Gates Hub Blog

  Photo by Kevin Gent on Unsplash . In 1900, the Benin Empire had been conquered by the British and was renamed 'Nigeria' as suggested by Flora Shaw in an article in The Times of London on January 8, 1897. Just before the defeat, there was a clan of personae non gratae, unaccepted outcasts whose actual name is yet to be known. What makes historians and archeologists inquisitive about this tiny bit of history? The clan started when a brother and sister went into exile in 1830 to avoid shame and death. A serene family, living in the middle of nowhere took them in thinking they were a couple- that was the impression they gave. The siblings committed incest, a taboo ( awua ) in the Benin culture. Esewie (the sister) was pregnant for a male child- Ogiemién. She died immediately after childbirth. Meanwhile, Degbueyi (the brother) kissed the dust a few days after their flee as though the punishment for their  awua  followed him. Ogiemién, however, grew up with the kind family a...

For the first part, CLICK HERE : Part 1 Part of the curses that usually followed a child of awua was infertility, surprisingly, Itohan conceived. Apparently, Ogie was never a cursed child of awua and till date no one knows who his father was.  There was a clash! It cost the life of Itohan who was heavily pregnant for Ogie's child. Osato's father was murdered, his mother was nowhere to be found. Sasint  on Pixbay In friendship, we are each others' primary confidants, motivators, and activity partners in life. They lost all they had but each other. They trained together to become warriors as they kept searching for their mother, originally Osato's mother. History has it that, in the course of searching they killed numerous threats. Their strength was watching out for each other. Mentally, either of them would have broken down or lost hope if they were alone; they were alive because they were friends. Life happens and we cannot always surmount the shades it throws at us...

After reading a post from this blog about Healthy Friendships and Relationships , I decided to share my story. My name is Jumoke! This is my life in words. Photo by Stormseeker on Unsplash   LOVE OR NOT? I grew up in a home without love This won't be my portion, I swore My  mother was always broken and shattered She cried and suffered- that is all I can remember I promised to never fall in love So my heart would never be torn My mistake was to think it didn't matter as I got older He came into my life when I lacked a friend and partner I forgot my childhood take on love In ignorance, I gave it a chance, and what? My fear became reality with tears and scars The dotting young man became a dictator and heartless ruler I had made a mistake by considering love! This was her mistake, my mom My life was the epitome of my mother's She had endured life to protect her only daughter I failed her! I failed her!! I thought. What if my mistake wasn't loving? What if it was a mistake...

A unique attribute of friendship and relationship generally is that there's continual growth. In this process parties involved would get to know one another better and build a more concrete chemistry. Are you wondering how to go about these? We got you covered. Background image by Jacoblund (iStock) 200 Questions to Ask For Improved Friendship/Relationship 1. Would you change yourself if you could? 2. How would you frankly describe the opposite gender? 3. I hope you know I'm always here for you? (could be rhetorical) 4. Do you think we would always be friends? 5. Which dream do you wish could come through? 6. What can you eat for the rest of your life without getting tired? 7. Which kind of movies do you like? 8. Which would you choose: Love or Money? 9. What is the worst nickname you've ever been given and why? 10. Is there a time you thought I went too far? 11. Have you ever stalked a crush? 12. Has a movie ever made you cry? Title? 13. Have you ever secretly taken money...

This would be a short summary of my friendship. My criteria for choice of friends may differ from yours, but they all revolve around the same thing which is who we are. I don't know about you, but I can't just call a person my friend after the first day we meet; there has to be a concrete foundation before the word 'friend' can be his/her adjective. I wouldn't talk about how I choose my friends now, but for that [ click here ]. I would only talk about my personal experience in friendship and I'd focus on a particular clique from my secondary school and we still exist. Meet us First First I would start by introducing what I'd describe as a personality check [*names are fictional but identities are true]. Jephen was best at keeping malice and he even boasted about it once or twice, how ridiculous and hilarious. Nmakiro was gentle, but his gentility faded away and it could have been a smart camouflage from the onset, who knows? He became the baddest after Jep...

Omg!! I watched the second season of The Sex Lives of College Girls. Guess what?? It was more appealing than I thought.👌 As a Nigerian, I guess some foreign comedies don't always do the magic. But I laughed so hard watching this season. Sometimes, I paused to get my head back in the game. The story centers around four girls in their first year at the prestigious Essex College. They are Kimberly, Leighton Murray, Bela, and Whitney. Disclaimer: there may be spoilers... very subtle but worth it.😋 Season one ended with Kimberly losing her scholarship after she cheated in an exam. She failed to prepare because she realized she was a sex addict after hooking up with Leighton's hot brother, Nico.💀 Enough tea there; let's move on.👅 Did I mention that they're all roommates? So cool! And each one of them had sex in that room at least once, gross!👀 Season 2 Trailer: The series has a lot of adventure, but I'd only tell you my thoughts and some occurrences about their fri...