Skin Deep Beauty

Shine brighter than a diamond

MARY IDOWU

Last week, I was at a "girls’ night out", and we were discussing self-confidence, I didn’t get a chance to speak due to time however, and so I have decided to come share what I learnt; my insecurities and how I overcame them.

Growing up as a child, I was always called 'Oh Mary Mary Kampala', usually in a sing song manner. This habit actually started from my nursery two class teacher. It spread fast, and a lot of people picked up the habit. I didn’t really understand what was wrong with me and why people would seek to make fun of me, as I was 'daddy’s girl' and I got all the love in the world from him. As I grew, I started seeing myself in the mirror, I started realizing that I had different skin colours on me; some part of me was yellow (which is my actual colour) and some part of me was dark, like really dark. I had brown discolorations and I had dark, more like black patches on me. I then understood that I was different. It actually didn’t bother me as such because I had my family around me and they always made me feel better.

However, upon getting into secondary school it became a big issue for me, as I was in a boarding school. A roommate relocated from my room to another because she didn’t like the way I looked. I tried every cure that was given to me, nothing worked; rather, I started getting worse. I would have sudden discolorations on my face, arms, legs, thorax that wasn’t there before and they wouldn’t leave. I started to cry a lot and felt kind of depressed. When my parents asked me why I was sad, I found it hard to tell them for reasons beyond me. I was angry. I was angry at my dad; I was angry at myself for being ‘ugly’.  I could see my parents putting effort to make me feel and look better but it wasn’t helping matters, rather it depressed me even more. I have had people call me a tiger, I have issues wearing certain outfits or even rubbing white powder. I had issues with being comfortable around girls because they would always ask questions that I couldn’t answer.

Basically, being different hurt. Asides that, I was short and skinny. I kind of grew to become average height, but I haven’t got fat. Everyone is always bugging me about my size, either jokingly or intentionally. It always hurt. So, how did/do I cope? Sometimes I like to feel like I have the solution locked down. Maybe I do, maybe not.

Share

Hi. 

As a lot of you know I'm not really all that much of a regular poster on here as much as I would have loved to be, but I'm still working on it. I've got my own good reasons, but I won't be addressing those now because I'm here to talk about something else, which is much more important.

I'm here to talk about sharing the Christian faith.

The Foolish World

THE FOOLISH WORLD

By Chimamkpam Onyenezi

The Igbos have a saying, "Uwa wu otu mbia"

It means that, in this world, there is just one life

That is why we must all be cautious of this life

I also say, that this world is truly "Ikpu Wigous"

All I'm saying is that we all really have to focus

After this world we suffer in, there is yet a better one

But going to the better, depends on how you lived in this one

How We Killed The World.... 2

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”  ― Martin Luther King Jr.

#We steal from our parents - and even others - then we go and blame God for allowing thieves and armed robbers to plague our cities and roads.

#We cheat on exams and cause problems in the real world because we are unable to apply knowledge that we do not have - then we go and blame God for not preventing unproductivity and the fall of the economy.

#We cheat on our partners and spouses - then we go and blame God for not killing all the sinners so that we would have peace.

#We kill people with insults - slowly and steadily.... demeaning their spirits and torturing their minds - then we go and blame God for letting suffering exist in the world.

How We Killed The World....

"If you could ask God one question.....what would it be?"

That's the post I saw in Nairaland one day. It's not a new question. Many people have asked the same question before. And many more people still will.

"Why did you create hell?"

I, Difference

“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers, but above all - the world needs dreamers who do.” | Sarah Breathnach

I've been witness to a lot of controversial events that have happened around me in the last month or so.

Granted, not as controversial as a lot of major things in the world might actually be, such as the killing of numerous Paris citizens by terrorists, rising of the Naira-Dollar rate to N400, or the kidnapping of a 14 year old girl from her home and family to be converted to a different religion, forcibly married and having her age falsified.

But simply the less grandiose controversies that get lost in day to day life... in the hustle and bustle of todays' modern digital and, increasingly, reality detached age. Things that bother a lot of us, most everyday. Things that need to change. Things that, if left unchecked, only grow bigger and bigger, eventually becoming - or lending a hand - to the grandiose controversies we see today.

The world we live in, today, is both better and worse than yesterdays world.

Karma's A B****

By The Timi Raji

I speak as someone with some experience on naming dogs. I mean, If I had a female dog, I'd name her Karma.

Female dog= Bitch.
Hence, Karma is a bitch.  ​​(can you feel my halo?  )

People, not everything is a sexual innuendo! (If you own a Bible, read Titus 1:15 now)

(VIDEO) Still The Same

Now a lot of Christians are out in the world not knowing much about their heritage in Christ, or the power that comes along with it. Many of us just answer “Christian” by name or title, and not by our lifestyle.

We forget that Christian means “like Christ” ie, when someone beholds you, they should see Christ in YOU. You are the Jesus that they see, YOU are the bible that they read, YOU are the image of truth that they can look at right now, right here. They should be able to see the truth in YOU. Not a lie or a sham.

“You are so much more than you can imagine or believe.”

The Wardrobe and The Bank

Ok so apparently our dear ol’ senators are getting 21.5 million naira as “wardrobe allowance” – which to be honest, I’m actually wondering how the people that came up with this budget managed to provide any kind of good reason for. Click on read more....

The fault in your stars

The fault in your stars

By Damilola Adewolu

Almost everyone is interested in music nowadays. A huge problem is the kind of music that is out there, most of it is very disturbing and brings a lot to mind. I will take the lyrics of just one popular song pumped  through cylindrical tubes into the mental faculties of a lot of young people today and help you see the fault in that which you appraise as the best and all time favourite song.

We will look at a rap song heavily influenced by deep bass beats carefully orchestrated In a pattern to leave the head of the passive  minded swaying from side to side. Yeah the new banger "love with the coco".

Just to be me

“I'm not much, but I'm all I have.” - Philip K. Dick



I'm Jamie. Jamike for long ;) .I don't know everything, as much as I would like to pretend to. My name is a bit unique because, according to mother dearest, a mistake was made when the officials put my name on my birth certificate. It's apparently made to be __________.

So on the topic of my being me, and conversely your - "being you". It seems that a lot of people don't know exactly who they are or...

Being Shy

Hi. I'm Jamike.  I'm kinda sure you knew this already but I'll try to go on with what we're here for.

Shyness. It's a dilemma for many and deemed an asset by very very few.
Have you ever wondered if you're shy?  If you're actually wondering...then it's likely you're not. If you've ever wondered whether you're outspoken.....it's most likely that you are...sorry? :P