If viruses could light up

 

If viruses could light up, bright up like the 4th of July or a proud peackock or the Northern sky,

Over my humble home, i would then use my linen and lime and wipe it off like a stain on the wall or the spill on the floor.

Those pesky things, hiding in plain site, without hands yet they write a history I refuse to be mine. 

Why do I have to die to the rythm of the living dead, with no eyes to even pretend to tell lies?

Stay where you are, don't come home with me, coz I will light you up, bright like my fathers light.

Then there is no hope for you.

O.T.O

Fela Kuti - Observation is no crime lyrics

 

Whenever I get frustrated and confused at the on goings on the political front, I like to put on some Fela Kuti. I don't know a lot about his life nor agree with some of his ideas and lifestyle, but my dad enjoyed his music with some of them highlighting our attitudes and behaviors in different areas of life such as politics, wealth and education. 

I decided to check out one of his albums on YouTube and came across the album Zombie. I love singing along and decided to fill in the blanks of some of the lyrics for Observation is no crime that auto generation could not find the words for... here is my version, corrections are welcome.

Nah oil na dey carry, da oil na dey on top
Sansa man no come spoil na oil (na oil ne dey carry)
Sansa man no come spoil na oil (na oil ne dey carry)
Tell me, tell me my brother (Tell me, tell me) Why not?
Tell me, tell me if not (Tell me, tell me) Why not?
Tell me, tell me if not (Tell me, tell me)
Tell me why I go get eye, I a no go see (Tell me, tell me)

Tell me why I go get to nose, I know the smell (Tell me, tell me)
Tell me why I go get ear I no go hear (Tell me, tell me)
Tell me why I go get your mouth a no go tok (Tell me, tell me)
Tell me why I go get  ear an I go hmm (Tell me, tell me)
Tell me why I go get your heart an I go home (Tell me, tell me)
Aha
I no be mogul my brother
Na mogul dem dey beat
Na mogul dem dey cheat
Na mogul dem dey dabgaruwa dollar, dollar yegba (Tell me, tell me)
I get the hand to fight if I want fight (Tell me, tell me)

I get the leg to run if I want run (Tell me, tell me)

Well dey take the eye to see oppression every day (For left, for right, for up and down)
Well dey take the nose to smell anomalities everywhere (Around, around, around, around)
Well dey take the ear to hear corruption every day (For left, for right, for up and down)
We go take the mouth to talk the things we see, hear and smell (Around, around, around, around)
As for my me and my home I go put them for reserve
When they lock me for cell, I want and dey shout
To say observation may no be crime now (Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
Na oil na dey on top (Tell me, tell me) 
Na oil na dey carry 
Sansa man no come spoil na oil (na oil ne dey carry)

Tell me, tell me my brother (Tell me, tell me)
Tell me, tell me (Tell me, tell me)
Ah!
Chchchchchch Ah!

(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
(Tell me, tell me)
One, two, three

Any suggestions always welcome

The road - a thought process

The weather was like a child tossing and turning, neither finding it comfortable to be sunny side up or face down all dark, so it ended up shifting side to side, between the shades of grey and the rays of sun.

It wasn’t overcast, neither was it clear blue skies. It was a promise of hope. Something to depend on outside myself to help me look forward.

Still I felt crushed. Why raise my hope when it is left vulnerable to disappointment? It is like a bright sunny day giving the opportunity to play, but you can only watch, almost touching, almost feeling but never actually there.

Shall I pray for Grace, or for God to take me out of this place? Shall I pray for an escape out of this chaotic mess, asked to be raised for me to bless?

Now, the rain came down, hard and fast and I too shifted; I do not know what I want. A cloudy rainy day to drown all my sorrows or a sunny day with hope in its rays to dry my disappointments.

I need to get home

 and let pen connect to paper, 

words connect to sentences 

and melodies connect to songs.

Is it wrong to ask for space that will not put you in disgrace?

Space from poverty all dressed up in whites and fancy lace with

Pain and all things blind holding with its strong embrace?

When did satisfaction and contentment equal lazy,

Simply watching life and dreams get hazy?

I no longer know what I want, pretending life is rosy and daisy. 

The perfect disguise for a life with no surprise. 

The world held my case, all rise, found me guilty, all rise, the case is lost. 

But I’m not a lost cause, this road is not a shortcut, 

My case has been handed to a higher court with a right hand clause.

Now caught between two whole,

Not making it heaven, nor stopping it from being hell. 

Best pick, lest the road be filled with holes. 

O.T.O

The natural hair lie…and it ain’t that deep. How to really grow long 4c hair.

I arrived in the UK from West Africa Nigeria, with a short tight afro and thrown into the world of straight, loose curls and relaxed hair. And of course, I had to join the bandwagon! Bless my mother she would do anything for me, when it comes to hair and beauty (Love you mum! Happy Mother’s Day). So, we trudge to the beauty supply store to pick up a relaxer and we sat down to do the so-called dirty deed. I did not last for a year! It did not look how I wanted, it did not feel how I wanted, I was losing so much hair and I did not have any idea how to take care of it. I was starting to realise hair formed such a big part of a woman’s identity and I wanted to be more than my rubbish hair. So back to natural hair it was and to be honest it was perfect timing. My mum got busier with work and she had already taught me how to do braiding. I was only 14 and could wear my hair kind of crazy for a while with little judgement from the world.

But my hair growth progress was slow, it broke a lot, was dry and appeared to be thinning at times, despite multiple trims trying to keep it healthy. I started University in 2010 and before then the black hair/natural hair movement had started to gain traction in America, but as it gained popularity in the digital world, UK started to get on board. YouTube became my go to place for getting natural hair advice. It was a lot of learning about texture, porosity, protein, moisture balance and it was the first time I understood I had a mixture of hair textures, 4c and loose 4b with fine strands and thin hair to boot! Lucky me!

I kept on with the natural hair. When I started working full time, I discovered a blog on growing waist length hair and low and behold I saw someone who had relaxed hair like I did all those years ago and her hair was growing long with wigs. So, I started this journey also. My progress was slow frustrating and disheartening when I saw natural girls, I had watched on YouTube succumbing to the ‘creamy crack’. I was constantly limited by shedding and breakage (which I minimised by finger detangling) and the biggest issue SINGLE STRAND KNOTS. Which to this day I have no solutions for as I have tried almost everything? I even tried locking but never fully committed. After 4 years I revisited the blog that started the whole length journey and realised I missed a KEY detail. Our girl was TEXLAXED!!

I do not have to tell you what happened next. I started the search slowly as I could not fully commit. I felt I was turning back on identity, culture, the race struggle. Nevertheless, I continued looking for videos on how this was done and while some results absolutely terrified me, some results were surprisingly familiar…too familiar! In Gus’s voice from Recess, ‘Hey, those look awfully like those natural haired girls who could get their hair straight with little effort, with 4c hair hanging loose onto their shoulders!!!!!’ They were texlaxed! THEY WERE TEXLAXED Y’ALLL! And the really amusing thing is that texlaxing (when done right) appears to achieve similar growth rate as those with looser hair textures (unless you are genetically inclined to have long hair).

So, I have been stressed for the last 16 years to do the impossible and the last 10 years following advice on the internet when we may be starting from different baselines. In the same breath I was well pissed off, wanted to throw a massive rock but then decided to write this blog because life is too short and hair grows back, unless it can’t, and you have wigs and scarves! Thank God for those as well! Hair has so many meanings; it is part of how we show the world how we want to be addressed; it can be our identity. While the natural hair movement has been a useful tool to liberate people out of what may have appeared to be the only option, I think the digital world can sometimes only show us what we want to see, not always the truth. Using relaxer is not that deep. If you want to get political, cultural, religious…you can do so in the comments! As for me, whatever I do from this point on to my hair is for me!

Mi amor

Obimo Cheta
I'm bigger than what people say
Obimo Cheta
I'm forever the same
Obimo Cheta
You are not alone 3x

Cheta by Ada

I am cleaning my bathroom, with the mobile phone acting as a watch, entertainment and mode of communication. I am listening to Cheta by Ada and hear a line of the lyrics, which I mistake for Obinna Cheta. Glancing at my sceen the translation states my beloved, remember. 

Obinna; a name I recognised from one of the many Nigerian languages and was intrigued that I had been calling a friend my beloved. To my relief, I discovered Obinna means 'father's heart', but something was set in motion.

I couldn't help but remember the story of the prodigal son, who was welcomed back by a loving father despite his previous ways and of course the romantic  Songs of Solomon. No matter what, no matter where, I am loved.

Sunderland is not classed as a multicultural city, however, I am in contact on a regular basis with people who are from a different cultures and therefore speak a different language. I couldn't help but ask everyone I rubbed shoulders with in a single week, how to say my beloved.

Thank you to everyone who shared a bit of their language with me. Go on, shout to the world.

Nigeria (Yoruba): Ololufemi
France (French): Mon amour
Malaysia (Malay):pl Kesayanganku
Spain (Spanish): Mi amada
Serie Lionne (Krio): Una for lek den lekwuna bak
Zimbambwe (Shaona): Mudiwa wangu
Uganda (Luganda): O muagara wange


Others not included, Philipines, Indonesia, China, UK (BSL), South Africa, Iraq and Egypt

The struggle of the Pharmacist's journey

What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.

C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)

I recently gave a presentation for pharmacy students, which included BAME students (Black and Ethnic minorities) at a UK university and was struck by how straight forward my journey to becoming a Pharmacist in the UK was...well relatively and not without its hiccups.

What I wrestled with on my journey home was the idea that ethnicity is linked to success. Is it true that your ethnicity limits or elevates the chances of success in your career? I don't want to believe it's true, but I have to accept the concern it has created in the minds of those yet to cross the finish line to the beginning of their journey.

The data published by the GPhC, that have caused these concerns are a snapshot in the potential lifelong journey of an individual. Whilst it has highlighted the differences in training for pre-registration pharmacist (and with it an opportunity to spark change), it was limited in the information it provided.

The life of the individual behind an exam result is as multi faceted as culture itself and we do not know their stories once the exam is over and the result is out. Anyone who sits through a four year degree or top-up course is a striver and therefore failure is not the end of their story.

Whilst its hard to pinpoint the problems, all should remain resilient, by facing the problems that come our way and choosing our battles carefully. No one should look to the past with regret, nor be smug, having lived through it. We need to systematically learn and of course, pause to appreciate the journey but no matter what, strive for momentum.

5 ways to make the most of and enjoy the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Stay in a hostel

 

This is what hotels have over airbnb. People may know the city, but staff know the places to go and you get a wide range of information depending on who you speak to. They are cheap and cheerful. You will meet interesting people and anything can happen. Keep an open mind and bad experiences can be very funny in hindsight.

I stayed at the Hostel during my stay. Reviews for the place can be found on booking.com. It is located where there are good transport links around the city. It is very close to Haymarket train station and not too far from the Fringe, local stores and places to eat. I enjoyed my stay there. I met a few interesting people from different parts of the world. The staff were super helpful and friendly. They get to know you by face and name and on my first night one of the girls gave me a map of the city and the highlighted the area of the Fringe and other places and that I should definitely go and see. She highlighted areas on another map for another visit highlighting cultural places.

Get in touch with Art and Culture

Edinburgh has a lot of rich history and I did not realise that this is the city that inspired JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.

I went to the Writers museum, the National museum the National library. There were different exhibitions on display at the Library and  the museum is home to many aspect of Scottish life from historical to modern day. Other places I did not get a chance to visit were the Scottish Parliament and a proper visit to The Surgery and Dentistry museum (Pay to enter but NHS staff count as a concession).

Be open to people giving you flyers. You never know, something interesting might catch your eye. Someone handed me a flyer for a contemporary dance called Trip the light. A collaboration between Junebug Company and Wave from Switzerland. Contemporary I appreciate, but sometimes can be too abstract for my taste. But I went to it. It was beautiful and a bit intense, but what made it more worth it was the final piece (there was three). It was improv and the process of creating a piece.

If you go, have a favourite movie in mind and a good song on your playlist.

 

Pack lunch or be prepared to buy food

 

I would scout out cheap places to eat for lunch and dinner. There is a lunchroom in the National gallery. Reason is when you go back to where you are staying, you don't wanna go back out, especially if it’s raining and it looks dark when it’s just 8pm summer time.

I write this because I went back to the hostel home. I missed some specific free fringe events that I wanted to see. There was spoken word that I was quite keen on seeing but it was only showing in the evenings.

By the time I had gone back to the hostel, to cook something, have a shower and a change of clothes, I felt too cold to leave. There are plenty of cafe’s, take away places, restaurants and pubs catering to different price range. I will definitely recommend this because It just adds to the experience

 

Bring wellies

This only applies if there is a forecast of rain. It rained throughout my second day in Edinburgh. This may apply to any British festival as a matter of fact if you hate cold feet. It limited my day because I kept looking for shelter, every time I was outside and dreaded going back out to find my next destination.

 

If wellies are too bulky, possibly a change of socks, if you are wearing walking shoes, or a small towel, if you wear rubber flip flops or sandals. However I wouldn’t recommend this. There is always something about cold feet that increases your risk of catching a cold.

Enjoy the free Fringe

I started my experience with the free fringe. I don’t mind comedy but I am not a fan of cringe comedy. It’s not because they are not funny. Rude things can be funny...but they shouldn’t be the foundation of jokes. I see it as cheating and morally ambiguous. It’s like making fun of the war without actively showing that something's wrong. It’s not informative, educational and doesn't leave you with a sense of there is something we need to think about. Some jokes were genuinely funny, but the audience didn’t help. I decided to add more tourist activities to my itinerary as I thought the free fringe might not be for me.

 

However I made the most of my raining evening in to study the free fringe guide and actually decide events to go to. My last day I planned more specifically and  I found that I enjoyed the free fringe a lot more. I went to a theatre performance at the free sisters called the girl with the hurricane hands and other short tales of woe. I loved it. The were simple stories, but came alive in different exciting ways through each actor's personality.  I thought it was brilliant for children and adult alike. I went to a spoken word event  ‘The heart of the Country’. I was the only one there, no complaints. The last event was 101 clean jokes in 30min by Masai graham. It was actually alright. Audience involvement was beneficial in this case, not like my first night. Some people in the audience landed physics jokes. He has won a few awards. Here is a recent article on his work.

 

 All in all it was a good experience. Would I recommend it yes. I was lucky I spent time in a hostel, especially as a first timer in Edinburgh. I got a lot of information regarding what to do and I felt like I hadn’t wasted my time. The fringe still continues till the end of August and I kept loose coins within reach, because there is a lot of concert worthy street performance that I absolutely enjoyed. Means you can give money without digging out your purse. If you ask will I go again...not definitely yes, but more than likely.