MARCH, Women’s Month, Women’s Issues & Women as Collateral Damages

March is recognised internationally as Women’s Month.

This year, I was part of the UN Women’s CSW69 cohort this year. An intensive two weeks bursting at its seams.

Two weeks of bringing women and some men from all nooks and crannies of the Globe together and you can only imagine the heat erupting out of that space

There were lots of takeaway moments. Participants kept sharing nuggets via graphics. Below are two of such:

It seems that the average man has been conditioned to find his validation in a woman’s admiration. He had been taught that when a woman expresses the power of her Agency, that is a direct affront on him. And the penalty is to attack. It does not matter if the attack be physical, sexual, financial, emotional or even outright elimination — what matters is that he must find a way to show her he is a man — even if his children become collateral damages. And not to think anything of it.

Amaraya

“Men who claim a woman belongs to the Kitchen are the same men who want a female doctor to attend their wives”

CSW Speaker

I wrote an article on Medium. Click the link below to read and share your thoughts.

https://medium.com/@amara_57777/march-womens-month-women-s-issues-women-as-collateral-damages-613de8d9bf2a

 

the dilemma of saving a life – The Christmas Story

The law was clear on adultery: stone both parties. (Leviticus 20:10). Eventually, patriarchal enforcers flipped it to – stone only the female. Father-in-law Judah, without blinking, passed the sentence on his widowed Daughter-in-law. (Genesis 38). The Pharisees swiftly sentenced the woman caught in adultery (John 8 ) So why did Joseph spare Mary? Instead of … Read more

the influencer who went viral and lost his life

This guy I follow. The baddest of Influencers.

I call him Mr Loco. Because he is very weird.

Met him offline before online became a thing. Very vociferous. Spares no one. Bucks the trend. Delights in annoying the establishment.

“I do not care for my life. You are going to kill me anyway so I might as well say it as it is”

As he stirred up more ruckus, his following grew. His followers got into arguments and fights. Became Voltrons, the defender of his Universe.

“Stop defending me. I can take care of myself” he cautioned restraint

Mindset upgrades. Lifestyle switches were his mantra.

How to think/do/be better were all his teachings.

As his Goodwill soared. He also accrued resentment and hatred.

The competition did not like him. Like we say in Nigeria, he was pouring sand inside their garri (frustrating their schemes) and needed to be taken care of.

Therefore, the law of in the face of a common foe enemies become friend was activated.

A hit was commissioned on him. It would be an inside job.

“We would protect you afterwards” the hitman was reassured

A lie it turned out eventually. Because after he carried out the hit, they turned their backs on him. And he committed suicide.

And Mr Loco?

Of course they killed him. Then they rued the day they did. Because his Influence and following then spread like wildfire

So viral even the #covid pandemic was child’s play. Trans frontiers, transcending social strata and demographics, his fame soared.

And lives changed.

If you have guessed who this is by now, let me know.

nigerian idioms and preserving history

I began this series with the intent for it to;

     

      1. serve as a store of cultural & historical knowledge 

    1. bring back pleasant memories of years gone by to some and teach those who do not know

    I have had this idea for more than a year now. It began from the days of dealing with Chemo fog and all I did was write out the titles in a book each time any dropped.

    Then this week while praising at dawn, a particular name of God dropped off my lips and I quickly hurried to seek out the book. After writing it down, I went back to prayers. But heard the words “start now”.  And here we are.

    This series is about some of the idioms we as a people use in our daily interactions. 

    Some we use in songs. Others are inscribed on trucks. 

    Those passengers and trucks-carrying trucks which traverse our roads daily. 

    Trucks like Bolekaja, Gwongworo, Hakorankura, Tipper, Molue, 1414 amongst others.

    We kick off this with ‘Oke Mmiri N’ebu Ogbe’ = the hurricane which carries off landmarks

    Back in the villages, our streams served the same function as the ancient Roman baths. Besides the basic functions of bathing and laundromat, they also provided a safe space where women bonded. All kinds of information passed through a stream similar to a hairdressing salon today. The Washing machine usually was a boulder or a fallen tree trunk positioned at the shallow ends of the water.

    Boulders or trunks [Ogbe] eventually become like ancient landmarks. They are that basic feature of the stream that you grew up seeing and well into your adulthood, they remain.

    Irrespective of the tides, storm, rain and all, those boulder remain across generations. They serve as a store of memories, mostly fond memories.

    Now, imagine you go to the stream one day and those boulders are no longer there!

    Who moved them? Certainly not any Earth moving equipment. And not the men either. So what happened to that trunk then? Something that has remained fixed in that position for decades? How did it move?

    Enter the hurricane!

    From what you know of a hurricane, it should have decimated most if not the entire village, right?

    Wrong!

    This particular hurricane only removed the ancient landmarks. Left everything else untouched.

    How?

    Simply for the fact that he can.

    When we tag God as ‘Oke Mmiri N’ebu Ogbe’, it is a call to war. A reminder to ourselves, God and our situations about his powers. We reaffirm that he alone does the impossible.

    However, unlike a hurricane, God’s feisty winds leaves no collateral damage.

    He simply swoops in and sweeps away that which needs to go. That thing which had spurned every attempt at resolution.

    Next time you listen to an Igbo song and hear Oke mmiri n’ebu Ogbe; remember that there is a higher power who intervenes in the affairs of men and does the seemingly impossible.