Arts/Literary
Resurgence Of Poetry, Drama In Rivers
Poetry is a form of literature in which words and actions are described and painted in their beautiful forms. It is an inspirational expression in words and actions. This is most times complemented by theatre which involves stage performances such as dance and drama.
These forms of entertainment took the centre stage at a recent Christmas concert organised by some young talented minds of Rivers State origin under the umbrella of Legends Christians and Poetry at Christmas.
Tittled “Jubilee Fusion at Christmas”, the concert which was held on Sunday, 26th December, 2010 at the Artruim Jade Hall along Stadium Road,Elekahia, Port Harcourt was unique in various ways. It added spice to the Christmas celebration in the “Garden City”. This year, the artistes, who on individual basis, have been organising poetry and drama concerts since 2006, decided to come together to hold a joint concert to give their Port Harcourt audience a memorable Christmas full of comic performances, fun and relaxation.
The first major dance of the event was the ‘Unity Dance’ which showcased the different dances and people of Nigeria and how they still live in oneness despite their diverse culture. It is an expression of unity in diversity.
The second dance tagged “Happy Day” taken from South Africa also emphasised the beauty of oneness devoid of acrimony, rancour and selfishness.
The first play titled: ‘Village Assembly’ is the comic display of National Assembly members. It portrayed Nigeria in a dying state, depicted as a lady in a wheel chair . The members in the National Assembly were depicted as the chiefs with the Igwe representing the Speaker of the House.
They were portrayed as representatives who were only in the National Assembly to represent their pockets. They were shown talking about Nigeria’s development with little or no positive impact on the people. This elicited hilarious laughter from the audience.
‘Nigeria and corruption’ was the title of the second play, another comic sketch which portrayed Nigeria battling with corruption. Corruption, as a very tricky person, tried to convince Nigeria to accept rice and salad instead of national cake which in this case, represents national development and equitable distribution of resources. Unfortunately, Nigeria fell for the trick. The idea of the play was to highlight the situation of things in the country.
There was another play, Christmas dance that indicated a Nigerian woman living in wealth with her husband, but with no child. At, last, the Angel of God gave her a gift of Christmas which is the child she had been looking for after several prayers.
The ‘Legend’ was another Christmas play from the theatre section which showcased the birth of Jesus Christ.
There was also a play called ‘Oracle’ which reminded the audience about the slave trade era in Nigeria particularly in Benin, Edo State. All the plays were pure comic which the audience enjoyed to the fullest.
Mr. Ken Gorge-Kalio, director of the poetry section who spoke with The Tide shortly after the end of the concert, disclosed that the whole idea of the event was to ensure that people who enjoy theatre and poery had some thing fresh at Christmas and other festive periods. He observed that some young talents who appreciate art did not have the opportunity to either express or enjoy it, hence the need to build up an event and create an enabling environment for them to enjoy themselves.
The Okirika, born poet said that poetry at Christmas dated back to 2006, while the theatre section had been in exitence since 2007.
He recalled that Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital was known for its rich arts and culture in the early days, but regretted the gradual death of theatre in the State. According to him, it was an unfortunate situation because “theatre is the first form of acting and if one is good in theatre, the person would do better in the big screen acting”. He stressed that theatre is the bedrock of the movie industry, therefore, it should not be relegated to the background.
Mr. George Kalio contended that despite the challenges they faced in terms of finance and logistics, the concert was more successful than they bargained for. He thanked the State Ministry of Information for their support in the area of wide publicity of the event as well as other supporters whose contributions led to the success story. The poet also expressed gratitude to the impressive audience that witnessed the event, stressing that their presence was inspiring and served as a moral booster to both the organisers and participants as they look forward to another interesting outing next Christmas.
Jacob Obinna
It is the idea of God that family should exit. Children form part of the family. God loves family so much that Jesus was born into the family of Joseph.
Everyone’s family is good and important. Children should not look down on their family whether they are rich or poor.
Children should respect and honour their family and foster love among their siblings. They should work together and make peace in the family. They should always stand in the gap. It is good for family members to carry all along since everyone may not be doing well.
The Christianity that children learn is practised in family. Faith-based organisations do a great job in moulding children’s character. Those are the behaviours that children exhibit towards siblings in family.
Every child born in a family is there for a purpose. A baby born into a family is supplying something. It may be joy, wealth and so on. Everyone is important in a family.
Adolescents who have graduated from school but may not be contributing financially can do one or two things at home. You can engage in preparing meals at home while parents are away for a job or business. Contributing in house chores will go a long way to relieve parents of stress after a day’s job.
What do you contribute to your family, especially during holidays both in nuclear and extended family?
The family you were born is constant but friends are temporary. You can decide not to continue in friendship but you cannot cut off your family. No matter how bad you think your family is and you decide to leave home, you must surely return. Your friends can harbour you for a while.
The child’s first identity comes from the family. What the child learns first comes from the family.
Family is the centre of love and care. People have started playing down on marriage because of neglect on basics of family. Marriage starts today and and the next few months, it is threatened. Respect for family plays a crucial role in marriage.
No child grows without parental control and influence. If a child refuses to grow without taking instructions from parents, he may grow up being wild. There are consequences when children do not obey their parents. There are those who want to be rebellious against their parents. They should know that their length of days are tied to their parents.
Your bioligical parents know you more than every other person. There is the wisdom and knowledge your parents have that you do not so it is proper to listen to them before choosing carriers both in academics and job. A young man or woman can choose who to get married to, but a greater role in the choice of who to marry and the marriage proper comes from the parents.
They know what is best for you. No matter how modern trends will influence you and prove it wrong, parent is the key. No one can love you more than your parents because they are your blood.
A lot of parents have been traumatised due to the fact that children they nurtured and trained turned their back on them at older age. Children should not abandon their parents for any reason.
As you grow up, situations may arise in marriage when you decide it is over with your spouse, but no matter the level of provocation with your parents, they will not despise you. Parents will also play a role in that regard. Problem arises in every family but how it is handled matters a lot.
Some children honour their mentors more than their parents. Although there are parents who shy away from their responsibilities. It is important that parents take full responsibility of their children. You cannot bring a child to the planet earth and refuse to perform roles as a parent. But parents may not quantify what they spent from childhood to adolescence. That is a blessing children cannot get from another person.
There are people who have attributed their failure in life to the fact that their parents, especially mothers are witchcraft. It is wrong to feel that your mother is instrumental to your failure in life. The only way to success is hardwork.
Let money not determine the level of love for your parents. Wherever a child goes, family is constant.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
Naturally, when a child is born, it is the role of the father and mother to decide a suitable name for the child. The husband and wife normally discuss and suggest the English or vernacular name of the baby.
But sometimes, when a baby comes into a family, grandparents hearts are usually filled with joy to the extent that they want to answer present, by giving their own names not minding the fact that the biological parents have given theirs.
This happens mostly when the marriage is an inter-tribal one. It also happens even in intra-tribal marriage. Grandparents want equal representation as far as naming a child is concerned. They also have special names as a result of circumstances surrounding the birth of the child.
This is still happening till date.
A lot of people have viewed this in different ways but there is nothing wrong about it. The most important thing is that the child bears as many names as he or she can. But one thing is certain, the child must bear one name in school.
Should circumstance determine a child’s name?
Women who are more emotional are always eager to name their children considering the circumstances surrounding the child’s conception and arrival.
The issue of grandparents naming a child comes up mostly when it is the first of the family.
In naming children by some parents in the olden days, they named their children according to the days in the week in which they were born, like Sunday, Monday, Friday and so on.
You may be shocked to hear that whether a child is given 10 names by parents or grandparents, when he or she grows up, will decide to change. There are several cases where some persons decided to change especially when they feel that the names given by their parents and grandparents do not give them joy. If they are not doing well in life, they may claim that their misfortune is caused by the name their parents.
Competition among children in schools be it primary, (kindergarten) and secondary come in different forms. It can be Mathematics , debate, quiz, spelling bee,competition, from organisations like Cowbell, multi-national companies, faith-based organisations among others.
They are organised mostly for selected intelligent ones, the best among their peers to represent a class, school or group. Prizes are normally set aside for the best as well as consolation prizes for runners-up at the end of each session.
The question is, are children willing to accept defeat when they fail? As parents, guardians, can you encourage your children or wards to accept defeat instead of shouting and comparing them with others who may be performing better either in schools or outside.
Some parents may be blaming their children for not doing well in competitions. They will like to tell their children if others who may perform better have ten heads. Those group of parents blame their children for every failure.
For your children to do better in competition, the parents too must have emotional intelligence. When you continue to blame your children for failure, how intelligent are you?
Some parents always want their children to be in the 1st position and unhappy whenever they secure 2nd position. There were instances where children smashed their trophies because they never got the position they wanted to get and their parents supported them.
Children should be able to accept it whether they win or not. They should be encouraged for every performance. Discourage the issue of “shame, shame, shame, shame”.
A parent says she always tells her children to win even if they will fail. Always give them the mentality that they can win. Children should be given the impression that they can win prizes and laurels in every competition.
Parents should not isolate their children from others in the neighbourhood. Allow them to play with others. Don’t threaten your children that you may not pay their schools fees if they fail. Comparing them with others may encourage or discourage them.
Coming first or getting award as a first class student from the university sometimes does not mean that the person is the best. And if the child does not merit any award in the lower classes, does not mean that he can not merit first class also.
It should be noted that coming first in academic competition may not really mean that the competitor will be the best at work place or business.
Accepting defeat is a way to move higher. Even if a child who competed with others did not come first, there are consolation prizes for runners-up. When you advise the child to accept defeat, you are encouraging her to win in next competition.
Remember all children cannot be on the same knowledge level Their learning abilities defer.
Eunice Choko-Kayode