I was in church the other day while a Deacon was making the announcements. It was a particularly joyous moment as he announced the births of several babies. ‘Hallelujahs and Praise the Lords’ rent the air, you know the birth of a baby is always a joyous moment. When he announced that a couple was blessed with twins, the whole place became charged with electricity and everyone was in frenzy. The joy on the faces of the congregants was a sight to behold. Those who knew the father of the twins and all those around him, rushed to hug him and shake his hands. It was obvious that he was the man of the moment. In that moment, all the other new babies paled in significance.
Come Testimony time, only Papa Ejima came out to testify and there was another round of shouting hallelujahs and backslapping. He moved like an achiever, he spoke like one and beamed like one.
Somehow, I found myself thinking back to Mary Slessor’s time in Southern Nigeria when twins were hated and killed. Hapless mothers had their twin babies snatched from their bosoms and killed because for some reason, twins were considered evil. No man would have dared share such a ‘taboo’ testimony at that time.
However, Change happened. It was not easy and didn’t come cheap but today, many couples desire to have twins and even triplets. People actually ‘sow a seed’ for multiple births, whether they have the means or not. Everyone believes twins are special and attract special blessings from God. People randomly ‘dash’ twins all manner of gifts and it is not uncommon to hear a proud Iya Ibeji confess that she has never lacked anything since she had the twins.
How about the dominant left hand? Apart from a few ‘recalcitrant’ cultures, the once reviled and shunned leftie is now considered special and genius.
Time was when nobody would accept something offered with the left hand, because it was considered disrespectful and it believed that it was used to clean up in the toilet and other silly notions. People with a dominant left hand were considered sinister and dodgy.
I am a Southpaw and I have had my fair share of jeers and condemnation for using my left hand to eat and write but today, people routinely say they are sure I am brilliant just because I am a ‘lefty’.
We are told most American presidents are Southpaws as well as hundreds of scientists, musicians, artistes and other geniuses. Although some Nigerians still cling to this notion of ‘right good and left bad’, the rest of the world knows and recognises that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a dominant left hand.
Modernity is the quality of being current or of the present.
Nigeria too will get there.
This is why I don’t give up. I believe that someday, men and women will be judged on the quality of their ideas and their contributions to the world and not their Instruments. I believe that one day; a woman won’t be blamed for ‘failure’ to give her husband children especially males. She won’t be asked ‘what did you do or say to anger him’, when her husband is physically abusive and she won’t be made to kneel down and apologize for making him angry enough to strike her. She won’t be shamed and asked what she was wearing or what took her to his room, is she is raped by some scumbag.
One day, most if not all of the burdens imposed on women by religion and tradition, abi culture will be removed by modernity. No matter how long it is resisted, it must come to Nigeria too. We will catch up with the rest of the world in this and many other issues. We will hopefully let go of those harmful, retrogressive, archaic ideas that serve to keep us perpetually as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as consumers and never producers, as importers but not exporters.
The only thing we seem to have in abundance which we export is Religion, a different brand from the one brought down by the people we now export to. Sadly, it still does not help us because it has only served to make us lazy dreamers.
Still I hope, still I fight!
Change is indeed coming but it must begin with us.