Mood

     My last couple of blogs I’ve covered most of what I miss about my motherland, I’ve mostly spoken about what makes me African. My cultural heritage, the diversity that is my motherland. My stay here has been a thrilling one so far and I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get better. On close introspection I’ve come to realize just how similar we all really are… Despite the ostensible differences, we’re all fundamentally human and are prone to so many ups and downs.. 

 

    Now I’m just not exactly in a great place… My mood is all over the place, school work is getting tougher, I'm stressed, I feel terrible because I'm not used to the cold here, and I'm adjusting to my new environment. Most times it is really hard getting out of bed in the morning. I think the best thing is to step away for a while and just relax, do something fun.

     I’ll keep this short and concise; take care of your mental and physical health people. It’s probably cliché to say “health is wealth” but my people, health really is wealth.When it comes down to it, it’s all we really truly posses.It’s what gives us access to the pursuit of all our other needs and wants. Despite all this though, my innermost self keeps yelling at me to get up and keep it moving.Watch me brush myself up and take flight again with these words of encouragement to keep you going……… “We move”

My Opinion

Happiness is a goal that many people aspire to achieve. Can you really achieve happiness? ... Most people also have a strong desire to be successful in life and they tend to believe that through this word “success” that they will automatically become happier. Instead of synergy, antagonism may occur. 

When you immerse yourself in the idea of success being measured by something you can see, something tangible, whether from a social, economic or cultural standpoint, you are indeed going down the wrong path. Happiness and success can only be seen by the twinkle in your eye, the smile on your face, the difference that you made, the aura of positivity and the strength that you embody. Success is not always followed by happiness. Success is overcoming every failure and every trauma, recovering from the unimaginable things that happened to you and you coming out of the blazing fire scathed but alive. Breathing…. 

People assume that when we're happy, it brings out the best in us. When we're happy, people want to be around you because they think it cultivates “success” That is the wrong idea. If you don’t make mistakes or if you are striving for perfect, you don’t know life, you haven’t lived it. Perfect is boring, imperfect however is fierce. It is when one makes mistakes, learns from them and strives for a better self. Being aware of who you are what you want as well as what you don’t and your purpose in life is the answer to success. Success is not tangible. It can’t be seen, only felt.

For me, happiness will only come when I come to terms with what I was given. Live, love and learn, and eventually laugh again. My fate is unknown but the first step is getting to know myself accepting all that I am and striving to become better than I was yesterday. 

Food

 

Where I come from, what we eat is as important an identifier as the clothes we wear. My motherland with over 250 different ethnic groups presents you with an array of various exotic continental cuisines to pick from… 

Is it the delicious “Abacha (African salad)” or the mouthwatering “Nkwobi”? Either way the wave of nostalgia that washes over me each time I have to eat the available conventional meals here is sometimes overwhelming. It’s not that I’m complaining; the food here is amazing and just as diverse as back in the motherland but it’s still incomparable to what I was practically raised up on… I sometimes drive around with friend looking for locations and joints that at least connote my cultural identity (in terms of food of course) we usually get lucky but then the saying “no place like home” comes into play. There’s always that minute detail that’s missing that makes me think aloud “I miss home". Besides the high nutritional value attached to our meals, there's the exquisite taste especially when all these variables are touched up by an amazing cook. 

    African cuisine doesn't stop at food, it could be considered a lifestyle as many people take up careers in this field even those in diaspora... That being said, I implore you to try out African cuisine preferably "Jollof rice", "Egusi soup" or "Abacha" and thank me later.

 

Documentary Project: After Tiller

    

    This week in class, we were introduced to a new project: the documentary project. I picked the documentary "After Tiller" as my project.  I found this documentary very educating. I didn't completely agree with everything but I feel like I learnt a lot. The documentary is about doctors who perform late trimester abortions and Peoples reaction to it. 

The specific scene that got to me was the scene where a lady and her husband were discussing with the doctor who carries out the abortion about getting an abortion. I really felt downhearted because, I don't support abortion for needless reasons but at this point I could see why it was imperative. The couple previously went for an Ante-natal were they found out that the unborn child had Arthrogryposis. This is a condition where the baby's joints won't function normally and the doctor explained that their baby would never be able to walk or do everyday task and will need help doing everything. It's a really difficult decision to make but I honestly feel like the couple’s decision to get an abortion was not wrong because considering the fact that the baby would come into the world suffering, needing help to eat, not being able to do sports, run and have fun like other kids would be very difficult. The couples didn't want to get an abortion but they believed it was the best thing for their daughter. I felt unhappy for them because they wanted the child but I could understand their reason. It wouldn't be nice for them to have the child and have her suffer for the rest of her life, going through multiple surgeries. Personally, I know a lady who had a special child with fetal defects and she said if she had known her child would suffer this much and still die, she would have had an abortion.

I was really shocked by the murder of George Tiller and the attitude of people towards his death because, he is a human being and he didn't deserve to diet; let's think of it the people who didn't support abortion wanted to protect lives so how can they justify George's Tiller death. People said "God bless the Gunmen who shot doctor Tiller". That really caught me off guard because murdering Tiller does not make the situation any better. Most people in the documentary are very hypocritical about the situation because if they found themselves in a situation where their unborn child had fatal birth defects, they probably would have done the same thing. I feel like if people take into consideration the reason for an abortion they wouldn't completely detest it. It is a choice to decide to have an abortion; you can't take away someone else alternative because you feel it wrong. Life is about making choices.

So far, this documentary is very absorbing, one of the questions that stayed on my mind after viewing the documentary was, Is late trimester abortion legal or illegal? Is it ethical or unethical? Why do others condemn abortions when they do not understand the reason behind it? After seeing the documentary, I felt really sad for George Tiller because people made their decision to get late abortions and he was just doing his job as a doctor. He didn't force or persuade any of the patients to have the abortions. He was in a way helping and doing his part and he didn't deserve to be murdered.

We should avoid including research in our summary because it could lead to being biased and it could take away our focus from the main point. summaries aren't supposed to include personal opinions and conclusion so including research which is someone’s else opinion could derail our attention from summarizing the documentary and instead summarize the research.