THE FATHER THERE IS A GENERATION OF MEN in Nigeria, born two decades before Nigeria’s independence (1960) and during the period of independence, they subscribe to the belief that labor, builds character. It is a principle that they place above all else and they are not wrong, labor does in fact build character – at least some aspects of character. No amount of labor has thought these men to keep it in their pants, not even when it invites more labor and hardship for them. However, I believe that something may have been lost in the translation or application of this principle by a good number of these men because somewhere along the line, the word labor was subconsciously substituted for masochism in their psyche until suffering came to equal labor in their minds. ( It explains for instance why these men consider eating three meals a day, living with your parents or attending school as the height of luxury). Tade was one of such men. Of the many snacks available
THE MOTHER-IN-LAW I believe that I have mentioned earlier in this retelling how important children were to women of this generation. Like I said earlier, most of them lost more children than they have left alive. In fact there are stories of women who would lose two children in a day in what even the most learned and experienced physicians in the world would call the most peculiar of circumstances. ( I say peculiar here because, deeply entrenched in the African and Yoruba tradition is the existence of malicious spiritual forces – mostly rival wives - that come awake at night in the form of birds. There is even a Yoruba saying that literally translates as ‘ The Witch cried last night and a child died today. Who does not know that the witch killed the child?’ Of course this belief is often a matter of argument for those who do not believe in the existence of malevolent spiritual forces yet: I find it hard to believe that anyone truly grounded in African tradition and