The Servitude Called NYSC

In submission I yielded to the clarion call,

You clothed me in drills and labour

The rigour akin to the harsh whip of our slave masters.

Soldiers, camp commandant, platoon officers

All made me weep in regret.

I was issued a meal ticket

Malnourished from food with sparse ingredients

Food meant for prisoners on death row

Perhaps, even, bad enough to wake the dead.

My settlement was a beehive of activities;

Filled with people; teaching, smoking and lounging.

I took solace in the body of village girls

Randomly occupying the honeypot between their legs.

What a pity !

I also sought satisfaction in the bosoms of local girls.

As I agonized that I wasted my time and energy on meaningless tasks,

Like birds beating their wings,

Against the bars of a cage, in a struggle for freedom.

In the end, I was greeted with a paper;

My name was stamped boldly on it

It resembled a certificate

Which signified my freedom

From the chains of modern slavery.

I took it with mixed feelings

Danced away my sorrows into the winds

Filled with happiness, freedom and prospects.

Even the musicians dropped their instruments

To applaud.

By Adetayo Omotoyosi Adeolu
 omotoyorsiiadeolu@gmail.com

I Am Bigger Than Papers

“It makes little difference how many university courses and degrees a person may own. If he cannot use words to move an idea from one point to another, his education is incomplete" - Norman Cousins

"Economists who have studied the relationship between education and economic growth confirm what common sense suggests: the number of college degrees is not nearly as important as how well students develop cognitive skills, such as critical thinking and problems solving ability." - Derek Bok.

"What I have learnt is that a whole lot of people with degrees don’t know a damn thing and a lot of people with no degrees are brilliant " - John Henrik Clarke   

I have met many great men of great repute who weren’t defined by what they or by the certificates and degrees they acquired from school. Some of them opted out from school to become who they are now while some of them dropped out from school for one reason or the other.  

Melancholy and sadness give room to doubt… doubt is the beginning of despair; despair is the cruel beginning of the differing degrees of wickedness. It has become a norm in our country, Nigeria, for people to be acknowledged or get acquainted with other people based on the number of certificates or degrees they acquired from higher institutions, without having any clue of what those who acquired those degrees stand to offer to the society.

I am not saying that degrees are not good to acquire or not important, we know that to compete for the jobs of the 21 century and thrive in a global economy, we need a growing, skilled and educated workforce, particularly in the area of science, technology, engineering and math. Nigerians with bachelor’s degrees have half the unemployment rate of those with high school degree but, I am of the opinion that degrees should not be a criterion to judge people base on what they can do or cannot do.  Everyone should be giving a chance in the industry. Don’t judge anybody on his/her educational background. One can be better than those things being taught inside the classroom. One may even end up better than those people that went to school to acquire thousands of certificates and degrees. We have great men who became great today not because of what they studied in school but because they discovered themselves; they discovered their lives beyond what men conditioned on papers with ink.

"Leadership consists not in degrees of techniques but in traits of character, it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint" - Lewis Lapham. 

We should all feel confident in our intelligence. By the way, intelligence to me isn’t being book-smart or having degrees here and there; it’s trusting your gut instincts, being intuitive, thinking outside the box, and sometimes just realizing that things need to change and being smart enough to change it. You can be all you want to be without degrees littered on your shelf.  

Don’t allow anyone to put you down because you don’t have a PhD or HND or Bachelor's Degree, no! Your dog only bears the name you call it every day.  

Shakuntala Devi once said that Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life. 

Although Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who are prepared not in degrees but in what can be beneficial to the world. Stop judging people based on the degrees before their names, judge them base on what they can offer to help make the world a better place. We are all bigger and greater than those papers on our shelves.

Truth be told, many people nowadays don’t work with their degrees or certificates. A lot of people don't work based on what they studied in school. Many who studied Sociology ended up working as presenters and some who studied Psychology ended up working in the banking sector.  

So, it is not all about what you studied or the degree you were awarded in the university, it is all about what you can do yourself. I am bigger than those papers likewise you; don’t be defined by it.

 by John Chizoba Vincent
chizobavincent@gmail.com

I Am Not My Hair.

I had a short conversation with one of my colleagues at the office today.

“I can see you are growing dreds”, he said

“Yes”, I replied

“Why?” he asked

I hesitated for a moment, and then I said the first thing that came to my mind

“Because I like it”

“But I don’t like it”, he said

“Really?”, I asked

He shook his head and then walked away.

People, this is not the first time I am getting this reaction about my hair. In fact, even when I was contemplating locking my hair, I received a lot of negative feedback from family and friends. I was almost pushed to change my mind but I didn’t. I stood my ground and went ahead to lock my hair against their opinion.

In fairness to my colleague, my dreds have gone 8 weeks without re-twisting(maintaining my roots) so it wasn’t exactly looking all smooth and sleek. It was very rough and unkempt with patches of grey scattered here and there, that’s what dreds generally look like but I didn’t expect him to understand anyway. In this part of the world, women are admired when they wear extensions or have their hair styled very tightly especially around the temple leading to traction alopecia in most cases. The standards of beauty for women around here is usually tied to us women wearing hair that is not naturally ours. Little wonder many women spend lots on cash on buying ‘human hair’…but I digress, that is a topic for another day.

His words reminded me of when I made the decision to go natural. I had been relaxing my hair, or let me use the popular phrase in the world of Naturalistas; addicted to the creamy crack for over 10 years. My hair was a disaster, full of split ends, gradually turning brown and thinning seriously especially around the edges. I watched helplessly as my once thick, jet black hair, gradually turned into a sorry state of lifeless and straggly, straight mess.  I just wanted to shave it off entirely. I then remembered how I’d always admired the popular singer, Lauren Hill’s thick and healthy locs, that was how I started toying with the idea of growing locs. 

I went online to read about dreads and I stumbled upon Napturally85’s YouTube videos and I was hooked. I was really impressed with how she managed her natural hair, I knew nothing about hair typing then, so I just assumed mine would turn out with heavenly curls if I washed it and applied Ecostyler gel. (What a laugh!). 

I went further to read testimonies of people whose hair practically resurrected from death by going natural. 

An article I read online about relaxers being possibly linked with fibroids in black women sealed the deal for me. Now I don’t know if that was just one of the numerous sales gimmicks to discourage women from using relaxers but I decided to transition.

The first month was easy peasy. I wore a protective style of big braids for a month, loosened, washed and deep conditioned with homemade coconut cream, then styled big braids again. After the second month, I started finding it very difficult to comb my hair, which was the major reason why my mother ever started relaxing my hair in the first place. I had to learn how to finger detangle, which took ages especially since I was working with two hair textures. By then, my hair stylist had started complaining about how difficult it was to part my hair. I was still using coconut oil on my hair, ignorant of the fact that I had protein sensitive hair and coconut oil was a no-no.

The first time I travelled to see my mom with my transitioning hair. I can vividly recall her expression. I was wearing a ‘not-so-smooth-looking’ weaves. She took one look at my hair and pursed her lips in disapproval. After taking several glances at my hair, she couldn’t hold herself back any longer, she blurted;

“Biko, I si no gini ka I na-emedi na isi gi a?” (Translation: Please what was it you said you’re doing on your hair?)

I calmly explained to her yet again, how I wanted to transition for a year, then cut off my hair and stop getting perms altogether.

.

“CUT YOUR HAIR?!! This beautiful, long hair?! Are you still serious with this your madness? ”, She asked perplexed. I tried to list the benefits of going natural but she wouldn’t listen. She just refused to accept the fact that natural hair can be beautiful, even when I showed her pictures online. 

Do you know that my mom invited one of her friends to give me a long lecture punctuated with ‘Mgbeke’ and ‘Mbanu’ here and there, including how people will see me as a small girl inviting small boys to make passes at me too.

“But Aunty, I already have grey hairs. Which small boy will make a pass at a woman with grey hair? Do small boys of these days like dating women old enough to be their mother?”

“You are making a jest of me abi nwatakiri a? How old are you that you are talking about grey hair? By the way, where is the grey hair sef?”

She stopped trying to convince me when she saw my mind was made up.

I went natural because I wanted a healthy hair more than anything else.

I still want a healthy hair more than anything else.

Three years later, my hair was so long and thick and wash days were gradually becoming a nightmare. It would take me hours to detangle, wash, deep condition and put my hair in Protective Style. I was not about that life. I was between cutting my hair short and locking my hair. I decided to go with the latter because of my long existing love for dreadlocks. I was discouraged as well. My mother didn’t really put up much fight this time around because guess what? She just recently started her own natural hair journey. I deserve a pat on the back for converting her right? In fact, these days, she calls me to ask if can use one concoction or the other on her hair. The other day, we were talking on the phone and she goes

“Ehen, I met this friend of mine in the market the other day and she said I could use potato juice to wash my hair. It will really help to darken my grey hairs.”

I laughed and replied

“Mom, I am rocking my greys at a young age, why are you trying to hide yours? Anyway, I read about that somewhere, but it will take a while to see the changes. You need to be patient and apply it judiciously for some months to see the effects.”

Presently, I am a year locked and if you know anything about dreads, you would know that it is a long journey. You don’t get long and smooth, beautiful locks in one day. It takes years upon years and lots of patience to achieve this. I am still stuck in the teenage phase and at this stage, the locs have a mind of their own, very frizzy and ‘mad-woman-like’ in nature. My edges are another story.

Some days, I look at my hair and think “oh my god! What did I do to my hair?”, other days I look at my hair and think “Wow, my dreads are really doing great! I don’t regret this decision”. The good hair days are definitely more than the bad hair days and I don’t miss my loose natural hair. Well, not so much.

I have received a lot of compliments on my hair. I mean people who appreciate the effort and the journey of good healthy locs marvel at my hair. It gives me great satisfaction to see their eyes round and jaws drop in disbelief when I tell them I am just a year locked. Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t need to cut your hair short to start dreads. You just need to go to a loctician who knows his onions. Most people actually think my dreadlocks are extensions. I don’t know if I should see that as a good thing or not.

So, what’s the reason for this long tirade?

I am not ashamed of my hair. A little research would teach us that locs are not to be feared or despised. In fact, they are associated with greatness. Locs have been dated back to Anno Dominium. Growing dreadlocks is related to the manes of the lion and is even inspired by the bible. The word ‘Nazarite’ originated from the ‘Nazar’ which means ‘unshorn’. Jesus Christ was said to be a Nazarite(Nazarene). Samson was described as a man whose source of strength came from his long, locked hair which were seven in number. Woolly, kinky and coily hair, if simply washed and left to dry uncombed will naturally turn to locs with time.

Whilst I never made the decision to embark on this journey for spiritual reasons, I still love my hair and I choose to see it as a symbol of greatness and strength. I made the decision to loc my hair at a very critical point in time in my life and I don’t regret it. 

In that year alone, I have achieved a lot in terms of independence, inner strength and self-love. I have also rediscovered myself in many more ways than one. I have even been able to let go of so much pain and bitterness which I harboured for some time over some certain people as I work strictly on building a better version of myself every day. I have felt bouts of positive energy and strength, propelling and encouraging me on days when I would’ve ordinarily given up. 

Yes, I know that my hair may prevent some people from wanting to associate with me, but I don't think I need those people in my life anyway. 

Everybody is entitled to his own opinion, likes and desires. Whilst he can choose to express himself by telling me he doesn’t like my hair, I also have the choice of deciding how I want to wear my hair. To the best of my knowledge, my workplace is multicultural and filled with people from diverse backgrounds. We do not have a specific dress code and we certainly do not have a ban on dreadlocks as this was one of the major concerns I had when I wanted to lock my hair.

That said, I am going to call my loctician right now to schedule a long overdue appointment to maintain my roots over the coming weekend.  I am not doing this to be liked or accepted, I am only doing this because I want to.

 Another one of my loc crushes.

Asa.