The witches of Akwa-Ibom

My daughter woke up with a fever today. According to Helen Ukpabio, she must be a witch for daring to have a body temperature above the normal.

I have read and watched with horrific interest the stories concerning the child “witches” of Akwa Ibom. There is a small clip on the documentary that shows the movie that is believed to be the “whatdunnit” that started or at the very least catalysed these winshing of children. A lot of emphasis has been put on Helen Ukpabio and while I agree that it should be put on her, I have noticed that there has been no word from the actors, producers, directors of this dastardly production. They are almost as guilty as Helen Ukpabio ( I use almost because while they must have moved on to shooting movies with other subject matters, Helen Ukpabio has used the platform the movie has helped build to spread the “child witches” propaganda and thus is in my humble opinion more culpable than her accessories in this crime). I refuse to watch the movie so I do not know the make up of the cast, but I do know from the documentary that Teco Benson directed it. Has anyone heard a word from him? He probably sleeps soundly every night despite the fact that he has helped in spreading this evil. And I thought we had a National Film and Censors Board. They let this pass through the cracks? So many questions....

I have not seen a single actor/ actress/ producer/ director in End of the Witches stand up to denounce their part in the making of that movie that has changed the course of the lives of a lot of children. Has led to deaths, forceful imprisonment or even a life worse than death as in the case of the girl who had a 3 inch nail driven through her skull.

The noble thing to do in the face of all this would be to find a way to right the wrong. Do TV interviews that will reach the masses - the very people that watched the movies and felt that the message was clear: Children can be evil and spread this evil within the family and their communities. It is everyone’s duty to kill/get rid of them so as to stop this.

And the PFN guy in the documentary who sort of denounced the movie, has he done so in his own church or asked fellow pastors to do so? He is in a position of authority and can effect change by giving a sermon highlighting the fact that the treatment being meted out to these children is nothing short of evil. Has he? Has any pastor under the PFN? Or are they worried about what would happen to their incomes if they should make bold to denounce this evil and distance themselves from it? Whatever happened to that all popular tool of the churches: excommunication? They have not excommunicated Liberty Church or the other churches that have sprouted from them so they must accept that their teachings are okay.

And why is it that no local TV station has gone down there to carry the news? Admittedly, I watch very little TV- National and otherwise but if it had been investigated and aired, I would have at the very least heard about it. Rather, we wait for foreigners to come and do out work for us. Shame.

This really is the end of times.

The Newest Kid on the Block

In the last month, I have moved house, changed jobs and my daughter has changed school. For that reason, I deserve and award myself the newest kid on the block award.

In order to get my daughter to school and myself to work efficiently, I had to move to a new neighbourhood. This is a big deal for me, having lived in the same old place with my folks for 20-odd years. The faces are new. Although to be truthful there are no faces. Just the sound of a neighbour’s stand-by generator starting up once there is a power outage or the occasional sighting of the same car entering a compound twice in a row. That is the most interaction I have had with my neighbours and judging by the look of things, that is the most interaction there will be. Not that I mind. I am quite anti-social so it suits me just fine.

I had been at the same job for years and had always wanted to do something different. It is difficult to break into a totally different field after a certain amount of years in another especially when it is a technical field. Lord knows I tried for about 4 years. I even put in the time in getting qualified educationally. Finally, break-through. Plus it is in a totally awesome place and yes, more pay. I almost took a whole lot less money to do about the same work earlier this year. They did not give me the job because they felt I was overqualified judging by my current position and my educational background. I thank The Lord for it now although at the time, it all looked bleak.

Our first day at my daughter’s new school reminded me of all the movies I had seen about being the new kid in school. She is just a kid so she did not really notice. However, I stood awkwardly on the sidelines as parents ( especially mothers) screamed with joy as they spotted old friends. I knew only one parent from before and watched as she hugged and air-kissed several people. No matter, 2 days later a fellow newbie and I who have our children in the same class said hi. No air-kissing on both cheeks yet, but maybe soon. Lol!

Who else thinks I deserve the award?

7 things about me

It has been while since I was tagged by tobenna and aloted. So, I have decided to add one more and make it 7 things as opposed to 6. I am not tagging anyone because I think I am the last person in blogville to do this meme.

1. I have no attachment to anything. And by anything, I mean my worldly possessions. I may be inconvenienced by the loss of some things but that’s where it ends. Please note that my daughter is not on that list. (I had to add this for the people that may think to group her as a “thing”.)

2. I am really quiet and reserved. I do not enjoy arguing or even talking. That said, I think it is a never ending source of surprise to people how stubborn I am. I am quite opinionated and will thoroughly examine the arguments for and against, do some private research before I change my mind about anything.

3. I generally tune out when people continually start their every sentence with “My pastor said….” I mean think for yourself. This does not mean that you cannot say it once in a while. People impact on our lives all the time and we like to refer to the knowledge they provide. Another one I totally hate is when people constantly say: “may The Lord forgive me, but….” and then go on to say something nasty about another person. I do not like hypocrites. In fact, if I meet you and you even do it once, I write you off.

4. I cannot stand people stepping on my feet especially if they have shoes on. I cannot tell what they have stepped on. This may sound off the hook, but go to a busy market and see if you will not be stepped on at least once. When I go to the market, I spend half the time looking down and avoiding busy feet. Hold on, I don’t go to markets…finally, a reason why!

5. My phone and I do not always have the best of relationships. I do not like to have my phone ringing off the hook. I will be quite happy with myself and with the world if no-one called me in 3 days. (Unless of course it’s a significant other, then I expect and am happy to be called several times a day). Unfortunately, because I work for folks, I need to have my phone on all the time. I never switch it off but sometimes when it really gets to me, I just send all my calls to voicemail.

6. I don’t like to receive text messages whr d msgs r nt discrnbl. Whn I gt dem, I wnt 2 ask “Wht hppnd to long hand n wht hapnd 2 ur vwls?” I cn skip thse msgs nd nt rid dem 4 a month.

7. I like watching British Comedies. I thought THE OFFICE was a hoot. I would gladly sign a petition for more episodes. Rick Gervais had me in stitches!

And we are (almost) back

I did not abandon my blog. Some things happened that made it almost impossible to blog. Laptop went Kaput. (I am holding NEPA responsible for that one. Maybe I should get the House of Reps to probe them on my behalf. LOL!) and I was so busy at work I could not afford the time to blog at work.



And then a whole month later I got a new laptop, 4GB RAM...I am in speedy heaven, but my internet connection at home has been spotty ever since. I can't even read blogs unless I hook up with my phone. I can not begin to tell you about all the withdrawal symptoms I went through but I am glad its *almost* over.



Proper post later!

(And the reply I owe too)

I am going to do my rounds now.



Thank you all, for the mails and checking up on me.

Whatchamacallit

So I am a little pissy right now and that will reflect in my post.

Let’s start with your friendly neighborhood police. My friend’s car got snatched. A less than 6 month old 2008 Toyota Camry. When he reported at the police station in the vicinity they asked for a mobilization fee so that they could “buy fuel “to go to other police stations and inform them to look out for his car. He paid N25, 000 (approximately $215). This of course was apart from the other “fees” he had to pay. An example is when another friend’s car was stolen and he had to pay about N5, 000 to have his police report photocopied, and also paid the person that was going to make the copies an additional N500. It does not stop there. Yet another friend whose car was found by the police had to cough up N50, 000 to retrieve said car. And that was not even a new car. For new cars manufactured between 2007-2008, the police will tell you that “if we find this your car…..” as a hint to what your bill will be. So, you get robbed and when you report to the police, you get robbed again. As if the first robbery was not traumatic enough. Police na your friend. I couldn’t even make this stuff up if I tried.

I feel like screaming at the drivers in my office. They come to work in the morning, drop off their various employers and congregate in a common room where they watch DSTV until it is either time to run an errand or time to go home. At the end of the work day, they probably go home flop down on a sofa and declare how tired they are after a “hard” day at work while their wives that run around getting dinner together and the children settled down for the night. Tomorrow, same thing. 5 years later, they move from driver to Senior driver and life is okay. 25 years later, they retire as drivers that have a good knowledge of DSTV and their program schedules. I know I am just drinking someone else’s Panadol on this one. I just really feel like yanking them off those seats and getting them to do something with their lives. Self development, somebody!!!
I have a new colleague who shares my “office” space. He smokes and smells smoky all the time. My poor nose.

The BRT buses are running now and so far so good, the initiative seems to have taken some cars off the road. However, it would appear that the drivers of these buses are far from professionals and drive as roughly as Molue and Danfo drivers. I have seen with my own two eyes as they climb over those thingamabobs that are used to section the road on Western Avenue(I can’t remember the name- culvert?). On 2 different occasions they have also almost run me off the road. And today one was driving half on it's designated lane and half on the "civilian" lane. LAMATA, please o!! before there is a bad story to be told.

A blogger found out who I was and I felt violated. I am really a private person and I was just trying to do a good deed when I contacted him. I thought of quitting my blog. I feel better about it now although a mail I sent asking not to be “outed” has not been responded to.

Finally, some good news: Gbemi reached needy people in Rwanda and Nigeria. I also know for a fact that she has done more than she has written about. I am totally proud and in awe of her doggedness. Not everyone will put their money where their mouth is.