Zibah Writes

  How does it feel to be loved? For someone to understand your unspoken words by looking into your eyes. To memorise your expressions, every curve of your skin. To completely occupy someone’s mind and heart. Perhaps it is how Juliet felt with Romeo or how Rose felt when Jack sacrificed his life to save hers. Or perhaps it is how I would feel if anyone ever made the effort to know me-how I love when it rains, how my music taste chooses me...how my best drink is chilled water, how I squint when I am absent minded, why I hate public transport, the little dance I do while eating food I love, how I laugh at every little thing, how much I love hugs, how my eyes light up when I see someone I like, my little giggles when I’m shy, the birthmark on my eyebrows that I do not like, the color of my eyes, how much I love colouring my hair-. Or if anyone would gaze at me like the sun shines out of my eyes, touch me like I’m a god and you’re on your knees worshiping, kiss me like my mouth is a cha...

 He looked at me and that’s how I knew....we would be together forever. He was exactly my type; tall, light skinned and muscular. He looked like that first burst of sunlight after long weeks of heavy rain, lifting the gloom and brightening everything it touches. He walked towards me and I smiled. Jason. He took me to a 5 star Italian restaurant on our first date. He held doors open for me, pulled out chairs and lowered me into them with forehead kisses, brought me flowers, and fed me. He held my hand, gazed into my eyes and called me  Ma Chérie . Jason, the perfect gentleman. On the day of love, he took me to the beach and my heart sang when I saw the decorations. He even remembered my favourite color and had gotten a black cake inscribed with “Happy Valentine’s day Sarah”. As he lay on the sand gazing at the stars, I stared at him. This beautiful man who could easily pass for a model . He was everything I could never have had in college, back then when I had been overweight a...

I don't quite fit in anywhere. When I'm home, it's like I'm an outsider looking in. Watching my mum and sister bond over pots of steaming jollof rice, shared interests, trips to the market,  styling and fashion...I smile, it is bittersweet. Like you're watching a home movie where the main characters are so in tune with each other and live happily ever after, and at the same time knowing you'll never get your happily ever after, because you're just too different. I tell myself I'm unique, but that's just a nice way of saying I conspicuously stand out...a popular loner. I've never belonged. Everyone says I have a nice and bubbly personality, but the only bubble is the one I'm stuck in..while every other person sails freely around me. People tell me to love myself first, but really what's left to love? Slowly, I've been dissected and I can't even find parts of myself anymore. Where is the young girl who always smiled? Oh yes, I remem...

 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 ...