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“He stared me at the face and said “Have you ever felt like having a fever for the last three months?” “No” I said. “Have you ever had chronic cough for the last three months?” “No sir”. “Do you have a girlfriend?” Nope”. He paused a bit and looked at me and said “I mean do you have a girlfriend?” “No sir” “Have you had sex for the last three months?”

Lately, I have been perplexed to some degree as regards my health status. I had just recovered from an illness and the doctor had told “Cyprian, you do not have to wait until you are hit below the belt before knowing the condition of your body system” He also added “regular body check up is a great way of preventing illness and as well as nipping those illness in the bud”

I was grateful to the doctor, Mr. Chima Nwokeji who did all he could to diagnosis the cause of my illness and as well prescribe drugs to purchase. At the end I was not surprise I had malaria fever. So I made a solemn promise to myself that I will always know the status of my health.

This time I had taken the pain to keep to the commitment I made to myself. I wanted to know my HIV/AIDS status. I have not run a test for that and there was no way I could know if I have contacted the virus. Prior to this moment of my life I had formed the habit of procrastination. On the 26^th of November 2012, the members of the St Vincent the Paul Charity group in my parish where I worship organized a one day free medical test. They had blood test, high blood pressure test, cancer test, and of course HIV/AIDS test. I did not take advantage of that day. I procrastinated.

On the 15^th of April 2013, the Lagos State commenced a local government project which seeks to improve the health of every citizenry starting from each local government. They were the Lagos State Aids Control Agency (LASACA). On that sunny afternoon I was walking past my environs. Just some kilometers away I saw a large crowd of people gathered around a well placed canopy. I was curious, I began to asked question. I later realized it was the members of the LASACA.

So, I dragged my feet reluctantly toward this group of people. I saw young men walking away with packs of condoms in their hands. I saw a particular young man smiling as we fumbled to put these packs of condoms in his bag. I saw young girls as well as old ladies, going home with female condoms. I was literally dumbfounded. “Is it a condom festival” I said jokingly to myself. “Anyway let me check” I concluded.

As I walked close a young man was just leaving a seat. Then I sat back on that seat. I met of the LASACA’s workers –Mr Olumide. “Good afternoon sir” I greeted. “Good afternoon” he retorted. I explained to him that I got to know they had a free HIV test. He concurred and began with the process. Before He began the test I was asked to indicate I have agreed to be tested upon by filling in some form and signing.

He stared me at the face and said “Have you ever felt like having a fever for the last three months?” “No” I said. “Have you ever had chronic cough for the last three months?” “No sir”. “Do you have a girlfriend?” Nope”. He paused a bit and looked at me and said “I mean do you have a girlfriend?” “No sir” “Have you had sex for the last three months?” No sir. After filling up his papers, he ran the test. He took some sample of my blood by piercing my thumb with a medical pin. I was bleeding then I put my thumb dripping with blood on a white paper that looked like the litmus paper. He then stooped for some minutes.

I was really worried “would I be positive or negative?” My heart was beating hard and fast. I was tensed up as I wanted to know the out come of the test. Then He raised his eye balls and said to me “Cyprian your result shows that you are……..HIV negative. Which mean you are free from the virus and you are in sound health” Then he began to tutor me. He made realize that there are diverse ways one can contact the HIV virus besides sex. He said “HIV can be contacted by using another infected person’s toothbrush, by using sharp objects that have been infected with the virus. He added that I could also contact the virus by shaving, and having my hair cut.

As we discussed to some length, I made a move to leave as I got up. He then say “One more thing. Have some free packs of condoms”. I turned to him and said “I don’t want condoms” He called me back and began to tell me that abstinence is the only cure for AIDS. Well that did not bother me at all but my HIV satus actually took some blood out of me. Thanks to God. I am HIV negative. I can still live the rest of my life without the fear of death as long as I prevent the virus.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Chinua Achebe Speaks"

“While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.”
― Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah

“If you don't like someone's story, write your own.”
― Chinua Achebe

“Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.”
― Chinua Achebe

“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“To me, being an intellectual doesn't mean knowing about intellectual issues; it means taking pleasure in them.”
― Chinua Achebe

“We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb Onye ji onye n'ani ji onwe ya: "He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.”
― Chinua Achebe, The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays

“Charity . . . is the opium of the privileged.”
― Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah

“My weapon is literature”
― Chinua Achebe

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised. ”
― Chinua Achebe

“When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.”
― Chinua Achebe

“Nobody can teach me who I am.”
― Chinua Achebe

“People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.”
― Chinua Achebe

“There is no story that is not true.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“...when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.”
― Chinua Achebe, The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays

“A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“Then listen to me,' he said and cleared his throat. 'It's true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme. Is it right that you, Okonkwo, should bring your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. Your duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years. But if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you, they will all die in exile.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“Oh, the most important thing about myself is that my life has been full of changes. Therefore, when I observe the world, I don’t expect to see it just like I was seeing the fellow who lives in the next room. There is this complexity which seems to me to be part of the meaning of existence and everything we value.”
― Chinua Achebe

“Writers don't give prescriptions. They give headaches!”
― Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah

“Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.”
― Chinua Achebe, Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays

“When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“When Suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat left for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.”
― Chinua Achebe

“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.It was deeper and more intimate that the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“Do not despair. I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

“The impatient idealist says: 'Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.' But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.”
― Chinua Achebe, No Longer at Ease

“Women and music should not be dated.”
― Chinua Achebe, No Longer at Ease

“A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness”
― Chinua Achebe

“Writing has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world.”
― Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

“The triumph of the written word is often attained when the writer achieves union and trust with the reader, who then becomes ready to be drawn into unfamiliar territory, walking in borrowed literary shoes so to speak, toward a deeper understanding of self or society, or of foreign peoples, cultures, and situations.”
― Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

“...Nothing puzzles God”
― Chinua Achebe, Civil Peace

“People from different parts of the world can respond to the same story if it says something to them about their own history and their own experience.”
― Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

“Africa is people" may seem too simple and too obvious to some of us. But I have found in the course of my travels through the world that the most simple things can still give us a lot of trouble, even the brightest among us: this is particularly so in matters concerning Africa.”
― Chinua Achebe, The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays

“Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.”
― Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

“Those whose kernels were cracked by benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble.”
― Chinua Achebe

“In my definition I am a protest writer, with restraint.”
― Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

“A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing”
― Chinua Achebe

“Procrastination is a lazy man's apology.”
― Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah

“There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.”
― Chinua Achebe, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

“A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
-Chinua Achebe

The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience.
-Chinua Achebe

When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see.
-Chinua Achebe

The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.
-Chinua Achebe

A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.
-Chinua Achebe

The problem with leaderless uprisings taking over is that you don't always know what you get at the other end. If you are not careful you could replace a bad government with one much worse!
-Chinua Achebe

Nigera is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.
-Chinua Achebe

Art is man's constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.
Chinua Achebe

Democracy is not something you put away for ten years, and then in the 11th year you wake up and start practicing again. We have to begin to learn to rule ourselves again.
Chinua Achebe

Once a novel gets going and I know it is viable, I don't then worry about plot or themes. These things will come in almost automatically because the characters are now pulling the story.
Chinua Achebe

What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens - whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.
Chinua Achebe

I think back to the old people I knew when I was growing up, and they always seemed larger than life.
Chinua Achebe

I've had trouble now and again in Nigeria because I have spoken up about the mistreatment of factions in the country because of difference in religion. These are things we should put behind us.
Chinua Achebe

My parents were early converts to Christianity in my part of Nigeria. They were not just converts; my father was an evangelist, a religious teacher. He and my mother traveled for thirty-five years to different parts of Igboland, spreading the gospel.
Chinua Achebe

Welcome!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Great quotes on education

“I don’t want condoms”

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Chinua Achebe Speaks"