https://billybello.com

ETSAKOR PROVERBS ETSAKOR DIALECT: Tsi otor, or kha somhi vhi ime; a ge gwa li ighele eva. TRANSLATION: If a piece of land is productive for farming, it is cultivated twice. MEANING: The Proverb here recommends that a piece of fertile land could be cropped for two seasons before it is left to go fallow. LIFE APPLICATION:   This Proverb is connected to agriculture. But that notwithstanding, it has many other areas of application in life. In agriculture, one of the systems of farming commonly practiced by African farmers is called 'Shifting Cultivation. In this method, a piece of land is cropped for one season and left to go fallow for two to three years before it could be used again.   However, this Proverb here offers a special recommendation for farmers. The counsel in the Proverb pertains to virgin lands or fertile forest. So, it recommends that such lands could be cropped for two seasons (instead of the usual one season, under Shifting - Cultivation described above); before ...

  /POEMS  IS THERE ANY NEED FOR WAR? The drums beat furiously  for war Inflammatory rhetorics from the West Fanning embers of destruction  to lay waste Nations whose cities hitherto peacefully rest. Is there any need for this war? Like cumulonimbus Demagogues' toxic memes -  clouds of the West Across skylines of the East  thunderous war portend Shall noble peace violence cruelly apprehend Before waton truce agreements  end genocidal wars? Though citizens prospered not   from the government  Now their peace is lost  as the ugly face of war torments The true cost of armaments  is the forgone human development  Desolate cities mourn devastated infrastructures  in the end. Is there any need for this war? As white and black colours sharply contrast  The East bloc technological development  the West offend How it becomes racial phobia  the world cannot comprehend Must the West in principles the East contend? ...

ETSAKOR PROVERB ETSAKOR DIALECT: Ughie ordior lor somhi ner ughie orgbormhi. TRANSLATION: Old way is better than new way. MEANING: The status quo, in terms of methods or familiar terrains, feel more comfortable than new techniques or innovation. LIFE APPLICATION:   This Proverb describes the human approach to some critical life issues; especially, people's attitude towards innovations or novel ideas. It exposes human apathy or apprehension about new ways or methods. For instance, they might be sceptical of safety, afraid of dangers in trials or doubtful of results.   The Proverb is neither critical of innovations, nor in any ways, an authoritative seal of approval on the status quo. But it is otherwise, a revelation of the fact that humans are more comfortable with the status quo than recent inventions. The more reason they readily accept existing techniques than embracing new ideas. Etsakor Proverbs Of The Edo People Of Nigeria.

CANDID Talks THE CHOICES WE MAKE...!   Some of the choices we make in life have catastrophic implications. When we make decisions without careful considerations and; especially, when we ignore wise counsel, we are faced with disastrous future consequences. The Instructor says; 'Wisdom is profitable to direct'!   Moses was happily married with three children; Or so it seemed. Of course, he rented a modest two-bedroom bungalow; where he had a small compound for himself. He had a Volkswagen Golf car with which he conveyed his children, to and from school. Many of his extended family members looked up to him for financial and material assistance.   Curiously, Moses chose to be a smoker! Some of us had tried in the past, to persuade him to drop this deadly habit without any success. Of course, you are aware of all the efforts we made in that regard. But he was always clever at defending any of his dogmatic life principles. Without a doubt, he often wins in such arguments. He h...

/POEMS /OUR HOUSE IN AFRICA Our house in Africa  A mud walled house which sat  On surroundings large but neat  Her cap of old thatch  And a fence of bamboo. Our house in Africa  Her facade marked by chalk paint  Generous clay on entrance lobby  The family courtyard spread  And a front gate of bamboo. Our house in Africa  She overlooked the iroko tree  Who grew strong from the ages  His strong boughs far spread  And against perilous tempest. Our house in Africa  Overlooked a virgin forest  And the iroko's cultured root  Evergreen tree whose foliage smoked  From religious fires at his foot. Our house in Africa  In those dark days birds nested  Many coloured and speckled birds  On the revered iroko of our ancestors  Who clothed the iroko tree. Our house in Africa  Today birds hover about the forest  And her defiled remains in total disconnect  From the Gmelina trees that now s...

/ POEMS THE BURDEN OF LIFE A breach in peace of mind  from a broken heart  Out of the burden life binds  upon all men on earth  Often grievous sorrows  Find solace in tear drops. When infant emotions ignite my smile  And pains sting me to cry  Though that world of babes was a while  How much sorrows do babes know to cry? Now should cries over life's despair  a solution be? None could a broken heart repair  with a well of tears  In battle all must prepare  to rise above falls and fears  Within the mind before victory  over life and death. Yet many braves cringe  at the word death  And the comfortable who binge  in their wealth  Even the vanquished on the fringe  of this unavoidable death  Who are pained to despise life  never gladly accept death. Death is the debt that all men owe  and all must pay  As the ultimate end to all things  to set them free  And to be fre...

/ Etsakor Proverbs ETSAKOR DIALECT: Khai mier orghier: Uchi gi uchi aiya ne za vhi obo orda chi re; La e ri Ervholo re. TRANSLATION: There is no Village Sprout: A collection of the various immigrants from different places; brings about a Village. MEANING: Hamlets or Villages are formed through immigration . A thorough investigation of every Villager or Townie should reveal how their ancestors migrated from a different place at some point in time in their history. LIFE APPLICATION:   It is a fact that memorable events that happened in a place at any point in time make up the history of the place. In the ancient  Benin Kingdom , about the 15th century, there came a reign of terror on the people. The King in power at the time, Oba Ozorlua, embarked on a gigantic and laudable project. The construction of the Benin Moat  and walls around the great City of Benin.   This project required a lot of labour. And the King was equal to the task. In spite of the available voluntee...

  POEM: Neighbourhood NEIGHBOURHOOD A sprawling black tarmac broadway Ply passengers and goods Through its double lanes Announces the nascent national boom  In agriculture. And paraded pockets of rooftop designs  From glittering corrugated zinc sheets  The various colours of aluminum sheets  And the factory chimney stacks seen along the way. Fulani herders wielded guns and sticks As their cattle after a factory graze To control cows which galloped across  Causing chaos as tyres screeched  From vehicles brakes. Assorted blaring honks of vehicles  As diesel engines throttle zoom Yet other noises the broth make Complete cacophonous morning wake. Our neighbourhood street Through the woods  A snaky macadam trail  Traced from a fork on the highway  A rural scenery. Every morning all wake  To a glorious day  From neighbourhood birds  Crowing, cooing, twittering, singing  Complete cacophonous morning wake. /POEMS

THE TERMINUS   End time comes for all journeys When every train must stop And for buses no other route to drive When at a terminus they arrive. As babies a journey began That persevered turns and rugged terrains  When at birth brought they no baggage  Now at departure had no luggage. This journey all humans must travel However various destinies maybe Like tourists enjoying pilgrimages That will never last all ages. Man's life a mortal journey The beautiful flower that withers A desolate life exit at eventide Only mourning dews fall on its bedside. Crack-boom! Crack-boom!! Sounded the traditional funeral gunfire For an elderly man of his kindred Whose age was close to hundred. The sick bed was his mortal end His right hand a victorious twitch Approved his legacies on earth Before he departed in death. Gone in the way of his ancestors Who died and live in death's wilderness That is never full with human souls. /POEM