What does it mean to truly drink? Not just to swallow, but to receive water as our bodies are meant to receive it? We have traded this essential purity for convenience. We store our water in plastic bottles that can leach chemicals, particularly when we carry cartons in our vehicles, subject to heat that accelerates this process. We cook our food in metallic pots that can leave a faint, sharp taste. Our ancestors chose a different path. They understood the intelligent simplic

A few years ago, I was privileged to evaluate a women’s economic empowerment programme. I will never forget Adanna's face when she handed in her loan repayment. For months, she had been participating in the programme. According to our surveys, she represented a perfect success story - regular attendance and timely repayments. But her eyes told a different story.   "Please," she whispered, "do not give me another loan."   Later, I learnt the truth. Her husband had forbidden he

You are African. How many African outfits do you own? I can still hear the steady hum of my mother's sewing machine. I remember coming in from playing outside and finding a new dress waiting for me. The scent of new cloth filled the room. She would hum as she worked, her foot pressing the pedal rhythmically. When she made me a dress for my seventh birthday, she stitched my name inside the collar. "So you never forget whose hands made this," she said. That dress was not just c