Educating the Village

There is/should be a saying

"educate an African, educate the whole village"

And when i think of it, i feel like laughing. Because i have lived the saying prolly more than anyone becz my father is a great believer of it.

And now a pal of mine is getting right into it/has gotten right into it and wonders what to do.

I ask

Have you ever heard the word NO and she says she has only that it is a very difficult word to understand. NO. Infact if you can master the word NO i tell her, we will be half way there.

Ok, so what am i saying.

Educating the village means your clan members, villagers, family members think that your pockets are BOTTOMLESS pits. Your meagre income is to be divided to all and sundry despite the conditions of life here in this great city.

While i believe truly in giving, i think there is A limit. And the limit is to the truly needy.

Maybe i should write a book on how to say NO.

I am seeing many more of my contemporaries falling into this trap every day. What follows is they start making excuses on their lives.

I can't marry because my sister is still in school and i am paying her school fees. Then i ask can her parents pay it, they say YES. So what? If your father/mother can pay her daughters' school fees why are you doing it for her??? To show gratitude they say. What they probably don't know that it simply never ends there. My dad has educated his siblings and is now educating their children.

Reduced savings, low home ownership. I mean anyone who has ever lost a job like i have knows the magic of savings. And more so in these days of job insecurity.

Another day an distant uncle of mine called me asking me to tell my dad that her sister has no bus fare. I don't understand. Get your hands and word, don't bug me about busfare. If you are truly needy like you are an orphan and young i will get the money for you but look here, Mother Teresa(God bless her soul) is gone.

I don't think it's wise to encourage people to laze around and then dip your hands into your shallow pockets and finance their laziness.

I had a laugh recently when i told my cuzo that i was broke and needed money to make my hair and she told me why i couldn't ask my dad. That was fine until she said "After all, he is no longer looking after his brothers because they have jobs now"

Anyway, is it possible to educate the whole village and suffer less consequences.