Importance of good neighbours.

I always knew that it is important to have good neighbours and very important also to have good relationship with your neighbours. Especially when you have other families with kids same age as yours. Because then your kids and theirs get to play interchangeably throughout each others household, or mostly in a shared space where we as parents can just listen to them play and don't have to watch. And when it's time to come home we can just easily holla from the door or window for our kids.

I love how neighbours are always there in those little tiny moments in life when you need a hand with something or the other. Living without extended family around or other support to call on, like you know how sometimes you suddenly ran out of matches, or you need to urgently send an emergency email and your wifi is not at its best behaviour? Or you need to borrow a bigger pot to cook for Eid celebrations, Or even an emergency run to the hospital? no worries your neighbour got your back.

The other day my next door neighbour was running late to pick up her kid from school because her driver was yet to come and she couldn't drive. I had my car with me and i could drive, so of course i happily took my neighbour on the passenger sit while we drove and picked up that little kiddo from school.

Once my car broke down just when i was about to pick my son from school.  But of course a neighbour with whom her kids goes to same school as my son, happily took me along as we drove back to the school for my son even though she just got back home from school run.  These incidents made me believed the saying "it takes a  community to raise a child".

We all know there are some neigbours that can be a bit unpleasant, so if you have good neighbours consider yourself blessed because a good neighbour looks out for others. Being friendly with your neighbours and building a good relationship is like having a second family.  Remember you are a neighbour too.

#shecooks

Ok so lately i noticed i was becoming a gourmet. Even though it is making me gain a little more weight and on the other hand making me procrastinate on my excercise schedules, i am glad i am saying bye bye to my cooking phobia.

SO this first dish is all sea food, well at least almost lol!. so i did a mixture of calamari, prawns and jelly fish sauce and added some potato, green pepper cabbage and carrots just to give it that rich flavory feel.  And a bowl of crab soup to go with it. mmmm yummy!

I was trying to get a little creative with dish number 2 it is actually my favorite because i love me some sweet potato always. It is a sweet potato grilled and salad built around my bowl of spicy chicken soup. Yum! Yum!

And our number 3 is as simple as it can get. I made a  delicious shredded chicken and veggie sauce buttered rice. with a sprinkle of lime or lemon and you are good to go.

Now this next one is a little tricky and takes a lot of time as you can see there is a lot going on right there. I made a chicken biryani, boiled potato, fish nugget, again shredded chicken veggies on the side and to top it all up a delicious mouth watering home made samosa as you can see its huge, home made samosas are always huge lol! Tnx to nimisha for teaching me how to make biryani. This dish is amazing.

Now when kids come home from school i have snacks and fruits waiting on them. Kids usually come home from school full and so they don't really need serious food, we can save that for dinner time. A simple snacks like sandwiches and home made fruits punch will do just right. the filling for the sandwich can be anything, from eggs to veggies to nutella jam and butter it doesn't really matter.

Flag off 2016 MNCH week Kebbi state.

Yesterday, the wife of the president of the federal Republic of Nigeria Aisha Muhammadu Buhari Flagged off Maternal and Newborn child Health (MNCH) week. She Commissioned Birnin Yari primary Health centre Jega and Jega General hospital named after her.

Her excellency Aisha Buhari was hosted  by the first lady of Kebbi State Dr Zainab Bagudu. In attendance also was His Excellency the Governor of Kebbi State and other dignitaries of the state.

Kebbi State first lady Dr Zainab Bagudu is one woman full of passion and is determined to rise the Health sector in the State to the highest standards making sure all the maternal mortality is curbed or reduced to a 0 level. 

The people of Kebbi State welcomed this Idea with enthusiasm and commended her for this initiative. I most say Her Excellency  Dr Zainab Bagudu never stops, she is indeed a pace setter amongst her peers. She's definitely a force to be reckoned with. 

We pray that the Almighty Allah continue to guide and protect her so she can keep doing what she knows how to do best. I personally cannot get enough of her. Your Excellency Thank You for Being You.

Religion and Us

The other day myself and Nimisha
Were having a conversation about how my Northern culture is a little similar to some of their Indian culture. And also how diverse in Culture both countries are (Nigeria and India).

We then brought up the religion topic. She was feeding me on the different religions in India and I was telling her more about Islam as well. We like talking about both our cultures and how things are being done in our traditions and religions because we always draw lessons from such convo and things always made a lot of senses every time. Because at the end of the day, all religions have one thing in common, the believe that there is a higher power.

TALKING TO GOD

Prayer is probably the only way to talk to God. It is simply having a conversation with God. When talking to God you may have to have a quiet room in your house to use even though it doesn't matter to God wherever you pray but a quiet place and having a consistent time for prayer will help you focus. Don't make prayer complicated. Pray with respect as God is the King of creation.

Sometimes we make religion what we want it to be, we exaggerate and paint this picture of religion to suit or satisfy us. It doesn't matter what religion you and I practice. At the end of the day we are all humans and we all believe that there is God, a higher power.  Religion really is to make us all better persons in the society. Using common sense, reasoning, living in peace, loving one another, distinguishing between right and wrong, just believing in Humanity as a whole is part of religion and should be our focus i believe.

Dealing with criticism and judgements

Even though I feel like criticism should make you a better person and you can learn from it, I still feel like before one criticise others they should first be able to do better. You don't just call an alligator big mouth until you cross the river.

Before judging others, first look at how clean your own heart is. For example I do not have any right to judge someone say because they are vegetarians and I eat meat. Or judge someone automatically because his faith is different from mine. Or even judge one based on how they choose to dress.  Does doing things differently makes me a saint? Certainly not. It doesn't make me better or make them less human.

I do not believe in making assumption, unfairly stereotyping or negatively pointing a person is a certain way when I can't read their minds or see their hearts. Even if I could, I am not in the position to judge.

I beleive in humanity. At the end of the day how other people chose to present themselves, what they choose to eat, what their beleives are and basically how they live their lives is not my business. And it is not for me to judge. We may not agree on everything but we can definitely agree to disagree.

Sometimes people judge or critise you just so they can put hurdles on your path, throwing hash words so they can make your journey to greatness a difficulty. Well guess what, you should know they are doing you more good than harm, because their criticism can only build up your energy and make you even stronger.

If you are not being criticised, then you are not saying anything, doing anything and being anything.