I Bi Dem: Woman, Wife, Mother

  It was as if all that was needed for her ideas to dry up was realizing that she had to trap them. Ideas have since began to play hide and seek with her. She has lost count of the many times she sat in the ‘Thinking Chair’ without coming up with any useful idea.   She spent many hours in the office even though the lockdown was still in place. She was hoping that she would have ideas that will move the business forward. With all the new regulations, business would never be same again and if she does not move in line with the changes, she may lose her business.   She sighed as she reflected on how much she had put in already. She strongly believed she was in the centre of God’s will for her life. So why is she confronting all these problems? Isn’t that the essence of being in God’s will – that all problems will be eliminated? Wasn’t that what it should be – God’s will equals no problem?   After all, didn’t Psalm 37:4   say that He will grant us the desire...

THE THINKING CHAIR She sat heavily on the overstuffed chair in her office. What was she thinking furnishing an office with such a chair? Perhaps her subconsciousness knew such a day would come and she would need such a chair or at least her son did. The business was struggling; she was not even such she would reopen. The COVID-19 lockdown had taken its toll on her store. As she made herself comfortable in the chair, she remembered what her son had called the chair - the Dreaming Chair.  He had said it was so comfortable and one could fall asleep and dream beautiful dreams. He always sat in it whenever he came to the office, but he never fell asleep or so he claimed. He always said he was thinking whenever he sat there. Only there was no evidence of all his mental activities – he always forgot. Add caption   He always forgot. “Yes”, he said he had a lot of ideas sitting in the chair. Sometimes he even talked about them, but they amounted to nothing beyond being thoughts ...

The air was hot and humid as we stepped out of the terminal to walk a few meters to the plane billed to fly us from Lagos to Kigali. I quickened my pace to get in the plane; the heat was excruciating and the air, still. The coolness of the cabin was a welcome one and I soon was seated and looking out the window. I love the window seat as I always get a superb panoramic view as the plane lands and takes off. You often can tell the level of development of the city from such views. Anyway that's a topic for another day. I settled down in the plane and began to take in the view outside. The domineering hues surrounding us were grey and brown. It was like someone had made a concerted effort to remove other colors leaving what Wally Serote calls, ‘a concrete jungle’. It was depressing. But as I observed further, I noticed that there were patches of green here and there like stubborn precocious children who refuse to be denied their say. The color, green, brightened up the horizon...

I am sure you must have seen this on social media. It is a job interview for the post of a mother. I can’t think of something better to showcase what and who a mother is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWcJZ210AaM For all that you do and for all that you are, mothers, you are celebrated today. Considering the times in which we are with many become super teachers and full-time caregivers – you are applauded. Keep doing what you doing and may the Lord give us grace to see our children full purpose and destiny in Jesus’ name. Happy Mother's Day greetings from my mum My thoughts are with mothers who may feel unappreciated today or feel that they have nothing to celebrate. Some mothers are sad because despite their sacrifices in raising their children right, the children have not turned out well or simply don’t appreciate all they have done for them. Some may be sad because they messed up as mothers when their children were younger and now their relationship is det...

Apart from being in a natural disaster, I think the closest devastation is going back to the scene of the disaster trying to pick up the pieces and realising that the worst may still be ahead of you. It is a time of feeling hopeless, helpless, afraid, confused and perplexed.   At a time like this, it is easy to see no way ahead and throw up hands in surrender to despair. The economy is opening but not for all and for some, the loss is so much that there appears to be nothing to go back to. If big companies are closing down, how will the small ones cope?   A number of people have been laid off and there appears to be no openings anywhere. Whatever the case may be, the bills are piling up; mortgages, car loan, school fees, utilities and other day to day expenses that still need to be honoured but with what? And then there is still the fear of the virus because no one is immune. I love to read poetry because sometimes it seems to be the only thing that adequately de...

  The lockdown is still effective in several places. I appreciate all those at the forefront of fighting the virus and making life bearable for us during these difficult times. May the Lord continue to protect them. The call is for all not involved in essential services to stay at home, self-isolate and practice social distancing, but this is not possible for some people due to socioeconomic reasons. Some rely on daily sales to meet their needs while others live in densely populated areas where social distancing is simply impossible. Let’s be involved in alleviating the suffering in our different communities in any way we can. God bless you as you do so. One thing that seems to be a positive in all this mayhem is the fact that families get to spend time together. Perhaps for the first time in long time, some children are able to have five minute conversations with their parents and husbands and wives get to spend time together. The lockdown provides a good opportunity to bo...

We have been home for almost three weeks now and I am getting a bit concerned.  No, it's not because I am not allowed to go out but because my to-do list is not getting any shorter. At the beginning of the lockdown, I had some targets and now I feel they won't be met. I have been able to pin my seeming failure to some factors like lack of real free time, inadequate planning and overambitious goals. Any teacher in South Africa will tell you that this is not a holiday. In fact, it sometimes feels worse than being in school. Teaching online means you are having contact time on Zoom and your email and WhatsApp are clogged with messages from parents, colleagues and students alike. One would need a secretary to get through the messages on a daily basis. And then, you have to prepare for the next day.  So I realised that I do not have the ‘free’ time I thought I had. Usually when we envisage free time, there is the tendency to romanticize it. It is like suddenly time ...