Ukodo tonight!!

…Introducing an amazing and interesting friend of the family. He is a Doctor, writer, poet, and all round creative person. Meet the author of the popular Psalm 23 in pidgin English   Dr Wilson Orhiunu aka “Babawilly”

For those not familiar with his work here are a couple of teasers from his book of poems titled My Time.

SAM TWENTI TIRI (Psalm 23 )

The Lord is mai shepherd
I dey kampke
He make mi sidon for where betta dey flow
Come put me next to stream wey make mai bodi
Thermacool
He panel beat mai soul come spray am white,
Come dey lead me dey go ni, through express road of righteousness for His name’s sake
Walahi!, if I waka pass where arm robber, 419
And juju pipo borku come even join okada reach valley of the shadow of death sef, mai bodi dey inside cloth. Your rod and staff nko?
Na so-so comfort dem dey comfort me for belle
You don prepare Banga and starch make I chop
All mai enemies dey look anyaya
You anoint me for head wit oil
Mai cup na Ogunpa wey burst im banks
True true, betta life and mercy go gum mai back
Till I quench. And man go tanda for God house sotey sotey; from Lai lai to lai lai.
GOD ALMIGHTI, NA YOU BICO.
2000 – Babawilly.

Another favourite of mine is….

UKODO TONIGHT…..  ( Meal of yams,spices,fish and pepper soup boiled in the same pot, from the Delta of Nigeria )

It’s Ukodo tonight
Finger lickin’ licking good
We are doing alright
You’re my woman
I’m your man
Been at work
Since 9 o’clock
But it’s now 5
Hey!
That boss of mine
Works me to the bone
But it’s now 5
Ahh!
Tonight’s the night
We celebrate our love
You’ve been to Igbudu market
To buy choice yams
Some crayfish
Alligator pepper
And dry fish
I am on my way home
For Ukodo tonight
It’s been 12 months
Since we both said “I do”
Oh, how sweet time flies.
With a candle lit dinner
We are insured against Nepa
Let’s celebrate
We have made it this far
Stir that boiling froth real slow
Yes my appetite is higher
Than any Warri T.V aerial
For Ukodo tonight
I am driving through
the streets of Wari reminiscing
Of how it was at the start
For Mama said
It wouldn’t work
Papa said
It wouldn’t last
Brother said
It wouldn’t work
Sister said
It wouldn’t last
But here we are getting ready
For Ukodo tonight.
The smell fills the compound
Neighbours know what you are cooking
So pull out the phone
And lock the doors
Shut the windows
and draw the curtains
Even if the president comes knocking
We no dey house
For it’s Ukodo tonight
This love grows
Stronger every day
So fan the flames
Of a love
That just wouldn’t die
Soft music plays
As you turn the palm oil
On hot yams so soft
And tender
I’ll rather be no where else
Than here
For Ukodo tonight

February 2001 – Babawilly

More of the same? checkout  Http://Myspace.com/babawilly

DARFUR! 278 Reasons to care…

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African Bishop opposing Aparthied.

When Kimberly Smith, executive director of Make Way Partners, found James teaching under the trees, he had 150 orphans looking to him to share his education with them but he had nothing else to give. No food. No medical care. Not even a shelter to provide shade blistering Sahara sun.

Today, James has 400 orphans and thanks to the generosity of many he has open air classrooms where the children can at least have a roof over their heads. He is also able to feed them every day and on Wednesdays they even get meat. At this very moment, he is desperately working to get the funding to buy materials to finish dormitories for the little ones before the rains come. The children need shelter. They need protection. James knows.

He can’t forget the number 278.…

To read post in full, please go to http://everydaymiracle.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/278-reasons-to-care/#more-211

Ishmael!

Birthing Ishmael!

We all will experience hurts, disappointments and even betrayal by the ones we love and trust sometime in our journey of life. I guess that is why it is a journey of many paths… We will come to crossroads and have to choose what direction is best to travel, some may be roads well travelled, so you  have an idea of what may lay ahead others may be uncharted territory, one you would have to trail blaze yourself and some may just be wrong to walk!

Relationships become important, close ones became valuable and relied on, we’ll sometimes let others lead us down there path, let them set the tone or pace  of your journey, until things start taking a turn for the worst and the feeling of trust gets violated, love broken. We start to loose the lustre in the relationship.  You just want to give up  trying  any longer, and for the moment to ease the pain….To ease what ever pressure you long for, a soothing ointment ( could  be drink, drugs, work or in the arms of another) but not the true “balm”. But we know we need soothing, release for the moment!

It is at this point I say call out! shout out! even cry out! to the one that has a greater and better view of your journey. The one that created and knows you ….Please! Do not faint, for in your  weakness is when He shows up in His strength on your behalf.
 Do not miss your call, purpose, and destiny by selling your birthright for a morsel of porridge (instant gratification).  Do not walk in bitterness, unforgiveness and resentment for this will only birth more pain and revenge, but wait!…………. Less we birth “an Ishmael”

What is birthing an Ishmael you say……

You will have to go the bible and read the book of Genesis 16-21.

To paraphrase …. Abraham and his wife Sarah  were very old and had no child of there own, but were promised by God that they would have a child. In the impatience of Sarah, she encouraged her husband to bear a child with her maidservant called Hagar; she gave birth to Ishmael meaning God hears. By the time Ishmael was a teen  Sarah took in and gave birth to her son called Isaac (you see Gods word never goes back to Him unfulfilled)
Sarah later made her husband send Hagar and her son Ishmael away, cos she felt had become a treat to Isaac her son and cos Hagar had taunted her all the years after Ishmael was born….
Today the trouble in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestine is all a result of Sarah’s impatience.

Let us not in our pain, heartache and weakness  take the law /retribution, payback, revenge in our own hands….
The Journey is long with bends and turns,  up’s and down’s, the bumps on the road are many!
Be encouraged!

*an Ishmael*………….a temporal solution that could cause long term damage.

Mars and Venus get your act together!

Mars and Venus get you act together…

Every man wants to be “Lord”… like it or lump it PC generation.
A man wants to be a “MAN” why does that sound negative now days when a man says that (if he is able to say it aloud) 
A man wants to feel capable, wants to be the first called to solve a problem especial that of his wife/partner, he want to feel he is in control… tell me why does that sound bad?

Ok… I agree that there has been some who have taken “being a man” to ridiculous levels, to mean dictators, abusers, bullies and tormentors to both male/female, to there children, wives, mothers, and fathers. THey, have helped turn “being a man” to  now sound like a curse word. I am not talking about those men… Infact I cannot call those men but animals in human skin …as Fela would say.

We are living in a time in society now where the sexes have been bluded, there are no defined lines drawn…Men can not be men, women don’t know what it is to be “WOMAN” the roles are all mixed up in the name of civilisation, enlightenment, advancement and lets not forget good old “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”

Every man want to be respected, honoured, he desires it. Regard is what fuels him knowing that he is relevant and needed, this powers him on… for example, have you noticed how  a man would react in a situation of a car breakdown, especially if there are females around. Even if he has never changed a tyre before or knows nothing about cars, there is something that rises up within him to make sure he looks out for the female present( that is not being male chauvinistic or feel that woman are not capable …it’s just natural ( why fight it ) thinking like this shows how women go to the attack of such action to mean they are weak instead of the feeling of being valued enough to be protected and defended to be looked after and cherished. ( call me old fashioned we need some of that back)

These has sipped into the home and effected the social breakdown of the family (IMHO)
A parent should be made up of “whole” men and “whole” women, but what we have now are confused, unsure, emasculated men that don’t know what being a man is let alone what being a father consist of….we then have women on the other hand who I would say “self abuse” in the sense that they have no self worth or pride in there womanhood that they want to be men, not even in the good sense, but all the negative aspects exaggerated. They brag about how much they drink, there sexual exploit. They have become female larger louts, in the UK there are women that are proud to be called “Laddetts” … they curse more, there morals are worst than that of a street dog!

They believe in the spirit of “what is good for the goose is also good for the gander” NO! It is not!

It has be said “educate a woman you educate a generation” that also applies in proper conduct, behaviour and a healthy self-esteem and self worth.

These women have nothing feminine about them. In the corporate world they are more ruthless than there male counterparts, in marriage they are competing with there husbands to head the home, to make more money than there partner, striving to rise in there career ( all for the wrong reasons) all the time struggling to prove there worth, by doing instead of just being.

The so called “liberated” woman has lost all the grace and instinct of being a woman. She has so liberated herself  that she can not ask for help anymore so she self destructs and carries a whole generation along with her….

 You tell me, how can these two kind of people come together and raise a healthy, well-adjusted family that would effect there society positively?

….a messed up child becomes a messed up man/woman becomes a messed up parent will only add to the society a messed up child, and the circle continues… In addition, we wonder why the world is messed up!

Scenario.

Parents are both chasing money and career, to keep up with the “Jones’s” house help, domestic servant, nanny ( what ever you choose to call them) are raising the children who are always looking like they stepped out of a designers runway, decked in there designer clothes.  After school to be picked up by the driver, only to get home and have dinner prepared and served by the house help/nanny. Tutor comes for an hour (expensive education) the best money can buy!  Mom and dad back from work at 7pm children in bed by 8pm and the circle continues the next morning…
who is raising the next generation?

What do we remember and  hold on to about our childhood? Its not the toys or clothes or what car we were driven in, but (for those who where blessed to have it good) you remember love from your mother, protection from your father, the talks and stories they told, the hugs and the feeling of security around you that gave you the confidence that you could do anything you set your mind to….

Should I go on…No!
I don’t just want to rant and I don’t want it to be said that I was being judgmental, that everyone is entitled to live there life the way they choose….I am all for that, thank God for freedom of speech (that it self was fought a person at a time, but will leave that for another time) All I am asking is that we consider a healthy balance, cos what we do as individuals effects the collective.

We are all responsible for the state of things in the society (good or bad) so if we want a better future for all we would have to take a good look in the mirror and maybe have to re-evaluate some choices and decision.

Home calls!

What is happening to me? I feel so alive! Expectant and excited of the future. I love being a mom and wife and would not change that for anything, but I have always felt there was more to me.

I have just come back from a trip from home (Nigeria). Lagos has a way of bringing out my Alta-ego; I think I will call her PHOENIX,  she feels she can do anything she sets her mind to, ever rising, indestructible, larger than life and bursting to birth her creative side, her destiny and purpose.

 Truly home calls and all I do now is count my days. As a family we are ready to move back home, for personal reasons, to live! Not just, exist. It may not be your reality but it ours. We want our children to grow-up knowing there culture first hand to have a solid, rounded foundation, hubby and I just agree it is time to make the move (there are something’s that cannot be explained) you just have a restlessness that your unable to shake off.

For me personally I think the restlessness I feel is fast showing, that “thing” I could never articulate properly, of whats burning inside of me, some how it’s coming out now!I am going to shout it out… cos once it’s out I have no other way but to confront and deal with it, so here goes… “I am a frustrated artist”  that feels better, now let the transition begin!

This year the lover of my soul had already dropped in my spirit it was going to be a year of expanding boundaries and taking the limits off, stepping out…and having many a “walking on the water”moments….Wow! It sure has been that so far, and the year is not over yet!

“Life is either daring adventure or nothing” _Helen Keller

….so let the adventure being! Phoenix is rising!

“A life lived without passion is a life lived in unfulfillment and regrets”

….Moi.

Eko ile! ….you just got to luv her

She is beautiful, erratic, crazy (some may say)

….I say she’s maverick dancing to her own drumbeat.

She can be unpredictable, full of history (her-story) yet fun, alive and vibrant.

In her run rivers of black gold.

She takes no prisoners and suffers no fool, she reminds you to “shiny your eyes”

Like an untamed garden rich in nutrients just waiting for the right gardener to prune, cultivate and nurture her.

She is one of many, in a household of a mighty family, a giant of it’s time! 

It is said “out of a little acorn grows the mighty oak tree”

like “kiriku” she is small but mighty!

“She will never spoil” a chant from one of her many suitors, one whom has won her heart (but for the moment) 

In her I call home and is at peace, with a calm only one who has suckled on her breast could ever understand.

 Eko ile! (lagos my home!)

Meet my baby Sola…

What can I say, Easter was blessed!
I was in Nigeria (Lagos) for the break- so much happening, so much to do
emotions array at times, but still most of it pleasant.
If you have been frequenting this blog, you would know I have a passion for
Orphans and the gift called adoption.
I am involved with an organisation called LINKACHILD; they collect data about
orphanage in Nigeria, help in raising funds and the awareness of 7million
orphans in Nigeria.
It was more than a privilege to be part of this team as I accompanied Sina (linka
child Administrator) Shola (volunteer) Ada (volunteer) to the registration of a
newly found orphanage called Hope for all in Igbo Efon, Lekkie. This orphanage
was situated in an affluent area with 10 or more “mega churches” flanked on the
major road, mega houses and estates too, yet it reflected nothing of its
environment.
The building was massive, but rundown, there was no running water, the long and
short of it is, its in need of a major make over. As we walk through the dark
damp hallway to the nursery where the babies slept my heart sank!
Looking at the states of there nursery, it took me back to what my kids room
looks like. How I taught about my kids room  and how I did’nt feel it was still as good as i’ll like it to be….( then I see kids that have nothing ) ….I taugth about how my kids left there toys about the place and me forever shouting “put your toys away”

 There was little or no toys, the beds they slept in were ok, but the
mattress and sheets were filthy.
As we were introduced to the babies and told a bit of there story of how they
came to be in the orphanage, I came across a baby that just touched my heart. I
saw her and felt in my heart say” I could have given birth to you ” as she laid
there on her back looking ever so serious at me, then making a bodily gestures,
as if to say “pick me up” ” I want to get out of here” I picked her out
of the cot, with her still steering hard at me trying to study my face , looking
deep into me she finally gives me a little side smile..as if saying I like you ,
with your funny colour hair and dangly earrings” ( oh here I go
puuuuuuuuuulllllllllll)  we fell in love or should I say I fell in love with my
Sola ( as she is called)
I carried  her through out the visit and when it was time to go, I found it difficult
to leave her there. All the babies were beautiful; they all   radiated from
within. I could not understand how evil had been able to get them here, but had to
encourage myself that God had a plan for each of them and was looking out for
them.
I was told that there were other orphanages that were in worst condition, at
least this one had a benefactor by the name of Father Adegbite.
I did go back to see Baby Sola again on Easter Sunday before service with my
Hubby, there we meet a lady that came to see a particular baby she found , the
day he was born.
Due to the way his mother  must have stood giving birth to him (head first and
standing)he suffer injuries to his head and was  brain damage when he was found.

Just like the first time, leaving Sola was heart breaking, and as we drove along
Lekkie  Epe-expressway going to church passing all the other churches and people,
church goers in their best “Easter” outfits all feeling good about themselves I
felt a bit bitter with us ( yes me included) .
How is the kingdom of God going to come  when we forget we should be effective
in our community and be truly salt to the earth.?
I was staying in this community over the Easter break so I knew the amount of
wealth spent in the said community. How some people saw it as nothing to spend on
another designer bag or pair of shoe that they did not really need or gold
earring and necklace set to add to their already large collection of jewellery
Or the thousands of Naira (Nigerian currency) spent on a night out or day at the
beach, I wonder just if each church donated one Sunday s offering once a month,
what a way that money would go, not just to this particular home but all the
others in the area, that would truly be obeying Christ commandment of Looking
after the orphans and widows. A true act of worship to God!
That is what I call effective Christianity!
I will hopeful have more pic’s for you to see  of the visit  to HOPE FOR ALL FOUNDATION babies home at the end of the week at
www.linkachild.wordpress.com
Please for any kind of donation or more information on how you could assist Linkachild
please go to their website www.linkachild.org

PS: No, I am not adopting Sola. (you never know   ) I just see her as a catalyst, as a point to keep me going and to remind me that every little counts…I may not be able to reach all the worlds orphans, but I can reach her and all the other babies in this particular home that I and my husband are doing all we can to make there lives just a little better!