THE RUMORED PREVENTION AND/OR CURE FOR EBOLA I wonder what Northern Nigeria is turning to lately. In the 1970s and even 1980s when I was growing up not many people in the North went to school to obtain western education. Illiteracy and therefore ignorance were so endemic that people believed that polio was caused by a female water Jinn called Inna and so children affected by the virus were taken to river sides or lakes and left over night as an offering to the Jinn to appease her to relieve the child who slept near her for a night. That is why the disease is called shan Inna in Hausa. Back then leprosy was believed to be caused by the Jinn. Epilepsy, a common condition caused by either infection from the womb of the mother that may affect the brain of the child or injury to the childs brain caused during prolonged labour or may even be caused by child hood diseases like cerebral malaria, meningitis or missiles that may cause injury to the brain or any trauma thst may cause scar on the brain was also believed to be caused by Jinn. That was when we had no scientific knowledge. That was the period Aliyu Mustapha College, Yola was surrounded by big baobab trees and every term a stampede was caused by a student who would claim to have seen a Goi Goi. That was when Dada Ai, one of our cooks in the cafeteria was given a thorough beating by students because they believed she was a witch mo nangi class mate amin Nasiru Usman Nyako who later woke up in the General Hospital, Jimeta diagnosed with chronic malaria. At that time few students made up to 5 credits in GCE/WAEC examinations because knowledge was scarce. That was the era of ignorance . So people believed all sorts of rubbish purely based on low literacy level and ignorance and rumors . This is the 21st century when small boys and girls make a dozen credits including distinctions . When now they make first class in quantum physics, pharmacy and mathematics including courses in Information Technology and Soft Ware Engineering. In the days gone by when we nod our heads while dancing to reggae music by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh we understood what they were singing because War in Babylon is a historical fact in the Bible. Even when we jump and drag the soul of our Lady Scolls on the dance floor we understood what Bonny M and the Shalamar were singing. When we attended MSS lectures on saturdays we enrich our selves in acts of worship especially in senoye, nangardam and ghusl . Today they dance DBanj but they dont even understand what the guy says. Knowledge is the most valuable commodity a person will have because it drives away ignorance and disease. Today we limit our drive for education to merely the purpose of securing a well-paying job or just to be a politician and earn a fat living allowance. This to me, is an insult to the significance of education in human lives. Education helps us with many things, but most importantly, it empowers an individual to think, question, and see beyond the obvious. So it is against this back drop that I think the North is moving back wards when other regions are fast moving forward and their people well enlightened even when they are cart pushers or taxi drivers. This people are much more aware than even some people that are now in a position of authority in our region. Otherwise how can one imagine a graduate calling one on the phone to confirm whether it is true that President Goodluck Jonathan had died the previous night? Ko Mai Anguwan ku ne ya mutu ba zaa bada sanarwa a Taba Kidi Taba Karatu, ko BBC ko MURYAR AMURKA ko JAMUS ko RADIO GOTEL ba? The one that pained me most is the one I saw and heard this morning of Friday the 8th of August, 2014. On my return from the mosque after Subh prayer, I put on my cell phone and saw about 30 missed calls. Thank God now MTN gives you a message of your missed calls even when your phone was off. When I returned some of them, the people asked me whether my family and I had bathed with warm water and salt to prevent Ebola infection. Same of them even added that a moccha Ayat ul Khursiy marra je didi ha ndiyam man nden a naafa didi thereafter as a prevention against Ebola. I felt like jumping out of my skin with rage. That is a complete ignorance of what Islam and Christianity are as the callers were both Christians and Muslims. I am not a medical personnel but I am surely not ignorant of what infectious disease connotes. Unfortunately the callers were mainly young men and women who are mostly Under Graduates and University graduates. One of them is even a Physics teacher in a school in Zaria. Salt in warm water and naafe darde didi to prevent an infection. From what source, they cant explain. Ni ma haka na ji they retort. Education broadens our horizon and gives us a better understanding of the world around us and how things work. These young men and women may never give us a civilized, structured society. They may never give us people that should think rationally and avoid illusions in life. One may turn back the pages of history when epilepsy, polio and leprosy were thought to have been caused by Jinn and reexamine these primitive societies and their barbaric lives of beating old women marasa gata to death. Then only shall we be free.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 07:13:01 +0000
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