Zibah Writes

 You've heard a lot about it. For a while you feel immune, you're the girl no one notices and so you don't have to worry about being a victim. They start to prove you wrong....lots of times. Tobi, dark skinned and funny...a different person the day he pinned your hands on his red bedspread, taking something you weren't giving. You stop struggling....you tell yourself you won't have to term it "that word" if it's without struggles, never mind the burning in your eyes as the tears slowly trickle out. .. You remember the peeling walls of Obinna's office, the way you stared at them so long that you memorised each crease, training all your senses on the yellow paint, trying unsuccessfully to block out his grunting sounds. You remember Matthew's gropings...you remember them all... When others talk about their experiences, you advise and encourage..... Yet, the weight of yours follow you around. You still don't call it "that word"...you...

 Edidiong rubs her belly and groans as her stomach rumbles once again. Her mother has been in the kitchen for the past hour preparing lunch and she doesn’t think she can bear the hunger any longer. She looks wistfully at the bag of chips one of her brothers has abandoned on the sofa. She would just take a little, to assuage her hunger for the time being. She tears open the bag of chips and almost cries in delight as she crunches chip after chip. Smiling, she turns on the television. “Edidiong! Am I not preparing lunch? Why are you stuffing your face with junk?” her mother interrupts her in a shrill voice. “Mummy I was hungry, I just wanted to take a little” Edidiong explains. “As big as your stomach is, you’re hungry. Is it until you’re too fat to pass through the door? Help yourself for once” her mother hisses as she grabs the bag of chips and returns to the kitchen. Edidiong has suddenly lost her appetite. She silently sobs and she goes to her room.  It is sad that for most ...

 Every second semester in every session, the students of Trinity University get a lecture-free week packed with a lot of activities decided by the students themselves through a representative committee. This lecture free week is tagged “Students week”. From the 30th of May 2023 to the 3rd of June 2023, Trinity University had her 3rd edition of the Students’ week since the inception of the school. This particular post is going to take you through the activities of this year’s students’ week through the eyes of a young student blogger.        The theme for the first day was “Old school day/costume day”. Students had been anticipating this day as soon as it was announced. We all wanted to see how creative Trinity University students could be. They did not disapoint. The creativity was mind- blowing. I saw different types of village headmasters and headmistress, I saw pregnant women, I saw market women with their absurdly painted faces which was meant to be pass as ...

Losing someone you love is something you're never prepared for. That piercing noise that fills your head immediately. That moment when your world comes crashing down. I was safe in the knowledge that my father will always be there for me, a strong, determined man, larger than life. But right then, my world rearranges...I'm a ship whose anchor has been untethered, left to the mercies of a raging storm. I am lost.  I’ve always marvelled at how easily tears fill up one's eye ducts when they hear news of death. That night, I finally understood a mystery I was unprepared for. The unending tears, the shock, the way my hands could not stop shaking. I kept seeing his face over and over, willing to conjure him up....but he was gone forever. Suddenly, I had to learn to live without a father.  It is often said that there are five stages of grief, but no one ever really prepares you to move past the anger or the depression. It's been two years now and I still haven't accepted ...

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words....Words will break my confidence . She had read that somewhere once and the truth of the statement still rings loudly in her ears.  Words- those harmless letters interspersed to become something venomous, gradually draining a person’s sense of self worth.  She remembers when the words started, those early days of her innocence, that delicate timeline between adolescence and adulthood referred to as "secondary school". Nothing had prepared her for the cruelty of 13 year olds who had for reasons known only to them, declared her below their standards and therefore unfit for friendship.  She was the outcast. Their words had been like daggers pushed deep into her chest. The adults laughed off her sorrow- they are just kids, they will outgrow it.  She never found out if they outgrew it however, because she learnt to hide, to stay away, to become invisible, embracing her  loneliness like a much desired best friend. As for...

 As a young girl growing up, I’ve often wondered exactly what friendship is. It took a series of betrayals and a lot of tears before I realised what true friendship is.  Friendship is putting her first before yourself. It is shielding her from the bad things and being her safe space when the bad things catch up with her. It is staying up till 2am playing like 2 year olds even though you're teenagers. It is stabbing classes together just because one person does not want to attend the class. It is telling other people " of course I won't tell anyone" and then rushing to tell her the first chance you get.  It is buying food for her for a whole week when she is broke, and getting in trouble with your family for it.  It is never feeling jealous of her because you know everything she has, is yours to share. It is laughing uncontrollably together over inside jokes. It is hating on her toxic ex for treating her less than the princess she is.  It is going to dinner night...