The Igbo first son.
**Diopara** *is an Igbo word which means* ***The First Son.*** *It is the term used to describe the first male child in an Igbo family. He is by birth the second father of the homestead, and takes the place of the father when he is away or has passed on.*
*It is traditional for him to inherit and manage his father's estate, so he is granted a lot of privileges in readiness for it.* ***.***
Typical Igbo hut
*The virtue and sensitivity of the position he occupies makes it impossible for him to be unruly or live a basic life like every other normal person . Conscious of the fact that he is not just carrying his own problems but that of every members of his family, he develops this competitive spirit that is absent in every day people, and strive to win even in places where it is ordinarily impossible to do so.*
*In most homes , they are treated differently. In the olden days, The* ***Diopara*** *was groomed extensively on farming, leadership, sportsmanship, conflict resolution and relevant trainings to make him an all-rounder in managing the homestead*.
He was moulded into a machine. These trainings were usually way above his age and transform him to an adult while still trapped in a boy's body.
*But a lot of things have changed with modernity. Most of those trainings have been replaced with lot of perks and privileges that make other kids green with envy*.
*I , for example, grew up living a very tasking life at the expense of my parents and siblings : my demands were endless - and mostly met.*
*What they will do and get scolded for, I'd do and get away with it, but it never occurred to me that these little waivers were in consideration of what is to come.*
Growing up, I have learnt to live the **Diopara** way. And believe me, this way is not anything similar to the cozy childhood that drew loud whispers and vieled ire. This way can only draw empathy and pity.
I know a lot of people that opted not to go to ***college*** so that their younger ones can go to **universities**.
I know a lot of good men sweating it out **so each and every one in the clan can stand on their feet**.
I know a lot of men giving it all up so their loved ones can have it and live.
I know these men giving the comfort they don't have so that their loved ones can have it.
These men are the first sons of my world... and the cohesive force behind our thriving cultures.
These men are Igbo men.
Image credits:
Lead Image
Google
2,3
Google
4
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/aderogba-obisesa-this-picture-taken-on-march-1-2012-shows-traditional-picture-id466787947?k=20&m=466787947&s=612x612&w=0&h=Ea0l9javfGC4njXDUXYHfprg7w3TJo1wzvJiUey7nnM=
On life
These past days I have been playing the invincible man:
I'd go to public places , sit down and watch people come and go. I'd go to malls , watch lovers hold hands and steal kisses on the go.
I watch the ants too. I see them lugging tiny pieces of cakes to their holes. Two on the right side , two on the left - one in the front ; with the load so big and them being so small, you would think they won't make it to their hole.
But...in a blink, they soon devour it and come out for more.
It is an infinity loop.
**I recently observed that life for man similarly only bring Suffering.**
The world is full of people chasing happiness.
Everyday - everywhere, throngs of people are out with their hands in one activity or the other.
They hope these will bring them happiness and contentment .
But this is an illusion.
Like the ants, I reasoned that humans are trapped in this infinity loop too.
From birth, little humans are taught to go to school, get good jobs and live a better life.
As young adults, they are encouraged to get more certifications, build a family and save for retirement.
As retirees, they are never contented. While some continue to work to make ends meet, others chase thrill from Nairobi to Almaty.
There is always a chase...and there's never a stop. **The human never truly lives.**
Humans suffer for everything too :
They suffer for their poverty ; they suffer for their wealth.
They suffer for their love ; they suffer for their hatred.
They suffer to get bread, they suffer to stay hungry.
They suffer for their actions , they suffer for their inactions.
Life is a round trip to endless chase.
Fire
This afternoon, I saw a burning building ; people milled around it. As the children ran around in panic, the men and women were doing their best to arrest the fire.
It was an electric fire. It reportedly started after a fuse ignited on restoration of power.
In an attempt to put out the fire, they were pouring water on the house. But the fire didn't die out. Instead, it was increasing.
This made me realize how uninformed a lot of people are about fire and how you can distinctly extinguish them in the absence of the fire service.
What is fire?
What do you understand by fire?
**Fire is said to be an exothermic chemical reaction that gives out light and heat.**
I personally prefer to see it - like most people - as that harmless orange flame that cook our meal and keep us warm. I like to see it as that dependable friend.
But that's only a side of the coin. On the other side is a vicious enemy.
Like all former friends, fire is a ruthless enemy. When it spirals out of control, it hardly listens.
To understand fire, you must understand what causes it.
You must understand the chemistry of fire and the ingredients that must be present for a fire to form.
You must understand the principle of extinction of fire.
Only this knowledge would help you in an event of a fire outbreak.
Fire accidents are caused by a variety of factors . Some of them are :
Electrical Equipments
Friction between moving objects
Open flames
Smoking
Arson
Chemical reaction
Spontaneous ignition
Hot surfaces and more.
Some are caused by humans while others are natural.
For a fire to start there are three conditions that must be satisfied before fire is formed:
The **first is Presence of Oxygen**.
Oxidizing agents (air) have to be present for fire to take place.
The Second is **Presence Of Fuel**.
I like to describe fuel as anything that burns. These include : books, clothes, grass, plastics, oil and gas etc.
The third is **Heat.**
Heat is the last link in the fire triangle. Anything that can generate heat can cause fire.
The presence of these elements in an appropriate mixture causes a chain reaction that we know and describe as fire.
As soon as one of these elements is removed or blocked in significant amount, the fire stops. This can happen via ***:***
***a. Cooling (Removal of heat)***
***b. Smouldering (Removal of Oxygen) and...***
***c. Starvation (The removal of Fuel)***
Classes of Fire : There are five major classes of fire. These include :
Class A :
These are the type of fire involving solid materials like clothes, wood , plastics etc. Most household fire usually fall under this category.
They can be extinguished with ordinary water, water mixed with soap and wet chemical.
Class B :
All flammable liquids like PMS , AGO and oil fall under this category.
Foam extinguishers are best used for this kind of fire as they have the ability to envelope the burning surface, denying them of enough oxygen to continue burning. C02 , dry sand and powder can also be used.
*Water should not be used as it will only aggravate the fire.*
Persons caught in the inferno should be wrapped round with a fire blanket to put out the flame.
Type C :
Type C fire covers flammable gases like butane , propane and methane.
Only dry powdered chemical should be used for this kind of fire.
Type D:
Some metals can burn. Metals like lithium and potassium fall under this category.
Type D Fire extinguishers, Will keep the fire away.
Electric Fire
Electric fire , for convenience, called Type E fire ; is a term used to describe fires bordering on electrical appliances and circuits.
They are one of the most dangerous forms of fire as they spread fiercely and are hard to control.
Efforts should be made to disconnect power from the burning house.
CO2 fire extinguishers should be used.
Water is greatly discouraged, but in the absence of options, detergents should be added to water and worked into lather to help quell the fire.
Type F Fire :
Type F fire involves cooking oil and fats.
While cooking, we sometimes overheat our cooking oil making them ignite.
We can quickly arrest this by covering the pot with a lid, putting out the fire source or covering the pot with a fire blanket.
The absence of enough oxygen will make the fire go out.
These , I believe , can help you make a better decision when confronted by fire.
You can share your thoughts in the comment section
Fire Triangle image credits:
https://www.pexels.com/@oussama-elhaidi-3454442?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels
On Love.
*What comes to your mind when you hear the world love?*
**Is it falling in love, heart break, unrequited love or love at first sight?**
I guess yours might be different, but these are the most popular ones that come to mind for the average human.
The idea of love have been centered and confined to romance for ages.
In the movies, books and music, the idea of romantic love takes the front wheel. In fact, no movie production is complete without a little romance infused into it.
It has even been so cheapened it is used for comic relieves in the new movies of our time.
Warring partners could be sparing for a fight to the death and just when nerves has been strained to breaking points in wait for who to throw the fatal punch, Señorita will appear from nowhere to pull one of the men away with a sticky wet kiss. 😌
But I'll say we are lucky. There were times when whole bodies of works were hinged on romantic love : Romeo and Juliet . Bony and Claude. My heart will go on .🤭 Whole bodies.
That's how Eros has worn the crown for years .
I'll be throwing some light on the other forms of love that exist so we can cut Romance some slack
**Eros : This is the kind of love as we all know in romance. It's the kind of love that covers sexual passion or attraction as we have in romantic affairs. It is named after the Greek god of love and desire.**
We've all once had this pretty damsel we swore to love. And we've all had this guy that swept us off our feet without trying.
This kind of love involves some really fiery kind of passion. It Rob people of their boundaries and tend to make them become physically and emotionally clingy to the subject of their passion .
It is dangerous as fallouts from unrequited emotions and heartbreak are usually not managed well.
Philia.
This is simply love between friends, colleagues and people you've grown fond of from association or shared experience.
The more people associate, the higher their tendency of developing some kind of deep **friendship**. This can be referred to as Philia Love.
LUDUS
There is Ludus, also known as Philia love. I'll describe it as the early stage of romantic love.
**Agape .**
This is a selfless kind of love between humans. And also, between God and man ( for the religious).
This kind of love is not selfish, and there is no 'hiden charges' or undisclosed strings attached. It is pure and giving.
Pragma .
This is the love that have stood the test of time . It is the love that have endured many weather due to the conscious decision of the parties involved to be patient with each other, tolerate and forgive to make things work.
*Self* *Love.*
Self love, also known as Philautia , is the concept that address the compassion one has for oneself.
It might be positive , as having a high sense of self worth - necessitating the need to care for oneself , or negative, as espoused in narcissists.
I feel nobody can truly love others if they don't love themselves. Nobody gives what they don't have.
Storge is family love. It's that bond siblings share with themselves and parents, vice versa. It also includes extended families and friends who have become family, with time.
The love I have for Arsenal or the love Americans have for their country can also come under this umbrella .
I'll add **Obsessive love.**
This kind of love best explains clingy relationships where one person feel he or she is incomplete without the other person. Manic and jealousy go hand in hand with this kind of love.
Phrases like :
**No One Can Have You If I Can't ,** are powered by this kind of love.
These are some kind of love.
I believe there are way more.
And we can do well to add them to the discussion.
The Boat Trip
I went on a boat trip today and I made a lot of memories I would love to share here.
I planned to say a lot about this trip but I guess the excitement is yet to die down as I can't find words for it.
I will let the images do the talking.
The boat is an old wooden boat with a rickety Yamaha Enduro engine strapped to it .
As we move, the engine cough intermittently and threaten to throw us up into the brown water with every throttle.
The sky was clear when we left .
It was so sunny and bright you could see the end of the world from the way the horizon stretched out
There were this floating weed on the water.
One could mistake them for an island as they look structurally strong, but a closer look will reveal that there's nothing underneath other than tangled roots and sunshine-alergic fishes.
We were still on the water when the sun lost its flame. It clouded over : a storm was brewing .
Strong wind rushed the boat from the northern flanks and it swayed dangerously.
One could see first-timers breaking out in sweat from internalised terror.
The air was so tensed that one could touch the fear in the air.
I was unmoved. I've been there. I've done that.
We landed safely thirty minutes later.
Soon after, a heavy rain broke out.
The rain had me giving thanks we were out of the water before it started. It would have been disastrous if we were trapped onshore.
This beauty was the first to say hi to us.
Then this:
And this:
It was an amazing experience.
How do I post my intro here?
I've tried severally without success.
The post I intended showing is not coming out in my search.
Meet Elmi.
Can you tell us what the name is, sir ?
I'm Emmanuel.
I go by the moniker: Elmi, both here and on Noise.cash.
I sometimes stylise it as Imma Nuel or Immanuel ; as the spirit leads.
**Good. How long have you been here?**
Well, not quite long. Somewhat like a week. But I've been pretty around. It feels like I have been here forever.
How so?
Very much so. I've been crawling around the different communities' spaces , nibbling on their different feeds and bathing myself in the euphoria of the exquisite works therein , so it feels like I know it all when it comes to read.cash.
Haha. Do you really know it all?
I doubt if I do.
If I do, I would know how to navigate my way around here and establish a broader presence.
I still don't know how the site works. As you can see, I don't even have one sponsor or follower to boot. That should reflect the true nature of things.
How do you describe your personality?
Not much words : pleasant, compassionate, funny and quick are some of them.
Quick?
Yea. I tend to be faster than the average human.
Not efficiently fast - but clumsily so, as I tend to do everything in a hurry.
I must point out that I don't like it.
Does that apply in the bedroom too?
😀🤭
Ha, that's a different ball game: Fast or slow, I come last. 💯 That's the only place in life when coming last is a virtue.
Hnnm. Can we look at the writing part? Do you consider yourself a good writer?
No , I don't.
Funny enough, a good writer is the only thing I've been trying to be all my life, yet it has been out of reach.
Maybe because I have been stifling its path of growth . Maybe because I've been paying lip service to it instead of sweating it out. Just maybe!
I am not just one in the true sense of it, right now.
What makes you tick ; like what are your passions?
Music, Books and photography.
No caps.
I don't know how my life would have been without them.
I have a sizable collection of books and music in different genres warehoused in my tiny apartment . E books and a fat music player too.
I don't have a Camera but my phone have seen more shots than Facebook.
When I'm away from home, it's always delightful to return to my collection.
Can I see some of your shots? And do you have a particular niche for your snaps?
Not really. Everything beautiful is the niche for me.
I can be taking a walk and come across a cute hen, the camera goes click-click-click. On the beach, at work, everywhere. I just love to create memories
I love water and tend to spend a lot of my free time around it.
A lot of my photographs are of and around them.
Clouds, greens and waves too.
Wow. So what are you here for?
In a nutshell, I'll say I'm here to share happiness, meet new people and learn new things. You know the world is really a huge place with diverse cultures and people?! Melting points like this forum brings all together and we get to learn really quick.
I hope to become better at my writing so I can be able to express myself in the right words and maybe - get writing gigs.
That's good to know. I hope you get the very best of experiences.
Thank you very much.
What's your BitcoinCash story?
It's a relatively new concept for me. Cryptocurrency in its entirety have always been a novelty I'm yet to get around due to the restrictions in my country.
But it's good I can earn something for my little contributions and I'll find ways to turn them to cash when I earn them.
Is there something you need right now?
Yea. There is .
I need a lot of followers, subscribers and readers.
What do I earn without being read?Not much , I guess.
I need mentors too. I need people who are well into the art to help point things out when I goof.
That's all for now.
Well, I wish you good luck. It's nice getting to know you.
Thank you.
Loneliness
Some months back, I decided on a brief move from my city to a neighbouring region for a quick training that will last for a little over a year.
I had done a lot of calculations bothering on money, time and everything that could possibly go wrong prior to moving, but I did not factor in loneliness.
I didn't see the need for it and I bet many people don't too.
**In fact, it never occurred to me that I could be lonely.**
I pride myself in my solitude.
I could be by myself week-long without contact with anybody.
"I would be fine if I have my phone and a working internet connection", I usually tell myself.
Recent events have proven this to be a huge fallacy.
I was barely a week here when I started feeling funny. I couldn't place what the issue was . I was enveloped in a feeling that I can't put words to. It felt like there was a huge hole inside of me longing to be filled. I felt empty and uneasy.
I chalked it up to the change in environment .
My former city was boisterous and colorful. It was razz and frenzied.
It was old, modern and and prestigious . It was the past and the future fused together. And there was always somewhere to go.
If you run out of places to go, you could just sit back and watch one or two drama unfold among passerbys from your balcony : a husband and wife would soon start a free public show or if you're lucky , the road transport union worker sludging it out with a commercial driver..
The noise and chaos was all I knew and I had subconsciously became an extension of it.
This little town is the opposite of it.
Sandy , wild and green with endless stretches of forests and peace, I can understand why I ran into trouble keeping my mind sane.
I could walk for 5miles without meeting more than 5people . Voices and echo from several villages away breeze to my ears without me listening.
Everything was strange.
To create an equilibrium between the silence and the much needed noise, I went around blasting music in my MP3 player with hope to simulate the ideal Babel and feel at home a bit.
Did it work?
It made me look like a sewing needle in a plumbing shop. All eyes were on the odd ball.
I began to go for walks in the evening to meet people and calm my nerves ; that became my temporary therapy.
It worked for sometime and lost its efficacy.
There was this look in the locals' eyes that I couldn't pinpoint : It looked like distrust and looked like fear. But I don't know which.
To save my head and save them the trouble , I stayed away from my usual walk paths .(they must have been looking around for the irritant) .
With a silence so loud, I was constantly on the lookout for what to do. I feared running mad if I didn't find any.
Then, I discovered read.cash.
A space where I could earn BTC for running from loneliness and boredom.
Now this place I had hugely despised has turned a goldmine for huge resource and stories. I've been typing and clicking away ever since.
It's now a choice between this space and loneliness. A choice between redundancy and creativity.
Creativity will prevail.
Maybe it's time to finally learn how to really write.
How do you feel when you're totally broke?
You feel down or hopeful?
How do you react to hard times?
I miss the sea.
I thought the day will never come .
The day that I'll long for the beach and its musical waves.
I've been so used to lounging around it that I took it for granted .
Saturdays, with a fat book tucked under my armpit, I race off to the comfort of the coconut shades lining its endless shores.
There, I bathe my feet in immaculately white sands and watch fishermen manoeuvre tiny boats through dangerously high waves.
On days when I'm feeling really good, I'm accompanied by a bottle of creamy whiskey.
I punctuate the gush of cold wind with a mouthful of it every now and then . Here, my muse is always at its best. Ideas begin to flow in my head.
To write about the sweet couple giggling away oblivious of the waves or to photograph the wavy wall of water rising and falling majestically, becomes the debate. But alcohol has a way of solving this. It lulls my mind, redirect my attention to the tiny red crabs shuffling sideways in their hundreds ; leave me there for a while before tugging me back to reality.
Caught in this vast jungle of merciless mosquitoes by night and sun-flies at day, the aphorism that 'there is no place like home' rings more true.
I miss this and can't wait to return back to my city.
....
This post had recently been posted on my Noise account.
Recovering A Lost Coin : How?
I've read a lot about Blockchain and BitcoinCash since joining this space .
I've read very sweet and flowery words delivered in great erudition in its favour.
**A lot have been said, but I have not heard about something I consider vital : Recovering Lost Coins**
My little experience has shown me that you could lose a coin if you send it to the wrong address or if you match the wrong coin to the right address.
There are ways coins could be lost that I don't even know yet. So, there is this danger of losing money.
The reason why I'm excited about Blockchain in general is the promise of greater security of funds compare to what is obtained in traditional banking.
That there is no centralised authority where I can channel my complaints like in traditional banks even makes it more challenging in an event of a mishap.
So, how can I recover a coin if sent to the wrong address, mismatched or lost , who can I contact?
Finding My Feet
I love traveling but I hate the difficulty involved in finding my feet in the new places I go to.
It's like an overexcited cat trying to jump out of its skin while keeping its fluffy fur and comfort- wanting to go and wanting to stay.
But my heart will always go on, and it usually drags my body along with it.
I share the same feeling when it comes to writing.
I love to write.
I admire writers and I am greatly entertained by them.
When reading a really exciting piece , I'm usually blown away and out of control.
I once saw my dark skin blush so badly it was sprouting purple spots over a really good piece.
The other time, it was goosebumps. It covered me over from head to toe in awe of some heavenly piece.
You really have my heart when you can write.
Reading others had been a favourite sport . But maybe it's time to be read too.
I will be trying my hands in the art starting with this piece.
I will appreciate every followership and mentorship I can get from this space.
I hope to be really good in no distant time.
Corrections, ideas , quips and encouragements are highly welcomed.
@Elmi
