I remember once, I was talking to a renowned Nigerian publisher, a man whose opinion I respect, I mentioned that I live in a compound with four flats and all inhabitants are Igbo. I joked that if a tribal war broke out, we would be first target but he assured me there would be no tribal war in Nigeria and I should worry about other likely things. I believed him but watching Kenya's drama unfold, my mind goes back to our conversation and I wonder. Who would have thought that brothers will rise up against brothers in the once stable Kenya.
I am Ibibio but grew up in a small town-Ikot Ekpene, the people there are Anangs. We differ in dialect, in dance but that's all I can think of and I can't imagine that one day the same people I danced with naked under the rain would one day hold knives to my throat because they say 'a-nyong' while I say 'ameyong' both meaning welcome.
I dont understand why people give wrong information, the bank debited my account some amount and I wanted it explained, the banker I met, who looked more like a school boy, told me it cldn't be handled there and I should call some number, the guy at the number ended up confusing me even more, so I went back to my branch and demanded to see the manager who sorted it all out and gave me a refund. These kind of things puzzle me, why didnt he simply say, I'm not sure about it,let me get someone who can help! While I was working in Naija, the key point of our training was if in doubt, ASK. Once my brother-in-law went to cash a cheque for his mum, and the cashier said her name wasn't in the system, my mother in-law went there panicking only to discover the lady had mispelt the name.
School resumes on Monday. Much as I find most lectures boring, I am actually looking forward to it. I always feel like I am in China with so many chineese students and boy do they have gadgets, laptops of all shapes and sizes, and the phones, they just blow my mind. My next holiday is likely to be in China.
Happy new year everyone. May all good things be yours this year.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Just Ranting
Posted by For the love of me at 2:28 AM
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18 comments:
China i hear is not bad and i think we should all start learning to seak chinese considering th way they are taking over and repositioning themselves to take over the world.
Niaja Bankers are just clueless. Most of them dont know what they are doing but then you also nee dto know your right and enforce it. Everymann for himself kinnd of.
Kenya!!! I dont even know where to start. They were for as long I can remember the most stable country in Africa. But then why do the black man never want to let go of POWER? Its a serious issue o and i dont get it. IS it cos when they are no longer in power they become nobodies? or they get so used to the pecks of office. But then God must really love us in Niaja. The guys in kenya didnt do 1/10th of wat PDP did and see whats happening. We need to get our acts together. Thanks for allowing me post such a long comment.
Nice to have you back, just saw the comment you left on my page.my email address is pozgirl@gamail.com
@nonesuch, learning chineese is smething i have considered but where does one start from, it seems too hard. I dnt think naija bankers are clueless though, i think its an individual thing, some people are just careless, the issue with me happened here in the Uk, the issue with my in-laws back home.
a happy new year to you too. may this one be way better than the last
Is the honeymoon over?
hey first time here and i am loving it... well happy new year to you too, may all your positive heart desires be met...
anyways, i have always wanted to go to that part of the world, esp tokyo but one day...
have a lovely one ohhh
Quite interesting set of "rants". I'm not so keen on the whole Chinese invasion of our space. Let them keep exploding in large numbers. I will not learn any new language for all I care.
The issue of Kenya suddenly exploding into ethnic violence should be a lesson for all of us. Nigeria is sitting on a kettle of gunpowder. Go around Lagos everyday and witness the level of animosity between various ethnic groups. All that is missing is the right matchstick to light the fire. There were always ethnic issues in Kenya. They found the matchstick of Electoral Violations. What would be our own matchstick?
Interesting rants! Re:Ask if you don't know. Pple don't want to appear dumb..they'd rather give u wrong info than appear dumb...sad innit?
happy new year girl, oh the wonders of wrong info....a while ago I drove into an unfamiliar neighbourhood to see someone and asked for directions girlfriend you wouldn't beleive how bad the directions I got were! Instead of ppl saying I don't know they prefer to lead you the wrong way! na wah.....
Take care and good luck with school!
@jinta, thanx for stopping by,pls update ur blog
@in my head, the honeymoon ended long ago
@ anuboy, thanx for stopping by, safe trip whn yu decide to go to tokyo
@comrade, i hope we never find the matchstickooo, cos its always the poor and innocent that suffer, In Kenya, do Kibaki and his cohorts not continue to walk tall while many others have died. Lets not hate the chinese but us Africans for being unable to grasp opportunities when we see them.
@labelle, u r right, i guess ppl dnt want to appear dumb.
@nyemoni, dnt even start me on the directions own, lagosians are terrible at it, its only okada's that can lead you right.
these 'changwa' pple sabi gagdets eh!!!! my new oga, a japanese dey intimidate us. but d thing b say after u don sabi all d big big technozu, u go 4get d small small ones. na there we dey get chance pose too.
d stuff abt kenya is really sad. d time i read Chima's Half of a yellow sun, i also got upset & was tempted to stop talking to hausa pple. but i've really good northen friends, it's not good 2 visit d sins of peter upon paul. as 4 d bankers, dem don improve o. i almost got one sacked cos i sent a complaint text 2 dir CEO. come see kasala dey burst 4 d branch dat period. i was really very upset cos they f..ked up big time men
I believe China will be fun...please put pictures if you finally go o. And Nonesuch, i think the language is mandarin. it is also the official language of most research labs in america.
happy new year.....asking people for irtion in naija is just another thing for me...cos they'll just direct you the opposit way...just taking out thier anger or aggression on you...
Happy New Year! Yes, it is disturbing to think that neighbors who have played with each other for years would turn against themselves in times of tension and violence. But that is what we are seeing all around the world.
Good luck with school and I am so glad to stop by here. Cannot believe it is my first time.
just ranting u said? funny, dont worry i can assure u there will be no tribal wars at for ur sake. lol
happy new year dearie, a bit belated abi? no vex abeg
hmm.china i can imagine the sort of gadgets u wopuld return wit.
Kenya all i can say is it needs prayer.
ibibio ehn?...my mom is ibibio...from etinan, well, technically her father is from ikot-edo/ido (excuse the spelling...in fact, my uncle, his wife and my cousin live in ikot-ekpene...passed thorugh there a couple times this past december...excuse me while i go back and read the rest of the post...
i often wonder how neighbors and friends and even family members can turn on each other in the name of tribes, overnight...i don't think i could turn and kill my yoruba or igbo or edo friends, just because...is it mob mentality or what?...would make for a hell of a pysch research, if it hasn't already been done and i missed reading it...tis very sad though...deeply pains me to think about it...
...i thought about going to teach english in china...then chickened out...would like to go though...there and japan and vietnam...india too!!!...i just love travel...
...i don't ask men for directions, usually as a rule...even if they are wrong or don't know, they'll lie and just be pointing you in the wrong direction...and bank tellers, well...customer service in general is on the decline...
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