Asante


Remember the primary school prayer:

Some have food but cannot eat, some can eat but have no food, we have food and we can eat, Glory be to thee oh Lord ... This prayer has been remixed by different musicians changing “God" to “Allah” and Wande Coal changing it to "Jehovah"

"For the food we are about to eat, we thank you oh Lord"- FGCL dining hall prayer.

A colleague once told me, I never used to say thank you as a child so my mum will take away anything given to me till I said "Thank you". Her mum wanted her to learn the importance of being thankful after a gift. If you are not thankful, things can be taking away from you.

I did a couple of aptitude tests before passing out (NYSC); I didn't pass the first two while the only one I passed was dragging.

After passing out, I stayed home for a couple of weeks then I started crying.

"You are getting aptitude test invites indicating you met a certain criteria. All you have to do now is study hard and pass" my eldest brother said.
I was lamenting that the tests were too hard and co... That's a story for another post... I finally got a job and everything was going smoothly during the training, I was getting home at 7- 8.30pm at most. Then the real work began, and then we were preparing for a crucial assignment, sacrificing the Saturday after sanitation, then working late for 3 days. I started lamenting. The day I got home at some minutes to eleven, I was too sad to complain but I updated my
‎​Personal Message (PM) on bb. The next day while taking my bath, this post came to me be thankful. On my way to work, I updated my PM - " there's always something to be thankful about: life, family, friends, good health, wealth, food, shelter, clothes, work, companionship...the list is endless. BE THANKFUL"

I remembered my Facebook status some years back. It was something about being thankful. I know a lot of people going through stress, some praying, others complaining. If you can read this blog, know that you have access to internet. To some, internet is a necessity, luxury, why to some, they don't know what it is and they might never find out what internet is in the next 50 years.

I know it is hard to convince someone to be thankful,

Our Imam usually thank God that we woke up in the morning, we were able to lift our hand, move our legs, open our eyes, open our mouth and words came out of it and so on.
Where are the people you went to school with, be it Primary, Secondary or Tertiary institution. Some are dead , some are doing very well and some are not in a good condition. No matter how bad you are doing now, someone else is doing better, while someone else is worse off. 
When you woke up this morning and went to the bathroom, was there water? If no, did you have water stored somewhere or did you go out to buy water?. If you went out to buy water, were you able to pay for the bucket or “baff” of water? Was the water you bought clean?
Somewhere in Lagos, some people do not have access to clean water, they usually buy water. Somewhere in Nigeria, some children went to take their bath in the river, eased themselves in the same river, washed clothes in the same river and finally fetched water from the river for cooking and drinking purposes. 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people(UNICEF/WHO. 2008. Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: Special Focus on Sanitation.) and 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease (World Health Organization. 2008. Safer Water, Better Health: Costs, benefits, and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health.)  Are you still complaining? Be grateful and thankful!


When you are ready to leave your house, do you walk, drive or hop on public transport? It doesn’t matter if your car is a bank loan acquired car o- for a bank to give you a loan, I want to believe to your 5Cs  are  on point. If you have to take public transport- Marwa, Danfo, BRT, Moluwe…… I know people who trek from Ahmaddiya (Lagos Abeokuta expressway) to Abattoir – and no, she’s not trying to lose weight, she can’t afford the luxury of boarding a bus. I remember the day I was N10 short of my transport fare, I had to walk for a while...( I usually walk fast o), I walked for about 30minutes.  If you can board a bus that the cash in your wallet can pay for, be thankful, some have wallets and no money, some have money and wallet, while some have no wallet and no money.


Have you checked your wardrobe or closet lately? Do you have clothes for a week? I mean wearable clothes? There are people without clothes…. Be thankful!
There are so many things to be thankful for… I don’t wanna bore you with the long list of things you should be thankful for...however I cant fail to mention FOOD.
Some of us have food time-tables, some get asked what they will like to eat, some have an idea of what they will cook  when they get home, some don’t know but their store and fridge is well stocked. There’s someone somewhere who has not eaten in the past hour or even days, the person is not lazy, the person might and might not have a family, he doesn’t know when next he will be able to afford food- N10 pure  water, N5 biscuit, N25 cone of Garri…. Be thankful!
For the gift of family, friends, water, food, shelter, good health, money, sight, ear, taste…. ASANTE

Yesterday is past, Today is the present that will be written in tomorrow’s history  as past, you have the ability to do something positive today…..


 Thanks Ms. Amy for acting as my editor

Comments

  1. Nice article. Saw the link on twitter

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  2. Nice! Ʊ can go places with ur articles. Waiting for the next one *wink*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope so. Guess you have plenty to read now *wink*

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  3. This is au great writers start! U re on the runway to greatness my dear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am working towards becoming a good writer.. Not there yet but i am not giving up

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  4. bilques... Nimekumiss tu sana. Loving the stuff, kenyan twist here n there n talent everywhere...
    This post just spoke to me... It comes at a time i had forgoten to say asante to so many things. Asante to your blog.
    Mapemzi tele

    Naomi Kamau

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    1. Sorry, my reply button got fixed some weeks ago...

      Sometimes we forget however we need to remain thankful for all we have, it might be little but there are alot of people that have nothing

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  5. Hmmmm. Not even one person alive have a reason not to be thankful. Very good reminder dear.

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    Replies
    1. True my sister, being alive is enough reason to be thankful

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