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  "Kintu felt for Gitta. He knew the snare of being a man. Society heaped such expectations on manhood that in a bid to live up to them some men snapped." "Primigravida, fourteen years old?" Beautifully written, Makumbi takes us back in time through different branches of the family tree. The book is a journey through generations, delicately addressing important issues in a way that is easy to understand. At a point, you want to bring the story to an end so you can solve the mystery, but each story addresses different themes. History, Religion, Family ties, War, Masculinity, Sexuality, and incest.  "The awakened had shaken off most of Ugandan culture yet aspects of traditional manhood persisted. Cooking is unmanly". As in Kanani's case, that a man would subject himself to eating horrible food even when he cooked better, just because of culture is astonishing. Interesting, enjoyable and quite long💬

The first book of the year💪. A collection of 15 short stories. Set in Nigeria, Toni kan takes us through the life of the different characters excellently and honestly. Many of the stories are relatable, albeit heart-wrenching. The stories are quite too sad to take in at once. Shame, guilt, corruption, and infidelity are some of the themes used in the stories.  "God is listening" and "Devil's overtime" are my favorite stories from the collection. Children should not be left to fend for themselves, it puts them at risk.  

x Body shaming is not just a fancy word. It is what you do when you constantly feel a need to refer to someone's bodily fault and imperfections, whether as a joke or not.  Although, it refers to physical appearance. It affects both physical and mental wellbeing and it may alter the way people see themselves.  People body shame others without realizing they have done so. I find it offensive when people feel a need to constantly remind you of flaws that you are well aware of. Sometimes you want to look them in the face and tell them bruh, it is none of your business!! They say things like: "you look so fat" or "look at your thin legs", like what are you talking about, I am not in this world to please you, your opinion does not even matter to me, so, just shut up! Sometimes, you just want to be emotional, breakdown, and cry in front of people to make them see that you have been trying to keep in shape. You run every morning and evening, you have not even taken your...

  Sense of humor: #nigerian national treasure As always, we are being bullied into silence and people have begun to give up, with hashtags such as #visa #redsea #canada trending on Twitter. Nigerians are a special breed, masking deep pain with a good sense of humor. Devastated, disappointed, sad, does not come close to describing how I have felt since the national broadcast yesterday. For a moment, I thought there was hope. Events unfolding in the past days have left me speechless. Poverty is so deep in the system, that with peanuts people are willing to give up the truth and sell their future. Let us just see how events unfold, but to win this fight, poverty needs to be dealt with, because not everybody will fight on an empty stomach. We can take words to the grassroots as much as we want, educate the old and young, and still not achieve anything because they have created a system where people only care about what goes into their pockets and mouths.  Money is a very sca...

  We sometimes over attach to people we call friends and we find our actions being met with indifference and our energy being unmatched in this one-sided relationship. Don't overestimate your place in people’s life. Make friends with people that are ready to make friends with you, familiarize yourself with people that want you to, don’t force things, don’t push too hard, normalize having a strong small circle if possible. However, do not forget that people get attracted to success so they may flock around you when it comes, still, live your life! You look down on yourself every day thinking you are the smallest in your circle, a lot wish to have what you have but they do not, and until you place that value on yourself, only then can others see it, you are valuable, no matter what, stop playing small. Never force relationships, I know it hurts but you gotta give yourself some respect baby girl. In essence, life is short and we can die at any time, we should try to make every day...

  Another quite complicated book, right from the beginning of the book, evil loomed in that household for unexplainable reasons. Spiritual, mysterious. One would have mistaken Ikenna’s outburst as normal teenage problems, the withdrawal, and all. But it was beyond this, evil was bound to happen and as if compelled by a force to move into doom, he kept making mistakes. Also, the importance of jointly raising children as parents were emphasized, especially boys, they tend to need male models and boundaries to be established because once caution is thrown to the wind it could be very deadly and dangerous even for the family. On each page, there is particular suspense that hangs in the air and makes you want to proceed to the next page to find out. Quite enjoyable to read but also unpredictable and not your regular kind of story.

*No one told us that sometimes evil is found much closer to home, and that those who want to harm us can have the most soothing and familiar voices * * My legs were thrown apart. I felt a sharp pain as bros T pushed into my unwelcoming body, my spirit floated high up to the ceiling…….i felt pain, deep pain inside me.* Morayo’s pain was so relatable, so real, so well described. This was a girl who was raped before she even knew what it meant, way before her first period, she had sex, got pregnant, and aborted without knowing what it actually meant. Bros T was evil! she had to not only bear the pain of it all but the uncomfortable silence that filled the home thereafter and a strained relationship with her mother. This book broke my heart and it made me cry because it is the reality of many girls around the world with no one to shield them from the wickedness. Aunty Morenikeji’s was a sad one also, it was an obvious power play and a game of oppression by chief Komolafe. There a...