Click the link below for the beginning of this piece https://onesquarebell.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-village-people-syndrome.html?m=1
The negative statements and many more are responsible for the configuration of most minds towards those set of people commonly referred to as village people.
Many of us Teens and Kids are growing up hearing negative statements in relation to the rural settlers and have believed that the people living in the villages are evil. As a result of this thought line, many of us, youths even, are scared of visiting our villages. Many of us within the focused group hate anything that reminds us of our root.
Please, as kingdom minded teens and kids, we are admonished by the Scriptures to love all and hate none. On the strength of this I enjoin us to do away with any believe that we have that associates, suggests or relates to seeing, believing, referring or concluding that the villages are full of evil.
For those of us that are born outside our village, and being raised in the city, I say to you: by all means reasonable and Godly, try to always connect with your root. Do not hang in another man's land and from there pour aspersions of various kinds on your own land. It might look palatable and expedient for you to do so today, the future may not consider this action of yours a tidy one.
The people who live in the villages are humans just like those in the city. They have not committed any offence that took them there, in fact, some of them have lived in the city too, perhaps, far longer than your parents have, before they relocated for various reasons and at different times.
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| The Pumpkin Seed, Cherished so much in my village |
Yes, there may be people that have committed, are still committing crimes or offences there, even evil, there are equally those who do same in the city where you live, even worse. You have not run away from there, and most likely you are not planning to.
Please purge your mind of the negative feelings and thoughts about your village, and try to connect with your root, your place of origin. Come to think of it, this has its own benefits, and includes, but not limited to the following:
- Loving and caring for more humans
- Extending and expanding your reach and contacts.
- knowing more about your parents and who they truly are
- Hearing the other side of the stories they tell you.
- Sometimes getting to meet, know and discuss with the people involved and getting information from them directly
- The opportunity to engage, interact and interrogate your parents based on the information you received from the other side. Chimamanda Adichie spoke about the danger of a single story. Think about this.
The benefits of knowing and interacting with the place or land of origin of your parents, beyond what is also expressed above, extend to other areas, among which are:
- Access to fresh fruits and vegitables
- Access to other farm produce at relatively cheaper rates, and sometimes free
- Access to fresh air, a wonderful touch of nature
The opportunity to have:
- A Fresh experience, a new perspective
- A total different approach to things
- A new understanding of life
The serene, captivating and amazingly beautiful village environment presents an atmosphere that compares to nothing you have ever seen.
The serenity and inner joy of the entire area can connect you to a vision that helps you to see the beauty of God's creation in a way and manner that you never could imagine.
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| This is called Okwa in my village. The contents of this Okwa are Garden egg, Bitter Cola and Cola Nut |
Other invaluable positive experiences that no amount of words here can correctly express and genuinely quantify that accrue to you from visiting your village regularly include your:
- Impression about God,
- Acceptance and love for Him
- Relationship and commitment to Him
- Personal life and pursuits
- Treatment of other people
No matter how well I try or am able to represent my impressions here, the fact remains that the only thing you can achieve from it is knowledge, but what you need, which is also my recommendedd option for you is: Visit your village to have the "experience".
Visiting your village is one unique way of appreciating the Almighty God and His wonderful works of creation. Most of the things that we see, most of the things that surround us in the cities are artificial, man made.
There is always a sensation sort of, a deeper feeling of inner connection and relieve, when your feet touches the home ground of your parents at the village. As a matter of fact that feeling continues as you relate with relations and others in the community. The same feeling does not go, but remains even after you have returned to your base in the city. Any time there is a call, either from them or from you to them, the feeling of inner joy and happiness is instantly ignited.
My parents are from different states, we visit the two villages regularly.
Visiting the land of your parents in the village, affords you the opportunity to learn more about your culture and to increase the list of delicacies you know and in some cases the preparation methods, as you will get to see dishes that are unique to your people (more if your parents are from different ethnic groups).
It provides you with wide variety of food items that you can choose from and the opportunity to serve different meals from time to time, the supply of which is not usually at the cut throat market prices, but from the farm of dearly beloved relations of your parents and other extended family members.
What about the festivals? Connecting regularly with your root also increases your knowledge of traditional festivals such as new yam festivals, age grade festivals, masquerade festivals, fishing festivals, farming festivals, and lots more. Without constantly staying in touch with your villages, you may never be able to know or learn about these things.
In the next publication, I'll be sharing with you a short story, a personal experience I had few years ago when I travelled to my village. Please keep following us.
As always, I implore you to leave your comments in the commentary box below. Share with your friends and invite other kingdom minded, success driven teens and kids to join us here because the more we are, the merrier. Have a fruitful weekend ahead and stay out of trouble.
Anchor/Host
Nnabugwu Chinaza
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