I met a sister and close ally of mine last week in Abuja and our discussion got us into how bad neighbouring have become - or how bad we have made it to be today. She told me of her plans to begin a "know the neighbours' day" with her co-tenant. Simply knock on your neighbour's door and introduce yourself as a neighbour, what you do, just identify yourself. Whatever the response is, you are known as a neighbour and a new good relationship will be born. I found the idea fabulous as it is something I have made a culture over time, at least since I got married.
Whenever we move into a new home, we go round from house to house - at least our immediate neighbours - to introduce ourselves as neighbours stating which house we occupy, what we do for living and the likes. Even though the reaction you may get from some people will not appeal to you, but the importance of knowing your neighbours supersede your whatever reaction you get. Ultimately, you will be useful to each other someday as you live together - even if it is to "push-start" a car when the battery runs down.
Although the decay is not that bad in places like Kaduna, Zaria, Kano and further into the north; equally in the far south, east and western parts of the country where culture is still respected. However, I find it so bad in Abuja that one may live in a neighbourhood for almost a year without knowing who one lives with.
I remember when someone died in my area few months ago, he was dead for about 24 hours before it was noticed. So sad, but this is the kind of price we pay for the segregation culture. And no one around could immediately tell where to locate his relatives, where he worked or anything that may lead to finding his kin. If we can at least let our neighbours know who we are, we could be creating some sort of security for ourselves and our family.
The terrible act of disregarding our neighbours is more apparent in major cities and probably in GRAs' where majority of the residents are not indigenes. They are there for work or business related stay. However, it takes nothing away from you familiarising with neighbours.
Much could be said about the subject, but we should learn not to drop this valuable culture of togetherness in our neighbourhood. With this we will have more security for our lives and property, trust, mutual respect, co-ordination, community development, expanded network of friends, professionals and ultimately rewards.
Go now and know your neighbours, it is practicable.
Whenever we move into a new home, we go round from house to house - at least our immediate neighbours - to introduce ourselves as neighbours stating which house we occupy, what we do for living and the likes. Even though the reaction you may get from some people will not appeal to you, but the importance of knowing your neighbours supersede your whatever reaction you get. Ultimately, you will be useful to each other someday as you live together - even if it is to "push-start" a car when the battery runs down.
Although the decay is not that bad in places like Kaduna, Zaria, Kano and further into the north; equally in the far south, east and western parts of the country where culture is still respected. However, I find it so bad in Abuja that one may live in a neighbourhood for almost a year without knowing who one lives with.
I remember when someone died in my area few months ago, he was dead for about 24 hours before it was noticed. So sad, but this is the kind of price we pay for the segregation culture. And no one around could immediately tell where to locate his relatives, where he worked or anything that may lead to finding his kin. If we can at least let our neighbours know who we are, we could be creating some sort of security for ourselves and our family.
The terrible act of disregarding our neighbours is more apparent in major cities and probably in GRAs' where majority of the residents are not indigenes. They are there for work or business related stay. However, it takes nothing away from you familiarising with neighbours.
Much could be said about the subject, but we should learn not to drop this valuable culture of togetherness in our neighbourhood. With this we will have more security for our lives and property, trust, mutual respect, co-ordination, community development, expanded network of friends, professionals and ultimately rewards.
Go now and know your neighbours, it is practicable.
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