Happy Good Friday All

My Day
It's the day of our Lord's crucifixion, so my friends and I got up extra early for service today. We fought our flu and managed to make it in to church on time. The sermon was powerful and there was supposed to be a showing of The Passion of the Christ this evening. However I was so exhausted that my short nap turned into a long one and I ended up missing it :( Not to worry, I watched it at home.

Bar some rather unnecessary embellishments, not a bad movie at all. It really captured the brutality of Roman torture and crucifixion. Not for the light hearted I tell you.  It got me thinking though...

The Romans
They were brutal!! Floggings that peeled flesh off bones, smashing of knees, dislocating of shoulders, the whole 9 yards. The men responsible for all of that were either seriously touched in the head to start with or became like that after years on the job. It just doesn't seem natural.

Pontius Pilate, Peter & Judas.
Sounds like the name for a pretty nifty Indie-Rock band.
After a short conversation with one of my friends tonight I came to the following conclusions.

• Judas' betrayal, Peter's denials and Pilate's decision to exempt himself were all necessary in Christianity's journey. Without them in some ways there would be no cross, although God's word is still Ye and Amen.
• Unlike Peter, it seems Judas and Pilate made the mistake of (to the best of knowledge) not giving themselves a chance at redemption. Yes they sinned but if they had asked for forgiveness like Peter and devoted their lives to the mission of Christianity it would have been a slightly different story.
• Pilate was politically between a rock and a hard place so in some ways you can understand his decision. He gave the crowd a choice between terrorist/mass murderer Barabbas and Jesus and they still condemned Christ. However as Christians this doesn't mean we get to fold our hands and watch morality destroyed. In fact as people we really ought to know how and when to stand up for what we believe in. 
• Judas learnt nothing from his time with Christ. Zilch. Zero. Nada. He should know better than to think that there is no redemption for him after sin. 
• We shouldn't give our sins and past mistakes power over us. Yes we have sinned and it is wrong but in order to move forward we need to cast it off and look to God for mercy, salvation, insight and strength to resist future temptation. 

Barabbas and the thief on the cross.

They were the first examples of salvation through the cross. Barabbas who was awaiting death had Jesus take his place quite literally on the cross. As for the thief to the best of our knowledge he sits with our Lord Jesus in heaven as he was brave enough to recognise the Messiah even on the cross. Not many of us would do that in a similar situation. In fact too many of us fail to do that even today.  

I don't know if there is a moral to all of this. I just felt like sharing my thoughts with you. For those who are already Christians I hope you're having a wonderful Good Friday recognising the sacrifice made on our behalf. For those yet to recognise it, I hope you do soon. I'm not perfect but in Christ I can seek perfection with the hope that through Him it can be achieved.

Stay Blessed. 

Nigeria is why I hate politics and politicians.

I weep for my country. I'm sad because most of us are too ignorant to know what we have and those that do know are too scared, unable or unwilling to do anything with their knowledge. Knowledge is power my foot. In Nigeria all too often knowledge is prohibitive. I'm sad because we are too content with the way everything is.

Yes people are dying, but it's not my family so who cares??
Yes people are laundering money but I have food to eat and it's not like I can do anything about it can I??
Yes my neighbour is getting robbed but if I try to help it'll all end up on my head and I have enough problems of my own thank you very much!!
It's happening but it's not my problem; let someone else take care of it.

If we constantly wait for someone else to take care of it then who ACTUALLY takes care of anything? We live our problems to someone else and they pile up like dirty plates in a kitchen sink. Charity begins at home; wash your plates.

Nigeria needs to wake up; at home and abroad we need to wake up. Your country is falling to ruins and you're sleep-walking in No Man's Land. What needs to happen for you to open your eyes?? Our president is pardoning thieves and keeping them in political offices. Government officials are saying no to helping the country's youth but yes to buying overpriced sports cars to celebrity couples. Planes are falling out of the sky like birds whose wings have been clipped and no one is being held accountable. The old voices are going one by one, clearing the way for young activism but there seems to be none to take its place.

While all of this is happening in the motherland what are you doing??

What am I doing??!! Nothing!! We're all doing nothing. SOMEONE has to have a better plan than "let's sit and see how this all pans out". I know I'm not the only one with a passion for the future of Nigeria. I can't be the only one thinking these things. I'm most definitely not the only one doing nothing.

I despair at the fate of our country and the selfishness of its youth. I worry that the only answer anyone seems to have is for us to become part of the system. We are all creative and resourceful people; let's think outside the box a little bit.

Source:
http://free-extras.com/images/homer_and_a_doughnut-1088.htm

The politicians and government officials?? They are sucking us dry. One day you'll wake up and the headlines will say something like "Nigeria has been dissolved". Like a bankrupt business, they'll melt us down and merge us with surrounding countries because greed made our bellies fat but our knees weak. 

Deadline @ Midnight!!

First of all I want to star,t like I sometimes do, by thanking God for loving me so much despite of the sinner that I am.

Now a quick update:

1. I found a church. I love it. If I could live in it I would!! It is that good. I am happy
2. I got feedback on some of my formatives (or drafts for the normal people in the world) and it was really good news!! So fingers crossed I end this year in a high!!
3. On a more panicky note, I have another draft due by midnight so I need to say a quick ciao and head on because that essay on non-Western journalism in sub-Saharan Africa is not going to write itself!!

See you all soon!!!!

The Holiday Entries: Christmas Day-

It's funny to me sometimes how adversely I react to going back to a place that was home for my first 13 years. It's even funnier still how little of the place itself I remember. I've got the whole "Nigerian in Diaspora" thing down to a T it seems. The sad part is that I don't particularly feel at home outside of Nigeria either. I think I fit perfectly into the category of what a friend of mine calls Confused Global Citizens; I manage to be simultaneously from everywhere and nowhere all at once. 

Merry Christmas everyone!! Peace to all and joy on earth and all that gollywash. So whilst everyone is digging into overly dry turkey and carolling I can’t even leave my house. I still have no bag. I spent the day (so far) cooking for dogs I hate and who hate me And I came to the conclusion that without proper editing, i.e. deleting the majority of this, it will never see the light of day. 

I received some bad news too about a dear family friend back in Manchester and Lord knows that alone has ruined my day. I received a call that picked me up though, so I'm thanking God for little blessings as always.

Also I told Mother I wanted to go see my childhood house, maybe take some of my father’s books with me. We have no driver at the moment and letting her drive all the way there from here is like actively seeking death so I’m hopeful but not optimistic. 

The Holiday Entries: Christmas Eve-False Hope

Do you know what I titled my journal of all the goings on of my holiday?? "The Journey to Gosh-I-Wish-I-Never-Came." I have to say at this point though, that it wasn't that bad in all honesty. I learnt a lot about myself and my family. I saw Nigeria through fresh eyes like I seem to do every time I come back. I got a lot of helpful material for my course. I got to hang out with my nieces who are the most mischievous little monkeys ever. And some days (shock-horror!!) I wake up and I miss it a little. 

PS

The pictures are here not only because I spent a lot of my time in the kitchen but also because I have always found the mixture of urban and rural in Nigerian kitchens very amusing.

Mother's Kitchen.

I told my mother I don’t plan to stay in Nigeria today. Like all things in my family, it came indirectly.

“Even if you don’t plan to live in Nigeria you should keep your culture.” She dropped it into the middle of her rant like she had seen it on my face when I arrived.

“I don’t plan to live in Nigeria,” I had replied. Then I repeated it a few more times for good measure, so she would totally understand what the future would hold.

L-R. A broom for sweeping;
a small mortar and pestle for herbs, seeds etc;
a big mortar and pestle for pounding yams

Why were we arguing?? Onions and pounded yam. I didn’t put enough onions in the Akara (bean cake?) mixture which in her mind meant I didn’t know how to cook and I had no interest in cooking any Nigerian food, which obviously meant I didn’t want to get married because even a white man would be interested in my culture. 

And of course I needed to learn how to pound yams not because I would ever use that skill but because I need to learn my tradition. Needless to say I was fuming at the fact that she insinuated, more than once and not in the least subtly, that I did not know my way around the kitchen. I am less upset about the whole ordeal right now but urgh did it irk me in the moment!!

A stove and a jar of kerosene:
because having a gas and electric cooker
doesn't mean you cant start a fire once in a while.

Right now I don’t wanna stay in this country but I don’t know the future and I keep an open mind. All my plans, as vague as they often are, point me far away from this country. But God’s will be done. I might end up back here for one reason or the other, though right now I sincerely hope not.

The store where she keeps most of her food