Tag: Learning

Rawabi
Politics, Travelling

A Day for Palestine

Jilomes

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]

Jilomes

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]

Jilomes

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]” →

Automated "photoshop" at the EU's Parlamentarium Building in Brussels
Travelling

B is for Brussels

Jilomes

They say it is smart to kill two birds with one stone. In obedience to this advice, the “walking around spirit” directed a trip from Berlin to Brussels; a trip made possible by the EU’s Schengen area policy. So off we went to the capital of Belgium, and effectively the capital of the European Union. I hold Angela Merkel and Berlin in high regard, but I must confess that “B is for Brussels”.  Continue reading “B is for Brussels” →

Travelling

A Compressed Tour of Merkel’s Berlin

Jilomes

A few days back, someone in my undergraduate class’ chat group posted something about the different types of students in any given class. One type described students who are “involved in everything”. Immediately this was posted, one classmate replied that I fell into this category. While, I would vehemently argue that I was not exactly a buzzing bee as an undergraduate, I would concede that I was involved in several activities, especially, ones that involved travelling. Now a postgraduate student, this “walking around spirit” has just taken me to see the German capital.

Continue reading “A Compressed Tour of Merkel’s Berlin” →

Inspiration

An Introspection on Team Synergy

Jilomes

The American poet, Mattie Stepanek, once wrote that “Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved”.  A look at books and articles pondering on productivity management shows that “the difference between success and failure is a great team”. Many authors and speakers reiterate the importance of teamwork in driving productivity, yet many persons find themselves in teams where the total output is less than the summation of individual inputs. I was recently involved in a team project and feel I should discuss some of the attributes that made that team outstanding.

Continue reading “An Introspection on Team Synergy” →

Change

One Lesson Too Many

Jilomes

The adage, “experience is the best teacher”, wrongly assumes that experience is efficacious in delivering instruction. What that adage failed to consider is that “fools despise wisdom and instruction”. In other words, for a fool, even experience is not good enough to serve as a teacher. Trying to teach a fool, even using experience, is like explaining how a colour looks to a person who was born blind. Unfortunately, this is the kind of situation Nigeria finds itself. At the risk of seeming unpatriotic, I still say that Nigeria is like a fool for whom thirty lessons is insufficient. Continue reading “One Lesson Too Many” →

Inspiration, NYSC

Leaders of Never

Jilomes

“Youths are the leaders of tomorrow.”

“Youths are the future leaders.”

Presumably, every person older than a toddler has heard these quotes or any of their numerous cousins. It is ingrained in the human consciousness that every generation will at some point be replaced by a younger one. However, for many youths, tomorrow remains elusive, perpetually unreachable because they never realize that tomorrow starts now. Continue reading “Leaders of Never” →

Change

All Play and No Work

Jilomes

With the continuous poor performance of candidates in various external examinations, one does not need any powers of divination to recognize that there is a problem somewhere. While the cause appears multifaceted, it is clear that one of its faces is the proclivity of many students for fun and entertainment. Continue reading “All Play and No Work” →