Thursday, May 13, 2010

I just had to write about the palm tree :)

...Omonoba...
Our people say:
Yoruba: Bí a bá rí òkú ìkà níle, tí a fi ese tá; ìkà-á di méji. 
Eng: If one sees the corpse of a wicked person on the ground and one kicks it, there are then two wicked people-Yoruba Proverb.
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Hey guys, it's been a roller-coaster week from conferencing with my friends for the African Youth Organizations to hosting my friends to hanging out with my nothing-short-of-awesome brother, etc. So, I hope everyone is doing great. I am taking advantage of my summer until work starts and life becomes busy again. Anyway, at my friend's request, I wrote the following for his foundation website. Here's the extended version:


'As soon as I realized how much I must give to my homeland and humanity in general, I started working and I have become a better person. But I still have so much to do. You see, my farmer father would make us help him plant palm trees that neither of us thought we would have need for. You know, we would be reluctant when we thought  about how long it would take a palm tree to grow. But then, each week, we would eat banga soup made from palm fruit and drink palm wine. The next morning, we would sweep the floor with brooms made from palm-leaf stems. At Easter, we would hold palm fronds. And we would play ayo with palm kernels and crack the unused ones for nuts. Rafia was all over our home. Someone planted all those trees. So it’s okay if I plant seeds that I may not benefit from directly because somewhere along the line, someone would use my tree for shade and I would use someone else’s for food. Someone asked me why I have to be the one who choses to work and I thought that was a question with an obvious answer. I never bought into the myth that for instance, a foreigner with a big camera and heavy anti-malaria doses will be able to come in and solve our malaria problems without the help of the locals. Only we, who breathe, live with and sometimes die because of these mosquitoes can face them {mosquitoes} head-on. I have long outgrown the hypocrisy of wanting to act for me all the time and that wouldn't change soon except of course I believe that there is some remotely possible way of surviving by, with and for myself. '


I just had to throw this in. IT IS SNOWING IN COLORADO AS I SPEAK. I do not understand the multi-polarity of this weather. So, no hiking, no outside activities. The benefits of course are that I get to write more, cook more and spend time studying my Bible, reading books and playing my guitar. So, here, this post is not a poem or the typical post but all the same I hope someone has been encouraged to live selflessly. And just a reminder that the solutions to Africa's problems lie with us the African youth. 


Á demain,
NakedSha.

15 comments:

  1. I think the thing that inspired me most in this write-up is the fact that it is the people who mosquitoes bite that can deal with the problem of malaria head on (directly).

    Funny enough, I read something a few days ago about how a Haiti boy refused to take a T-shirt from a foreigner who was giving T-shirts as gifts to volunteers. He said that he was angry, angry that foreigners thought T-shirts were good gifts for African volunteers. He had so many T-shirts back at home already, why did he need that one? He probably felt that foreigners did not really understand the needs of his people. Anyway, that was just a random recollection of what I read the other day...lol.

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  2. Omo, this is one hell of a foreword o! Very deep indeed!

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  3. Write up makes mention of positive things and i hope it helps resolve some of them in the end.
    Well done..

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  4. Your proverb saying is always the appetizer i do digest & relish with pleasure before going for the main course which is WOW! G-a-l! you have a DEEP searching soul.... that am lured into it with excitement! ...IF ONLY THE HUMAN RACE DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THE DEMON OF ME, I & MYSELF, THIS WORLD WOULD HAD BEING A PEACEFUL ONE...malaria? ... na who wear shoe know where it pinches....

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  5. Like NG, I enjoy the proverbs, please keep sharing. Your write-up is so on-point, I totally agree.

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  6. firstly, where do you get ur quotes (ORO)

    being selfless is tough act but suely worth the stress

    ORO

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  7. I love the proverb... It is hard to follow but the truth in it cannot be ignored... I always look forward to comming here. The name of this blog is so apt! More burnt bottom pot goodness to come, I hope... :)

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  8. @F, Myne, Nitty Gritty and Sugar King, thank you oh...you all encourage me to return.

    @Jaycee, I didn't hear of that but I see the little child's point.

    @Blogoratti oh, I really do hope so.

    @Lani, I get them from a whole bunch of online and other sources.

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  9. I enjoyed this as much as I always enjoy all your writing. The nail of this post... here "it’s okay if I plant seeds that I may not benefit from directly because somewhere along the line, someone would use my tree for shade and I would use someone else’s for food."

    The seed we sow today are very important. I know you love proverbs... you remember that one that says, "bi aba soko soja, ara ile eni ni ba" - If we throw a stone into the market, it would hit a relative. It's a big lesson for life.

    I would like you to listen to a song I wrote that I did a video of, on youtube. Here is the link
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC0QcbovW0w

    Enjoy the snow :)

    - LDP

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  10. I love this post. So true. So very true.

    Thank you

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  11. First time here and it's on my reader already.

    I love the proverb. Isn't it funny how it is so closely related to God's Word; do not repay evil for evil, love your enemies, etc?

    Your write-up is right on point. The future of Nigeria rests really on the youth. But are the youths ready to stand up and make this country a better place for generations to come? I'm not sure. I can only hope that the fire of change will begin in the hearts of some and spread to others in an all-consuming way. Too many people are busy chasing after a good life for themselves to sit and think about tomorrow for the ones coming after.

    May God help us...

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  12. @LDP, thank you very much. I liked the song and made a comment. The snow has melted jare, I don tire.

    @Simeone and Audeo, thank you.

    @Daylight, thank you. That's encouraging.

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  13. I love reading the proverbs.
    The post is also on point. A good read. Enjoy the summer :)

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Your comments are my maggi!