Wearing Sam’s Clothes
I’ve been wearing Sam’s clothes during the day! Sam is my younger son. He had the business for 3 years in 1996-1998, but this was 25 years ago! The pants still fit me well; so does the shirt.
He left me pants that I wear around the house. He also gave me a wonderful shirt with long sleeves, button-down-the-front style. It’s a little warm now for the weather we are having, but I’ll wear it again when it’s cooler.
Sam was a stickler for excellent fabrics. I know he sometimes bought things from Italy. I wonder if he paid too much and then did not charge enough for the finished goods.
I know I did that in my early days at Trinity House!
Guilty or not Guilty?
How PSN Africa is addressing the realities of postpartum depression in Lagos State
Two people involved in two different groups help to explain the real benefit brought by their organizations.
The writers describe their organizations. One is called Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative, or PRAI. Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, a lawyer and founder, “offering this help was at the heart of their work.” He is providing pro bono legal and rehabilitation services for inmates and offered to help the woman in distress.
The other organization, Postpartum Support Network Africa, PSN Africa, was also deeply interested. Onyedikachi Ekwerike, a Clinical Psychologist and founder, knew this was a severe case of Postpartum Depression (PPD), “something he has dealt with before, inspiring him to found PSN Africa.”
The two organizations went to work on this issue. PSN Africa which took the bigger role held the lead. But this is only after years of work on the issue.
Post-partum depression is fairly well known in our society. In Nigeria, it is almost completely ignored. So the two began reaching out to others in the community.
One of the barriers was their access to medical personnel. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that “19.8% of women experience postpartum depression in developing countries, with manifestations differing in severity.”
But these were a new doctor in their field, and a new lawyer. The founder of one of the organizations fortunately had luck with an introduction to Dr. Kunle Oni, the head of a general hospital.
Dr. Oni introduced them to others, and this led to a more general acceptance of the condition. Today there are clinics in many hospitals in Lagos. The medical professionals at these clinics learn to ask a women, “How are you doing today?” and more specifically, “What symptoms are you having?”
Letting other people with shared vision take the lead is another reason they succeeded. “PSN is an organisation driven by the people and my role is just facilitating an environment where people can work together and make progress on our goals,” Ekwerike said.
Twitter Shut Down?
Last week’s access to the social media site Twitter was banned. The ban was due to “the persistent use of the platform for activities. . . capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence,” the government said.
What?
Twitter made the statement after it deleted President Buhari’s statement that he was unhappy with the social media site. He had used it to blame the people of the South-East for activities detrimental to the government.
After his statement, he said he was unhappy with the site overall. It would be banned, he said. The site was therefore suspended overall in Nigeria, with just a few sites able to carry it.
“Twitter in Nigeria remained sporadic this weekend, after the government suspended the social media platform indefinitely for deleting a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, which the social media platform said was in violation of its rules.”
The incident shows us a new picture of Twitter. This was demonstrated last year during the #EndSARS” episode. The government did nothing, but it remained unhappy with Twitter. The widespread #EndSARS shows late last year were part of the practice. The government blamed it “for an end to police brutality.”
Other government sites were also called to question. Nigerians used it to “complain publicly when a road needed repair or a health clinic wasn’t opening on time.” It made efforts more open and more accessible. But the government disagreed.
The government wasn’t happy about these efforts. As of yesterday, Twitter was still banned in the country.
The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, along with diplomats from several other nations, have denounced the suspension of Twitter in the West African nation, saying the path to a more secure Nigeria lies in more, not less, communication.
The Anglican Bishop in Owerri, Most Reverend Dr. David Onuoha, has spoken out on the grievances suffered by the Igbo people in his province and indeed throughout Igbo land. He said, “What we have witnessed in the past couple of weeks leaves one no choice but to conclude that the threat of extermination of Igbos by the people with access to instruments of coercion is real.”
He continued, saying that killing of Igbo people has reached such a point that, “we really need to stop, reflect and quickly find a way to bring back order.” Good advice; I hope it is not too late!
