Social Media for Social Good: #LitterFreeNigeria is possible if you #JustBinIt

Today, I saw a kid hand an empty water sachet to his mum, and her reply was “throway am- why you dey give me?” and the kid promptly flung it on the floor, on a sidewalk of a Major street, and when I without a word, bent to pick it up and take it to an almost empty bin just 2 minutes away; she shrugged and said “No be me first start am” and points to the streets where quite a number of empty sachets and other used and empty garbage had begun to pile up… Sad!

The Ranting is inevitable:

This is a common sight in Nigeria, it is okay to fling used and empty packs out of moving cars, after all, you are not the only one doing it.
It is a regular thing to see a beautiful girl looking like she stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine throw her finished Sharwama wrap or gum wrap right on the street like its no big deal.
It is okay to see a handsome dude drop his empty cigarette packet or empty can of right there on the street, like there is nothing to it.
What is worse and painfully sad is that the young Kids see Adults do this everyday and are learning to do the same.

Yet, we would be the first to cry foul and complain that the Government is not doing right by us, the “Government is not doing what it should be doing”, I have heard it said- “the Government should clean this country” “it is an eyesore”, and we have the guts to say, “Nigeria is dirty, Go to the U.S and see how clean it is!”

You and I, we are Nigeria, and if Nigeria is dirty, as difficult as it is to hear, We are dirty. Not the Government, Us!

There is a Solution:
Don’t Despair, there is Good news; there is time to change this, to improve, at least for the Next Generation before our kids are overrun and collapse under a huge Landslide of garbage (okay, that was a bit Melodramatic, but not impossible). It is Our Social duty.

Step 1: Online Interaction:

You are invited to join me a starting an online campaign that can ensure a #LitterFreeNigeria if we all just #JustBinIt.

Step 2: Offline: Engagement:

We know it is not enough to just talk about it so when we have gathered enough support to run it on the streets, we are going to make major noise, teach it in schools, in buses, in the Market Place, at Offices, in communities, Every Where!

Step 3: Recycling:

Finally, we are planning to set up recycling collection centers, where you can drop recyclable trash and pick up gifts in return, it will be a fun and educating place for kids to visit.

How can you help with the campaign? Online and Offline?

• #JustBinIt: Put your trash in a bin and tell others to do same. Even if it is just one person everyday.
• Are you on Social Media? You can also add the hash tag “#JustBinIt” to your handle and when people ask you about it, Educate them on the ills of littering.
• Discuss it on Social Media, using the hash tag “#LitterFreeNigeria“
•  Send in notes, Pictures, Videos, blog stories, to ” zegbua@yahoo.com” advocating the possibility of having a #LitterFreeNigeria if we just #JustBinIt and we will feature as many of them as possible on here.
• Online Promoters, Trend Kings (and Queens) Overlords and Twitter and Facebook Celebs, this is the time to do some Social Good.
• Via the blog, You can also register to volunteer as a peer educator, a teacher, to work with the recycling unit or the Media team.

Thank You so much for deciding its time to Make Nigeria Litter Free.

Yours Sincerely,

Izegbuwa

Photo Credits: DM and the Boys

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Let Us Pray

There is a cat mewing seriously by my house.. probably pregnant or just warning the rats..

it happens almost often these nights.

soon as the cat starts, my neighbour upstairs who had a baby about 3 months ago gets in a frenzy.

knickers all twisted & shi’, she starts to pray. loudly. killing all her enemies.

The cat bothers me, her loud prayers bother me more.

 

Today there is light… Thank the gods.

I want to turn on the AC, to drown the noise

but there are 2 little humans sharing my bed with me, holidays.

I don’t have a duvet.. I’m worried about them catching a cold, the list of things that bother me now is starting to grow,

I am already in that mode so it auto takes off- I can’t help it, I mentally go thru the list of things that bother me.

 

My Rent is due October 15th, while money isn’t necessarily the issue, I am unsure if I want to keep living here, yet, the thought of House Hunting in Lagos, and agents and new Landlords is giving me a heartburn.. plus there is the school, Will we need to change schools??

Speaking of schools- The kid passed the Unity School Common Entrance, not excellently well, (He wrote from Primary 4), but good enough to get an admission- so I wonder, Are we ready for secondary school?? Boarding House or Day Student? Then I remember the stunt He pulled at the office today & my mind is drawn to work…

So many things bother me about work & it’s not a lack of paying clients, I worry that my Right Hand guy isn’t quite ready to be Right hand and My partner? Sigh, that bothers me a lot…

This was supposed to be the month… He promised dedication during the leave, then it got to the point where I had to nag for him to come to the office, & he was there for only a few hours on the days he bothered and He is resuming work in a few, I worry I am on my own. Actually, I know I am on my own. Yet there is so much, so much to be done.

Then a mosquito bites me & I am worried about the kids. so I turn on the AC. worried now about the cold and sickness.

Sickness makes me think of Her, my deepest fears repressed in activities.. Hidden under what I hope is Faith. or is it?

Is this just me thinking if I pray and shut it out my head long enough it will go away?

like all the people I used to like, love even… Ignore them until they no longer existnot in my life nor in my head, my mind reaches out to someone else. then I remember that I need a laptop charger, I forgot to buy.

I think of the Presentation I am to give at Ibadan tomorrow. No laptop. No Charger. No Dress.

the Drycleaner didn’t bring my clothes again today.

I’m suddenly small and my room is like the whole world. I am reaching out but everything is Far.

I feel lost… In a room full of Dark Faces..

Facades off, Just me and My Worries. It’s a Familiar place, I have been here, drowning in Silhouettes and shadows of my Fears, I know these tricks…

Not today Satan. Not Today.

“…Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV)

It’s Time to “Capture” these thoughts with my words and affirmation and make them Obedient to Christ.

Its 2am, I wonder just briefly, how a cat mewing at 12am. got me to this point 2 hours later.

 

Lol. Satan, you try.

but I got this..

 

Let us Pray.

Found

So I am going to get a few facts out of the way so we can get to the gist at hand…

The Economy is bad – check √
Quite bad at the moment actually; Business is really slow – check √
Especially slow for start-up businesses, No fuel, No light, few customers- check √

These are not complaints though; these are tiny details- threads that are knitted into the fabric of my almost but definitely not a sad tale.

Things have been not so good for me, even more so for my business, it is in times like these, people find God some more, It was at this time, however, I got lost trying to figure it out on my own, Absolutely lost.

Yes oh! Lost in my head, wondering what I had done wrong, this was the year I was to (will still) become a billionaire, plus all the other 100 exquisitely crafted plans I had made and the year wasn’t even one-quarter gone and everything had gone awry.

I got lost in my head, huge cluttered space, where nothing works when it is supposed to (that it eventually works is a story for another day), head where (mostly embarrassing) memories that are hidden, escape confinement and find new ways to taunt me. I got lost, finding this ‘strength’ and ‘faith’ everyone goes on about.

“Ized, you are such a strong woman”
“Ized, I admire your faith”

Lol. Faith? What Faith, What strength? I was barely holding it together, lost in a room full of people, faces plastered in smiles, my Loud screams no one heard, Yet they compliment my resilience.

So, I took a break, I went to my childhood home in Benin.

I picked the kid from school one hot Wednesday, frustrated by the lack of electricity and no fuel to power my Generator, the teacher was confused, “madam, hope no problem?”, and I ran to my Mother’s bosom and my Dad’s unending pride in me. Home.

While there, I helped my Son ‘make’ Ben 10 watches from old newspapers. My mum said we’d look mad if we wore it, I thought that was fine- we were pretending to be fighting imaginary aliens and saving the World. (You are all welcome), and errmm, Madness isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I danced with, hugged and kissed my nieces and my nephews, tiny intelligent humans and wondered who, what and where they will be in 10 years. I screamed at them “don’t grow up, ‘adulting’ is so hard! It is a farce”, these kids, they don’t listen.

I decided what I wanted to do to help grow my business and how. I realized that asking for help doesn’t make you smaller (besides, being broke has already made you small, get over yourself!) So I asked, called, texted, fake laughed, then I stopped faking and really laughed and Found Hope.

I prayed, I hadn’t done that in a while, the whole 360, tongue speaking, sober reflection… I prayed and I said “Father, I am lost, weak, and lacking in Faith, I miss you, I missed you when I went looking for Me in all the wrong places”, He didn’t reply, but he was there because I got my Faith renewed, still I felt lost.

Then I found it- by it, I mean what was really lost, my ‘Why’ – Why I am who I am and Why I do things the way I do, my ‘Why’. It was in the laughter and hugs of my folks and siblings. The rallying around, the camaraderie, the subtle encouragement everyone is giving you without saying much so they won’t embarrass you. The “by Force Hugs” ~ uurrgh Oje!!! My sister Adus, and in-laws Paul and Nena and my Dad and Mum, I found it though, it was the reassurance of Love, Unconditional Love. True Love!

So, I came back to Lagos, to work and adulting, and maybe a couple more disappointments before I find my way and with God’s grace and Help fix these issues, but even that’s okay. I have been lovingly reinforced.

Resilience like Courage sometimes is just waking up and thinking “I’ll try again today”.

Fall down 7 times, Stands up 8.
We’ve got this. F’ara bale

the Quest – Finding My Laugh

I woke up one day and felt like I needed to laugh, I felt like it had been a while since I had laughed, and I wasn’t talking about the 2 for kobo, a joke is funny kinda laugh, the kid did some funny antic, my friend cracked a joke, I saw a funny scene kinda laugh, that wasn’t it…

I was talking about that laugh that comes from deep within, that crackles thru your system, lightening every blood cell on its way to your mouth, that Laugh that makes your soul smile, your eyes twinkle, your face lights up, your whole body vibrates under the force… yeah that laugh!!! the one that changes your life even if just for a moment, or a day but the feeling lingering on for at least a year, the laugh that usually but not always end up in tears, tears not of sadness or Joy but tears of exploding emotions, overwhelming and escaping out of your body…  I hadn’t laughed that laugh in a long while and I needed to.

I couldn’t remember when I had ‘seen’ the laugh last, or if I had ever really laughed it, but I ‘remembered’ it yeah, so I must have, I told my friends my laugh was missing and they didn’t understand, they said I laughed everyday, they could not help, so I started a quest to find it, My laugh, My Happiness, I knew what I wanted and I figured I could find it, if I got a house, a Car, a Man! Yeah, if I had all these and nice things, Wow, o boy, I’d find my laugh… so I set out to acquire, the harder I tried to get these things, the more it seemed they eluded me, the more frustrated I got and then it seemed like that route was hopeless, I wasn’t going to win a lottery any time soon.

So I went on Plan B, SEX, the comfort of a man’s arms, yes, I confess, I am not a virgin ;)), at some point, some preacher compared worship to Sex, now believe me, I am not trying to play coy, really when you have an orgasm, you find your laugh, briefly… very briefly, and it’s easy to fall into the trapping route of finding it thru sex, because ‘Illegal” sex is like a drug, you get sucked into the 5 minutes highs and afterward you are left with the sad sinking, really crappy feeling and then you think more sex will make you feel better, you console yourself with the fact that this is the man (or woman) you will spend the rest of your life with, so it’s okay… ”God Understands”. Obviously that route wasn’t working either, so I stopped using it! then I thought- it’s okay, I’d spend the rest of my life managing the mini laughs I got.

I was a Christian, I believed in God, after all, didn’t the Bible say that was all you needed to make heaven, BELIEVE!! And I did, God sent his son to die, bla bla bla… hurried prayer here and there, A loud amen when someone else prayed, what was the issue anyway?? prayer wasn’t changing nothing, I gradually stopped searching for the laugh, even in God. I went to church when I felt guilty enough to spend my fare and I was out before they closed satisfying my conscience… apparently my laugh was missing forever, I couldn’t find it in a man, I wasn’t getting richer, so…

Then… I started going to this new church by chance, at first, it was just a fun thing, the music was awesome, the preacher spoke good, the folks dressed mighty fine, and it was a good place for business networking, young minds, fine brothers… but I guess God had other plans… one night after a particularly gruesome sinking needy for the laugh feeling, I cried to God, “what did I ever do to you?, you are so intent on punishing me, nothing is working out! Give me a stinking break jo! I want to be Happy, Give me my bloody laugh back!” I cried myself to sleep, I wanted Sex, alcohol, anything to be happy even for a moment, and then all I got, was a tiny whisper, “when the altar call is made tomorrow, get up…”

Funny because, I had been in the church 5 Sundays and I had never once heard an altar call, still the next day Sunday, I got to church on time, pleaded with the usher, I need to sit at the edge, I am going to answer the altar call, she must have thought me weird but she let me have my way, I sat at the edge and true to expectations after the service Pastor gave the altar call, I ran forward, Yayyy!! I was going to get my laugh…

Wait, its coming… soon, anytime now… uhmm, erm, NOPE, NOTHING!! Pastor prayed, I repeated, yadi yada, yadi yada, same old same old, no laugh!! Wow, it seemed like there was no hope with finding this laugh, maybe it was just a figment of my imagination. We sat down, but just as service was about to end the Pastor said, “all those who came out are invited for a teaching, some “Alpha class” program designed to grow you not just spiritually but business wise and yes financially!” Mhen, I couldn’t find the laugh, but yeah, I could do with some improved finances…

So not-so-long story really short, I attended, we were given an assignment of reading “good morning Holy Spirit” by Benny Hinn, can you just imagine?? Who reads Benny Hinn these days? After what happened with …? (Don’t ask!!) weirdly enough, after they gave us free copies, me, who would read just about anything, I decided to start reading it, pretty soon I was sucked in, it should have been titled, the “guide to the Laugh”.. Goodness Me, I knew what was missing, I found it, my eyes lit, I FOUND HIM, my LAUGH, Oh MYYYY!!! Alone in my room, I asked the Holy Spirit sincerely to come into my heart, I knelt, I asked, I woke up hours later, in a funny position, my head in the wardrobe, but I can’t remember if it hurt, I was much too “busy”… you see, I was LAUGHING “the LAUGH”!!!

p/s: are you searching for your laugh, the laugh, I am not one to preach but believe me when I say every day I am grinning ear to ear, song in my heart, smiles on my lips, laugh bubbling on my insides, things may not have changed much on the outside (yet) but Good God amazing, I found the 3rd person of the trinity, God the Holy Spirit, truly God… the most important part of our lives, I found My LAUGH… you can find him too. Really easy.

I wrote this note since January 25th, 2012 and saved as draft, I think it’s time to post it.

Anita’s Dilemma

…continued…

I got home, It was just Nana, my elderly Nanny that was home, it was okay though, I wasn’t expecting my parents to be home, they rarely ever were these days, out early, in really late, except on Saturdays when they were home till 10 a.m. and then Daddy had to go out again to work, I held Nana’s hands and swung her around, she was startled and smiled, “what are you so happy about?”

“Love Nana, Love” I shouted as I ran to my room, “L. O. V. E, Love!”

I did not hear her mumbled reply.

I flung my bag to the corner, sighed and slumped on the bed.

Bits of my conversation with Uncle Frankie kept coming to my head, “beautiful grown woman, filling up nicely, lovelier”,

“See ehn, I thought to myself, blushing furiously “I really like this Uncle Frankie, he used to call me his wife those days, maybe we’ll get married”.

I giggled as I stood up and walked to the mirror, held my pinafore tight behind my back wondering what Uncle Frankie had seen when he held my waist and said I was filling up nicely.

It was a lot peculiar that he had asked if I was seeing my period, I wondered why I had lied and said Yes, then I thought of Anita and wondered how she must be feeling now… poor Anita.

2. ANITA’S DILEMMA

I paused as I entered the compound, hiding behind the flower bush, Mama was in the Home shop, Today was Oke- Arin market day, where Mama had a huge shop, why was she back so early? That woman could sense my presence, I thought, wincing as she looked up and yelled my name,

“ANITA!!! What are you doing there? You this Smelling thing, you want to rub your blood on my flowers abi?”

My God! This Nonsense Menstruation again, and now Mama was going to let the neighbours know.

“ANITA!!!” she screamed again.

“Yes Mama, I am coming”

“Who is your Mama? Your Mother is dead oh, (reminding me for the umpteenth time that she was my step Mother) I cannot be Mother to a child that cannot clean up after herself,

I took a quick glance at my sister, her 6 year old daughter who was ‘wading’ in what was left of the plate of rice that she had just eaten, I chuckled… “What are you laughing at ehn? Demon, go and wash up and come and help me clean this shop” Mama yelled again, this time too close for comfort, I ran to my room.

There was a polythene bag on my bed; I opened it, “Sanitary pads! Amen!” I smiled. All the girls at school that talked about periods had said that, Sanitary pads were much better than tissue paper which I had been using since yesterday, wondering who would teach me how to use them and how they got to my bed, It must be from my papa, I thought, then I blushed red in embarrassment as I remembered yesterday evening..

I had gotten up from my bed to put my assignment notes in my bag, when I felt the sharp cramps in my lower belly, “Jesus!” I screamed, dropping my books, crumpling to my feet in pain, which was when I noticed the bed, I saw blood, I was so scared, I looked at my clothes and there was blood all over my behind, in that moment I did not think, I forgot all my science lessons and the first thought that came to my head was that I was dying, I ran to my Father..

“Papa oh, we need to go to the hospital oh, I am dying, it must be the same sickness that killed my mama” crying and falling dramatically into my Father’s arms…

“WHERE DOES IT HURT??” he panicked, touching my Chest, I pointed to my lower belly and turned around for him to see the blood, it took 10seconds and it dawned on both of us at the same time, I was ashamed and ran inside to my room.

He stood at the door for a bit looking at his feet, “wash up” he said “and go and tell your Mama to tell you what to do.”

“She is not my Mama!!” I mumbled angrily,

I was coming out of the bathroom when I saw her standing there, looking at me like I was a bush rat.

“Ehn ehn, what is wrong with you? Your Father says you need my help” eyeing me as she spoke.

I moved very close to her and whispered, “I think I am menstruating”

You think or you know? And so what? Are you the first? Abi are you a Man? Is this what you people called me from my shop for? Ehn?!

“Mama, I don’t know what to…”

“Put it in my mouth now, you don’t know what to do, come and put it in my Mouth, Nonsense! Dirty Pig! She hissed out, Looking around my room, go and wash that your dirty hands and come and wash four cups of beans for me, Useless girl, shouting all over the house like you are the first girl to become a woman” Walking away as quickly as she had appeared.

As another cramp hit me, bringing me to my knees, teeth gritted tight so I wouldn’t scream in pain again, something she said flashed through my Mind – “I, Anita was a Woman now”

photo credit: thisisafrica,me

please note this may be the last bit till the book comes out.

thanks for reading, your comments will be awesome.

So it starts…

My head ached bad… It was thumping so much if I moved it even slightly, so I just stayed still, lay there and wondered if I was dead, I opened my eyes a tiny stint and saw I was in a Hospital, then I saw them, my parents, hugging each other, teary eyed, they didn’t know I was awake, Lord, my parents will kill me, I thought, I was in so much trouble, If I wasn’t dead already I was going to die soon..

..Why is there all that laughter? Did anyone think this was funny?? I moved my eyes around trying to get a view of them room, without moving my head, “Happy Nurses walking around, Gaily coloured butterflies on the wall, a TV was on, several kids gathered around watching what seemed like the movie- sound of Music, oh my! I was in the Children’s ward, “but why now?” I thought, I wasn’t a child anymore, I was a grown woman, a beautiful grown woman, at least that is what Uncle Frankie had told me… The thought of Uncle Frankie made my head ache and I groaned aloud, “aargghhh!” my parents rushed to my side.

“Nonye!, thank God you are awake!” that was my Father, hugging me and causing my head to thump harder, “ Thank God, Thank God, Thank God” I could hear my mother repeating over and over again, holding my hands like it would break and looking at me scared, like she was worried I was slipping into unconsciousness again, She was right.

“What happened?” my Father asked, “Who touched you Nonye? Who? tell me, tell me”, he said, “what happened?”

I tried to move my lips, but they wouldn’t cooperate, where to start from? I thought

Then the Music from the TV and the Children loud singing got to me- “Let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you rea…”

Yes, the beginning, let’s start from there, where it all began… I thought as I slipped into unconsciousness, The very beginning…

In The Beginning..

We were walking home from school, all four of us, Happy, delighted, talking at the top of our voices, clothes wet from pouring water on our bodies in celebration, but we didn’t mind, we had just finished writing our Junior Secondary Exams..

“WE ARE SENIORS NOW!!! WOO HOO!!” Femi the tallest of all of us shouted at the top of her voice to passing vehicles.

Hahaha, Senior Femi, Can I carry your bag? I laughed as she threw her bag at me..

“Abeg abeg, at least you people behave like seniors”, Anita snapped, she had been the quietest of the lot since we got out of school, which is rare! if you know Anita, she can talk for the country.

“Ahn ahn, Madam Anita, what is wrong with you? Let them be happy now? You are not happy? You want to remain in JSS3 forever? seeing as it is that your boo dull Adam will remain behind”, skinny Amina teased, making kissy sounds and running away as Anita chased her laughing..

No Jor, you guys, I am just wondering what senior school will feel like, I want our clique to be the best and I want us to be prefects.

‘Don’t worry about that one”, I said, “is it them Tawa’s crew that want to beat us? We topped the Class, we are the finest girls in school, and in senior year, no more Pinafore, tight skirts, push up bras, Senior Anita, just wait and see”.

Woohoo! Femi added again, she was the most excited..

“okay, there is something else”, Anita added Sullenly, I saw my period yesterday night..

Ewoo! Was it painful?

Eeeewww! Are you leaking blood now?

Do you have cramps?

Do you know you can get pregnant now if a boy touches you?

All of Us talking at once, worried, the dreaded woman sickness, we didn’t think it would come this soon, now that one of our mates had gotten it, it was only a matter of time…

Suddenly our joy became pondering, we walked home in silence… holding Anita like she was going to break.. then I heard my name from across the street.

“Nonye!!” I looked around, it was Uncle Frankie

“UNCLE FRANKIE” I screamed, running to hug him!

It had been a while, my cousin Aunty Sonia had come to live with us for a bit and Uncle Frankie was her friend, he was a nice Uncle and used to buy me lots of snacks and ice cream..

Uncle Frankie!! It’s not fair oh, you just forgot about us after Aunty Sonia travelled to America..

… to be Continued …

I got a facebook message from an old school friend, she had a request, she wanted me to write for teenage girls, a story that encompasses all our young girls issues, myths of menstruation, effects of teenage pregnancy, HIV, STDs, and all of that..For an NGO.. So, I started, it gets better, the story I mean, more interesting, I hope, but the finished work will come from them, they are making it into a comic.. Hope you enjoyed reading it..

please drop a comment for direction/ advice, what should I add?