PROGRESS OBERIKO BLOG

Another culture shock I had when I arrived in the Uk to study is addressing lecturers by their names without prefixes such as “Sir”, “Mr”, “Ma”, “Dr. Mrs”, “Chief”, etc, which for Africans or Nigerians in particular, denotes respect. It appalled me that no matter the level of qualification people in the UK have attained, eg. Ph.D., Professorship, etc, they were addressed simply by their first names.  I found this really odd and discomforting, following my background as a Nigerian where addressing someone older by their names is seen as rude and disrespectful. This was a clash that I struggled to adapt to for a long time. I remember resisting the urge to ask questions in class because I didn’t know how to start my question without a “sir”, a term that isn’t the norm here; and f or a long time, I still sent emails to my lecturers beginning with “Hello Sir”, “Hello Mrs. Anke...”, even though I wasn’t sure whether she’s a Mrs or not.  😂   I’ve also struggled with this a...

I know of a man who said he doesn’t want to have any children because the world is already overpopulated and he doesn’t want to add to the world’s population. He is 50+ and single, and this is the reason he lives the way he does.  There’s this woman in his neighborhood who’s got 8 children. He makes reference to her everytime, and says he’s so pissed to see that just one person has so many children; he gets so vexed that according to him, the woman should be arrested! 🤣 Lol... At first this seemed really ludicrous to me, but come to think of it, isn’t it interesting to see how people take small individual steps to making change in the world? We too can do the same, we don’t necessarily have to choose to not bear children, but in many other ways, like: -  lending a hand,  - contributing towards development work,  - trashing the rubbish in the bin instead of dropping it on the floor,  - engaging in community development, etc,  we too can make choices that co...

Few months ago, I was Guest speaker at two    events, one with the theme “Becoming The Next Generation Leader”; whilst the other was “Becoming an Equipped Lady”. And some of the key points I shared include: 1. A leader is someone who is able to IDENTIFY AND KEY INTO OPPORTUNITIES . And in order to do this as a young person, you should first : (a) know who you are,    and  (b) Know what do you want. And knowing what you want involves the second point, which is : 2. MAKING SMALL CONSISTENT STEPS . I shared a story of a Nigerian artist - Omah Lay - who recently became popular after one of his songs became a hit track. After researching about him I found out that he has been consistent in his music career, and didn’t only just start. Also, making small consistent steps involves being consistent in your craft, whether as a writer, a baker a graphic designer, photographer, etc, focus on just DOING; regardless of whether or not you are being noticed, or whether you ar...

This post is segmented into  Lessons and  Highlights .  And the latter will provide hyperlinks to different articles on the subject. 2021 LESSONS… "It is only a fool that lives life without taking its lessons". I believe that everything that hits you, good or bad, leaves you with something. So h ere are my 21 takeaways from the year 2021. Some of them are patterns I adopted for myself and recommend, whilst some are lessons: Be patient! Live in the moment! Focus on yourself and be kind to yourself! Be at your best, don’t try to shrink yourself! Think less; “ Overthinking nor fit solve problems” ( Nigerian Pidgin English ) . Communicate; be expressive! Lower your expectations of others! See situations as an opportunity to learn; also learn from others! You don’t know everything and you can’t! Genuinely admit your flaws and mistakes! Not everyone is worth lowering your standards for! Don’t judge yourself based on other people's opinions! Have firm boundaries and walk away w...

One of the culture shocks I experienced when I arrived in the United Kingdom is seeing homeless people sleeping on the streets; people who had no place to live, people who slept on the bare floor and depend on the generosity of others to feed.  People who looked as though they had lost not only material things but also hope!  WHO IS A HOMELESS PERSON ? A Homeless person (also known as a Rough-sleeper) can be seen to be someone who for one reason or the other have lost his/her place of comfort, e.g their family, rooms, or personal space, etc; due to addictions issues, relationship breakdown, mental health breakdown other reasons.  One of my first experiences witnessed this young woman on a train. It was on my way to Brighton from London bridge. I noticed she was sitting quietly at one corner of the train, and after a minute she walked up to me from the back of the train and dropped a pack of tissue and a piece of paper on the chair opposite me. The paper reads:  “Sorr...