To Dream Like a Child...

It's 4:02 AM. I can't sleep. I decided to read Malcolm Gladwell's “Outliers”. The living room is dark. Turning on the lights might wake the roommates up. I sit inhaling the french vanilla scent of the candle laying to the left.

Something about sitting in a dark living room and watching the scented candle elegantly wave it's flame back and forth reminds me of what it is like to dream

I'm not talking about the kind of dreams I dream now; dreams of world travel and career opportunities

I'm talking about bigger dreams. Dreams the magnitude of a mother's love for her infant. 

Dreams you dream as a child before the world slowly fills your ears with sweet whispers of doubt

Before your heart is clouded with fear and "realism"

I'm talking about the times when I believed, truly believed that I could change the world, that we could change the system. 

That Nigeria could become a safe, uncorrupted, ideal country. 

That women all over the world would one day suffer no harm, no violence, no injustice just because of their gender.  

The days I had such a strong faith in the world and in humanity

Days, I believed that people with my dreams did not surround me but I would grow older and find these people who so adamantly believe in change who dream the dreams I have dreamt all along

We would grow camaraderie, bonded by our desire for change 

By our disgust at the Nigerian government, by patriotism

That we would build a dynasty so powerful that it would rise and extinguish injustice 

That we would in fact change the world

The days I believed Nigeria was a country worth dying for

But there is a sad tune that comes with age 

It slowly dawns on you that you are not the first to have these dreams

If others could not change the system, why should I think I can?

It feels like my fingers have grown longer, physically but they would never be long enough, never be wide enough to touch every corner of the world that needs healing, that needs change

There was a time I felt like an Amazon 

A time when I did not doubt the size of my arms, the potential of their reach

But as I grow older, I start to feel smaller

Like a mustard seed lying in a vast dry desert filled with white grainy sand

I would never grow enough to fully stand

Or when I do, I would have given into realism and abandoned the belief that I, of all people could change the system. 

Maybe this is my necessary path to wisdom

Maybe I'm just realizing that there is a right time for the reality of a dream to be birthed

Maybe I need to give myself more time

But I wonder how I would know when I get there

How would I know when my fingers are long enough?

How would I know when the hands of the clock are perfectly aligned?

I guess time would have to tell

But in the interim, I have to keep my dreams away form the red line

Fight the cynicism embedded in the threads of the very same world I am trying to change

I need to rediscover how to dream like a child.

It's 4:18 AM, sleep is finally welcoming me home. I watch the candle flame kiss the glass one last time and blow its light out remembering one of my favorite quotes:

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Sweet dreams... 

On the KONY 2012 movement....

Yesterday, I watched the short film KONY 2012 by invisible children on youtube. At the time I watched the video, it had over 55,000 views and right now it has over 9,000,000 views so I think it's safe to say that the video went viral! The video is aimed is at making Joseph Kony famous in order to hasten his arrest. If you haven't watched the video, take a moment to watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc&feature=youtube_gdata_player


A brief summary of the video is that "Joseph Kony has been abducting children from their homes and forcing them into his army, the Lord's Resistance Army. He has forced the girls to become sex slaves and the boys to kill many people, including their own parents, their siblings and their friends. He has done this to over 30,000 children.  The United States recently sent troops into Africa to find and arrest Kony, but have been unsuccessful so far. Unfortunately, the US may remove these troops out of Africa and leave Kony to continue terrorizing Ugandans."
I had heard about children being abducted to join armies before watching the video but I had never heard of the situation in Uganda or of Joseph Kony and I was unconscious to the severity of the issue and I am disappointed in myself for that.


Like most people, after watching this video, there was this fire of social activism that was ignited within and I kept thinking, Kony must be stopped so yes, I changed my facebook cover photo to KONY 2012 to help in raising awareness about this man, Joseph Kony.


However, this morning, my newsfeed was filled with a different side of the view about KONY 2012. Most people posted the blog "We got Trouble": http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/ . The author Grant Oyston talks about how invisible children donates only 32% to direct services and how he believes that the group is in favor of direct military information. Now there were individuals that posted this because they were genuinely concerned that people might be donating money to a misleading cause and others that just posted it because they just intentionally always like to be on the other end (you know those people that are always determined to argue against conventional wisdom even in cases where conventional wisdom may be right.)


So having watched the video, I decided to also read the article and to ask a friend from Uganda what he thought about the video especially since I didn't know about the situation in Uganda before. It is always helpful to get different perspectives to ensure that one fully understands the situation before forming an opinion.


After reading the article, here are my thoughts,  I understand that the organization itself might be flawed. But I still think the awareness that the video created is valuable and that it is very important for people to know what is going on in the world before we can even start to talk about solutions. 


Also, I don't believe that arresting one man will lead to the end of the LRA. It is important to get the roots of the problem because if the situation (and conditions) that allowed a person like Joseph Konyi to exist for so long and commit those crimes and still thrive and get away with it are still the same, then I fear that 2 years from now, even if Konyi is killed, this evil will just continue on with a new leader. It is more important to kill the idea than kill the person. But still, arresting one person might not be the solution, but it's a step.  With the awareness this video created, more people are interested in doing research find out who this Joseph Kony man is and actually  understand the LRA and their actions and awareness and understanding of the problem and the entire situation are one of the first steps towards finding a solution


Also, a part of me is tempted to be uncomfomfortable with this because of the whole notion of the west coming to Africa's aid again. But like Okonjo Iweala said in her TED talk "let's have a depper discussion on aid," when it is you or your loved one involved, you don't care whether it is aid, you don't care what it is. So if you put yourself in the shoes of those young children in Northern Uganda who are living in constant fear of being abducted, it doesn't matter where assistance is coming from or what the philosophy of this assistance might mean. They just want to be safe. 


It is improtant to remember what Chimamanda Adichie calls "The Danger of the Single Story," I hope that the popularity of this video will not lead to the misconception that this is what Uganda is all about.


I  hope that this doesn't just end up as a fad. As the Facebook profile pictures and cover photos eventually change from the "KONY 2012." posters, I hope that the spirit of social activism that this video created, remains in our hearts 


~ghonsie

I finally bought my Chimamanda Adichie book collection!!!

When it was all wrapped up 

 So if you're relatively close to me, you know how much I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's work!

I remember the first time I met her in Abuja at a national competition, I cried (yes it was that serious lol). I have met her once again since then and at both times, I didn't have any of her books with me for her to sign because I didn't own a personal copy :(.

Ah! This is my definition of happiness lol

So I finally got all her novels about a month ago (I know, this post is late lol) ! I just finished reading purple hibiscus again (for like the 3rd time) and I'm about to read Half of a Yellow Sun again, which is my favorite of the three books!

I just took it out of the wrap

                                                                                                        As you can tell from all the exclamation marks I am really excited! lol.

Now I feel like a true fan.! :)

No, we're not too afraid - Occupy Nigeria

I wasn't going to blog about this before because I felt everyone already knew whatever I'll have to say. That the "Occupy Nigeria" protesters are not just protesting against the removal of the fuel subsidy but against kleptocracy and all forms of corruption, that the government is more corrupt and has probably embezzled more money than that the so called "corrupt cabals." that the removal of the fuel subsidy would make sense if it was being implemented in some other ountry but not a country where about 1billion naira (about $6million) is designated to feeding to feeding the president and vice president (na golden rice dem dey chop?) and 200million naira is designated to taking care of gardens (as suspect said, 'na the garden of eden?') while about 70% of it's population lives below $1 a day yet the government claims to use the money obtained from the removal of the fuel subsidy for crucial infrastructure. If there are no funds for "crucial infrastructure", it's not simply because of the existence of the fuel subsidy it's because leaders are embezzling money and are not being held accountable. I wasn't going to write all of this until I saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAoLBCmB_Ms&feature=share and this girl's bravery inspired me and so even if everyone might already know what I just wrote, I felt the need to write, the need to show solidarity since I can't be on the streets of Kano protesting right now. I remember when I wrote the post "Are we too afraid?"  asking whether it would take revolutionary protests to see change in Nigeria, and if it would, if anyone was ready to protest or if we were all too afraid. I guess a large part of that question has be answered by the Occupy Nigeria protests. I am so incredibly happy and proud that for once Nigerians have united irrespective of their differences and decided to face  their real problem, the government!  Fela once said, "My people sef dey fear too much. We fear for wetin we no see.We fear for the air around us, we fear to fight for freedom. ...we always get reasons to fear: "We no want die,we no want wound,we no want quench,I get one child,mama dey for house..." So police man go slap your face, you no go talk,army man go whip your nyash, you go dey look like monkey.That's why they leave sorrows, tears and blood- their regular trade mark." This is the begining of the end of the era of complacent Nigerians that just accept the cards they are dealt and keep smiling. Maybe Harrison Nwozo was right when he said
"They say Nigerians are the happiest people. Nigerians have to be the unhappiest people for change to come." We don't have to necessarily be the "unhappiest" but there's a fine line between happiness and apathy. This isn't one of those posts where I actually thought about the structure so I'm not even sure how to end this and whether or not there are grammatical errors, in the end you get the message; Nigerians have woken up, we are not afraid, and I am proud!