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Showing posts from March 20, 2015

Civilian Casualty 3: The Thing About School Fees Part 1

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 availa...

Book 1: G.O.O.D. (Damilola)

DAMILOLA The Betrayed One ...by me I betrayed her. I didn’t plan to. It just happened.  Well… sort of. We were in Primary Five - which was graduating class back then – I took ill during preparations for end of the session party. By the time I returned to school, they had already taken the measurements for the graduation gown and there was no way it could have been made in time for the party the next day. It would have been easy on the school if I hadn’t paid early for the gown but I had. So they had to find a way to fix things – I think they were really scared of my mum’s reaction or maybe my dad’s, it was hard to say they were both scary. Actually, they are still scary. I’ll tell you a little story.

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Iyanu Majiuni)

IYANU MEJIUNI A Rivalry of Mercy, Academics and Art There are people in your life that for some reason, you find yourself inexorably tied to by, increasingly perplexing and sometimes a definite – this has got to be some fate and destiny stuff - situation . The existence of such people in your life reinforces the fact that something or someone (depending on what you believe) must have deliberately put us on this fascinating and titillating world. Say for example, you meet someone new at a social or religious gathering and you briefly discuss and exchange numbers or business cards, but somehow you know that you will never call this fascinating person you have just met. 

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Aminat)

Aminat Height is a great intoxicant! I do not consider my interaction with this girl the happiest memory of my young life but I cannot help smiling when I remember my most memorable interaction with her. In reality, I do not actually remember any other personal interaction with her apart from the one I’m about to share with you. Most of my other memories of her are those of me and her in a group, we didn’t talk much and interestingly enough, this particular interaction, had it gone well would have been nothing more than a group interaction. But I am happy to say that it didn’t go well, if it had, I wouldn’t have this story to tell – In other words, some bad incidents may give you the best memories you have of a person.

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Mercy Ibekwe)

MERCY IBEKWE An artistic bully This is one person whose name I wish I didn’t have to hide, her art was so incredible and made you want to believe you could draw too and I have little doubt that her art would someday be evaluated than people other than her peers. I wonder why in every almost every school I attend , there’s a bully who is my friend. Thankfully, this girl was the nicest bully I ever met – I needed some kindness thrown my way being kind of the new girl in school. I say , kind of because I had been to this school before but like I said earlier, my dad wanted me to mix up with other kids. So he moved me and my siblings to the school where I, met ‘the stalker’ and moved us back to this school after my brother messed up ‘ to mix up’ .

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Zero Romance)

Zero Romance, lot’s of drama! Shish! I changed schools a lot back in those days. First I went to Croft day-care, then Sola White, then Mac Steward then Sol-fa and then back to Mac Steward. Some of the changes were due to age, others, not so much. For example, we changed due to our new living location and then we changed because I wasn’t mixing up ( yeah, that was an issue, throw the quiet girl into a bigger school so she can mix up faster! ) finally, we changed back to the smaller school, because my brother called his teacher stupid.  Talk about Stupid ! 

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Intermission, Mix UP)

Micx UP! BU… BU… BUT DADDY… I changed schools a lot because my dad really wanted me and my siblings to mix up with other kids - which I never did! I’ve always been guilty of watching from afar, being a part but never really one with everyone. Changing schools didn’t help me to mix-up at all, but he didn’t seem to understand that. All he saw was a really quiet girl who brought home the ‘Best-Behaved Student’ Award, every year. He seemed to have the idea in his head that if you were best-behaved then you were the class’ fool so he promised to give me a thorough walloping if I ever brought home that award. Apparently, only fools could be best-behaved! Weird, I didn’t know that.

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Chinyere)

CHINYERE People take food, so, so, seriously! It’s amazing that she’s the first friend/person I recall knowing. Evil Snickers!!!  Who’d have thought? I personally believe we all got to know what cultism, peer pressure, gangs and other crappy childhood and not so childhood associations were, right about when we were aged 0.0000001hrs.  FACT!

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Wallace & Chibuzor)

WALLACE AND CHIBUZOR Hormones that kicked in too soon! One was half German and the other had spent the early days of his life out of this country , so he had this funny accent – at least it sounded funny to me. It is also possible that he talked that way to impress the girlies or maybe he was just, so, overwhelmed with the beauty around him ( Me and Chinyere, of course , why even ask? ) that his vocals chords failed to work properly. I find it a bit strange but I’ve been thinking really hard about it and I really can’t remember who bore what name . This is no fault of my incredible brain   as I have said before, I have more brains now –check out my story about Aisha further on – and for the life of me, I can’t recall who was who!  

Book 1: G.O.O.D (Intro)

Book 1: Getting Out Of Diapers (G.O.O.D)   Here is where i started getting smart and learning my foundation values. Some Wisdom got smacked in too... but not for me... Well. You'll see. PRIMARY ONE TO PRIMARY THREE:   Done with toddling… What's Up With That, Anyway?!!!

About Me

About Me Just so you know … I’m not a particularly bright scholar and I wouldn’t win the prize for the most artistic, athletic or interesting person. I’m not the life of a party; I do not consider myself social. I’ve never been top of my class and as at the time of this writing, I am not extraordinarily wealthy. The questions I can imagine you asking are these; What in the world am I doing writing about yourself and the people you know? What kind of drugs has deluded you into thinking your stories matters if you hold no position of value or interest?