Lifestyle Blogs by Lolo Mma

You can chew it, drink the water or use the leaves in your soup (e.g. egusi, ogbono, cocoyam....) You can also prepare and store the leaves for future use in your cooking in case the market near you shuts down. Glad to have this in my small garden.

First published March 27 2020. To maintain an unchangeable sweetness of disposition, to think any thoughts that are pure and gentle , to be happy under all circumstances, such blessed conditions and such beauty of character should be the àim of all. If anyone has failed to lift himself above ungentleness, impurity and unhappiness, he is greatly deluded if he thinks he can make the world happier... - Above Life's Turmoil (written in 1910).

First published March 25 2020.  Behind every disappointment is a blessing.... Have we been too busy to take care of our spiritual, mental or physical health? To connect with our friends, know our children, their needs or talents? Too busy to care? Too busy for family, love, romance, sex, friendships, relationships or simply knowing our neighbours? Too busy to have fun or take on that personal project we've been putting off for  years? Now may be the best time to stop and reflect on our lifestyle. The world is at a standstill. It happens once in a lifetime. Many of us are less busy, uncertain. Businesses are closing for a while - we don't know for how long. The kids are home...

First published 17th March 2020.  Think about it.  Another side to the COVID19: The beginning of wisdom is to know that you don't know. The new virus leaves us with a picture of gloom and uncertainty around the world. Where not so long ago, we were moving further and further apart, today much more than ever, we can all do with a dose of human kindness. Where once we were comfortable isolating ourselves from others, today we are forced into isolation and

First published March 17, 2020. "My theory of MOTHERISM which is founded on  # traditional   # African   # cosmology  sees  # gender  inequality as a weapon of divide and rule introduced into  # Africa  by the political and religious colonizers of  # Europe  and  # Arabia  to weaken and destabilize the African social and domestic environment, for the woman was traditionally the backbone of all #traditional African societies. Therefore to conquer Africa, the colonizers had to first depose the woman from all the sectors where she  held away as the counterpart/partner of the male e.g. Governance,

First published 15 March 2020. 25 years ago, Prof. Catherine Acholonu, my mother, said, "African artifacts constantly reflect male and female sitting side by side or opposite each other, portraying dual sexuality and dual leadership, the 2 indispensable dimensions of African cosmology.... Most African societies reflect a role distribution system between men and women. Traditional African cultures placed male and female hierarchies side by side in the political and economic affairs of the

First published 11th March 2020. "We need to unite with a common vision that it needs to be legislated. There is also the need for political will. Young women need to be brought to the table and this can drive the change we need." -  # UNWomen  Rep, Comfort Lamptey, speaking on achieving gender parity in Nigeria (at the  # WILPF  dinner on "Integrated Approach: Mobilising for Increased​ Women’s​ Representation in Decision​ Making and Access to Productive​ Resources.”

(First published on 8th March 2020) "Several African societies reflect systems with ranging degrees of dual sex hierarchies in which men and women exist in parallel and complimentary positions and roles within the society." - Catherine Acholonu in her 1995 book, Motherism: The Afrocentric Alternative to Feminism ( A fall out from her experiences at the "Beijing Conference").

Speaking to the media, I reiterated my key message that gender equality should not be about competition between men and women but about how men and women should complement one another as partners in development. In this regard, the messages about gender equality should be clear and devoid of ambiguity. "We need to be understood and we need male gender advocates on our side", I said. Thank you Lord for making it happen! 🤗 ☺ We celebrated the International Women's Day on 5th March, 2020 with the key message of passing the baton and breaking the glass ceiling. The special guests, 3 globally recognised women from 3 different generations, shared inspirational messages to the younger generation, about their journeys to success and breaking the glass ceiling. They gave words of hope and guidance to making it, in a world of several development challenges facing the youth......

It is scary to be a woman in Abuja. Like me, hundreds of Abuja residents were rudely awakened to the horrors of the brutality meted out to over 100 women in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, from 24-27 April 2019, by law enforcement agencies comprising

Here's my long essay on how laws which are not gender sensitive could promote violence. Originally published in several dailies in January 2019). As Nigeria welcomes the new Acting Inspector General of Police in January 2019, the discourse on Police Reform comes to mind once again. More than a month has passed

(One of my articles published in several online dailies.Originally posted in March 2019) It has been argued that cases of violence against children are usually underreported and thus survivors, witnesses and their families are encouraged to speak out. However, speaking out can also come at a cost which further instils fear. Two recent cases come to

(One of my articles on the Police Reform Bill, posted on several online dailies in November 2018) From the 19th to the 20th of November 2018, a coalition of over 40 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) gathered in Abuja, the Nation’s Capital, to call for the passage of the Police Reform Bill. The Bill seeks to repeal the Police Act of 1943, which though has had some amendments to a few

From a dead stump springs a shoot. Adorned with gifts of life, dry branches bear fruits. A wolf and a lamb, a space to share. On the tail of a leopard, gallops a goat. A child leads the way. Plays with the cobra but will not be harmed.

If you live in me; I will live in you; One with nature One with Life. If you live in me And I live in you, You will see what is, what was and what’s to come.

Flashback 1 Chubby and ever cheerful, everyone was fond of Gracie especially Uncle Frank who was already sliding fingers through her blouse to fondle her breasts. Gracie was about

The beats boomed on Sola’s speakers today as it did some 40 years ago when their dad saddled all five kids up to live with him in another city. The kids were told both

I am the source of all life,  Yet without you the cycle is incomplete. I am the vessel  From which the rites of passage 

Originally published on 25 March 2014. Several years ago in the late 1990s, I was flipping through a British fashion magazine which was discussing the science behind the well sculptured dresses; bustles from the Victorian era (1800s) which enhanced women's features especially the bust and the buttocks area. Back then I could not help but observe the striking similarities between the dresses and the physical features of African women; recall that back in the day, the globally 'accepted' feminine shape was that of the waif, glamorised by the fashion industry.