A Piece Of Me

We used to free, playing on the streets,kicking empty cans all the way to school and back. We were free to visit the stream,coming back home with eyes so red you can’t deny where you’ve been ( you really didn’t need to anyway) We used to be free to eat,drink in the neighbours friends house coming back home with big round tommies and shirts stained with oil due to the struggle for meat. It was actually allowed to remove our sandals and walk bare feet, swinging them in rhythm of songs learnt from the village square last night. Parents yes, but the society was the standard model and watch dog. Kids getting spanked by total strangers when due and still complimented for not sparing the rod when the news filtered back home. Teachers were idolized as mini gods due to the importance society placed on them- a noble profession with “rewards in heaven”. Life for us as kids was super fun. We built castles with mud,using our legs as designs. Creativity and natural instincts buzzing in our heads. Th

“Its either you are the new Virgin Mary or you lied abou t your virginity status in your form, because your pregnancy test result is here and it shows you are seven (7) weeks pregnant!. So which is it? Be rest assured that even your fathers status as Senior Pastor cannot make this panel bend the rules for you. Am afraid but you will have to call off the wedding”. Those words from the church marriage committee this morning is still echoing in my ears long after I left their presence. Hours later, as I sat on the hotel couch, throw-pillow half soaked with hot tears in my hand, looking hopelessly at the mirror trying to see what part of my life I could salvage from the destructive chain of events that had quickly kicked in since my meeting with the panel ended and I walked shamefully out of the church premises hurriedly into the waiting Uber taxi. “Back to Wuse II where I picked you or to another location? Ma? The very kind driver obviously noticed there was something wrong with me. I was

  When life rhythms doesn't actually sound no more like duduke When you hate the sight of sunrise because you gave up already on the day unfolding since last night when you soaked your pillows drenched When the cover of darkness is the safest place you felt at peace; far from all preying eyes, probing questions at every turn all fuelled not by care or compassion but to confirm and satisfy their thirst for stories of your failure When your silent outer self is an exact opposite of the raging war happening in the inside, yet wrapped around a smile as you trod past memories of sweet before all but gone in the fleeting moments When conversations became sour, chaotic and a battle of who is wrong or right, all aimed to massage a battered ego bruised and scared from previous encounters on the alter of moral justification fanned   When the voices, the only voices that you hear, that sound like songs and meaningful to you only lead to a place of darkness with no light in sight When you look

  How did we get here? That the cries of the innocent no longer irks our soul? Tell me how the blood stains on our land, flowing freely, is no longer seen as a proof of carnage? While those alive mourn those dead in fear, the killers jubilate so loudly, we can hear them sing from afar. Their rythmic dance steps insult the memories of their victims for free. Oh my land, my home! Can I still call you so? All I see now when I remember home is a slaug hter field, where my ancestry is being eroded, violated, destroyed by people I once called brothers and fellow men. How different are they from me? I see none, our skin tone shows we are supposed to be united as a common front against those who come from beyond the big wide sea to tap and mine the blessings of the creator hidden deep underneath our huts, just for you and I but alas today, they sit back and watch, without having to lift a finger, we turn and strike deep into the heart and bellies of ourselves Wives left with no husband's,

Echoing in my ears, Voices too loud, it took out the harmony therein Years gone by, a trust built over time From my nascent tiny steps, and now am fully grown All that now a distant cry, shattered & lost! The beautiful pages on which the future: my future was supposed to be written Now turn and stained with the guilt of a predator and my innocence up in the air like puff from a cigar Washed away in an instant like sand on the sea shore that melts like wax Success brought me to him like waves hitting the sea bed; he had a constant supply of it, of us yearly Nature, unintentionally crafted me, a piece on the menu that can’t be resisted. And while to the society he appeared like an angel with feathers so decorated with degrees, inside was a monster, a lost soul with a thirst, only for my innocence. A two faced being, left to roam freely. To some they were prey to satisfy his urges while others were friends. The truth of which side you belo

I was me, wondering around in my own world, I was far away, echoes faded out just as quickly, With nothing out of the extra ordinary, Was I contended? I cannot really remember. I was a combination of more good than bad, In the midst of my dark world yet inside of me was an untapped gold mine. Blessed with so much resources that I didn’t know half of it yet  but they did! Music to my ears was the sounds of waterfalls: racing torrents of rivers, nature dancing continually in perfect rhythm just like hymns. Meeting at the confluence but then the delta and the ocean calleth! The sight of sand dunes of the sahara flirting with the sunset at dawn made the eyes teary. The lush green vegetation of the sahel rolling over each other, a constant reminder of how perfect my rofia mat (if laid) can be- tranquil. Animals big and small, a source of company and food as we all shared this very beautiful space I found myself in. Oh it was beautiful indeed... The Baobab showed me

Have you ever seen a man paddling a canoe on a lake or across any body of water? If you have, then one thing you will notice is the fact that they paddle on both sides of the canoe and not one no matter how calm the water is. Why? A canoe being paddled on just one side never goes forward rather bends into a curve! In life, just like the man in the canoe, we need to find a balance in all we do. Be it academics, career, business or even relationships because if you paddle on one side alone then you should be ready to go round in circles and not forward! It is a very simple rule but  sadly only a few have mastered the art. And so you see people extremely successful in one area and a total failure in another, it is all about balance.. You get to the peak of your career, but you do not have any friend who can call you by your name or tell you point blank when you are wrong because everyone around you is within the working circle. You disconnected with your friends a long time ago an