Of Apples and Bananas
I remember once when our school was invited to the Jos TV Station to present a Children’s programme. Betsy was chosen to go and I wasn’t. I cried so hard after school that my mum dressed me up and took me along to the TV Station. She left me there with them. That was how I made it on TV that day. I still remember the presenter being confused becuase they had one extra child. No one said a word.
To Have and to Hold
Love isn’t cheap. On the contrary, it is costly. It will cost everything a man possesses to truly love. It demands our patience, our self control, our resources, our humility, our giving in for peace sake, giving up our places. Love is something we do and not something we simply say. It is also a subject greatly misunderstood and easily confused with lust.
Restorative Justice
The day had finally come, a Tuesday like no other. Christopher Smith was literally trembling as he prepared to meet the father of Loeshe Lacy. He walked into the dimly lit prison reception room with his support worker and saw three people sitting in a narrow arch. His seat was directly opposite Donald Lacy, the father. It was the hardest thing he had ever had to do
Say His Name
This story is a true story, an extract from an open letter to Dr Myles Brown of the Royal Canadian College of Medicine. In it, the writer detailed his experiences of racial abuse as an immigrant doctor. His letter got such an overwhelming response in light of the 2020 “Black Lives Matter” saga that it had to be taken down from the college website.
Girls in Rivers
The trip home was not as she had expected. As soon as they were out of sight, her uncle began hitting and slapping her. How could she bring such dishonour to the family? The car stopped and she was dragged out forcibly and thrown to the ground. Saba was screaming and begging for her life. She knew what was to come. Her uncle clutched her neck and fired the gun. It was over. She was bundled into a big bag and thrown into the river.
Mind Your Language
In our local African languages, there are some English phonetic sounds that simply don’t exist. One of them is the TH sound which we could either pronounce as D or T. For example, FATHER would become FADA, SOUTH would be SOUT. NORTH would be NOT. It could get really confusing especially for “non-indigenes”. How would one differentiate between North and Not, as both are pronounced exactly alike. It was never a problem to us because we all understood what we were saying.
The Tragedy of a Nation
They had woken up to screams all around them and to fire on their thatched roof. They were being burnt alive in their hut. Pregnant Hajjo grabbed one of the boys while her husband grabbed the other. They all ran out with only the clothes on their backs unaware of the horrors that still awaited them. That night, Hajjo’s husband along with some men in the village paid the ultimate price. The Fulani herdsmen slaughtered them.
Happily Never After
Charles was in a coma for exactly 21 days before he was finally released. It was a trying 21 days. Lantay cried herself to sleep every night. Some frightening tubes were run through his throat partly for oxygen and partly for his feeding. He was alive but not talking.
All in the Book
I just don’t know how she was able to cope. A tall beautiful lady, who got married to her 6’3’’ sweetheart. He had a budding career in IT and they were both doing so well financially. Several years down the line and with three children, he got ill with a debilitating disease. My friend was left as the sole provider and as his sole carer. In the midst of this, she lost her well paid job and their house went into foreclosure.
Stranger in a Strange Land
A few months after I started working with him, he was moved to a new foster home. The carer seemed rather over procedural from my very un-expert point of view. She had lists, rotas, rules and schedules for everything. I was certainly not a guru on child psychology but I felt he needed more love and validation than strict processes and procedures