It has been a while. I don’t even want to start with the busy gist, LOL. Did I just type ‘LOL'? My bad! The truth is aside being busy, the network connection in my location has been pretty bad, plus, the tight schedules in between didn't even give me enough spare time to post something. I love being consistent but then, ohh....well, no excuse. Someone accused me of not writing in a while and went further to say it’s me being selfish with a gift. I'll pretend I totally know what that means.
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I’ll try my best to at least keep up with this space. Also, my views increased even without posting anything. It’s weird but I appreciate your unwavering support.
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It’s thursday and thursdays come with the #throwbackthursday hashtag. I won’t throw back a picture but a memory😁.
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Quite a number of people have accused me of keeping a serious face seven out of ten times. I won’t activate my defense mechanism 'cause I know it’s not absolutely true. Although, I would never be caught smiling sheepishly, I rather keep a cool face. Well, a cool facial expression is my default look when I’m not saying anything😉. Truth be told, I really do laugh hard and loud (when I'm around my Gs) but some people read meanings to that and then, I like public composure.😉 One situation made me turn that part of me down a notch.
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I left Lagos for the first time to school in Kwara and adapting to a new environment I felt was dominated by Muslims was a little tough for me. Let me digress, I missed wearing my sleeveless tops and gowns ‘cause it used to be my most comfortable outfit. You know, more than half of the year is usually hot, what would I be doing with sleeves?? 😑😑. Back to my story. I resumed for my remedial programme and met girls, ladies and women with veils basically called “hijab" in the school viccinity. We were to register for the temporary I.D cards during the first week, you should trust students with the rush. Some people were doing what we popularly refer to as “shunting". They went straight to the front of the queue without verbal permission or any gesture portraying that. Mehn!! The struggle was real. While we ‘JJC’ kept murmuring about the unfair act to no avail, there came an Alhaja (I'm not certain if she has been to Mecca but the word “Alhaja” is often times used in Kwara as a description for fully dressed “Muslim hijabian sisters”) to the rescue. Her long hijab swept the floor as she walked up to the front of the queue to address the situation aggressively. Some people supported the motion, others raised their voices to shun her. As she headed back to join the crew, a male student unknowingly stepped on the helm of her hijab. Not only did it get torn, she also tripped off to the ground and fell on another guy. All she did was shout “subanallah" because she regarded it as haram (sin). Another male student rushed immediately to where she was laying quite helpless. I could observe she was bruised on her chin. The male student stretched forth his hands to help her back to her feet but she kept on shouting “subanallah" and refused his help. I did burst into a very loud laughter. It was really a funny situation because of her size. I felt she needed the gentleman's help, at the same time, I felt pity for the young boy she was laying on. After three to four minutes, two other sisters came to help her out, but they still requested for help from the gentleman. He came to their aid. I laughed uncontrollably as it was the first time I witnessed a scenario like that. Some other Muslim sisters accused me of mockery which was not the case. I only found it weird that she felt it was a sin to have contact with the opposite gender who isn’t her husband and won’t receive help from someone who had the intention of getting her on her feet. Her expression and drama made it seem like it was more than what I narrated.
It took time for me to understand that beliefs differ but I was seen as insensitive which was not the case. It was pretty not cool for her to think she was committing a sin but didn’t want help to get out of the sin because she had her mind structured towards a perception. She still ended up getting the help from what she portrayed as haram (sin). I had to learn to control my laughter so as not to be seen as insensitive from that day even though I still think of how funny the situation was.
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The point is she ignored the message and focused on what I'd rather tag as irrelevant. She needed help, refused help from a genuine source but continued wailing. No wonder Chimamanda said “pay attention to context but never disregard intent.” I can liken the situation to Falz' ‘this is Nigeria’ video. Some people have criticized him on girls using hijab to dance “shaku shaku” but have not acknowledged he was raising a voice about the happenings in Nigeria. We have ignored the message and embraced little details as irrelevant as that. He passed a message and also, made a statement stating he had no intention of making a mockery of Islam. Some others still want to sue him. Oh well, this is Nigeria!😑
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I didn't forget the features I said I'll be including, I really need to create enough time for that.
I had to type this during the early hours of the day and wait for my network connection to be good enough before I post. Sorry for starving you guys. Do have a wonderful thursday and beautiful June!
Anne, XO.
