is a staple in Nigeria
NEPA: National Electric Power Authority was an organization formerly governing the use of electricity in Nigeria now replaced by PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria).
Nwanneka: An indigenous Igbo name given to a girl and it means: ”my siblings are supreme or very important.”
Onitsha: A city with one of the largest commercial markets in West Africa. It is situated on the river port on the eastern bank of the Niger river in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria.
To settle: The act of adjusting or determining disputes between persons without pursuing the matter through the formal process. In this case, it is giving something under the table to the officials.
I found a lot of treasures in the neighbours backyards this past week. Will share just a few. Do take a peek.
When we came here for a look-see in December, to help facilitate our migrating decision-making process, we spent weeks in a glitzy, glam hotel having a tour of the lovely city.
Hotels spuriously dot Dubai’s landscape to meet the needs of a teeming tourism industry which keeps blooming by the day. From the 0 stars to 5 stars and the only 7 Star hotel in the World!
Naturally, I got a bit friendly with a few of the staff, especially a young lady that tended to our room. I have no idea if I was drawn to her because she is of African descent, but I remember observing her very earnest yet polite demeanour as she rushed through her duties like a fire-ball in a haste to get her job done in record time.
The little tips that I gave her were highly appreciated and by the end of a few days, we became a little more friendly. I even suggested to her that I would like to share a day working with her for the heck of the experience to her alarmed and vehement refusal.
Out of piqued curiosity an interview ensued on one of the days that she was making up the room, little did I know that I would use the excerpts one day!
I will keep her name different and no mention is made of the hotels for privacy sake:
Me: “Lydia, where are you from?”
Lydia : “Somalia.”
Me: “How long have you been living here?”
Lydia : “Three years now.”
Me: “Wow!” “That’s been a while!” “Do you live close by?”
Lydia: “Not at all.” “The outskirts, after Sharjah.” “It’s too expensive to live in the city.”
Me: “That’s far! (I exclaimed with the little idea that I had to the terrain). ”What time do you leave home?”
Lydia: ”Most times 5 or 5:30 in the morning!” ”I have to be at work by 7:30.”
Me: “And I see you here till late evening around 9.00pm or so when the bus is taking a bunch of you home.” “Doe’s the bus take you home?”
Lydia: “No it stops us at a metro station and we find our way from there.”
Me: “Oh good!” “So how do you like it living here?” “Was it easy to transition from your place?” “I thought it was a bit difficult to move here as a single woman, given the rules and regulations?” A battery of questions came from my end and all these while she busily went about her duties in the apartment, changing sheets, fluffing pillows etc.
Lydia: “It’s okay to live here even though it is more expensive than Somalia, but this place is better.” “An employment agency engages a lot of us.” “We cannot apply directly by ourselves and they are the ones that obtain the visa after medical tests and other requirements have been satisfied.” ”The agency gets a fraction of our income – they are actually our employers and they deploy us to work in places where they get contracts.”
Me: ”How did you get to know about the agency?” ”Are you happy with the work?”
Lydia: ”My cousin told me about them.” ”We were searching for a proper way to leave Somalia because of certain hardship due to conflicts.” I observed the flitting of emotions on her pretty face, but I didn’t interrupt as I was regaled with bits and pieces of what home meant to her.
Me: ”So what about the job?” ”Is it tedious?” ”Is it okay?” ”What has your experience been like?” I asked leading questions trying to probe a bit beyond the surface.
Lydia: ”Sometimes, I do about 35 check-outs in a day.” I got to understand that, that meant putting rooms in immaculate states when an occupant has checked out.
”Some days can be very stressful especially when some occupants are difficult and don’t want you to disturb them until when they are ready.” ”Then they call and tell housekeeping that nobody has done up their rooms; meanwhile, they are the ones that put a do not disturb sign on the door.” ”What can you do?” ”You just have to manage.” She stated philosophically
”Every job has it’s problems, but if I get money, I will open a hairdressing salon.” ”I know how to make hair very well.” Her face lit up at such an anticipated prospect.
“This is actually my second place of work.” ”At the first hotel that I worked in, I was nearly assaulted by a client.” ”It was during a festive season and the hotel was fully booked at that time.” ‘‘I was assigned to work that floor for the week and this man kept making overtures but I ignored him.” ”On one of the days that I was cleaning up the toilet (and he is a very messy guest), he followed me into the bathroom, got aggressive and tried to force himself on me.” ”I barely managed to extricate myself without getting seriously hurt, but the Indian housekeeping manager informed me two days later that I was fired for upsetting a customer.”
”I was lucky that the agency was understanding and they deployed me to this place.” ”This is a better hotel, she enunciated quietly in her sing-song drawling accent. ”The manager is a nice Egyptian Christian.”
I was very disquietened and left the interview at that with a bigger tip than usual.
An appeal to your Bitter, Blustery Highness, As your Icicled fingers of Frigid coldness, Begins to drift in and it gets drafty, Could we appeal to your Foggy, Frostbitten senses? Could your Frozen Flurries and Freezing Rain be few? We spend tons on Flus, Flannels and the Fireplace too! Heating our Hearths to halt Hypothermia! Expensive jackets, gloves, leggings, woolly mittens, caps, scarves and socks, Long-Johns, Overcoats, Parkas and the entire shindig, cost a huge packet too! White Christmas, Snowman and Ice skating is nice we know, But Ma’am, we could do without your, Foggy Overcast which forebodes Ice-storms and Hails! We could survive without your Slippery Black Ice too! We Turn Blue from the Huge Heaps of Knee-deep Snow on our doorsteps, Where we are forced to Seek Cozy Comfort, to Bundle, to Hibernate and indulge in, Copious cups of hot chocolate and Warm Soup, Until your Dreary Frozen Highness, Thaws from the Fingers of the Warming Sun! Please, Your Frostbitten Excellency, Do not get gusty and nip at my Chimney in annoyance, I simply utter a shivery request! Thank you, Your Chilliness.
An institution of learning for children must have the basic learning instructions of reading, writing and arithmetic’s.
I wonder where I would be, if I hadn’t learnt to read?
That would have been a sorry shame because I may not have been able to talk to you.
The wonders and places gleaned between the pages of a book would elude such a soul. The man who reads visits a thousand place’s but a man who doesn’t read, remains in one place.
The learning process of these basic skills will help the learner’s acquire required skills to function and blend into a larger society, as well as laying the foundation which equally serves as their springboard to excel in their chosen pursuits.
If I had the opportunity to set up an institution of learning ground up, asides from the usual subjects that are taught in the four walls of a school, I would emphasize on student’s learning basic survival skill acquisition as well as other skill sets and talents which can be harnessed optimally.
Ethics, etiquette, empathy, generosity, respect and self-respect should also form part of a young child’s social sciences formation, especially in these times when the focus seems to be more selfish inclined with the spirit of entitlement pervading the society.
Let us remember that the mind of a child is a tabula rasa, absent of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals a pure clean slate on which to write and as the good Bible states, we should raise a child in the way that he should go and when he grows, he shall not depart from it.
You get to redesign school as we know it from the ground up. Will you do away with reading, writing, and arithmetic? What skills and knowledge will your school focus on imparting to young minds?
a cooking pot and twisted tales 