I was really pissed off yesterday. My problem is that I happened to have lived, not so long ago, in a somewhat saner Nigeria.
Another problem is the fact that it seems so long ago!
Like I was saying, in my saner Nigeria, we attended church and tithes were collected.
But then, it was nothing in the league of the mega millions of these days.
I particularly remember the church we used to attend in my childhood. It was an Aladura church. The members, too, were mostly petty traders.
But Iya Aladura had something going for her. Every member of her church was important to her. It did not matter if a member was a baby.
Neither did it matter if a member was still struggling.
And she was generous to a fault. If I’m not mistaken, she was from Otan Ayegbaju. When she prepared food, she would not fail to prepare for some of those who, for one reason or the other, had made the church their home.
Oh yes, even at that time, people could have problems that would render them homeless. But the major difference between then and now is that, then, people did care!
The lya Aladura herself did not live an extravagant lifestyle. I can recall that she did the ‘ajo’ stuff with other church members. The ajo was a practice of contributing money and collecting in turns.
When any member had financial problems, she did not fail to lend them money from the coffers of the church.
She was a fantastic woman!
071218
