SEEK INNER PEACE ♥♥♥

Seek inner peace and when you find it,

Life then becomes a harmonious symphony,

A beautiful synchronized dance,

A temptingly delicious gourmet meal,

A wonderful bouquet of sweet smelling iflowers,

A beautiful heart-rending poem,

A melodious lullaby crooned by a loving mum.

Like the beautiful patterns on a butterfly's wings.

Like the sweet gentle caress of ones lover,

Like the early morning dew on the grass,

Like the dawn light creeping over the horizon,

Like the brilliant rainbow in a dull sky,

Like the shiny stars lighting up a dark night,

Like an eagle soaring to the highest heights in the skies.

One starts to read the signs, notice the signposts of life,

Understand the omens, read the handwriting on the wall,

All the pieces of the complicated jigsaw finally fit,

Everything that has ever happened to one starts to make sense,

One could actually walk on water if one tried, smiles,

Life becomes a calm, delightful meandering stroll with one's Creator,

Just as it was meant to be from the very beginning.
 Hallelujah.

By Christie Nonyelum Akumabor -14/11/12

Chilaxing in the peace I have found with my creator

Our lives indeed become a beautiful, liberating dance

Then we can soar like eagles to any heights he chooses

The beautiful dawn light creeping over the horizon..

A caress from one's lover, a most beautiful thing

Our tomorrows, so filled with beautiful promise

WEEP NOT MY NAIJA CHILD, WEEP NOT...

Weep not my dear Naija child, weep not..
Wipe your tears dear for I weep on your behalf too,
I weep tears of blood when I think of your plight.
I weep when I look into your eyes hawking on our streets,
I weep when I see the total desperation and hopelessness there.

Weep not my Nigerian child, weep not..
For we have done this to you, this dreadful wrong,
We who should have cared and protected you.
We who should have stopped the abuse,
Stopped the careless degradation of your innocent souls.

Weep not beautiful soul, my lovely Naija child.
Weep not because Yemisi Suswan, first lady of Benue state,
One of the poorest in the land, commissioned a designer perfume,
To be distributed to guests on her 45th birthday!!!
What will she do for her fiftieth? I shudder to think...

Weep not my uneducated Nigerian child, weep not.
Because I weep on your behalf when the "first" lady of Ekiti state,
Tells us her child's been in boarding school in the UK since age 9!!!
Weep not as she tells us she visits her every 3 weeks (at whose expense?)
Weep not as we ponder and try and compute how much this all costs.
And compare it to how much is spent on the education of the average Ekiti child.

Weep not my motherless Nigerian child, weep not.
For we weep tears of blood as your mother lies dying of invasive breast cancer,
Dying through lack of funds for treatment because she is so poor.
Whilst her governor takes delivery of a $45,000,000 private jet in Akwa Ibom

Weep not that we wasted BILLIONS on an extravagant golden jubilee,
When we don't immunise Nigerian children anymore,
So polio and other killer diseases have been left to reign unchecked.
When we now have the highest Maternal Mortality Rate in the world...

Weep not my innocent Nigerian child, weep not,
Cos I weep as you're disposed of your late father's property.
Leaving you as a servant where your fortunes may be as varied as the wind.

Weep not child because soon there will be reason to weep no longer.
Weep not because your salvation is coming soon I pray,
Sooner than we think, though I know not from where.
Wipe your tears my child, soon ALL your oppressors will be done and gone.

We will wipe each others tears, because this insanity can't continue much longer.
We will weep no more when the winds of change blow through our nation,
And sweep clean ALL the ills in our society especially those affecting the defenceless and poor.

Weep not my dear Nigerian child, as your older siblings languish and die in the sands of the Sahara and the deep blue seas of the Mediterranean.
They die as they brave deserts and seas to seek the elusive golden fleece, a better future in foreign lands.
Because those we call our leaders are actually callous beastly beings masquerading in human flesh.

Weep not my dear child as we prepare to take back your destiny from those who have sold it for pennies.
Wipe your tears dear as we prepare to celebrate a new dawn, a renewed land of hope.
When your tears will become a distant memory in the annals of time and we'll all weep no more.

By Christie Nonyelum Akumabor © 08/11/12 Reworked today 06/12/17

She is the future of Naija, we have NOT served her well...

 Poor children being fed by a charity scheme run by one of the Pentecostal churches in Lagos

The environment which we expect to produce the leaders of tomorrow. No wonder we have sit-tight rulers.

RUMBLE OBAMA RUMBLE!

This was inspired by the words of a friend, Bola Opere..

Rumble Obama Rumble!

Rumble honorary Kenyan Rumble!!

Rumble illustrious son and pride of Africa Rumble!!!

Rumble loving husband of Michelle Rumble!!!!

Rumble proud father of Malia and Sasha Rumble!!!!!

Rumble on first African American President of the USA,

Rumble on Nobel peace prize winner,

Rumble on man of the people.

Rumble on brilliant lawyer and author,

Rumble on son of Ann Dunham and Barack Senior.

Rumble on changer of destinies,

Rumble on defender of the sick with Obama Care.

Rumble on a worthy commander in chief,

Rumble on defender of womens right to choose.

Rumble on provider of American jobs.

Rumble Barack Hussein Obama, Rumble.

Rumble son of destiny, chosen by God, Rumble.

Rumble child of the islands and land of the Masai Mara, Rumble.

Rumble you descendant of noble Africans, Rumble.

Rumble faithful husband and doting father, Rumble.

Rumble on inspirer of dreams, yes we can!

Rumble on you good example of persistence and diligence.

Rumble on a humble and caring community activist, then president.

Rumble on cos you were voted in on my birthday, 4th of  Nov 2008.

Rumble on and do an even better job this time around, Obama !!!!!!!

IGNORANCE IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST KILLERS IN NAIJA SADLY. :-(

Ignorance is killing us rapidly in Nigeria. Ignorance of the early symptoms of diseases, ignorance of where to seek proper treatment, ignorance of the treatable nature of many hitherto untreatable conditions. And this ignorance is COMPOUNDED by our saaaaaaaad culture of HIDING our illnesses from even our nearest and dearest!!!

And some of our priests and pastors are also worsening matters by preying on the poor, innocent, desperate, sick and gullible in their most dire moments. We all know what I'm talking about... I am a Christian and DO believe in miracles BUT God does not call for me to suspend my common sense!!! Which of us who is hungry and has raw foodstuff in the kitchen will kneel down and pray for God to fill our stomachs instead of getting up and going into the kitchen to prepare the food ourselves??? 

This is what we've reduced God to in Nigeria, our "house help", who does those tasks we are too lazy or can't be bothered to deal with ourselves, chei... But this is not about faith healing or none-healing as the case may be. This is about raising awareness about THREE COMMON KILLER CANCERS IN NIGERIA and addressing and recognising some of our cultural practices which prevent dissemination of this information to ALL who need to know and hear about them.

I'm talking about BREAST, CERVICAL AND PROSTATE CANCER IN NIGERIANS!!!

These three cancers have claimed an increasing nos of lives in Nigeria, of people in their prime, often with young dependents, causing untold hardship and suffering to those left behind as well as causing gruelling, excruciatingly painful, long drawn out illnesses in the afflicted. And whilst some cancer cases will inevitably lead to death, COMPREHENSIVE SCREENING, KNOWLEDGE OF SYMPTOMS & SIGNS; EARLY DETECTION could seriously reduce the mortality and morbidity of these diseases!!!

I have no statistics for the incidence of any of these diseases in Naija as we are notably abysmal at keeping records. But anecdotally I personally know over 15 young Nigerian women  between the ages or 30-45 who have kost their lives to breast cancer... One of my pastors died from it just beforehand her 41st birthday!!! My Aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer 16 years ago too, she was treated and cancer free for 15years, and had treatment this year when it recurred. We thank God that it has been successfully dealt with again. The Edo state governors wife, Mrs Oshiomole died from one if these csncers!!! So these ailments are no respecter of persons O.

Now my cause for concern is the lack of knowledge and awareness that these diseases even exist back home and our almost total lack of teaching women to examine their breasts, and what to do if they find a lump!!! And this applies to Nigerian women living both at home and abroad. We are notoriouly BAD at taking on board preventative measures, with the usual attitude of "it's not my portion". Whose portion is it??? Jesus Christ the son of God was crucified on the cross!!! Stephen his disciple was stoned to death, others were killed in various gory ways, so exactly whose portion it is to be afflicted with breast, cervical or prostrate cancer??? We know not!!! All that is certain is that we MUST all die from something, and its only If we are blessed will it be from the complications of a ripe old age...

So hiding our illnesses does NOT make them go away. In fact we might even be doing untold damage to our families. If a daughter does not know her mother survived or died from breast cancer HOW ON EARTH DOES SHE KNOW TO BE VIGILANT ABOUT BREAST EXAMINATIONS OR TO DEMAND EARLIER MAMMOGRAPHY SCREENING WHERE SUCH IS AVAILABLE TO HER???  We have to get over this our fear that if we talk about something the "demons" will hear and attack us with what we were talking about. Kai such upside down thinking. As if any demons need us to decide what harm they will unleash on we humans!!!  

Similar issues apply for cervical cancer and prostate cancer. People NEED TO KNOW TO SEEK MEDICAL HELP WHEN THEY HAVE CERTAIN SYMPTOMS, such as irregular bleeding, bleeding after sex, persistent discharge or odour or anything which is unusual with regards to their private parts. For the men we are looking at the signs of prostate enlargement,  such as difficulty passing urine, poor stream, regularly waking up at night to pass urine, constipation or persistent lower back pain etc.

An enlarged prostate is often NOT cancerous, but if it is ever removed please ENSURE that the doctor does a BIOPSY of the tissue to rule out cancer. This SHOULD all be part of the standard treatment of any enlarged prostate in Naija but sadly like the rest of our defunct systems in Naija, good medical practice has also deteriorated terribly. So please tell your fathers, husbands, brothers and anyone you know who is having prostate surgery (that's if they let you know in the first place) that they must INSIST THAT THEIR DOCTOR SENDS THEIR PROSTATIC TISSUE TO A REPUTABLE HISTOPATHOLOGY LAB FOR ANALYSIS!!! Also let them have their PSA measured. This is a blood test measuring Prostate-Specific-Antigen (PSA) and is a good marker for the presence or absence of prostate cancer. Because if these diseases are detected early, particularly Prostate Cancer then a good chance of a full cure is possible... 

In our forefathers time when there was less understanding and information about the nature and causes of many diseases, being secretive made sense to them. But now that we are in the age of enlightenment we should not allow IGNORANCE to still hold us hostage. Imagine the case of a lady only finding out as an adult that her maternal grandmother dues if breast cancer, her own mother had breast cancer several years earlier and is stikk suffering from some complications of the illness and treatment but has NEVER told her daughters that this is what she suffered from, so that they could even be vigilant about breast examinations and lumps or even take advantage of early screening programmes which are available where they live!!! This is the sad reality on the ground and unfortunately our yeye govt also do NOT care about their citizens so no national health campaigns are organised. 

Sadly our churches too which COULD be good platforms to disseminate LIFE SAVING INFORMATION are generally too busy preaching prosperity messages to spend any time to teach COMMON SENSE, LIFE SAVING INFORMATION to their congregation. Some of them are simply not aware that these are huge problems, but we can ALL no longer ignore the many pictures of dying women with massive fungating breast lesions, with their beleaguered relatives vainly trying to raise funds for what amounts to terminal care!!! 

It could be me affected next, it could be you or your wife, sister, mother, husband, brother or father affected by any of these illnesses. We MUST raise awareness about them to help save lives. I salute the efforts of a growing nos of organisatios in Nigeria that have taken on board this noble cause. But we ALL need to do more, however we can and end this conspiracy of silence and ignorance that continues to decimate Nigerian lives at home and even abroad. May God bless all of us as we help spread this message, amen..