Odiereblog

I woke up one morning to screaming coming from my neighbors house, I was curious to know what was going on and went to spy on them. I found the husband and wife arguing seriously then suddenly the husband took out his belt, and started flogging his wife, she immediately ran away.  I was the only one who was secretly watching before some other neighbors had managed to come out of their house. The next day, I saw the lady who had been arguing with her husband with some police men and her mother.  Yet again another drama surfaced in the yard, the lady and her husband argued again and then she got slapped by him. The slap angered me, he was behaving like he didn't love his wife. No matter how bad the situation is a man should not raise his hand on a woman.  Later that evening the man was bailed out by his mother and normally since I was close to his mom I decided to visit them. His mom was just spouting rubbish, I understand since she's talking with her son but ho...

I went to visit a friend whose dad just died. She was sad, sitting on the floor, and in her culture she was asked to shave her head. I felt her pain too, but there was nothing that could be done. The house was full, people were crying, but her mother was the one arranging things, answering calls, trying to be strong for everyone. Then today I got another news — my uncle just passed away and left his wife and kids. Death is inevitable, but it's becoming a pattern how men die earlier than women in most homes. Most people would say it's an age thing since in most homes the father is usually older than his wife, but they forget there are homes where the wife is older and yet the man still dies earlier. You look around almost every compound and you see it. Widows everywhere, but very few widowers. The women are left to carry the family after the burial. Why is it like this? Why are men leaving so early? In Nigeria and across the world, women live an average of 5 to 7 yea...

I went to buy some foodstuffs and on my way back I came across some Hausa men with a wooden cage by the roadside. Inside the cage were three porcupines.  It was the first time I came across such animals in real life. I was scared to pass or go near. The quills looked sharp enough to go through anything. But some kids were gathered around, laughing and trying to poke the porcupine in the cage with sticks.  Then it happened. One of the kids got poked by a quill that poked through the cage bars. He yelped and jumped back. Immediately, the men secured the cage properly and chased the kids away, shouting for them to leave the animals alone. Standing there, heart still racing, I couldn’t stop wondering: _How do porcupines live? What do they eat? Why are they covered in those dangerous spikes?_  And what I found is that the porcupine is one of nature’s most misunderstood and fascinating survivors. The Porcupine: More Than Just Spikes Porcupines are rodents. Yes, they...

My friend asked her man for an iPhone for her birthday.  Not for cruise. Not to show off.  She really needed to start content creating.  But she couldn’t because her phone camera was shallow. Blurry. Lagging.  Every time she tried to film, the video looked like it was shot in 2012.  Brands wouldn’t take her serious. Followers would scroll past.  So she told him about it. Man to man. “Babe, I need a better phone to start.” He agreed.  Then on her birthday, he opened a small shop for her instead.  She was baffled.  And the comments didn’t help.   “Why are you asking for phone? Be materialistic.”  “Use the shop money and save up to buy the phone yourself.”  “Be grateful now.” But here’s the thing nobody was saying:   For how long would she save up? By the time she had saved 800k to buy the iPhone, the passion for content creating would have died. T he trend would have passed. The momentum would be gone. ...

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please see a healthcare professional for diagnosis and treatment. I was having a gist with my brother about the numbness he kept feeling in his leg. At first, I thought maybe he had just been sitting down for too long. But then something caught my attention. During our conversation, he got up to use the guest toilet three times. And the numbness in his leg still didn’t go away. Mind you, my brother is in his mid-20s. So it definitely wasn’t an "old age" thing. Later, I went to use the same guest toilet and noticed he had forgotten to flush. But what really caught my attention were the ants that had gathered around the urine on the floor. I immediately told him to go for a blood test because he didn’t realize these could be early signs of diabetes. That day made me realize how many of us miss the warning signs of diabetes until it’s too late. If you’re...

Trigger Warning: This post discusses domestic abuse, coercive control, and safety planning. If you are in immediate danger, please contact your local emergency number or a domestic violence hotline. Normally, when we talk about domestics violence, the victims are women and the abusers are mostly men. But abuse doesn’t have a gender. Let me share a story that happened just a week ago. A man named Peter was dating a woman. She moved into his single-room apartment on her own, without him ever having lived with a girlfriend before. To many guys, it sounds like a dream — someone to cook, clean, and always be there. But for Peter, it became a nightmare. She started every argument. She withheld his phone to make sure he wasn’t talking to anyone else. When he talked back, it turned physical. He wasn’t the type to hit a woman. She was the one hitting him. After some months, Peter decided to leave. He moved out and left the apartment for her to end the relationship. But she didn’t le...