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Fred has been working at a renowned fashion store as a senior computer network engineer since he graduated from college. The store has branches in all States in the mid-western regions of the United States. At the store’s Eastside Columbus branch, Fred has a well-equipped office, from where assists other personnel and store installations in troubleshooting networks hiccups. The network technician also helps in repairing hardware. “Before training as a network engineer, I had worked as a hardware technician,” he told Apex 1 Radio.

Interestingly, Fred’s very spacious office and properly equipped office is for formality. “What I require to do my job is just a workstation which is my laptop,” he mentioned, when Apex 1 Radio sort to know how the network engineer was working from home.

According to Fred, he usually works from wherever he is at any given moment. “I built the network architecture of my company, so I access it at anytime from my workstation and do whatever needs to be done on it,” he said.

Fred explained that on his on-call days while at home, he receives calls. “Once the user provides me with the password of his desktop, I remote into it, get in the Vlan and fix the issue without going to their office in person to do so,” he told us.

For less serious problems, he assigns a junior staff in his department to handle it by calling or texting them. “Why would I stay in the office when I can operate this way,” the technician asked rhetorically.

When the COVID-19 scare swept the United States and companies sought to reduce its spread by advising employees to work from home, Fred was comfortable with the arrangement. “It’s not new to me, so I found the approach normal and meaningful,” he revealed. “In fact, I was going to make the suggestion to my company, if it wasted time to take the decision,” he added.

Like Fred, scores of other employees in the Information Technology and other fields work from home. Internet connection makes it possible to troubleshoot hitches, have meetings, assess orders and serve customers. With COVID-19 in the air, these employees have simply continued working as though nothing happened. The only difference would surely be the eminent increase in workload, in some cases.

For one thing, COVID-19 would have served a lesson. On its heels, working from home could be valorized to brace to any such circumstance in the future. However, even without such a crisis, digital technology is gradually and steadily keeping people and jobs away from physical settings, in favor of virtual ones. Who says working from home, is not the next biggest thing?

Unlike in tropical parts of the world, places situated in the Northern hemisphere, have a very solid cultural attachment to weather. In fact, life in these places largely depends on weather conditions. That explains why weather reporting is and has always been an integral part of news, not only in the news media, but all other types of media.

In this part of the earth, Winter, the coldest (roughly from October to February) season, is naturally the most dreaded. During Winter, life is somehow grounded. Life is reduced to school, work and movement from one place to the other for necessary business. Fewer recreational activities happen and dwellers who neither go to school nor work, stay home most of the time. Most activities that happen in Winter, take place indoors.

Even when people would have loved to interact socially, cold weather wouldn’t permit them do so. Perhaps, snow which is Winter’s commonest biproduct, makes life so miserable during this time. “It’s worthless marching in snow just to go and attend an event,” one Columbus, Ohio city dweller told Apex 1 Radio. She questioned rhetorically: “What’s the point in doing that?”

With this, the hot season is the only option to make up for months of inactivity. In a typical African diaspora community mindset, the hot season is the period that covers Spring and Summer. Long before this time, organizers schedule events of all sorts – weddings, ordinary meet-the-friends parties, music concerts, community park walks, barbeques, pool parties, excursions and the list is endless.

Usually, Fridays and Saturdays are the peak days, but in places such as Maryland in the United States, everyday in Summer is a party day. Months earlier, organizers book and pay for event venues and start sending out invitations, everyone, struggling to get the highest number of attendees to their event. By the end of every hot season therefore, an event calendar of the next one is full – the scenario every year.

Spring and Summer of 2020 were not different. Virtually all Saturdays from March to August had been marked for events at an event venue Apex 1 Radio sampled for this report. “My venue had been booked for three weddings since 2018,” the owner of a renowned party hall in the Columbus’ Northside told us. “There is one taking place on June 13, the next on June 27 and another one on August 15,” he revealed further.

The event venue owner explained that had the organizers not come for the hall in 2018, they wouldn’t have been sure to have it at the time they needed it. “The rest of the Saturdays and Fridays for the season are all book, equally,” he told Apex 1 Radio.

Other event venue owners we have talked to, have similar stories.

Now, will these events take place? “It’s the most difficult question to answer,” EN responded. EN, as the young African preferred to be called for identity protection purposes, planned his wedding for April this year. “We are confused – after putting in so much in terms of preparation and getting up one morning to have to face a health crisis that puts everything on a hold, is inexplicable,” he regretted.

“As at now, it’s clear that my wedding cannot take place as planned – it’s shutdown everywhere and when things will return to normal, is still a mystery,” EN said. EN went further: “My fiancée and I feel terrible about this, but what can we do, other than hope things get better and we are able to reschedule.”

Like EN, there are scores of other event Summer event organizers with the same feelings. No one knows exactly when the Coronavirus will be a thing of the past, neither can they conjecture the posture of Summer 2020. Suspense, isn’t it?

The 2020 edition of the Urban Jamz Awards, UJA, has been postponed. Originally scheduled for Friday, March 20 in Douala, Urban Jamz Awards 2020 will take place on a later date to be announced.

According to its founder and President, Valery Atia, the decision comes on the heels of the Coronavirus outbreak which has clipped the wings of the world. “And the subsequent lockdown by the government to reduce and manage its spread,” he adds, in a press release, Wednesday, March 18.

In a considerate tone, the Urban Jamz Awards boss insists that the safety of participants, including artists, music fans and organizers, is primordial. He however advises potential UJA 2020 attendees to hold on to their tickets and reservations till that time when the event will take place. “Information regarding the new date will be announced,” the release reads on.

Created in 2016, the Urban Jamz Awards has become the leading music recognition platform in the Central African sub region. The annual event identifies and rewards actors who display excellence in music production including singers, dancers, managers, music video directors, bloggers, etc. All had been set for the fifth edition with expected performances from frontline artists such as Daphne, Salatiel, Charlotte Dipanda, Mr leo, Magasco, Blanche Bailly, Locko and Blaise B.

Except heaven, there is no other utopian place. Literally translated, life is not and will never be a bell off roses. From ordinary observation, there are more undesirable moments that happy ones. Entertaining sadness would therefore be tantamount to succumbing to fate. In the days of yore, this mindset occupied enough space in the lives of people who accommodated it. Disturbing, isn’t it?

Today, things have changed, perhaps thanks to the new ICTs and social media. Not to say it has banalized everything, social media has played a positive psychological impact on people, to the point where in the face of adversity, they relax.

Just like the case with other prominent events/circumstances, COVID-19 has had its own fair share of social media memes. For the past weeks and still running, citizens have embarked on all sorts of Coronavirus-related memes. They are either motionless designed or motion pictures, brilliantly crafted to beat out the terrible feelings people have had to harbor since the pandemic came calling.

As days go by, comedians are increasingly pouring out COVID-19 skits, shared on social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp. “Each time I come across a Coronavirus skit, I quickly forget about the virus’ ravaging effect,” Ferline, a Columbus, Ohio resident told Apex 1 Radio. To her, more of such memes and skits are required, at least, for the therapeutic role they play. “We may be underestimating their role, but those comic relief content help in keeping some people alive,” she said. And added: “In the absence of these, belief me, some people who be so badly damaged psychologically.”

What has not been noticed more, is music. One would have expected situational artists to produce songs on the pandemic as rapidly as it is spreading. Perhaps, this has not been the case because COVID-19 took the world by storm and no one is yet to understand the nature of the pandemic. That notwithstanding, there have been a handful of tracks on COVID-19 released, including “Believe Love Will Triumph”, an anthem, sung by Chinese.

One of the most prominent music works on COVID-19, is We’ve Got This – Fight Against Coronavirus/COVID-19, authored by the South African Ndlovu Youth Choir. Released on March 11, the track is gathering YouTube views by the day. The thematic song cautions people against habits that could cause the virus to inhibit in them. The track makes it clear that avoiding face touching and regularly washing hands are the best way to go. Its video is a display of great artistic performance.

Hopefully, upcoming memes, comedy skits and songs would be addressing COVID-19 in the past tense. For now, let’s help ourselves fight it.

Moi Moi Nigerian cuisine is an enviable aspect of the country’s cultural heritage. Apart from epic movies you would watch religiously, hugely supplied by Nollywood and the mouth-watering pieces from the country’s music outfit, Nigerian food is by every ramification, the best thing you’d take back home after a visit to continent. One delicacy that is never absent in restaurant and home menus, is Moi Moi. Moi Moi is a Nigerian steamed bean pudding made from a mixture of washed and peeled black-eyed peas, onions and fresh ground peppers. It is a protein-rich food that is a staple in Nigeria. It is also called Moin-Moin or Moyi Moyi and also served at parties. Bonne appetit!

Congresswoman for the Ohio 3^rd District, Joyce Beatty has accompanied the local authorities of Reynoldsburg and the dwellers in welcoming the city’s latest health-based nutrition product. Raider Nutrition was presented to the public this Saturday, March 14 during a ceremony to inaugurate the juice bar.

Just as excited as the Congresswoman, Reynoldsburg’s municipal official, Meredith Lawson-Rowe, representing her council, endorsed the product, pointing out that it was the best option for everyone at this time. “Raider Nutrition is a product everyone must to check out for,” the Councilwoman recommended.

Healthy eating has always been the number one recommendation to the people of Reynoldsburg. Local authorities of this municipality have never relented in their efforts to make this a reality. Fortunately, Reynoldsburg city dwellers have been heeding to this and are contributing enormous to promote this habit, through their community service initiatives.

Raider Nutrition also comes at a time the food industry in the United States is looking for ways of improving and encouraging healthy eating. It is the hope of consumers that more healthy foods will get into the market such that concerns of nutrition-related problems should be a thing of the past.

 

SILENT SABBATH

March 15, 2020 is by all indications, the rarest Sunday in the history of time in Ohio and other States in the United States. Ordinarily, as early as 7am and in some cases, before, church doors are flung open to let Christians in for the day’s service (mass for Roman Catholics). But at 8am, time of scribbling these notes, Church premises, including parking lots, maintained the mood they had had all week long with doors closed. This follows the official declaration of nationwide state of emergency by President Trump and the lock-down by Ohio’s number one executive, Governor Mike DeWine. These prohibitions that is affecting one of the most significant Christian requirements – keeping the sabbath day holy, came as a result of rising rates of people testing positive for Coronavirus in the United States and Ohio respectively. So far, Ohio fields in 26 positive cases while death toll in the United States has climbed to 50. How a Sunday with silent and uninhabited Church halls and pulpits would look like, is yet to be determined. But with modern technology at its best, Christians would still commune with fellow brethren and God. Other mediums included, Facebook, YouTube, Skype, WhatsApp, would do the trick. Otherwise, prayers and worshipping are always supposed to be a daily thing. God is still with us and hopefully, COVID-19 will check out sooner than later.

SILENT SHELVES

Arguably, grocery stores, are the most visited economic activity milieus in metropolitan settlements. Naturally, people need food, more than anything else, daily to survive. For that reason, grocery store traffic is most often dense, day-in, day-out, all year round. To keep life going therefore, restocking store shelves is the commonest activity you would notice at the markets. Usually, stockers won’t wait for shelves (including refrigerators) to run dry before replenishing. They would do that as soon as an item leaves. With the COVID-19 scare, the scene has changed. For the first time, store shelves have been emptied of their content and there are no signs of replenishment. Interestingly, items that stayed longer on shelves have suddenly become highly sought after and whisked away. Perhaps, the height of it, is the new scarcity of bread, affecting big groceries markets across Ohio and the United States. “When it touches bread, then we are in for harder days ahead,” said a customer of a well reputed grocery store, situated at the Northern belt of Columbus. He went on: “Bread is life and without it, life is miserable.” For over a week now, people have been stocking their homes with food, for fear of the unknown. What if COVID-19 becomes even more present and they are not allowed to leave their homes? The answer to that question has obviously laid in the huge food purchase going on. Food scarcity is certainly the need battle. Hope COVID-19 checks out sooner than later – hunger could be dreadful.

SILENT SCHOOLS

School grounds are usually noisy places. “Of course, noises made by kids as they recite poems, sing, repeat after their teacher, are desirable – this is called making useful noise,” a parent told Apex 1 Radio. The Westerville (city in the Columbus metropolis) parent was reacting to the fact that COVID-19 would be affecting schools. “I want kids and their teachers to be safe, but I regret that such a calamitous health crisis should be befalling us at a time we need kids in school,” she continued. The concerned parent went on: “They are talking of three weeks without projecting into the possibility of going beyond – what if Coronavirus numbers continue to rise, don’t you think we can get to a point where we will be entertaining kids at home for months?” Though worried, other parents have expressed same concerns, but have preferred to have their kids at home at this critical time, than having them exposed to the dangers of COVID-19. Monday, March 22 was supposed to be the last day of school in most districts in Ohio, but a Gubernatorial decision whisked the day off the calendar. Schools are only expected to resume, after the Spring break, in three weeks, as opposed to the usual one week this holiday has always had.

MORE COVID-19 UPDATES COMING UP…..

In a quick aftermath thought, following the popularity SWEET MOTHER had enjoyed, the author of the timeless and universal highlife masterpiece was challenged to package an equivalent for fathers. Prince Nico Mbarga had been confronted with complaints of fathers not having their fair share in the SWEET MOTHER buzz, whereas they too pull a mighty weight in the family movement.

Nico Mbarga of blessed memory had no other option, than to pay the much-needed tribute to the Governor of the family – the father. Whether the succeeded track to SWEET MOTHER, titled GOOD FATHER turned out to be a success of not, or whether its buzz was far less impactful than the former, is not what is important. What is salient in this discourse is that the legendary highlife artist, just like his audience, saw the need of the father and the importance of this male figure being celebrated.

But just as we take a lot of things for granted, many of us can still not define who the father is. Life Happens may provide the academic definitions of the father who is the male parent of a child. The show may also go further in explaining that besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. We can also join Wikipedia in defining him as the biologically male genetic contributor to the creation of the infant, through sexual intercourse or sperm donation.

But, it would be more interesting if we look at the father in the true sense of our African society or communities. In the days of yore, the father figure was an embodiment of strength, respect, order, authority and an incarnation of family growth. If in a post-colonial African setting, both parents were career workers, in a typically traditional environment where work was attached to one parent, it was the man – the father. The father understood and did so without any mistakes that it was his utmost responsibility to provide protection to the children he fathered and to his family as a whole. By protection, we mean the provision of shelter, food, medicines, education, the list continues.

The kids felt warmth in the presence of their father and trusted their confidence in him. As a follow-up, the man ensured that he implemented every strict and stringent rule required for a better upbringing of children. His authority reigned.

And so instead of calling him darling husband, his wife would rather call him Papa Ogundele or Papa Eposi, a clear indication that the role of father exerted immeasurable strength. When a woman had lived with the father of her children for a long time, the letter gradually and naturally started happening on her like a father figure. It was not stranger therefore to find women referring to their husbands as Papa.

As time went on and career started meandering its way into the family narrative, things began to change. The father tree started being uprooted gradually. It fast became common to find women who at times because of advocacy education, would pit their children against the latter’s father. Stories of “your dad doesn’t care about you and so why should you care about him” became commonplace.

What about women who would openly disrespect their husbands in the presence of the kids? In their tender ages, some women would let their kids know that their dad is an irresponsible man who spend money on everything else except his home and so such a man did not deserve any respect. This would happen even when such allegations are unfounded.

An uglier picture is children who have openly disrespected their father and some have gone as far as engaging them in physical confrontations. Sad! The same children have been unable to make their father proud and would rather present poor academic results, poor behavior returns and the list is long.

If some fathers have just been unfortunate to have bad wives and children, others have been bad fathers even when they are blessed by good wives and kids. These ones have unrepentantly made their wives victims of matrimonial cheating and their children victims of delinquent male parenting. We have therefore not been blind to fathers who have vehemently refused to pay school fees for their children and would rather teach them bad habits such as drunkenness, cheating, laziness, and carefree lifestyle. These one have rather been a disgrace to their children. Sad indeed!

And so as the world celebrates father’s day, where can we say is the standing of today’s African father? He has lost that authority because his wife and children have despised the African value of respect for the head of the home or his is missing in the realm of respect because he cannot comport himself like a gentlemen? Every father knows where they belong – but in such challenging times, there is a high need for reflection on the kind of fathers Africa and the world should be grooming today – the father who is a pride to his home, community and society at large. A father whose children can stand up any day, anytime, hit their chest and declare him the best dad in the universe.

Happy Father’s Day to all dad! Be the darling dads we love to showcase!

Welcome to LIFE HAPPENS as we launch Season 2 of your talk show on Apex 1 Radio. My name is Gracee Boycee and the show is produced by Ernest Kanjo.

Let’s set the ball rolling with music and we shall be back to formulate our topic for the edition.