Showing posts with label Frances Okeke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frances Okeke. Show all posts

Saturday, March 25, 2023

FRANCES, YOU DID WHAT?!

 

I was at a wedding recently. I had no idea about the politics that go down at weddings. I was the only stranger seated with one of the couple’s family members. They kept bringing food and drinks to the eight of them but I never got any. The ladies bringing the food, would look at me as they gave the food to their people and I’d look right back at them and none asked me,

“Please, what do you want to eat?”

“Here’s a plate.”

“What drink would you like?”

They were all munching, slurping and breaking bones but I didn’t mind.

I was on a liquid fast, so I couldn’t even eat anything at the wedding.

After bringing four rounds of food and these ladies, kept packing them up, she finally brought plates of Egusi soup and semovita and one was handed to me. I was at a loss what to do. Personally, I hate it when at weddings, people collect plates of food, eat the meat and waste the food. I hate wastage. When food is treated like that, it is thrown away. No one wants to eat what someone else has eaten out of.

I had a plate in my bag from something I’d gotten before the wedding, so, I poured the soup into it and kept the wrap of semo in my bag, not my purse.

I was minding my business. They brought more drinks for the family and I got none, didn’t mind.

Next, a lady arrives with a plate of rice for me. I don’t eat rice anymore. I am allergic to something in it. She tells me,

“Please manage this.”

I tell her over and over that I was fine, she shouldn’t worry but she insisted that I have it. She leaves and I sigh. What do I do with this food now? I ask the lady beside me if she wanted it but she had stocked enough to last her through winter already. I remember the takeaway plate the semo wrap was in, was by my foot.

I hate wasting food. I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving that plate of rice on the floor, untouched. It would be thrown away. Asides the population of people hungry in the country; things are really expensive now, that plate of rice is worth some money.

I bent down, took the disposable plate and poured the rice into it and kept it in my bag.

When I got home, I gave the food out to some kids and they were really happy. It made me happy. They ate to their fills.

I told someone what I’d done and she screamed,

“Are you crazy?! In this age of social media? Someone could have taken a video of you doing that and spread it on the internet. Fine girl that’s acting like she has never seen food before in her life. Do you know how embarrassing it would be?”

Yeah, she just reminded me why I hate dancing, eating and doing a lot in public these days. Everyone, has a phone glued to their hands. You’d be minding your business; they take a picture or video of themselves and bam! You’re on the internet without your permission. A never-ending invasion of privacy. Or they knowingly take a video of you and put it online for clicks and followers. You’d be at the gym working out and be providing someone their workout background and they knew you were in it. People and their phones, I’ll stop here. I might have been guilty unknowingly but these days, I try my best not to have anyone in my picture or videos and I have never and will never video a stranger or friend going about their thing without their permission. That’s very disrespectful and wrong.  

Did I regret not wasting the food? Nope! Why should I be embarrassed for that? So, because I want to be a ‘big girl’, someone with pride, put up a front before people, I should waste food that a lot of people are looking for? Because as a fine girl, I want to look good? Why should I be ashamed of doing the right thing according to my conscience just because of what people would say? If people can leave parties with bottle of wines and drinks, why can’t I pack up food given to me?

The little kids enjoyed the meal instead of it being thrown into a dump somewhere and the money the couple spent on food didn’t waste because of my ego. I did the right thing. If there’s a video of me, a fine girl putting food away to share, then so be it.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

PLEASE SAVE NIGERIANS IN NORTH CYPRUS PRISONS

   I am not here to contribute to the discussion that Nigerians are being killed in North Cyprus. I never saw any of that in the years I spent there. Let’s say Nigerians there have a reputation thanks to some Nigerians and it isn’t pretty. Many people found

Sunday, October 23, 2022

DEAR IGBOS PLEASE STOP THE CULTURAL APPROPRIATION OF AGU

   When I was in Primary two, my grandmum came visiting. One day, she told me to come read her Bible for her, I opened it and my eyes flew to her face.

  It was not an English Bible but Igbo. In my head I was like; “Does she know what she is signing up for?”

  It felt like I was seeing Chinese. I started with the first sentence; we went about it slowly. I spent more than half the time asking questions and not reading. Lol! I had to know the meaning of the words. She signed up for it, every day. She would get tired often and admonish me to read and not ask questions. Lol. We continued this reading for months.

  I remember seeing Odum in the Bible.

Monday, September 19, 2022

DEAR NIGERIAN STUDENTS AS YOU PROTEST

 Dear Nigerian Students,

 

 These are sad times in the tertiary education sector of the country.

 I was in the university when ASUU strike commenced during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency. The government signed a contract with ASUU after almost a year of students sitting at home. (2009 & 2010).

 My goal is not to rehash history.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

KISS AND TELL LIES


  




Oke was in love. He ran home and informed his family and they were making plans to go to Cecilia’s next week to formally ask for her hand in marriage. He informed all his guys and cousins that he

Monday, April 18, 2022

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS




The term and word ‘Happiness’ is relative. It is not something that can be held, touched. It means different things to different people plus different things bring it for different people. 
For thousands of years, humans have pursued happiness. They have tied happiness to different things and people.
You hear people say things like;

‘I’ll be happy when I’m successful.’
‘I’ll be very happy when I get married.’

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

THE LITTLE ROOM





  They say pride goes before a fall. It doesn’t necessarily equate a fall. It’s just that we make lots of unnecessary things important. Funny thing is most times it’s only in our heads. It’s our prejudiced perceptions of situations that create pride. We let things cloud our heads and judgement. Let me give examples.

 Thomas is well educated and has a PhD. He has no job. Wait, he has gotten job offers but he’s waiting for the right offer. Every other job is beneath him. He can’t do that. What would people even say if they heard besides, his self pride won’t

Monday, April 4, 2022

DE-MOCK-RACEE




I wrote this years ago. Sadly, it is still relevant.

  If there was a subject I paid attention to back in my secondary school days, Government would be it. In fact, it was the only course I paid attention to. It always intrigued me and it still does. I tried understanding the terms, how different forms of government came to be and every gritty nitty detail about them. I used to love reading about the American Revolution, how their constitution was formed.Ancient Greece's history was my bedtime story. Even then, my favourite Nigerian political stories were about the fight for independence. How each person contributed. Yes I went past the government textbooks, (I had lots of them). I read about their personal ambitions, vendettas in the fight for independence. The clamours for independence regionally (why isn’t Nigeria a confederacy if I may ask?). I think a lot that I often get carried away. Back to the right train of thought. Today is

Friday, March 25, 2022

THE LOST TALENT





  Right from when he was a kid, Yemi knew he wanted to dance. Dance was his life. There was no dance move he couldn’t do. He told his parents as a kid, they laughed that he was just a kid. When he was filling his JAMB form, he wanted Theatre Arts but his father reminded him that je was a Doctor and his father was one too. James filled in medicine. He became a doctor, a good one at that but there was something missing. Dance was gone, so was the light in his eyes.
  All Daniel could see was colours. He could create something out of nothing. He had the touch. Best in art class. He could see shapes and sizes that others couldn’t see. He got

Motivation Tuesday: THE WORRIER




  I don’t know that problem you have. One thing I have learnt is that worrying never solves anything. Worry takes

THE RULES




  
 There are rules that have been passed down for as long as society has been in existence. They have been tried and

TOO YOUNG OR TOO OLD TO RUN?



  

Buhari just signed the ‘Not too young to run’ bill and everyone is happy. Some are saying, it will push out the old politicians that have failed the country and so on.

  Nigerians and sentiments! Next, they’d pick a candidate that is twenty-five or thirty and sing; She is so humble and from a poor background. She started a charity organization at twenty, fed the hungry and sent poor children to school. Look, she has even been sent to US twice under the Obama

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

THIS RUDE NIGERIAN GIRL


"WOMEN NEED TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO"

Pardon my French before I commence, rude girls speak it. This shall be a long ass post.

So, I was at the gym .  A lady and I started a conversation. She was talking about how her closest friend

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

ARE YOU GUILTY OF THIS?




I was reading a Joyce Meyer book titled ‘THE SECRET TO TRUE HAPPINESS’ and something she said  resonated deeply within me and so I decided to share.

“Where personal interactions are concerned, the prevailing message of our day seems to go something like this:
 “ If you suit me perfectly; if you never make mistakes; If you always treat me right; if you do everything just the way I want you to, then I will applaud you and receive you into my life. I will like you, love you and accept you. But if you make mistakes, even if I let you stay in my life, the very least I will do is let you know you made a mistake, because I certainly wouldn’t want you to think you’re getting away with anything. I cannot let anything slide without giving you a warning or, at the very least, a little dose of rejection because if I let anything slide you might think you can just do it again and again”.
The problem with the attitude I just described is it’s

Monday, January 24, 2022

THE MIND READERS CLUB


 
 You might often hear people in relationships say,

‘How could he get me this perfume? He is my boyfriend. He should know what I like.’
‘Why would she make me pasta, she should know better?’
‘I don’t think he loves me. If he does, why doesn’t he know what I like?’
‘She doesn’t know my favourite colour. I know all the things she likes.’
‘He doesn’t know what to get me for my birthday. He wants me to tell him what to buy for me. He is my man, he should know.’
‘I drink coffee but she got me tea.’
‘She couldn’t tell I was not happy.’
‘He should know I just want to be held.’
‘Couldn’t he tell I had a bad day at work?’
‘She should know how I feel.’

  It goes on and on and on. In most relationships, we have the talker and we have the listener. One partner keeps

WHO DEFINES PERFECTION?




    We look for it everywhere. In our lives, in others. We look for it in our jobs, our parents, our children, our spouses, and our academic lives and in our relationships. It is the one thing that makes us equals, that search for perfection. The question I ask is; Is there really anything like perfection? We want a perfect job but can we have that alone and be satisfied? If we get it, that is when we realise that there is another part of our lives that needs tweaking up. A perfect life is the one thing that we are always in search of. We are never satisfied with what we have. We want more and better. No one is perfect, though some people seem to think they are and tend to judge others for not living up to their idea of perfection.
    So, what is perfection? Who sets the standard and says what is perfect or not? What and who defines a perfect relationship, a perfect

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Heart and Love: HE LOVES ME BUT CHEATS ON ME



https://pdcn.co/e/www.buzzsprout.com/1531514/9873769-he-loves-me-but-cheats-on-me.mp3?download=true



So, I was in a BRT bus and overheard two women discussing in French. They probably thought no one would be able to understand them. One was talking about how her man had

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

MAKING MISTAKES



https://pdcn.co/e/www.buzzsprout.com/1531514/9860913-making-mistakes-story-time.mp3?download=true


  Festus was nice, giving and somewhat an introvert. People thought him weird, could