Gemstots

(Image sourced from http://www.nigerianeye.com/2013/12/beautiful-pictures-of-christmas.html) Growing up, there was a buildup of excitement for Christmas. Once the 12 th month of the year arrived in all its glory, the countdown to Christmas would begin. Decorations would go up, the Christmas tree would finally come out of a place it had been relegated to for 11 months, Christmas lights would get strung, some with music some with burnt bulbs. Street Carnivals and Christmas parties would be held everywhere you turn, some fireworks and then of course the evergreen carols - same songs every year but never old. December always arrived with pomp and pageantry bringing with it an unexplainable sort of excitement which climaxed with the entry into the New Year. And if the new year consisted of unique numbers like 01/01/01, then people would probably try to get married on that day to immortalize the date. December always had lots of parties, I think I said that before, but Decembe

Not exactly an accurate depiction, but a lunch time conversation went something like this; " Me : So have you been to Nigeria? Partner : Interestingly, I have. Been quite a long time now, over twenty years ago, (pause) for a sport. Other Partner : What sport? Partner : Fives! Me and other Partner : What's that...? " [Katsina: Image sourced from Reuters] I'm not sure how many of you are like me and have never heard of the game of Fives until today. But I'm glad the other British partner was as oblivious as I was. What was intended to be a question for small talk ended up being my education about a game largely unknown even in the U.K. To be honest, I was intrigued; because he went on to say a game of Fives attracted more fans in Nigeria than it did in the UK at the time, which was quite interesting for a game invented in the UK. So the game of Fives is very much like the game of Squash, it involves hitting a ball against a wall, bu

(Image sourced from www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk ) It’s my wedding anniversary soon, and as usual, a girl has been reflecting; no scratch that; analyzing. A girl has been analyzing the teeny weeny years of marriage. I won’t pretend. ‘Why did I get Married?’ is not just a movie it’s a valid question that has popped up in my head hundreds of times. There are nuggets here and there on what to do, what to say, how to behave, on submission, on love, on kids, on this on that. But recently, I began to ask myself what I could have done to prepare myself for marriage. While waiting to get married, especially if you’re single, you may have been advised to plan your wedding in faith. Dear friend of mine, I do not come to you by chance J don’t plan your wedding in faith biko . Plan your marriage in faith! At some point I had told myself, I just don’t have the commitment it takes to make a marriage work. I look at my single friends who want to be married so badly and I’ve been itchin

(Image courtesy: www.creditcards.com) A very interesting discussion took place in my office yesterday and I tried to write about it immediately, but there’s just always one form of distraction or the other these days. I have a couple of half written posts and I had to make a mental resolve not to let this one suffer the same fate as my other half baked posts. To be honest I’m not sure how that Monday morning office conversation went from sitting with your wife in church even when it means being confined to the nursing mothers section of the church, to using your spouse to wade off advances from the opposite sex, to  Joint Accounts . Joint Accounts are usually a sensitive topic for discussion. Couples try to agree on whether to have Joint Accounts prior to getting married or once the dotted lines are signed. I just assumed it was common place to discuss whether or not to have Joint Accounts. And I might as well add that even when people agree to have a Joint Account, somet

Why haven’t you posted anything in a while? Someone asked me. 'I guess I’ve been distracted' I said then on second thought I added that nothing had gotten me worked up in a while. Well today I got worked up. The Customer Service Officers (CSOs) at GTB got me really worked up. Now that I think about it, every time I have to make a trip to a particular branch of GTB in the FCT, I leave frustrated.  The card attached to my account expired in April this year. Prior to its expiration (about two weeks or thereabout) I went to the branch to request another card, after being unable to request same through any on-line platform. I was informed that I had to wait for a debit alert before coming to the bank to request the card, it sounded like a dumb directive but I assumed the CSO knew what she was talking about. After about a month of waiting for a debit alert which I never got, I decided to call GTCONNECT and was informed no card had been requested and I was to go to a b

Today we remember this Friday 17 years ago; Who would have thought when we woke up that we would never forget April 25; Today we remember earnestly awaiting your arrival; You had promised to bring us ‘Kilishi’ and ‘Dankwa’; Today we remember how the time passed and still you had not arrived; Even the special vegetable soup for your arrival was ready; Today we remember not ever eating that soup…lol Or anything at all that night; Today we remember how August visitors trooped into our home at about 7pm; Apparently they had all known since midday; Today we remember retreating to our living room like we had been taught; Only till we heard our mothers shout of “Oh No”; Today we remember how the tears flowed freely that day; And for days and months after that; Today, we remember but with no tears; We remember you with a smile; Today we remember how you would dance with two fingers in the air; And how we would say “Daddy you can’t dance”; Today we remember

(Image courtesy Enzo's dp) In recent times, I've come to realize that those born in the 80s had similar experiences growing up. It’s amazing how very similar standards were adopted in various homes even without the paths of our parents ever crossing, not even till date. Guess it’s safe to call it the African Gene! I’ve come up with a shortlist, it’s not exhaustive but feel free to add the other common traits of the African parent. While growing up; ·          When a visitor gives you money, you give it to mummy to keep; when you ask her later, she reminds you your last breakfast was bought with money; ·          You had a chest of drawers and each child had a drawer to themselves, while your Church clothes and party clothes were kept in mummy’s room; ·          While playing on the street with your neighbours, you see your mummy’s car approach and flee to your house like you just saw a ghost; the fear of the African Mother! ·          You get your piece