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| Angel (Image Source) |
“Chineke Nna emegokwa nwa ogbenye Ezege” – Phyno
Looking
down at the usually busy street from behind the glass wall of the 9th floor on
a Sunday morning, to put it mildly, was an utterly different experience. The
sound of a thousand blaring horns and the sight of the non-stop list of exotic
cars, both, were missing. This was my first time catching a glimpse of Bishop
Aboyade-Cole on a Sunday morning: the serenity was fluid and even the few trees
still left in this concrete jungle delighted in the peace as they swayed, periodically,
with the pace of the passing whips of the wind. The day of the Sun really is different
on Bishop Street and that difference laid my thoughts to wander…the last day of
December was spawning.
The
year is at its end, yet another is about to begin. The question therefore
becomes, what did you do with this odd cycle of 366 days? If you are reading
this then at least you celebrated you birthday – drinking Coke counts as
celebrating so don’t mumble about anything. So then, what else? What else did
you do with more than three hundred 24 hour days? Whose life did you change for
the better, whose tears did you wipe, and whose wounds did you help heal? If
your answers are “Nobody”, “Err…” or “Wait I’m coming” then think about 2016
again, think really deep and honestly ask yourself: was there a time or two that
I could have, perhaps, made life brighter even just for another.
“See I’m living large I get Angels o for my gate oh” – Phyno
For me my answer
was “Wait I’m coming”. I know I could have done much better because the angels
that came out for me in particular this year were strong – like pounded yam mortar
strong! I may never know their names and I surely do not know all their faces
but what is certain is that I felt the firm grasp of their hands pushing me up
and on as I took each and every step through the annum – when I thought I had
stumbled, there was a hand and when I was sure I had fallen, there were many. At
this point, regardless of whether you think you are spiritual or not, I’ll tell
you this: Chineke aka Oluwa toh badt did it big this year and because of Him, I
trust 2017 is going to be a heck of a lot of awesome!
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| Project 1 Nation (Image Source) |
Every
now and again, a vehicle dotted Bishop Street but far from as frequently as
would have been on a Monday or Tuesday. It would pass right through with a
sense of composure, no hurry or convulsive throttling. The ambience of
hypnotically sliding Mercedes and X6s threw me back into the rickety bus that I
had boarded to get to VI. In it were a mother and her child that she was lapping, both of whom were fast
asleep, heads nodding off in the same direction. I remembered them because the
bus jolting to a halt at its final stop caused their heads to slightly collide
with a thump, waking both of them up – it was cutely comical. I remembered them
because as soon as we got down, the first thing this lady, who looked like she
was honestly just getting by, did was reach into her purse and hand her baby
girl to hand to the exasperated amputee gentleman sitting on the side of the
road N50. I had sighted two angels.
“Never forget where I come from na from Ghetto” – Phyno
Don’t just
walk past that lady on crotches or gentleman in a wheelchair asking you for
change for breakfast. S/He probably didn’t plan or decide to end up there
asking for your help but the wheels of misfortune have been spun. Don’t ignore
the call of people like Project 1 Nation, asking for hands to re-assimilate our
internally displaced ‘brethren and sisthren’ currently with no place to really
call their home. Don’t close your eyes or turn deaf ears to those in need all
around us. Angels can come down from above, yes, but why wait for the
supernatural to do the simple things that we who are already in the physical
can easily cage.
A good question should be, why was
I in the over 100ft. tower on a Sunday morning and a good answer would be I
honestly can’t remember but you know how you know a mechanic or repair man's
shop by all the worn-out cars, generators, fridges, air conditioning, etc.
sitting out front? Well, shouldn't that be a warning sign? Imagine seeing 30
year old students still in front of a secondary school, would you send your child
there? I believe sometimes we fail to see the signs that may be right in front
of us. The number of people that seem to be begging for help for one reason or
another seems to be on the rise, just look around you, but we don’t seem to want to notice. Some of us have become apt at hiding behind the walls of our majestic towers some of which are far taller than 200ft. I, for one, believe that the world is just one large ghetto and that we are in need
of so many more angels.
“Buru ekene riwo otuto, Fada Fada eeeh, Fada Fada eeh!” – Phyno
As for me,
everywhere is going to be my ghetto in 2017 – from Ikoyi to Egbeda, from Ketu
to Agbara – and I will do my best to lend a hand wherever and whenever I can. Life is hard all around and so
I will wipe tears, help heal wounds and even mend broken hearts.
“Aka nchawa o!” - Olamide
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| Angel (Image Source) |
