POETRY (#1 Co-authored poems for World Poetry Day)

I.

Ink

flowing

on a page

slithers with ease

on a smooth surface

Paper and pen in sync

executing perfect twists

Making this turn, and then that one

bearing message for all and sundry

wielding words on an errand, poetry!

II.

Toddling voice sweep through the hurricane

In society of shut-eyes drowned in gradual spate

Witness of swift, shivering waves toss to and fro

Feet slack in mud of doubtful faith row

Tempests, shadows, frailties, all lost in hopeless souls

Life wounds quickly heal

The dumb now sings

Street now palace

Abandoned have fame harassed

Oppression in pockets of the weak

When ink flows in a non-stop streak

III.

Like a tree with many branches

You touch men with your verses

To some, it's pure lashes

Others receive and change their courses

...You are poetry

the voice crying from the wilderness

Like the river with more than one wing

You flow into the heart of every being

To some, you're fresh like the morning spring

Others hear but refuse to go with what you bring

...You are poetry,

the voice crying from the wilderness

IV.

'Tis virgin wine. Wash your throat with little sips

Let it lull your mind to a lucid sleep

Lie down on this slate. My words paint lurid dreams

Let our minds hug in this word-filled realm

Where creative words take form is where you lie

At the soul of craft and every riddle

On this plain is where love lives and dies

In here, fantasy grows real and fickle

To the lonely soul, 'tis a friend so longed

Its poetry, the soul of the sweetest song

the first stanza of ten lines  

CO-AUTHORS from WRR College of Poetry
This poem was co-authored by Sam de Poet, Emmanuel Emperortee Theophilus, Oku-Ola Paul Abiola and Modestus Nkem Okennwa)

A STROLL WITH TIM HARRIS (For World Down Syndrome Day)

"Dad they think she has Down Syndrome. 'He smiled genuinely as his eyes welled up with tears.' That's okay. We love her." ~Kelle Hampton

(Image Credit: People.com)

Tim's place is tagged the world's friendliest restaurant, and on the menu? Breakfast, lunch... and hugs! Yes, hugs!

Tim's place and the success of Tim Harris is a sharp contradiction with his condition--Down Syndrome--which sets people up for a sad, sorry, unproductive life, but Tim has turned that 'obstacle' into a spring board, leaping himself into the life of his dreams. Apart from being a restaurateur, Tim is also an athlete who competes in the special Olympics--trust me, he's got more gold medals than Usain bolt and Michael Phelps!

I'm doing this stroll with Tim, not just to inspire people with down syndrome and disabilities around the world, but also to inspire the able people who are living in depression and misery; blaming all their woes on the government; and doing nothing about their dreams. Tim shared his story with me, and also gave me an insight into the secret recipe for running the world's friendliest restaurant. Here's my stroll with Tim;

A STROLL WITH RANDY TARAN (For International Day of Happiness)

"My grandfather once told me; 'the soul of business is not making money but making people happy" ~ Aliko Dangote

It's what we are all looking for. It's the reason we work extra hours to make extra cash to buy that extra gadget or dress; it's the reason we want to loose weight, travel to see the beautiful places in another state; happy, happy, happy is what we all want to be. Happiness drives us all. But how sustainable is our pursuit of happiness?

This is question Randy sought to answer when she started a personal research into happiness which eventually led to; an award winning Documentary and Project Happiness a non profit organization that empowers youth to create greater happiness in their lives and in the world.

She's also the co author, with Maria Lineger, of the Project Happiness Handbook that talks about how to make the best use of Positive psychology, neuroscience and mindfulness. In course of our stroll we talked about what makes her happy, sustainable happiness, her work with Project Happiness, and lots more. Here's my stroll with Randy;

A STROLL WITH TAMSIN WOLLEY-BARKER (For World Wildlife Day)

"If we teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love" ~ Steve Irwin

I'm yet to find anyone who is crazy about wildlife--and biology as a whole--as much as Dr Tamsin. She writes about it, dreams about it, falls in love with it, and learns from it everyday.

She is an evolutionary biologist, writer, sustainability expert, and passionate biomimic in the Biomimicry 3.8 Professional program. She blogs about biomimicry on BioInspired Ink and The Biomimicry Manual, and is currently working on a book about organizational transformation inspired by nature.

This is the first World Wildlife Day, so we talked extensively about Nature, and wildlife in particular. How much have we cared for wildlife? Are we even supposed to care for wildlife? These and many more questions were asked, which were matched by her very intelligent answers. She also talked about what draws her so much to nature and biomimicry. Here's my stroll with Dr Tamsin;

THE ROLE AND BENEFITS OF MOTHER LANGUAGES (For International Mother Language Day)

Guest Writer: Adegbite Adebimpe

Image Credit: all-images

There are many definitions of a Mother Language, otherwise referred to as 'Mother Tongue', but a simple one is “the local language of one’s local or otherwise, indigenous environment”.

Mother Language does not come into question but for the classification of language into other categories such as Second Language (reason because, save for few exceptions, Mother Language is always the first language), Foreign Language etc. Well, languages fall into different categories not because the languages determine their ‘fate’ but because other factors (basically non-linguistic) influence the position and relevance of each language. These factors include: quest for socio-economic relevance, technological progress, and religion, amongst others. It should be noted that language, on a broad note, gives relevance to every individual in terms of status and pedigree. The importance of language can therefore be examined from the perspectives of how it enhances the global status of an individual, or how it aids the optimum comprehension of other languages that enhance such status. All languages, however, preserve the culture, norms and integrity of its original and native users or owners.

SHADES OF JUSTICE (Court Weekly)

Image Credit: atlanteanconspiracy

Her name is Faiza; she is a Muslim whose life is under threat. She is fleeing her hometown crying for justice, and wondering why the world is the way it is- unjust.

He is a Christian who has been taught that the Muslims have enslaved and dealt unjustly with them because of the ‘tolerance’ of Christianity. They have been taken for fools but no more. They must fight; take back the land. There is only one way to do that- kill.

Her name is Aisha and she is a prisoner, taken from her friends and family, a casualty in the on-going war of beliefs between the government and a sect of extremists. He is a child-soldier, a prisoner, held against his will and forced to partake in the war.

A STROLL WITH ALEXANDER ARGUELLES (For International Mother Language Day)

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." ~Nelson Mandela

There are so many controversies about the actual number of languages Prof Alexander can speak. Some say 20, others say 40; but from research through You tube videos and other documents online, we can say he speaks and writes in at least two dozen languages.

Now, if you're like me, who is finding it difficult to learn a second or third language, then you'll really appreciate the achievements of Prof Alexander.

He is one of the world's foremost polyglots and has dedicated most of his life to learning as many languages as he can in a very systematic and scholarly fashion. In course of our stroll we talked about language and culture; his language learning skills; and he ‘kind of’ cleared up the controversy on the actual number of languages he can speak--I say kind of because, he's a man of many words and sometimes it's easy for one to lose count while having a conversation with him, but you can find out for yourself, here's our stroll.

BIRTHING A JUST SOCIETY (For World Day of Social Justice)

 Guest Writer: Toromade Samson

image Credit: pakedu.net

Let’s play a game. I can’t promise it will be fun, but I can promise it is a game. Call your 10-year-old sibling, ask him/her to mention three memorable, acknowledged days in the world. I just called mine (who is actually 12), and he mentioned "Easter, Valentine’s Day and Nigeria’s Independence Day". Christmas is conspicuously absent from his list and I have no idea why Christmas won’t make a 12-year-old’s top list of 'memorable days'. I know it’d make the first three in mine. But I think if I allowed him more than three slots, he’d reach number one hundred without including  World Day of Social Justice.

The first time I heard about social justice was a month ago, and it rang as much bell to me as a deaf person at a rackety Eminem concert. And even though you’d like to question why a deaf person would go to a musical concert, it’s not the focus of this article. A day of nail-biting and furious googling later, I became well-equipped to write an article about it. So, here, I’m going to claim the intellectual high ground and ask you, dear reader, how much do you know about social justice?

A STROLL WITH JESSICA MINHAS (For World Day of Social Justice)

"In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up in a thousand fold in the future." ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

(Image Credit: Jessica Minhas)

Jessica grew up in an environment no parent will wish for their child. One filled with addiction, racism, and curse words, and these in turn had so much negative effect on her mind that at a point she even began to think she was black--no thanks to how Grand Pa treated her. Now all this can set-up a child for a sad, depressed, inferiority complex-filled adulthood right? Well, that's the twist in today's story. Just as gold passes through the heat of the mine to become pure, Jess grew above the limitations of her childhood into an adulthood filled with hope, love, and beauty.

Jessica is a speaker, activist, TV Host and producer specializing on culture and media's impact on women. Her work has taken her around the globe exploring issues such as human trafficking, child labour, medical tourism, youth advocacy, and much more.

Also former Miss Florida USA and 4th Runner-up for Miss USA in 2003; Jessica told me about her passion for volunteering and fighting for justice; and also explained how she grew from the very many ugly things said to her as a child to winning beauty pageants. Here's my stroll with Jess;

A STROLL WITH OWEN BENNETT JONES (For World Radio Day)

"TV gives everyone an image, but radio gives birth to a million images in a million brains." ~ Peggy Nooma

When I was 10, I skipped lunch many times and trekked back home from school for two full terms to save up my transport--and to kids out there please don't try this (haha). At the end of the second term I realized my dream. I had saved up seven hundred Naira which I needed to purchase my most desired toy; a 7-band world receiver radio. Why did I love a radio? I don't know, I just loved it, and I was willing to pay the price to get it--and I did.

On the night my dream came true; I shut my room door and carefully opened the carton. After twisting both knobs back and forth for a while, I finally caught a shortwave signal and guess whose voice I heard? Mr Owen Bennett Jones' presenting news hour on the BBC World Service. I was blown away by his diction and the music behind his words. I fell asleep that night listening to Owen, and that became a habit I carried on all through my days in secondary school.

For those who don't know him, Mr. Owen Bennett-Jones is a freelance British journalist and one of the hosts of News hour on BBC World Service. A graduate of the London School of Economics; he won the Sony Radio Gold Award in the news journalist of the year category in 2008, and the 'Commonwealth Journalist of the year' in 2009. Mr Owen's new book 'Target Britain' is a fiction book set amid the war on terror, and his experience from being a former BBC correspondent in various countries has shaped his career and made him an authority in discussing issues relating to the middle east and other global stories.

We had a stroll and we talked about the radio, his career, the future of Radio in this evolving 'social media age' and lots more. This is a special stroll not just because it's my first stroll in 2014, but also because I'm strolling with Journalism experience as old as me. Mr Owen started broadcasting for the BBC in the early 90s, around the same time I was born. So I consider it a rare privilege to have this conversation with him. Walk with us.

FIGHTING THE MONSTER: A Personal Recount (For World Cancer Day)

Guest Writer: Adeola Opeyemi 

Image Credit: worldcancerday.org

The Myth

Everyone I know told me I was too young to have breast cancer. It was probably the reason why when I was told I had Ductal Carcinoma in Situ; a stage-zero non-invasive cancer, I looked straight into my doctor’s eyes and told him with all seriousness, that he must be mistaken.

“I am twenty-two...” I stated

“And?” my doctor asked

“I’m too young to have breast cancer or anything remotely close to it. And definitely not something with a strange name. You must be mistaken. Can you run the test again?...”

Everyone I know was wrong and there it was; the inception of a life threatening disease.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? (#Observe: For World Cancer Day)

Today is World Cancer Day. World Cancer Day is a global observance through which we extend people’s awareness of cancer and how to prevent, detect or treat it. This observance is held on 4th of February, each year.

Cancer awareness has become exceedingly important in the 21st century. While there have been numerous advancements in the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer—factors that should contribute to the decline of the disease—the number of new cancer cases diagnosed each year has globally continued to increase. There were 8.1 million new cases diagnosed in 1990, 10 million in 2000, and some 12.4 million in 2008. The number of annual deaths worldwide from cancer has also increased—from 5.2 million people in 1990 to 7.6 million people in 2008. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if the incidence of cancer continues to grow at the reported rate, the number of deaths worldwide from cancer will increase to more than 13.1 million by 2030. However, also according to WHO, as many as 40 percent of deaths from cancer are preventable.

As a result, raising awareness of cancer prevention has become a prominent goal of many cancer and health organizations around the world, and World Cancer Day has come to represent an annual reaffirmation of the importance of this goal.

In honour of this observance, here are the things you can do;

- CALL/ VISIT: Call at the nearest health centre or those on medical missions for your health status. There, interact (if possible) with the cancer patients, and make them aware of the structures in place for their treatment, and hope for a future where cancer is no longer a life-threatening disease.

A STROLL WITH ASSED BAIG (For International Migrants Day)

“There are 232 million people living outside their country of birth, including myself” ~Ban Ki-moon.

News of the drowning of over 300 migrants—including women and children— in the Lampedusa boat tragedy sent ripples around the world. It brought to our attention the deadly risks many of us take to survive. Sometimes these migrations are voluntarily and other times compulsory—no thanks to wars, famine, poverty, etc. But despite these obvious factors, what exactly is making people move? 

This is the question Anadolu Agency wanted answers to, that’s why they commissioned an investigation into how Libyan smugglers transport undocumented migrants from North Africa into Europe via Italy. The investigative journalist on this case; my guest, Assed Baig; went on this risky voyage—disguised as a migrant—in search for answers, and his findings were really shocking. 

For International Migration Day Mr. Assed strolled with me and told me about what he discovered during this investigation; what is causing the migration problem; and how we can provide a solution. Here’s my exclusive interview with Assed:

MANHOOD: BEYOND PENIS ENVY (Featured in Court Weekly)

(Image credit: stock-illustration)

Isn't youth and boyhood a memory to keep like a genteel does his manners, and manhood an endless train whose every carriage one must appear in, even if one may never get to come off? Yet with the remorsefulness of one who is in the habit of boiling water to dryness, the transition to manhood hasn't been given the big gun, and most times, a male child--outside the few and sometimes imposing influence of a man-figure while he was growing--is left to do his growing personally. To put it more acutely; it's lonely growing into a man. And the journey goes way back; from around those times in your 'primaries' when you, pined over the pretty little girl whose sit is far right of the classroom; avoiding and picking little fights with her was the only way you know how to express your puerile crave. Then that exact morning in your teen when you woke up just to find--for the first time--your boxers wet with semen, clinging annoyingly to your crotch. Yet, no one comprehends how you went through it all, or perhaps, they did comprehend but none of it mattered--how alone, you nursed the frustrations of your early infatuations and swabbed your first ejaculation dry. But sadly, now that you are a man, these things don't qualify as a fond memory for you.

A STROLL WITH BARRY FINLAY (For International Mountain Day)

          “Every mountain top is within reach if you keep on climbing” ~Barry Finlay

You really don’t know what it feels like to be 'on top of the world' until you get to the summit of a mountain. Okay I’ve not gotten to the summit of any mountain—though I’ve climbed a few hills—but I know someone who has; meet my guest, Mr. Barry Finlay.

After getting to the top of his career as an accountant working with the Canadian government, Mr. Barry retired in 2004; and one day in 2009 he got up from his couch and decided to get to the top of the African continent; conquering the great Kilimanjaro with his son Chris. Apart from being an accountant Mr. Barry is also a wood sculptor, philanthropist, author, motivational speaker, and recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal.

In course of our stroll, we discussed about his Kilimanjaro expedition; his future plans on conquering other summits; and even a bit about the global economic crisis and the way out. This is a very special stroll because, it’s the first time I’m strolling on a guest’s birthday, so I’d like to wish Mr. Barry a big happy birthday, and many more years of fruitfulness. Climb along with us, here’s my stroll with Barry:

THINKING MANDELA (Court Weekly)

(Image Credit: businessinsider)

When the news of Mandela’s death reached me, my first thought about it was, ‘why do good people die?’ It is possible there are similar reactions all over the world. Mandela may be old, at 95, but just like good people who have sacrificed their lives for the good of Mankind, no matter the age which they have attained, no matter how long they have lived, we want them to live evermore. Why is this so? The answer is not far-fetched. They are icons we can look up to, a symbol of encouragement to learn to do good, give without reserve, sacrifice through sweat and blood and that selflessly for the good of humanity. Simply having them with us helps know we can do better than they did, and we can give our lives and yield far more soul-reaching results than they got. And so, I am thinking about humanity- myself and everyone who makes it up. I am thinking about sacrifice and love, selfless goals, compassion, the willingness to be an agent of change. I am thinking much more than this. I am thinking life and death, the entrance and the exit of a man as he comes in to the stage of life, does what he will and exit it. I am thinking Mandela.

FATHER, IS IT TIME? (Court Weekly)

(Image Credit: thefamouspeople)

Lend me a seat
Woven with time and its processes
As I weave these words
Spoken with deep reverence

SLAVERY IN 5D (For International Day for the Abolition of Slavery)

Guest Writer: Mary Ajayi

(Image Credit: globalmarch

'Slavery' is one word that has transcended time, in words and actions; it is as common today as it was years ago, howbeit in different ways. In time past, we had human trafficking as the most common form of slavery, followed by domestic slavery but in this age and time, we've got different variants, too numerous to mention. societal, mental, emotional, financial etc.are the variants of slavery we now have. However, the focus of this observance breaks it all down and selects issues which are deeply woven into the fabric of humanity- not that the aforementioned are not. It just helps us see things better from five dimensions. I hope with this cases (find below), you'd see slavery with new eyes, and help to eradicate it.

WHAT IF IT'S THE WAY WE LOVE? (For World AIDS Day)

Guest Writer: Senator Ihenyen

(Image Credit: baspta.com)

What if this scourge

This pandemic, this plague

Wiping out our race

Without a face

Was just a thing?

HOW I OBSERVED WORLD AIDS DAY 2013

By: Stephen Iyaji

(Image Credit: Benue Youth and Cultural Carnival)

The walk started from the Benue State Government house with the "Salvation band" in front leading the walk, and the beautiful "Miss Benue" and "Miss Carnival 2012" holding the "WORLD AIDS DAY 2013" banner with the rest the youths behind.