Month: February 2025

SMITING THE LIVING FOUNTAINS

/ Motunde Dada / 2 Comments

A couple of months ago, I was invited to a Community hymn singing in a traditional Anglican Church, and as we sang the hymn, “Father hear the prayer we offer” written by Love M. (Whitcomb) Willis, the wordings of the third stanza caught my attention…”Not forever by still waters do we ask our way to be, BUT WILL SMITE THE LIVING FOUNTAINS FROM THE ROCKS ALONG OUR WAY.” I pondered on what she could have meant. Undoubtedly, this bears a relationship to the biblical miracle in which Moses struck water from a rock for the Israelites in the wilderness. How would that relate to us today? Is it possible to obtain water from a rock? Certainly, there are aquifers which are rocks that contain groundwater and can be accessed through drilling and pumping. However, drilling is hard work so I believe the concept Madam Willis had, was that strenuous effort will be applied to achieve the goal. As the concept became clearer, the life of Satu played before me.

Satu, is the only child of a widowed mother who had struggled hard in their little village to give her an education. However, she could not finish her secondary school education as a result of lack of funds, so she was given out in marriage at the earliest possible time. Her husband worked as a Cordwainer (shoemaker) with one of the shoe manufacturing outlets in the city. In the city, young Satu enrolled with the famous Pitman’s College for secretarial studies, specialising at the time in typing and shorthand. Armed with certification, she located an employer who typed on a busy street and was agreeable to a sharing ratio on jobs she executed. Satu was enthused and put in her best as she strove to augment the young family of four’s expenses. One fateful day, fortune smiled on her as she typed. She was approached by a bank official who had observed and admired her diligence from afar. He observed her as he took his lunch every day at an eatery down the road from where Satu operated. The officer was saddled with the responsibility of recruiting contract labour to type certain documents on a one-off basis. Needless to say, Satu impressed the bank and when they needed to recruit a permanent staff, she was given the opportunity.

Immediately Satu got her foot in the door, her determination and doggedness to succeed and offer her children a much brighter opportunity than she had experienced, took root and she did all necessary examinations, culminating in an admission to read Law on a part-time basis in one of the prestigious universities in the city. She plodded through the challenges of balancing work, home and school and graduated without any carryovers or delays. One would have expected Satu to relax, after all, she earned a reasonable income and was able to single-handedly educate her children to university level, but not so with Satu. She was insatiable. She set her sights on becoming  a professional. After her children were through with their university education, Satu attended the Law School and was called to the country’s bar. Did she stop…No. Satu went on to train as a Chartered administrator and so after retirement, the little village girl has expanded her horizon, lives on her own property in the city, runs a thriving practice, and visits her children and grandchildren who are currently in the diaspora.

Her story is indeed one huge success story born out of God’s favour and grace, coupled with a determination backed by positive action toward achieving her goal.

Back to Ms. Willis hymn, we can and should be encouraged to smite the living fountains from the rocks along our way. May the Lord grant us empowerment to fulfil our dreams.

Love

Havilah

THE DESERTED ROSE GARDEN

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As I hurried up to Belema’s place to pick up the special rose bouquet I had ordered for Valentine’s Day for my parents, I sat down to a cup of Chamomile tea and a quick chit-chat while the bouquet was being arranged. I couldn’t stop commenting on the healthy beautiful array of roses and the lovely fragrance from the garden which was close to the kitchen window. Belema smiled and took a deep sigh after which she interrupted my comments with the following, “Hmmm…when I think of how this garden started, I cannot but marvel at how God turns things around for good. Some thirty-odd years ago, I recognised the fact that Diepriye, my husband, was never available for us to bond. Shortly after our honeymoon, he was always out with the boys till late and I hardly saw him whether on weekdays or weekends. Initially, I attributed it to the fact that he had lived a bachelor’s life for long and was struggling with adapting to the concept of being married. This however persisted for about two years, so I decided it was time to read him the riot act. I threatened to leave if he continued with his attitude of abandonment and the Lord laid it on my heart to analyse marriage using a rose garden. This is what I said.”

“ Marriage is like a rose garden that blossoms with beautiful flowers and a sweet fragrance that beautifies everything around it. It evokes a peaceful and happy ambiance where everything thrives. Everything about the rose garden adds beauty, it attracts beautiful butterflies to it. Even the thorns were purposely created to defend it from external threats by invaders and predators. However, grooming the garden requires conscious effort in weeding, pruning, watering and generally tending it to achieve the desired results. I further explained that a rose garden that is abandoned or untended will undoubtedly fail to blossom over time and its fragrance will fade. It becomes a bush filled with unwanted and undesirable shrubs, weeds, and plants. The effort required to reinstate it to its previous state is double, entailing a lot of hard work in clearing the bush, replanting, tending, and watering. It is a begin-again approach and may not even yield as beautiful a garden as the earlier one.”

“Diepriye clearly understood the message and made a conscious effort to make himself available for communication and bonding opportunities thereafter. He it was who then mooted the idea of planting a rose garden to always keep himself in check. It is a reminder of what he almost lost and serves also as a place where we can both invest our time and ideas in tending the garden, while at the same time, tending our marriage.”

I must admit, I was bowled over by the analogy and the deep insight it afforded. I sought Belema’s approval to share this beautiful analogy on my page and, here you have it. It serves as a guide to intending couples and a reminder to all couples that marriages are to be enjoyed. He who finds a wife finds a good thing says the Holy book. Marriage must be carefully tended and protected to enable it to flourish and become a reference point to all intending couples. This of course means that early in the relationship, the couple must create bonding time and engage in communication which will help them evaluate how well they are doing. In this season of Valentine, Havilah wishes all readers, a HAPPY VALENTINE!

P.S. Show some love to all around you and appreciate one another.

Love

Havilah

YOUR DADDY IS YOUR DADDY BUT YOUR DADDY DON’T KNOW!

/ Motunde Dada / 2 Comments

I bet you are thinking, this must be about a guy who birthed a child unbeknown to him. Guess what…you are wrong! Ever heard about the condition – Chimerism? Well, we will delve into that in a bit.

Sometime in October 2024, I did a piece titled “THIS DNA TEST” and received a comment that prompted me to research the condition referred to as Chimerism. Below are excerpts from an article found on The Royal Institution website – https://www. rigb.org titled – Human Chimeras: Why forensic DNA testing will never be the same.

Human chimeras are individuals that contain two different types of DNA and are named after the mythical creature made up of different animals including a lion and a goat. People can get a second set of DNA primarily in three ways : in the womb, through transplants, or when they are pregnant. 

CHIMERISM IN THE WOMB

Chimerism may result when a twin pregnancy exists, but one embryo dies and the survivor absorbs some of its twin’s cells thus exhibiting 2 sets of DNA. This was the case with Dubem who had a son outside wedlock. His wife however challenged his paternity because he was known to have low sperm count. To further complicate issues, the result of the Paternity test was negative. Muinat, the mother of the child was however convinced of the paternity and after Dubem was further tested, he was found to be a Chimera. He had actually fathered the boy.

This type of chimerism can result in failed maternity or paternity tests. For example, Karen Keegan needed a kidney transplant and family members’ blood was tested to see if they could be donors. The tests showed she wasn’t the biological mother of two of her three children—surprising since she’d given birth to them! Further studies showed that some of her tissue contained two different types of DNA. The type in her blood was different from the DNA two of her children inherited. This other DNA came from her deceased twin in the womb, so she was genetically her children’s aunt.  

CHIMERISM THROUGH TRANSPLANTS.

Chimerism can also occur through stem cell transplants.

For example, Chris Long received a bone marrow transplant as part of his treatment for leukaemia. Three months later, he learned that the DNA in his blood was no longer his. Chris continued testing other parts of his body. Four years later, swabs of his mouth contained both his and the donor’s DNA, whilst his semen only contained the donor’s DNA. 

DNA EXCHANGED FROM BABY TO MOTHER

A less dramatic form of chimerism occurs during pregnancy where foetal cells are transferred to the mother and can stay in the body for years. This is known as micro-chimerism, due to the low levels of foetal DNA in the mother. Research suggests this happens to all pregnant women. The simplest way to test for it is by searching for the Y chromosome in women who have given birth to sons. Micro-chimerism occurs during every pregnancy. In 2012 scientists found evidence of the Y chromosome in all 26 women sampled who had just given birth to a boy. 

CONSEQUENCES ON FORENSICS

After a car accident in 2008 police were trying to identify a body with blood and kidney tissue samples. The blood was determined to come from a woman and the kidney from a man, but there was only one person in the accident. This confusion was because the man in the accident had received a stem cell transplant from his daughter and his blood now contained her DNA.  

Also, during a sexual assault investigation in 2005, police collected semen samples which had a match in the DNA database. However, the suspect had a watertight alibi, being in jail at the time of the crime. The true perpetrator was chimeric, the incarcerated suspect had donated bone marrow years earlier. Therefore, when the chimeric perpetrator committed the crime, his semen contained DNA from someone else not at the scene. 

It is however hoped that with increasingly sophisticated equipment and testing methods, the error margins on DNA testing will be eliminated.

Love

Havilah

NO GAIN WITHOUT PAIN

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Grandma Toritseju was rounding up on one of her usual folklore as she spent time with her precious grandchildren – Alero and Gbubemi. Alero, the maverick of the duo, quickly asked…”Grandma, what is the lesson from this story?” She anticipated that those would be Grandma’s next words and decided to pre-empt the question. Grandma took a deep breath and shook her head thinking…Alero is too smart by half. She replied, “Now Alero, what do you think the lesson is?” Alero replied “Ummm…I would guess it is that one needs to work hard for a living. Laziness does not pay. However, Grandma, we see people who rob others to get rich. Take for instance the person who stole my phone on the bus last week, he gained a phone without working for it and I overheard a conversation between Daddy and Mr. Williams where they discussed a hack into their bank’s database and the loss of millions of naira. People are getting rich off other people’s backs. The thief gains, but the robbed feels the pain, Grandma.” Gbubemi put on her thinking cap and emerged with the following profound statement. “Both pain and gain were present. The thief gained, but the robbed felt the pain. I guess when they say there is no gain without pain, is that what it means, Grandma? For someone to gain, someone must feel the pain?”

Grandma shook her head gently and admonished. “The person who intends to achieve superior results must put in effort, and hard work, which is the pain, and the result is the gain. For instance, to make superior results at school, you put in effort by attending classes, being attentive, reading your textbooks and notes, and studying for examinations. All that effort is the pain. Can you imagine what would happen if you were a truant and did not study? Also, Gbubemi, to be the star athlete you are with so many medals to show for it, I am sure you put time and effort into practice. Did it come easy, no. The effort is the pain that results in the gain of success. Even with persons who do illegal or criminal things, the results do not materialise on a platter of Gold as it requires thinking through, planning, risk-taking, etc.”

“But Grandma, we learn at church that with God all things are possible so why can’t we just rely on God to provide all we need after all that is what his word says.” Alero countered.

“Yes,” Grandma continued. “With God all things are possible, but it takes effort to cultivate a relationship with God. You must believe in him, study his word, and have an open line of communication with him through prayer. In addition, God encourages diligence and trust in his plan not complacency or idleness. In the Bible, laziness or slothfulness is considered a sin and the book of Proverbs expressly links it with poverty while diligence the bible says, makes rich. Diligence requires effort and such effort is rewarded by God especially if what is done is in line with his leading or his will. Success is not handed to us on a silver platter. It is earned through sweat, determination, and an unwavering belief in the principle that there is “no gain without pain.”

A little insight into the origin of the phrase “There are No gains without pains.” This quote appears in Benjamin Franklin’s 1758 essay – THE WAY TO WEALTH which is a collection of advice and adages. The quote is usually interpreted as greater effort engenders better results.

Havilah opines that young people should be taught that there is dignity in labour and there is no shortcut or easy path to success except the path of diligent labour.

Love

Havilah