Seyiwryte

BE TRUE TO YOURSELF "Sorry, I didn't get that? Temi what?" It was the third time this week that Temiposire has had to repeat her name more than once each time she introduced herself to a new person. Back in school, she had become the subject of regular banter from classmates who took turns to make jest of her name.  But Temiposire didn't let any of that get to her, rejecting attempts from her friends to make her name sound classy. She took pride in the cultural identity that gave birth to the name.  A couple of blocks away from where Temiposire lived was a young chap around the same age as her, Thomas. Thomas was an only child, the priceless jewel of his parent's world. Although his dad worked at a blue collar firm and he had a stay-at-home mum, Thomas put a real strain on the family's finances, spending large sums to enhance his physical appearance just like his friend Johnson except that Johnson's parents were rich and his lifestyle wasn'...

CREATE SPACE Tiwatope and her family lived in one of the worst slums in Lagos. The houses in the community they lived in could at best, be described as shanties; roughly built cabins put together with pieces of wood and metal.  It wasn't unusual to see teenage girls carrying kids tied around their backs with wrappers and young boys with trousers hanging beneath their waists, cigar hung on their lips, blaring music from jam boxes.  When these boys gathered together in the evening, the area they camped at always looked like a chimney belching clouds of smoke from afar. The entire area reeked of poverty, juvenile delinquency and moral decadence.  An unfortunate twist of fate had seen Tiwatope's family moved to this slum. A wild fire that started a couple of blocks away had caught up with theirs. The apartments were built so close it didn't take time for the fire to spread across other blocks, burning down their entire possessions. All of sudden, they were rendere...