olaoluwatomi

I got myself a miracle, was able to go home for xmas, so my post on sacrifices doesnt apply to me  this year. Wishing you all a merry christmas and a Happy new Year!

I have heard many stories of people posing to be someone else e.g. School drop outs posing as soldiers, lawyers, people who work as drivers in blue chip companies pretending to be managing directors of the company when they have the rare fortune of having the car all to themselves and impressing silly giggling girls. I heard a story about someone I know who pretends to be a doctor! It actually bowled me over, this man really works as a cleaner. How on earth does a cleaner pass himself off as a doctor? It beats me, the only connection this guy has to medicine is that he cleans the rooms of some doctors! Those who informed me of his deceit say if you visit his room you may actually believe that he is one. He has medical books, a ward coat and of course the ubiquitous stethoscope. He actually convinced a lady who was described as 'enito ka iwe' (someone who has been to school, probably an undergraduate) that he was a doctor, she only became wise wh...

I have been in Jos on an official assignment for a couple of days and I can tell you that I was a bit uneasy at first but I realised that we all have to die one day anyway and there were still people living in that part of the country and most importantly the number of my days is dependent not on the gun wielding or bow stringing assailants but on God who alone knows the length of my days. Anyway, it is interesting to actually visit a place that only a few days before had been a battle ground and I can tell you it was more real than watching pictures being flashed across the television screen. Anyway this post is about what I experienced and what it must have been to be around during the crises. I experienced for a few minutes the terror those caught up in the crises must have felt a few days after we arrived. We were on our way back to base after our assignment for the day and and were along a major road when all hell was let loose. People on motorcycles jumped off, motorc...

I was one child that was actively discouraged from reading medicine. My father a doctor himself said several times, 'Tomi you have much better brains than to sit and read medicine, medicine is for people who can sit and apply themselves to studying the same old material. The material you will learn is all the same, a femur is a femur any day, the markings on the bone will always remain the same. But I said no all I want to do is read medicine! I don read medicine o! And after all these years I know I will surely discourage any child of mine from coming down this well beaten track. It's not to say that there is no joy in the profession but methinks that there is much more sorrow or should I say you will have to sacrifice much more than you may get back and sometimes the sheer weight of these sacrifices can be overwhelming. A doctor learns that every day is the same, there is no need to get excited about Christmas around the corner except if you are in full control of your life a...

My birthday is less than a month away and I had thought I would write this post to commemorate the day but I decided not to allow the thoughts to fly away especially as I am just watching the landscape fly by as I travel back home after a weeks sojourn in the land of beauty. The inspiration for this post came from two fulani women begging for a lift at the side of the road with their calabash full of 'fura de nono' on the ground beside them. I thought of trying to decipher their ages but I knew that I would not be able to, for all I know we may have been born on the same day but life and its attendant toil has left its mark on us to varying degrees. I know I am older not because I can tell you the exact second I was born but because these days I find I am referred to more as 'madam' than before. I am knelt down to or curtsied to more often than I do the same. Initially I found it embarrassing and would rush to tell the other party not to bother but these days I smile an...