Woman: Ọmọ Ọlọ́mọ
Iya Oyo had a woven basket full of unshelled melon seeds on one side, and on the other side, she had a bowl into which she dropped the shelled melons, as she worked rapidly, automatically, her fingers moving so rapidly they formed a blur if you pay attention to them.
So much to say!
Gist plenty.
Ọ̀rọ́ pọ̀ láti sọ.
Yèyé
“Iya Oyo,” I called, after polishing the bowl of amala she made for me, “what does Yèyé mean? Is it different from Ìyá, which means mother?”
It was Baba Oyo who answered me, raising his glasses and looking up from a book without a cover that he was reading. Because I had also read that book on his table, I knew the book was titled “Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunlole,” by D.O. Fagunwa, one of the old books he had in his library.
Ibeji: Soul Mates
“Iya Oyo,” I asked, “why call her Ọmọ Méji? Ọmọ Méji means two children but she is just one person.”
This was after a woman who looked like she was in her thirties, who was on her way to an errand, stopped by Iya Oyo’s house to greet her.
Iya Oyo looked at me with surprise, as if to say my mother should have given me such basic cultural education.
Ìyàwó: Wife of Fortune
It was an open Saturday at our hostel.
On the way to my grandparents’ house, I ran into a wedding party.
I met Iya Oyo curiously inspecting a large, covered bowl when I arrived home.
Your Mother is My mother is Your Mother is My Mother.
“Iya Oyo, does your name mean the mother of Oyo, or the mother in Oyo?” I asked Iya Oyo one day.
“It means both,” she responded. “To my entire community of Oyo, I am the mother of all, young and old. If anyone is hungry and comes to me, it is my responsibility to feed them. Anybody who needs a place to sleep and comes to me, I will roll out my mats to them. I am their mother, and that is why I am Iya Oyo. At the same time, I live in Oyo, therefore if I travel anywhere, I am the mother who lives in Oyo.”
THE YAM FARMER WHO LOVES PIZZA
The naira is getting weaker daily and the poor man is suffering.
The problem of the Nigeria naira/dollar exchange crisis seems to me like this: a farmer produces yam tubers worth $1 a day, but has cultivated a taste for imported pizza worth $10 a day.
The farmer can do two things: curb his taste for pizza and learn to enjoy his yams, so he stops ordering pizza from Pizza Hut; or produce ten times the number of tubers of yam to support his taste for pizza.
They gave us an assignment when I was an undergraduate taking a Yoruba class.
We were asked to find five proverbs on mental illness.
I was in luck because Iya Oyo and Baba Oyo were visiting us in Ile Ife at that time and I found her at the back of the house, lounging.
That was easy, I thought.
IT IS A GOAL
The population of Senegal is only 15 million.
It is less than the population of the city of Lagos alone.
But Nigeria got defeated and Senegal is the holder of the African Cup of Nations, the most prestigious trophy in soccer on the continent of Africa.
Whistling While Hungry
I feel really hungry these days.
I wake up hungry and dive headfirst into the kitchen.
I typically have food in the fridge.
WHO IS GUILTY?
Iya Oyo was smiling. That was frightening. I knew I was in great trouble.
Iya Oyo never smiled. When she looked like she was smiling, trouble was brewing, and the only one that trouble could brew for that quiet evening was me.
The only way I knew she was smiling was because I turned and looked at her as she tapped her pipe on the arms of the seat on which she reclined with my grandfather, who was still quietly smoking his pipe.
One of the most fascinating spectacles of my childhood days was the annual Egúngún.
Egungun means something that is perfect, balanced, or straight, formed from the word gún.
In Yoruba, you repeat something to emphasize it: guńgún refers to the absolutely or superlatively gún element of life.