Director-General of the National Centre for Women Development and renowned singer, Onyeka Onwenu in a recent interview with Punch, talked about women in Nigeria and her role in Chimamanda Adichie’s epic movie, “Half of a Yellow Sun”
Speaking on her role in the Half of a yellow sun movie, she said, “The movie is a very wonderful one…In “Half of a Yellow Sun,” there was no Onyeka Onwenu. Even my dressing and physical appearance was so believable. Everybody has a mother who wants to be in control. In this case, this was the woman’s only male child and you know how important male children are to Nigerian women. She wanted to stop her son from getting married to the educated woman. She wanted a local girl who she could have total control over. She did everything to make her son love the local girl. Eventually, she loved the wife the son married. It was such a redeeming theme. We were almost in tears when we were acting the scene.”
Recounting how the movie brought back painful memories of the Nigerian Civil War “I was moved to tears sometimes. Many more people will understand what happened during that period and what people went through. Then they can appreciate it better. For me, it was pathetic. It brought me some healing. I was just reliving the moment in a good way. I remember how my appendix was removed and I was in a hospital in Onitsha. I was still on the table. Suddenly, there was a bomb raid. I had to jump out of bed with the stitches and I was bleeding. So, watching that scene helped me to pray against war. That is what we should be doing for this country. All of us should watch that film and experience what I experienced. Then we can say, okay, that happened in our past and it will never happen again. You see some of us preaching peace all the time; it is because of what we experienced. Many Nigerians walk around today and talk about war.”
She further disclosed her plans to teach Nigerian women on how to defend themselves “I am up for self-defence. Let a woman take that decision. Go and train in martial arts. If you cannot, buy a maze. It can save your life. For self-protection I think the government can help us to train women on how to use them. They also need to license them so we can know who is carrying it and who is not. It is important that as we develop as a society, we need to explore these options. The kidnapping of young girls has to stop. These young girls are not politically involved. Why kidnap them? If you target this sector, we are in trouble. These are the people that will raise the future leaders. Why are we not protecting them? Do we expect these young girls to be locked inside and not go to school? This country is in trouble. We better start making arrangement on what to do with this situation. Our young ladies ought to know that they are important. Government at all levels must understand that there is the need to protect the girl-child”.
What can martial arts do in a gun ambush though??? Very liltle I guess
