The Effects of Civilization on My Town

[ History in a Sculpture ]
Without looking at the name given to this sculpture found in my town, any one who has the story of my people can tell you what the sculpture is saying. It is named Agony of the mother of twins. Without the history of my people before civilization, you may be tempted to think that the mother of twins is stressed by the fact that she has to nurse, suckle and attend to two babies simultaneously. Unfortunately, the history of my people shows that it was the least of her problem, while my people would want to buy a goat that gives birth to 3 or 4 Young at a time, a woman who gave birth to twins was a taboo.
There were no Ultrasounds scans to detect the twins, it was only at birth that most women recognized they are having twins and amidst the pains and exhaustion, the woman has to flee for her life. Her survival is only possible if she has help from the midwife and relatives who will have to arrange for the babies to be moved away separately to communities where the killing of twins was not practiced.
I have an aunt who had to run to nearby Cameroon and I am now living with a neighbour who were also exiled to Cameroon.

Source	Description

[ Holding On To Tradition ]
In some isolated corners, civilization is still fighting the wars against harmful practices like Female genital mutilation a practice which some women voluntarily submit to as a right of passage into womanhood or may have to consent to it so as to be accepted socially among their peers. Some Conservative movements who want to protect cultural heritage have advocated for the protection of the Ibibio culture as a whole. This has provided a shield for a number of harmful practices that were a part of the culture.
In rural settings, it is still standard to settle disputes by making the parties drink out of a potion brewed with toxic herbs. While it is believed that only the innocent can survive this potions, reality has it that it is a function of an individuals excretory system being able to flush out the administered poison and some amount of emotional psychology.
Civilization on the other hand has shamed the African traditional religion while praising Christianity so much that the few who still practice the African Traditional Religion have moved into the forest or practice in the cover of darkness to avoid being stigmatized.

[ The Good old days ]
Civilization has also taken away my village, replacing it with the metropolitan city of Uyo. I am definitely missing the good old days when you can light up all the kitchen fire in Uyo with a single match stick as the light will be picked using local lamps called "Aboi-ikang" while today, you really don't know who lives at the other side of the fence and sometimes even in the same compound.
Houses were sparsely scattered around but the people were very close to each other, now civilization have tightly squeezed the houses together but the people are so far from each other.
Children were raised and disciplined at home by their parents and the community but now, the kids are shipped to boarding schools.
I wish not to be misunderstood, because I love the good roads, electricity, pipe born water, better health care facilities and more that has come to my town and people due to civilization. My point being that we have also lost a lot of values in the exchange and adoption of new culture.

Let's study this classic example. When I was young, Uyo had very narrow roads with very few vehicles driven by mostly responsible old men. We were taught to stay away from the road and to let the car pass before you can cross.
The story is different with civilization as we have very wide roads up to 16 leans with so many rides driven by young ones who care less about life. People strolling into the road and gesturing to the cars to slow down as they "red-carpet" their way across the road.

Civilization have affected everything about us, from the type of food we now eat to the nature of our clothing and grooming, the language and way we speak.
Even our definition of things have changed and is still changing. Adopting other people's culture at a very fast rate over social media.
My town and it's people have really felt the effects of both sides of civilization.

I will love to have the following Steemians participate in these contest @udyliciouz @gentlesun @oasiskp @josiah09

#lifestyle #creative #writing #steemexclusive #club75 #nigeria #steem4nigeria-cs3,