Politics, Travelling

Jerusalem: Land of Uneasy Peace, Religion and Business

This is the fourth part in a series tagged “A Stroll Through Israel”. If you won’t jump into the fourth episode of a Game of Thrones season, you may want to begin with the first article.

Our trip to Israel began with Tel Aviv, then Nazareth, Bethlehem, Rawabi and Ramallah. Having gone through these cities to view Israel and Palestine from a different lens, it was time to tour what is unarguably the most contested piece of hills in this galaxy. From being a space merely contested for mainly political reasons, Jerusalem morphed into the site of a religiously-charged contest, and has now retained the political dimension, making it a hotspot for flares. It is in this context that the #LetsTalkBusiness entourage went on a tour of Old Jerusalem.  Continue reading “Jerusalem: Land of Uneasy Peace, Religion and Business”

Rawabi
Politics, Travelling

A Day for Palestine

This is the third part in a series tagged “A Stroll Through Israel”. If you won’t jump into the third episode of a Game of Thrones season, you may want to begin with the first article.

When you hear or read of the Israel-Palestine conflict, what comes to your mind? If all you think of is chaos, poverty, oppression and bloodshed, no one would blame you. The media have ensured negativity is groomed in people’s minds. However, there is more to Palestine than the media presents. Join me through a day spent unlearning and relearning about Palestine.  Continue reading “A Day for Palestine”

Politics, Travelling

A Stroll Through Israel [Part 2]

Israel meets Palestine

It is commonly said that there are two sides to every story. One thing with life is that we sometimes seek to view life in terms of absolutes—right vs wrong, black vs white, good vs evil—but sometimes life isn’t something that can be linearly modelled as it covers more than fifty shades of grey. In this second part of the series, we relive a day spent partly in Israel and partly in land governed by the Palestinian Authority.  Continue reading “A Stroll Through Israel [Part 2]”

Politics, Travelling

A Stroll Through Israel [Part 1]

The clock had just gone past 8pm local time when the EasyJet plane touched the tarmac at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. It was the end of a five-hour flight that had departed the UK earlier that day. On board were fourteen UK students, stepping into the warm Tel Aviv evening with eyes set on a trip that was months in the waiting. These students were joined by two others who had arrived on earlier flights. For me, it was the end of a four-month wait after an earlier disappointment.  Continue reading “A Stroll Through Israel [Part 1]”

Change, Randoms

Murdered Jumia Agent: Matters Arising

Optimistic humanists may disagree but I think humans would never be able to end evil. Even setting aside religious explanations, there is something about humans that makes us seem capable of unimaginable evils, no matter how hard we try to brand humanity as a good species. The best strategy is not unwise whitewashing of evil, but implementing plans that aim to mitigate the possibility of an evil person being successful at evil. We need to raise the entry requirements for evil. Continue reading “Murdered Jumia Agent: Matters Arising”

Randoms

MMM for Life: An Outsider’s View of Nigeria’s Fastest Growing Fad

This article is one result of not having lectures throughout an entire week. Maybe if my university’s authorities had fixed classes every single day, I would be worried about not collapsing, and won’t have time to dabble into popular issues in Nigeria. Now that you know what led to this article, let me say that I would try to be as objective as practicable in the adjoining lines. Unlike the biased Central Bank of Nigeria, and the extremists at the other end of the spectrum, here’s a projection of MMM’s viability by a not-too-biased sceptic. Read on and decide for yourself. Continue reading “MMM for Life: An Outsider’s View of Nigeria’s Fastest Growing Fad”

Randoms

Watching Out for Customers

When you come from a place where things are generally messed up, there are strong odds that even a whiff of sanity would piqué your interest, making you think you’ve just encountered the best life has on offer. This tallies with the common maxim that “in the land of the blind, the person with one eye is king”. However even accounting for this maybe overexcited feeling, there are things you come across that would surely stand out, regardless of whether they are one-off occurrences, or common to those you encounter. This is a narration of an encounter with caring customer service. Continue reading “Watching Out for Customers”