#InnocentReflections

2talesisters

Hi Sis…

It’s been hectic these past few weeks…busy as a bee, running personal errands all through my annual leave, didn’t get time to rest.
It was during of one my running arounds that I came in contact with thsese little ones, whilst driving towards the outskirts of Lagos; I saw a group of kids in school uniform cleaning the surroundings of a dilapidated building with a teenager who was with a cane supervising them, and my curiousity got the better of me.

I parked off the road, and decided to go ask some questions.
I approached the teen, introduced myself, and told him I wanted to ask a few questions, he said no problem.

From my findings, I gathered that the dilapidated structure was a school, Glory Nursery and Primary School, in Ile-Ero, Agbado-Ijaye, Ogun State; and the teen who goes by the name Tope, was a teacher, he teaches Nursery 1 and 2 classes. He started in September 2016 after he finished High School, he took up this teaching job so as not to be idle at home, while preparing to write exams for University admission.

His experience teaching the young ones according to him was interesting though stressful because the kids can be quite a handful. The reason they were out cleaning was part of the teaching programme, to inbibe in the kids the culture of clean and healthy environment, which they do during break periods. He is quite a reserved young kid but very determined to pursue his dreams, and I wish him all d best.

The kids!? 😂 Oh my, oh my!! 😆 so boisterous and quite a handful. They were in different classes, and one of them stood out, his name is Malik. He had on his ear a bluetooth which he made out of a notebook leaves, when I inquired about the phone, he smiled with such swag, I knew he was gonna break hearts when he grew up. They were happy cleaning the surroundings, but not without mischief and some yelling from their teacher. That interaction left me with a nostalgia of my primary school days and growing up with a lot of mischief.

I was pained though 😢 due to the school building. It’s such a shame that the government is falling the people at all levels, and private individuals who want to give quality education are constrained by bureaucracy, limited infrastructure, exorbitant collaterals and what have you, that they have to make do with the limited resources available. On the other hand, not everyone has to build a school just to make profit or make ends meet, when the resources and necessary infrastructure that would aid children in receiving quality education are found wanting.

Here are a few pictures I took with permission from the teacher (told him also that I would blog about our interaction) and of course the kids who were all grinning from ear to ear 😊😊.

Tee..

Glory Nursery and Primary School
Teacher Tope
Malik

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Hey Sisi,

Sorry for my late reply ooo…I can relate to you being a busy bee though. November was one busy month! But it was good busy! The kind of busy I won’t trade for anything, on all fronts. That is,work, family, friends and love.

But you know the downtime to being so busy is finding time for yourself to woo sa! I’m sure you had the same experience as I did. But right as it was, I did manage to squeeze in some me time. Can’t lose that. Now, if I can just make yoga in the next week! I will be totally balanced out and zen. 

I love your find with that elementary school ooo…I’m going to ask you what I’ve Bren asking daddy. All the money our president has been seizing, where is it hiding??? Shouldn’t that money be going exactly towards things like dilapidated schools, unsafe roads, drinking water and regular electricity? I honestly don’t understand why a place of learning for our youngest minds and the future of our country and continent, doesn’t get more attention. 

I want to say we will keep hoping for the best. But I’m tired of hoping. I think it’s time for our generation to take serious action. Get on the streets and protest. I am beginning to realize we must force changes if we desire it. 

Anyways, I hope you have a great weekend and an awesome week ahead. I miss and love you. Talk to you soon. 

XOXO

WUNMI

#ReadingCulture

2talesisters

Hiya 👋 sis…

I had a kool weekend, spent some time in the company of like minds…(lovers of books /reading) at the Jakande-Tinubu Park, in Ikeja, located close to the Lagos State House of Assembly…I know for sure, you would love the ambience.

The event was the first anniversary of Bookworms Arise Bookclub. A social group created for the purpose of enhancing the reading culture amongst youths and almost everyone in this great country of ours.

I was pleasantly surprised to see young adults who are keenly interested in promoting the reading culture and also have flair for reading and are eager to encourage others to go back to the reading culture.

For the sake of clarity, Reading Culture refers to habitual and regular reading of books and information materials. Reading early in life, for contests, visiting the libraries, training teachers who will teach kids how to read, etc., are part of the strategies for developing a reading culture.. With benefits inclusive of longtime memory, vocabulary building, skills/creativity and of course nation development.

For me, challenges of reading culture here in our clime include language barrier, poor economy, poor funding of the educational sector.. With access to the Internet and social media, the reading culture has waned drastically among Nigerian youths and students…It saddens me sometimes when I read some comments online.. To read a paragraph is an herculean task for some with comments like “pls, someone should summarize”, “who is going to read all these”, “I don’t have time to read”, “who reading help”….😒
Most care about how to make money, and in the fast lane of course. Some wish to pattern their lives after that of celebrities or whoever showcase their wealthy status…SMH.

We have a long way to go in enhancing the reading culture, aside provison of suitable reading materials in schools and libraries, one also has to make a conscious effort to read.

I appreciate the pioneer of Bookworms Arise; a young lady, Aanu by name, that has the vision and passion to promote human capital development via reading. Also, to my friend, Akin, who introduced me… big thanks mister. It was a great weekend of fun, networking and meeting people of like minds at the event.
Looking forward to more of it.

I hope to hear from you to know how it is over there.
To our lovely “readers”☺, thanks for having the time to be part of the reading culture…

Additional source: African Journals Online.

#BodyArt

2talesisters

Hello Sisi and everyone.

Happy Sallah celebration to our Muslim friends worldwide. The months run so fast after January. 😔

These past Tuesday and Wednesday were declared public holidays by the government for Sallah celebration. It was a bit fun for me as my Muslim neighbors treated family and friends to different deliacies and enough fried ram meat to go round.

My good friend, Idowu, had the idea of getting an henna and I decided to get one too. It was a beautiful art work. This brought back  memories of growing up and seeing tattoo on people and tend to misjudge them as either louts, criminals or irresponsible people… (how wrong could I be 😆). Although, I’ve come across and read of those who regretted the decision to get one, some are proud of theirs and see it as symbolic.

Being a Christain and growing up in Nigeria, it won’t be surprising to beat the demons out of me if I had a tattoo or even thought of it back then. My mother would have prayed the be-Jesus out of me…😓.

Even though the body art on me is an henna which is temporary, I found out that the black one is mixed with chemical and have left some people with some bad reaction (I was lucky I didn’t react to it, though felt some tingling sensation on my neck) and that was the one I got (didn’t have prior knowledge). The brown or orange colour is much safer and if one wants to go for the black, I would suggest one try it out on just a tiny part of the hand and see the reaction before embarking on a full body art.

As much as I won’t  go for a permanent tattoo, I’ve learn to appreciate and respect people’s choices on how they live their lives, tattoo or no tattoo. In the meantime, I’m loving my body art.

So, the question is….would you beautify your body with an henna or a tattoo and how do you feel about body art? 😊

Pics credit: Google and my mobile😉.

 

 

#PoorCustomerRelations

2talesisters

Having had the opportunity to visit other countries and experienced top-notch service from customer care personnel, it’s with great dismay that I say attendants in the service business in Nigeria are lacking in good communication skills, customer relations and zero knowledge of the company/ organisation they represent. From the banking sector, telecommunications, hospitality, tech-repairs firm and many others… I’m appalled at the way courtesy is thrown out of the window.

Out of Naija, one is met with a smile from the customer care reps and inquiry on how best they could help you with whatever service one came in for. I can start with a list of nonchalant attitude, rude behaviour and most times uncouth ways they attend to customers, especially the female ones.IMG-20180619-WA0002

Several months ago, my Infinix Zero 3 phone fell inside water and I put it inside raw rice as advised and it came on after some hours, but could not use the phone as it requested for a privacy protection code that I had forgotten. So, last week, I went to the Infinix Care Centre at Computer Village, Ikeja (company responsible for the Infinix and Tecno brand of phones) to fix the phone.

When I got there, the female securtiy personnel asked what I wanted, told her my dilemma..she directed me to the reception where a lot of people were waiting in line to get their phones repaired, and asked I talk to one of the ladies who were attending to the complaints. When I approached one of them and repeated why I was there, she first said that the company do not have the material to fix the phone, I was taken aback and asked if that wasn’t the reason the Care Centre was opened in the first place. She then directed me to the software section. Met quite a number of people there waiting as well, in a poorly ventilated area (the cooling system was on, but blowing suffocating air 😡, while the standing fan was off), and they were sweating while using their hands and handkerchiefs to kool off. My God😠!!

No one to attend to someone when one enters, had to ask another customer whether there was a number to be picked for my turn..he replied no, that I should just meet one of d personnel, which I did. She said that there was no way she could repair the phone as that particular series of the phone has been phased out. I told her it doesn’t matter, since it was still the company’s product, it should be fixed. She asked that I should go get the phone pack it came with when I purchased the phone, told her it has since been disposed of.. she responded that there was nothing she could do about it..asked her if I was to throw the phone away, she said “well, maybe, as no option of repair”. This is Nigeria and it’s only in this country this can happen.

The other attendants were also not helping saying “madam, what do you want us to do, we don’t produce such anymore, no material, pls I’ve answered you, I can’t help you”. The manner at which they were even responding to enquiries and complaints would leave a sour taste in one’s mouth.😈

On my way out, the security personnel gave me someone’s number who happened to be a software engineer that has a small kiosk just next to the massive Infinix building, who eventually fix the phone in less than 30minutes…after explaining what the problem was to me and giving me different options of how to fix it so as to get my go-ahead and be aware of the charges. What a whole company could not do by ensuring that the employees who are paid to give good service to those who buy their products, an unknown engineer so-to-speak did with good customer relations added.

Hung out with a friend a while back and the waitress that waited on us was very rude and nonchalant in discharging her duties. So many instances and I wonder what could be the problem; low-pay, personal issues that reflect in the work attitude or just plain laziness could be the ish…Sighs😤

IMG-20180619-WA0003

I do wish people interact more and travel out of their comfort zones as the case may be…to see how they can better themselves and their environments.

Not forgetting to wish all great dads out there a Happy Father’s Day.

IMG-20180619-WA0001)

Pictures credit: Google

#Tidbits

2talesisters

Hi 👋 Sisi..

It’s been ages I shared a tale, no excuse, just the usual workload and of course the “life happens” mantra. 🙄

No life-threatening event has happened since I last posted, the usual same ol’ same from the Naija govt., with a twist of ‘cluelessness’ from our president saying we the Nigerian youths are lazy, he made this statement in a functioning society, (I refuse to accept that, beacuse millions of us youths work our ‘butts’ off to make a living in a non-functioning, less thriving environment we call a country)😑😑. Also, one of our fierce singing senators in the name of Dino Melaye was arrested and the comic relief of seeing him being stretched into the courtroom (story for another long day) really worths the laughs 😁😃.

I followed this year’s season of Big Brother Naija; though my favourite, Tobi, didn’t win, my second favorite housemate, Miracle did. As a social experiment with all the twists, shenanigans and drama the show is known for, this year’s so far has been emotionally draining, both online and offline, especially with the power of social media. It exposes a lot of Nigerians that are biased, full of bile and incapable of making a point without insult or hate. Not going to invest myself like I did next season, will just be a passive viewer. With a lot of assurance (Davido made this word quite popular of late, with his N45million Porsche car he gifted his girlfriend/a song in her honor… “I go love ohh” 😍) I believe the young man, Tobi (he deserves all the accolades (another trending word with the help of Charles Okocha) who I supported will go far in life and do great exploits. 😊

It was a wonderful feeling seeing you once again. Thanks to you and your beautiful friend Esther, who invited me and my lovely friend, Idowu, to her wedding. Naija cannot carry last when it comes to parties whether back home or in the diaspora, we always represent with our proud and rich culture, our food, dance, and Naija musicians making us proud with hits after hits of great music being showcased during the traditional wedding ceremony, even other nationals could not resist to get on the dance floor… Not forgetting the souvenirs too.. 😆. It was a great honour to also meet one of Africa’s finest artistes, Black Prophet. I do hope to attend one of his shows or concert soon enough.

Thanks to my uncle and aunt who showed us round Philadelphia, with the rich historical background, architecture and having the famous Philly’s cheesesteak. Visited Atlantic City, New Jersey..tried my hands at gaming at the casino..suffice it to say, I need more practice with my poker face game on.😆

With families and friends of mine who have made this God’s own country home, I salute their hard work, tenacity, patience, love in building careers, home and at the same time remembering loved ones back home….I’m not entirely sure I want to make it mine as well… But then, where the heart is, is always home… So, never say never!!

Tobi, BBN3 2nd Runner Up
The Couple
Wedding arena
Liberty Bell.
Liberty Bell behind
Atlantic City
Famous Philly’s Cheesesteak
Black Prophet

 

#InternationalWomen’sDay

2talesisters

The United Nations adopted March 8 as International Women’s Day in 1975 which was mainly celebrated by the communist countries and socialist movement prior. It celebrates the movement for women’s rights. This year’s theme is ”Time is Now: Rural and Urban activists transforming women’s lives”.

With the hashtag #PressforProgress action via social media to call attention to gender parity and influence other to as well press for progress, IWD marks the economic, social, political and cultural achievements of women.

A great deal of milestones have been reached for women since a century ago: with Saudi Arabia now allowing women to drive and go to sports matches, full women’s suffrage in some countries and even in Nigeria where women are achieving great things and also breaking the glass ceiling.

With the #MeToo and Time’sUp movement, women and even men are making loud conversations around pay inequality, harassment and a lot more, and they are calling for action.

Although, women are still faced with sexual harassment at work, girls are being abducted in Nigeria, cases of female genital mutilation continue to be on the rise, but working towards the goal of guiding and bringing about collective action is what the IWD campaign theme is about.

Additional sources: Wikipedia, guardian.ng, internationalwomensday.com

 

#Soaring

2talesisters

It’s been an amazing experience and a wonderful time out with you sisi, bro, the family and friends with my stay in God’s own country. As a frequent flier that I am now 😆, the US was and is much more than I imagined growing up envisioning and seeing bits through Hollywood movies (people, no dollar picking on the roads or trees ohh 😯), it is a beautiful country with great infrastructure and different construction going on in every states I visited which in turn boost employment rates, even though I didn’t get to tour the 50 states (bucket list things 😉).

The notion of dollars just flying everywhere is not true, as a lot of Nigerians who have visited various countries would know, one has to work their asses off to get a dollar. The roads are clean and yes, there are potholes in America (which I was told were caused majorly by salt used in clearing of snow) just not as bad as Naija, and they get worked on.

I visited a lot of places, had the chance to try out different cuisines of different continents…. Oh, how well I enjoyed sushi at the diner you took me to. Not forgetting tacos bro ensure I had. Miami is truly the Flash City, the flashy cars (thought, I was a fast driver with my fast car, I can dream on now) with Lewis Hamilton wanna be’s drivers, yet they obey the traffic rules. Also, saw the Upper East side (Manhattan, the Gossip Girls Tv show made me long to visit there) in the city that never sleeps, New York City, though briefly, I intend to see the Lady of Liberty statute on my next visit. The view of NYC at night from the waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey is a sight to behold.

A lot of contrast to Naija’s day-to-day living I must admit.
From the weather (winter time and I had to gear up in winter wear, the cold show me something ohh 😨😲), constant un-interrupted power supply (PHCN, “see una life outside nah”), road users obeying traffic, no queue for fuel whatsover, no one-way taking, a long line of cars staying on their designated lanes (danfo drivers and unruly private road users should take a cue 😩), clean unlittered roads, roads signs to show detour where construction work is on-going and one-way (unlike Naija, where no signs are put up, but govt officials and the police lying -in-wait for one to take the route and extort money from innocent road users), beautiful citadel of learning edifice, the police obeying traffic rules and actually waiting in line for the traffic sign to change from red to green,workers walking very fast to their places of work, the well organised train stations and bus terminals, neat beaches, historical sites, to others people need to experience themselves 😆.

As much as the contrast is as night to day, so are the similarities like sesame twin, it is not rosy. There are homeless people on the streets of America, from New York, Miami to New Jersey. I don’t have the facts and figures of the economy, but then the Trump administration isn’t favored by a lot of the American people, going by what those who even voted for him had to say when interviewed, especially those in Iowa who voted massively for him, when I listened to the news on CNN; similar to us here who voted this present government in (didn’t cast my vote for Buhari though).

Also, paying of taxes is like breathing, more than half of paycheck go to the IRS, I was amazed at how everything even meals was being taxed; Sis was just laughing at me. Like @Subomiplumptre tweeted on Twitter that ”so many of our prayer points are caused by infrastructural inefficiencies” i.e when you are abroad you pray less, whereas corrupt leaders continue to be the bane of our country.

Night life is fun, thanks to bro who ensured I enjoyed most of my evenings. Slightly different from Nigerian night scene, nonetheless similar (no peppersoup, asun, peppered snail and the likes though, miss that alot, and of course Naija music wasn’t played by the DJ 😈), to the wild nights we have. Places like The Wharf is a nice hangout to be, Wynwood Walls (Arts Museum) where one can appreciate arts and artefacts. I went cruising at Star Island,  Miami, where some Crème de la Crème like Dwyane Wade have luxury houses.

So, I intended to work out, but the fats in me do not want me to aspire to be a supermodel, I just checked out the gym 😤. I could go on and on, the experience was really worth the while. Thanks to you, bro, dad (had a great time with him, seeing the places he worked and resided years and years ago),  your wonderful friends and everyone (my very good friends over there as well, Moe, Moji, David) who made my visit a memeorable and an enjoyable one; not forgetting the nice get-together you had in my honour and the gifts from your friends.

To our readers and visitors, thank you for journeying with yours truly. Will give more recaps in subsequent post, as I intend to soar higher 😎✌.
Enjoy the sights from the US of A.

IMG-20180208-WA0046

 

#GoingPlaces

2talesisters

Sisi…

I think it’s safe to call myself a frequent flyer now 😲. ..as bro would say, we are a family of travellers. My journey towards seeing you guys in your abode after years and years of waiting is certainly worth the while (as frustrating as the waiting period was ) and boy, am I glad I did? Certainly yes!

News of heavy snow ⛄and cold in major cities of the world, excluding Naija (though the harmattan haze was a bit much in Lagos this year, which was somewhat strange) due to climate change, wasn’t going to deter me from my quest of seeing you guys, even with the sinus not giving my nose a breather, a constant reminder that cold or the idea of it isn’t my forte.. I’m just gonna take it all in.

Take it I did at Heathrow Airport in London. That was the first thing my nose took in before the body reacted, even with the sweater, turtleneck top and a thick jeans (I came prepared 😆) with my scarf wrapped warmly around the neck region, I got a feel of the famous London cold weather…

Met a cute little man on the plane, not more than the age of six, who occupied the seat in front of me, with his mum. He offered me his cheese and we struck up a friendship. I asked him his name and he replied Micheal; told him mine was Mary, and he went on to gist me about one of his class teachers who was also named Mary, how cute…😊

I think my calling is visiting places and just taking in the sights and sounds..what do you think? Can’t wait to see you and feel what your weather would say to me.