₦airaland Forum

Here is how people distort history.

Dora was a hard working Noble woman that fought tooth and nail as the Drug Czar.

But her ambition to become a Minister clouded her judgement and legacy a bit. She became a Minister of Mis-Information.

When she came out against Yar'Adua, Soyinka, Falana and others were far before her. It was then we learned she was the occasional cook for Yar'Adua family.

Please let us remember the lady as the best Drug Czar.

OFFICIAL336:
You are a Lazy yoot.

It was the Late Dora, Peace be upon her that started the fight.

You lazy mind made you ignore the role Ikemba played, before the people you mentioned started strolling in.

When the Northern phuls were after GEJ, it was the East that steadied the ship and GEJ rewards loyalty.

When the Yorubas helped to hand the govt over to Buhari through propaganda, their messiah abandoned them and filled his government with those loyal to the Caliphate.

Election is less than 9 months and he is romancing them again.

If Buhari is returned. PDP will definitely field a NW/SE ticket. The Northern cabals will rather hand over government to PDP than to a ball-less yoruba christian.

North is never loyal to anybody. But to the Caliphate and Islam.

Returning Buhari is the shortest route to handing an uninterrupted 16 years to the parasites.

Wise men from the East won't allow that.

But if the West jeopardize this. Then the SE/SS will make sure that SW never smell the Presidency in 2023.

We will rather vote in another almajiri. We have demographic spread to ensure this.

Unfortunately for the SW, Anambra bloc vote alone can cancel any advantage they can give to APC.

But luckily, Middle Belt is no longer on lock down for APC to deliver the master stroke.

Anyway, I don't argue with a hungry almajiri.

We shall meet at the polls in 2019.

If Buhari is returned, I will deactivate this handle.

In case you don't know.

Nigerians have resolved, #Back2Daura2019.

What I do not understand is, if you label and condemn these women, why are you crying loud when they marry younger or older men?

It does not make sense as the writer opioned.

Celebrate when we can invent, discover, imitate or copy one in Nigeria or Africa instead of burning cash in overinflated contacts.

They also come with foreign service agreement to make sure we pay for it forever.

Ladies Around Age 30 Have Hidden Gem For Mr. Nice Guy

Mr. Nice Guys and ladies in their 30s have hidden gems in common to share. Many people inadvertently missed out on them. Only the wise ones look deeper, cultivate and appreciate their real characters. Somehow, in their earlier days, the bad guys’ image is creepily appealing to young men and women until full maturity. Even then, some still fall as prey to bad guys.

When you hear grown ladies claim or tell their boyfriends that God would send another kind benefactor if he fails to meet all their demands, one needs to be suspicious of what god they are relying on. Those fortune tellers exploiting ladies have told them wrongly that Mr. Nice Guy has no choice but to bow to their commands. The more a lady gets from Mr. Nice Guy, the higher the percentage delivered untouched to their pastors, imams or juju men: before theirs.

There are special qualities ladies around the age of thirty years old possess that many people fail to discover. By that age, they have gone through some experiences in life and most are tired of fighting men but would rather settle down and enjoy men. They are educated or better informed, ready to contribute to their homes and become loyal to perceptive men: younger, older or may not mind being the second wife in a congenial environment.

Many of the Mr. Nice Guys that have been taken advantage of or treated badly complain as if the same injustice has never been meted out to some nice ladies. There are differences, some friends observed. In communities and cases where ladies are less successful, they may ride their way up on the coattail of kind gentlemen known as Mr. Nice Guys. Ladies are more perceptive in their choice of men since he is expected to bring home the bacon.

In their past relationships with Mr. Nice Guys that they may have dumped, left many of them with regrets for playing too hard to get. As they nurture above thirty, many start losing some confidence, realizing that those Mr. Bad Guys in their past life desire younger ladies. It makes them wiser but sometimes desperate. They envy, but are not jealous of their cohorts that have married while they remained single.

Fortunately, there are men out there that realize 30s hidden gem and change of ways as a savvy lady willing to kiss and make up with a matured and perceptive man. In the case of falling for a younger man, they may have to bring more to the table, not necessarily in terms of wealth but tolerance that will ameliorate their partner’s rambunctious character. They may need to polish him up to a more cultured standard. One of our friends, fine titi, married the “ugliest” kind man

The older men looking for a mature lady are quicker to realize their hidden gem. Some big city cultures frown at ladies that marry older men. What they do not realize is that at certain age, men are willing to keep even their daughters within the people they know and feel more comfortable with than leave their daughters to the abuse or “suffering and smiling” in the hands of some randy thugs. Other siblings may “pokenose” into their sister’s business.

Indeed, it is common within royal houses, not only in Africa but in Europe and Asia to marry within. Prince Charles married young Lady Diana and so was Pierre Trudeau, the former Prime Minister and the father of the present Prime Minister of Canada married Margaret Sinclair, 22 at the age of 52. The irony is, the same young men that never married their cohort, waited until they were ready to marry a younger lady. Some have used derogatory words to label such union, especially if the older man is rich. If he is poor, it could be out of love!

There are still good guys out there seeking ladies that will complement their life. While it is true that most young men wait longer these days than their parents, as their age mates get older, they later seek younger ladies to marry. But the main reason young men wait longer is to develop enough confidence so that they can carry the burden and responsibilities of a family. Posh or expensive wedding is not as weighty, as a reason for the average guys.

Young men and ladies delaying weddings because they want extravagant parties are not as common as the lavish ceremonies you see among politicians’ children. Most young people just want to settle into a happy home. The longer it takes to get into a happy home, the more desperate some of the ladies become. Many ladies have certain types of men they dream about but do compromise as they get older.

Unfortunately, as they become more desperate and seek guidance from pastors, imams and lastly juju men that would help them “land” that man, they are exploited and taken for a ride by the same fortune tellers that is supposed to help them. They make demands on these ladies. Their demands varies from pastors, imams to juju men. Just to regain confidence that is based on qualities that has never left them in the first place.

The saying that Mr. Nice Guy never lasts or always comes last because they are treated worse than the bad guys come from the false sense of security in many young ladies. By the time they lose the best guys they have ever met, it is too late. Whatever is behind their confidence: beauty, immaturity, age or class always seems to fade as they get older. They run to juju men to reclaim some of their lost confidence and glory that never left them, only suppressed.

One thing fortune tellers have in common is boosting the ego of the ladies. There is nothing wrong with boasting about substance mildly, not shadows. Promising them Mr. Nice Guys and taking all the credit without leaving any, for the effort of these ladies make them totally dependent on the commands of pastors and imams; especially juju men willing to exploit them. Today, it is becoming difficult to differentiate juju men from the men of God by their demands.

No one would expect any man of God to make demands that involve sacrifices and sacrileges. Through the efforts of these ladies, they may meet Mr. Nice Guy but their juju men would never give them the credit. They will take all the credit for providing Mr. Nice Guy. If anything goes wrong, they are ready to put the blame on the ladies for not following their instructions properly. They give her all the blame and take all the credit.

Indeed, if the ladies failed to snatch a husband by their late twenties, their attitudes change, becoming more desperate. Parents get worried wondering why she has not brought home that nice guy they had been expecting. It drives single ladies to employ juju men, pastors and imams in pursuit of that man that is responsible, mature and kind. As ladies attend more weddings of friends, they pray feverishly for their own time to come.

Once a mature lady gets her confidence back, she needs to work more on her relationship with her man than depend on outside influence that would hold her as hostage so that they could keep collecting tithes, sacrifice and sacrilege.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa

Obasanjo was one of the three former presidents from Tanzania and Cape Verde reflecting on Africa at JFK School of Government at Harvard. He did very well and got most people cracking up while discussing serious matters.

How the western world fooled OAU on regime change in Libya was the saddest. The repercussion of their cancerous militia is still felt in many African countries.

blank:
See how he used his hands to block his pockets so that someone will not quickly put hand and carry dollars.

Sis, nah money dey ime pocket as you think abi ime like you?

Schelube:
That's what happen when you over hype ur bf.Not knowing that ur roomie dey interested. But what happens to walking away rather than hitting him. Not all guys can tolerate such beating. Even if na you born am, your are a gf not his mum.

They exaggerate so much, it's all lies. Just to brag that are getting it morning, noon and night as if na food o!

Sey de same toto morning, noon and night nor dey taya man? In many cases the girl that wants to try it out just once to find out if it is true, gets more fing time than the custodian.

Another informative thread.

Nigeria is far from where it should be considering it's high take off after Independence and regional competition in education, industrial and housing estates.

Not to mention hope as a regional power. But to imply or label it a failed state is like talking from the back of the head.

No need to compare Nigeria here, that has been debunked by facts already.

But instead of running it down so much that our youths are running from frying pan to fire instead of fighting back at home; is a deservice to our country and the youths fleeing.

Instead of encouraging Igbo and Hausa to be so open minded in the choice of beauty anywhere in Nigeria, they have turned it into e war.

This Author says It is the Elders that are LAZY

.Filthy Rich Oldies Party & Celebrate Mace Without Fear Of Attack
When we were growing up it was a common wish that our children would do better and become more prosperous that we did in life. The youths must not be bamboozled. Mace is simply a symbol of distraction. No matter how you use it, you can never be British or American. Ask Igwe, Emir and Oonifor a copy of theirs if that will change your culture of corruption.

Our children then meant every child coming after us since we wanted to leave the world a better place than we met it. Unfortunately, in our lifetime we are witnessing mad filthy rich old men dancing naked in the market claiming they are celebrating Mace, marriages and birthdays while the majority of the people they rule watch the opulence and ostentatious display of wealth stolen from them.

There is nothing wrong with rewarding yourselves and your children after working very hard or multiplying money you met at home, loans or Esusu turned into multi billions successful corporate projects. We wish you well, emulate your hard work and want to be like you when we grow up. Hard earned money inspires youths, creates jobs and more important, fosters good morals character in the communities. A well-disciplined corporate practice produce ethical leadership for a variety of children including discipline from parents to children.

On the other hand, unscrupulous businesses and political opportunists create, replicate and encourage youths that follow their path of greed, corruption leading to a society that becomes unstable, unable to sustain itself or even perish like an old empire mere in decadence. Most of their children develop a sense of entitlement, aimless and continue the moribund failures of their parents, even abroad; which looked like success to the blind or naive observers. These are midnight marauders claiming success with nothing to show for it.

When they go to Dubai, London and New York to celebrate: e woara yin niaworerin, won wo yin niawosunkun. Those people you are trying to impressed, are moved beyond tears for the plight of your people at home. In other words, we are in the midst of moral decadence as our looters dance and celebrate on the graves of women, children and helpless men just to amuse themselves.

Ask each of them what they do for a living, they will claim some multi dollar or euro dealings in the skies that have never benefited the country they serve. Ask them how much they declared and pay in taxes, they will tell you the common man is not paying his share of taxes but expect services. We all wish they could practice what they preach when they deduct from common man’s paycheck. Pay As You Earn. What they have mastered, is how to milk the treasure legally.

Therefore we watch as Vagabonds-In-Power crowd out struggling youths and compete with honest successful women and businessmen by celebrating new wives, birthdays, weddings and naming ceremonies for themselves and their children. Their friends, classmates or cohorts that are not so privileged cannot honor the invitations that may or may not have come their ways. If they decided to crash local parties without being stopped at the gate by protectives armed guards, they certainly cannot honor the exalted occasions in London, New York, Caribbean or Dubai, even when formally invited.

The cost of designer suits, exotic lace and gele are enough to deter acquaintances with limited means. You may wonder where some of your friends obtain money to dawn these expensive uniforms only to show up to collect food in plastic bags, tucking it in their handbags (nah take home doggie bagnaow). If lucky to grace one of those auspicious occasions, they get to collect a suitcase full of goodies. When dressed to kill by wrapping tight in see-through dress, slim fit or with bleached skins, some of them may get sprayed with foreign currencies. Investment in asoebi uniforms may or may not pay off at these parties!

It is no longer where they get the money from, it is up to you to prove where or that they looted the Central Bank legally and illegally. Some of us do not understand the House Mace distraction, democracy, rule of law and due process. Police, lawyers and judges that are knowledgeable are positioned to interpret these as they do in “saner climes”. Only a fool would steal in moderation without dipping deep to pay-off for all these law men and women, taken into consideration. In short, steal enough to pay each of them off at every stage.

If you chop alone you die alone. There are accusation flying left, right and center. Rogues accusing money launderers or cats waiting for their turns like former Speaker Bankole did. If a dog steal a bone, you may find it later somewhere, when these cats steal meat, there is no point of return. If you are not careful or claim to be above par, they will rope you in. Ask Prof.Tam David-West, Dr. Adenike Grange or Prof. Fabian Osuji. More Northerners stoned barawo.

We have to be careful now. We do not want to antagonize our youths or label them lazy as none of them would bell the cat. Some are very comfortable with their IPhone, even without a job trying to cope with the children of the rich and famous. There used to be a time though, when youths would protest over bad food in the universities, lack of running water, rigged appointments or dirty environment. When, when, please when was that again? Ancient history!

What is beyond reason is why the same youths would risk their lives across the sea and desert but would not risk confronting their oppressors at home: only snatched useless Mace in the House. Some admitted that they were willing to waste their lives where nobody knew them than die at home hungry and desperate. During the Bar Beach Show, some armed robbers confessed that bullets killed faster than hunger. Only a hungry belly knows where it hurts!

These spent leaders are now positioning themselves as the champions of youthful presidential candidates for new leadership. They failed when they were in position to change the direction of their country and to provide for the future of the same youths. Never underestimate our youths, they may cast their differences aside and elect a young blood as the President. They may disappoint the filthy rich old men that are lining up for Any Party In Power!

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2018

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/265580/filthy-rich-oldies-party-celebrate-mace-without-fear-of-at.html#

Well, I can understand your criticism in today's slim fit clothes.

But long coat are common in oyinbo country for weddings or special dinner

The problem here is that most African economists explain and justify assaults on our economy including IMF recommended Finance ministers. So it is a vicious circle trying to get out of even when a few well informed radical Africans can see through western oppressive economy against us.

IBBG:
quite an educating post. The day the gold standard was abolished, money officially became just a piece of paper with numbers assigned to it. And american dollars being the reserve currency of the world, meant that America could easily print as much money as they want to pay their debt, since gold was no longer required to settle debt.
what this implies for an average investor is that, money is no longer a store of value, since govt of the world can easily print money and devalue the existing pool of money. Rather physical assets are a store of value.

Just wondering why they are using Itsekiri Yoruba to greet Oba for life. Any Yoruba can understand it even using those letters.

Ogiso go fes o.

What is the difference between this fish and Nigerian favorite wood fish - PANLA?

Let us kuku say Lagos is now divided between Dangote and Tinubu

I cannot believe the amount of self-hate displayed here. Is it because she is not stuck here at home like you?

There are many Africans that dropped everything and came home. For every progress they made, you are the same people that regressed three steps back.

Are they supposed to die on the job like your politicians you glorify as long as they belong to your ethnic group.

So America does not belong to her but the sweat of her father built America and England.

Do you realize that Drump is only second generation American as well as his children with foreign mothers. Has anyone of you ever questioned his Nazi father and racism he inherited. Oh, you do not challenge German, Irish or Scottish, only African. The same way they do.

Poor Indians, owner of America!

[url] https://videos.posttv.com/washpost-production/The_Washington_Post/20180302/5a99d119e4b087d3e29dc1b9/5a9d4bf3e4b02894be5ef735_1462301751346-fs7oqd_t_1520258047470_640_360_300.mp4 [/url]

Na our foreign taste go kill us.

Ogogoro, e dey

Apetenshi, e dey

Kunukunu, e dey

Kaikain, e dey

Palmy, e dey

The one wey nor dey, na im we dey fing go yonda. Na im dem wan use kill us.

I get friend wey nor dey drink anything but Hennessy. He nor know say na im piss im dey drink!

This is no longer a joke. The Governor of Oyo recently commissioned so many Oba.

The Governor of Osu played a strong role in the installation of Ooni, even if you do not believe it.

Omo Iragbiji installed the Oba of Lagos.

And many others.

All and every living soul from Ore to Ilorin must come together and order the people of IWO to dethrone this boy if they wait.

When he disrespected Ooni, most people should have known he was not going to stop there.

He was not the only one brought home to be installed Oba.

So was Oba Ijebu Ode. He never disgraced his throne.

What are IWO high chiefs waiting for? YORUBA RONU!

So it is now Ijaw turn to climb on Yoruba for greatness.

Ijaw, please tell us about Adumu or was it Adimu in your culture.

Igbo good for girlfriend

Yoruba good for wife

Na joke O!

Yoruba Christians and Muslims is like dividing African French and English when Kofi was going to be made UN Secretary General.

The country all of you seek its visa, your most desirable country, it is the biggest debtor of all time.

Live Free In Africa Or Foreign Jail?

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/opinion/rather-be-in-a-foreign_128762?profile=1096

Many Caribbean and African countries are going into agreement with developed countries to repatriate prisoners to their countries. Countries or prisoners are either given lump sums or promised new prisons in their home countries. Some countries have signed on, while others have barked at the offer.

The countries that barked at the offer see it as another form of slavery in disguise. Whatever we think is slavery, we must ponder and look at some points. Most of these criminals were youngsters, good people, and law-abiding folks before they left home. They were corrupted because they suddenly found themselves at the bottom of the ladder in the countries of their dreams. In order to survive they did all kinds of odd jobs, including some in criminal activities that landed them in jail. Some took to prostitution, drug peddling, forgery, and other activities they would never have tried within their communities back home.

African countries are not that bad, but we have to taste life outside for some of us to appreciate some opportunities we could have taken at home. By the stories we hear, one would think there are no trying and debilitating times for some of those poor struggling in rich countries. There were many examples of suffering without smiling that are hidden from us, but we say better there than here at home where everyone knows you. This writer carried phone books for delivery on his head and shoulder in a foreign country but would never have done it at home.

PhilT McNasty
"Rather be in a foreign jail than live free in Africa" REALLY?
Probably has never gone to a Turkish prison!


Avatar
Feccah • a day ago

"In order to survive they did all kinds of odd jobs, including some in criminal activities that landed them in jail. Some took to prostitution, drug peddling, forgery, and other activities they would never have tried within their communities back home." Must not have been home in a very long while.
"What they fail to tell us are the numbers of professionals that could have challenged their local oppressors but would rather waste their locally developed talents in these developed countries, stuck with odd jobs." That is the reason why many left in the first place: Not any opportunity for them to develop their talents in their home countries. Encouraged to be entrepreneurs and when they did, could not survive the various obstacles they had to overcome. The reasons are numerous.
Overall a fair assessment, with many salient points. As usual though, fails to recognize the chief problem, for not only poor countries, but also now being ever increasingly revealed the rich, the chief culprit for the failure is the economic system that has been foistered on them.

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Cory • a day ago

If you want to see real poverty go to the U.S. particularly Appalachia.

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Avatar
Jonesgirl70 Cory • 18 hours ago

You can go to any city here in the US and see poverty. Particularly any homeless person living under a bridge or in the woods.
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j lawton • a day ago

better not to say anything right now


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kimbee • 20 hours ago

I think the word the author needed to use in the third and fourth sentences was "baulked" rather than "barked"...

I dey here dey wonder myself. What about other states that made those not from their states commissioner?

HungerBAD:
He is an Anambra man simple.

The news should have being that a man from a minority tribe in Anambra was appointed a commissioner.

While the Governor deserves an applause for this, I am not exactly sure how this qualifies as history.

Hopefully Edo State can do the same for the Minorities like the Ijaws in Gelegele,and Bayelsa the same for the Urhobo's from Bayelsa State too.

Today in order to draw students, they name everything American or British, placed in front of every institution including university.

What is this difference without distinction is about again? The difference between college and University?

Some of you need to run back to Harvard College and change your certificates.

osy77:
Anybody way tell u say money no good...tear am slap

Glorification of money with or without vanity leads to world depression. Since we refused to learn, it led to the worst recession since depression.

While many youths want to be the best scientist, the best builder, the best runner, the best game changer, the best writer, painter, plumber, carpenter etc, our youths peep at their world, observer how resources are being wasted without returns.

They just want to be rich. You blame them?

The truth is finally coming out. All Nigerians need to think again.

Where else?

Everybody wants to live in Lagos.

Too ashamed to admit it

So America is so great , eh?

He attends an elite university but lives in a trailer with no heat or sewer hookups
6 / 14


By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times

12 hrs ago


UC Berkeley student Ismael Chamu, 21, breaks down after attending class on March 1, 2018. Chamu, who lives in a rented trailer in Hayward with his brother and two sisters said, "I try to do the best I can, but I still don't get ahead. You take one foot forward and a giant leap backwards."


Jaynee Ruiz, left, a visual communications teacher at Tennyson High School in Hayward, Calif. talks to UC Berkeley student Ismael Chamu, 21, at the end of a meeting about the school's multimedia arts program on March 1, 2018. In background are Chamu's sisters Jocelyn, 14, left, and Yazmin, right, who both attend the school. Jocelyn was interested in entering the program.


Edward Chamu, 20, left, sleeps on the floor as his brother Ismael, 21, studies late into the night for a class at UC Berkeley, where he is a senior, majoring in sociology. They live inside a rented trailer, located in the driveway of a home in Hayward, Calif.


UC Berkeley student Ismael Chamu, 21, prepares to put another blanket on the bed for his sister Yazmin, 17, as she gets ready to go to sleep on March 3, 2018 inside their rented trailer, located in the driveway of a home in Hayward, Calif. Yazmin shares the bed with her sister Jocelyn, 14, and Ismael sleeps on the floor with his brother Edward, 20.


UC Berkeley student Ismael Chamu, 21, left, and his brother Edward, 20, sleep on the floor of their rented trailer, located in the driveway of a home in Hayward, Calif. on March 3, 2018. Sleeping on the bed in background are their sisters Jocelyn, 14, and Yazmin, 17, who live with them.


UC Berkeley student Ismael Chamu, 21, breaks down after attending class on March 1, 2018. Chamu, who lives in a rented trailer in Hayward with his brother and two sisters said, "I try to do the best I can, but I still don't get ahead. You take one foot forward and a giant leap backwards."

UC Berkeley student Ismael Chamu, 21, breaks down after attending class on March 1, 2018. Chamu, who lives in a rented trailer in Hayward with his brother and two sisters said, "I try to do the best I can, but I still don't get ahead. You take one foot forward and a giant leap backwards."

HAYWARD, Calif. - Ismael Chamu wakes up at sunrise, shivering in the drizzly morning's chill. He rises from the floor of a small trailer, where he sleeps wedged next to his younger brother and an arm's length from his two sisters, who share the only bed.

As he cooks breakfast, the smell of scrambled eggs and ripe sewage combine. There is no sewer hookup so when the storage tank is full, as it is this day, everyone holds on until they can get to a nearby gas station.

"Hurry up so you guys can eat," Ismael, 21, tells his sisters Jocelyn, 14, and Yazmin, 17.

At 7:40 a.m., he shepherds his sisters to high school, a 30-minute walk through gang territory in Hayward, just south of Oakland. At the school gate, he hugs them goodbye.

Then he heads to his classes at the University of California, Berkeley, the nation's most elite public research university.

Ismael looks the part of a typical college student, with his backpack, black jeans and stylish fade haircut. But he bears extraordinary burdens.

He's one of tens of thousands of California college students slammed by the state's affordable housing crunch.

Ismael constantly scrambles to find shelter and enough food for himself and his siblings while working a campus job, leading a student club and trying to earn a bachelor's degree in sociology.

In the last 18 months, he has slept on couches and floors, in trailers and attics. Since November, he and his 20-year-brother Edward have rented the 20-foot-by-8-foot mobile home, parked in a Hayward driveway. His sisters joined them in January after their parents fell on hard times in the Central Valley and were forced to live in their car.

But Hayward has outlawed living in residential trailers. The family is due to be evicted Tuesday. And so the scramble will begin again.

"You do what you gotta do," Ismael says gamely.

Financial aid covers tuition for the state's growing number of low-income students, but they mostly are on their own when it comes to paying for places to live. Many UC campuses are in some of the priciest real-estate markets.

A recent University of California study estimated that roughly 13,000 of the system's 260,000 students have struggled with unstable housing. That guess comes from two 2016 surveys, in which 5 percent of the nearly 70,000 students who responded said they had couch-surfed, lived on the street or found temporary shelter in vehicles, motels or campgrounds at some point since they had enrolled.

Cal State estimates about 41,000 students have unstable housing; the Los Angeles Community College District, about 44,000.

UC President Janet Napolitano has a plan to build 14,000 affordable beds by 2020 and has given each of the system's nine undergraduate campuses $3 million to help them meet housing needs. UC and Cal State campuses are trying to reach out to students who might also be hungry with expanded food pantries, meal-sharing plans, campus gardens and emergency loans.

But most everyone agrees that the efforts are not nearly enough.

Ismael arrives at Berkeley after a 90-minute trip by foot and a train on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, or BART. He steps onto a campus with grand buildings and a bell tower, redwoods and a flowing creek. As he arrives, the rain stops, the clouds part and the sun peeks through.

It seems crazy to be at Cal, Ismael says.

He is the son of a migrant worker who never got past first grade in an indigenous community in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. His family has moved more times than Ismael can keep straight. He was born in San Diego, then lived down South, where his father cut Christmas trees in North Carolina and picked tobacco in South Carolina.

Ismael was the only Mexican in his class, but a couple of white boys befriended him. "They said I was a good Mexican," he says, "because I was smart."

When he was 14, the family moved to Hayward on the promise of lucrative construction work. They lived with an aunt for a few months until she kicked them out. Then came a blur of schools and homes: a pink apartment in Hayward, a friend's place in San Jose, a trailer in Los Banos.

Ismael bumped through three different high schools and somehow managed to excel - even though he woke up most mornings at 4 a.m. to help his father with gardening jobs before he rushed to class. He took eight Advanced Placement courses, passed six of the exams and racked up a 4.0 GPA.

His stellar academic record - aided perhaps by his personal essay on how he wouldn't let his hardships defeat him - helped him become one of the lucky 18 percent of 74,000 freshman applicants admitted to Berkeley in 2014.

He thought about not going, to be able to earn money for his family. But it was his parents - and a high school counselor - who urged him on.

"My dad is so proud," Ismael says. "He always says, 'My son is at Berkeley.'"

By 12:30 p.m., Ismael is in his urban sociology class, listening intently to professor Joanna Reed's lecture on gentrification's effect on low-income communities. He is planning to work with Reed on a research project about the growing number of Californians living in mobile homes and the backlash against them.

"It's everything I'm living now," he says.

After class, Ismael heads to the campus food pantry, which is stocked with pasta, rice, jars of spaghetti sauce, cans of soup and baguettes. He takes a box of oat cereal and a can of black bean soup, and then he is out the door.

"That place makes me sad," he says.

Why? His eyes redden, and he breaks down in tears.

"We have pretty portraits and murals talking about ending homelessness, but it doesn't go away," he says. "I try to do the best I can, but I still don't get ahead. You take one foot forward and a giant leap backwards. You can't live off of that."

At times, the stress is overwhelming. He's had to call the police on his landlord, who has been wanting him out. He's short of credits to graduate on time this spring because he dropped two classes to take care of his sisters. His and Edward's combined monthly income, roughly $1,000, barely covers the $650 trailer rent, sewage pumping fees, food and transportation. He can't qualify for food stamps because he has no permanent address and he's spent most of a $20,000 educational loan, much of it to help his family.

In a few moments, he's got his game face back on.

"I've fallen a lot, but I've always gotten up," he says.

Ismael wants to go to graduate school and eventually become a teacher. His biggest dream, he says, is to provide his parents with a decent place to live.

Lunch involves one of many hard choices. He would like a $6 Asian bento box. But instead he uses a Subway coupon and gets a chicken and bacon melt. He feels guilty whenever he splurges on himself with money that could help his family.

His afternoon class on global urban inequality is canceled, as is the evening meeting of United Children of Immigrants, the student club he started. So he starts the long trek back to Hayward to meet his sisters. He figures he travels 60 miles a day, five on foot, the rest on public transit.

He is supposed to bring Jocelyn back to her high school for a 6 p.m. meeting about a program focused on college prep and multimedia arts. By the time they meet near the trailer, it's 5:50 p.m., cold and dark.

Ismael is exhausted. For a moment, they discuss skipping the meeting. But they decide that is not who they are so they set off on another long walk.

It's 8:45 p.m. when they get home. Ismael washes the dishes but stops when he hears burbling. Sometimes, the pipe clogs and water spurts out the shower drain into the cabin. After a few minutes, the hot water runs cold. Yazmin has to wait an hour for it to get hot enough to shower.

Edward is working as a store manager for a San Francisco olive oil firm while taking classes at Chabot College. He's the last one home - at about 9:30 p.m.

He gets out eggs to scramble for his dinner. Ismael watches, protesting, "Use one egg, OK? We're down to three eggs, bruh."

While the hot plate's on, the portable heater has to stay off. Running them both blows the power.

They all settle down to homework as a hard rain drums on the leaky trailer roof. Yazmin sits on the bed, prepping for an AP government test on the judiciary system. At the small table, Ismael works on a midterm paper while Jocelyn finishes drawings about her life for her Spanish class. One shows herself with a scowling face, clenched fists pressed to her temples. "When we arrived, we would move constantly," the caption says.

In between studies, they chat about school, their hair, the rain. Yazmin tells Edward to watch his sodium. Edward tells Ismael not to get distracted by his cellphone.

"I want to cuddle," Jocelyn says, throwing herself between Edward and Yazmin on the bed. She scratches her brother's head. "You're like a cat."

At 12:15 a.m., Ismael covers his sleeping sisters with a blanket. He balls up a hoodie for a pillow, turns out the light and drops to the floor to sleep.

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/he-attends-an-elite-university-but-lives-in-a-trailer-with-no-heat-or-sewer-hookups/ar-BBK9OWO?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=iehp

Is it only rice?

Lace, cotton, shoes etc are all Ijebu and Okrika made but before they can sell, you have to repack them as made in Europe and America.

The irony is even America do not make them anymore. They are all made in third world countries where labor is cheap.

I laugh when people think they buy Hennessy. Na pure ogogoro Dem dey drink.

Lace are taken to the border from Nigeria, repackaged as made in Belgium.

Foolish kid wey say ime mama nor go sleep, na ime eye go dry pass. You think say na Nijeria you dey do.

Mumu buy Taiwan rice cheap cheap abi?