A Bowl of Garri

I thank you High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit…

Psalm 139:14,15

For a bachelor serving in rural Northern Nigeria, food is at a premium. It's so difficult to get a decent meal (and my mother wonders why I'm so thin!).

Well, the other day, I and a few fellow corpers, Shola, Udeme and Wumi, gathered our broke selves in one of our rooms to drown our sorrows in a bowl of garri. Shola had some lovely Ife garri (she claims it's better than Ijebu) so we all pitched in to make a feast of it. One person brought the milk, another the milo, while I brought the sugar. Water, of course, was plentiful. As we each took our bowl and began concocting our respective cocktails, one thing became obvious. We all liked garri our way. What I mean is this: I take garri with lots of sugar and enough water but not milk, if the garri is sour. Shola thinks sugar in garri is spoiling the taste. But then she uses milk. Wumi likes his with milo and sugar. Udeme combines everything. And we all thought we were having garri the best way possible!

I think it's just like that with so many things in life. Each of us has his own way of doing things that works just for us. It may not please others, sometimes it's downright offensive, but it works for us. For example I like Indomie well enough (though I've had much too much this year), but then at the same time I'm not exactly a fan of spaghetti. Another person eats only fish, no meat. Others can't stand bread! But we're all the same species. Doesn't it just make you wonder?

Several things I learn from all this, but I think the most wondrous of all is to marvel at the immense diversity that God has put in us, the crème of His creation. He's made all of us with a strong streak of individuality, so that each human is his own person, without a duplicate. What a wonder! Why do siblings, even twins have their own likes and dislikes when they were brought up in the same environment, with the same exposures and influences? It's just God's way; and that's what makes His creation such a masterpiece.

It's also God's way of telling me I'm special; set apart from anyone else. So, yes, I have no qualms about liking what I like and disliking what I dislike. That's just me, the way God made me. And I still think my garri tastes best.

With love, Doosuur.