MBERE

Ịgba ọsọ from receiving a beating from say your elder siblings or ndị yard unu chọrọ ikugbu gị for your parents was another everyday thing. In short iti ihe in general was an everyday thing. I guess one can say na the life of a 90s kid dị very bleak - parents will beat you like they had the rights to kill you, siblings eme the same when they're not around and neighbours will now top it all off. The only salvation from some of these beatings bụ the existence of the concept of "mbere". Basically, mbere meaniri refuge. It is not central igbo, and amarọm ndị ọ bụ dialect ha mana it was a very helpful phrase.

So mmadụ na-achụ gị ọsọ ka otie gị ihe, all you had to do was run to anyone ka the person ike and shout "mbere!" from that moment on, that person bụzikwa shield over you and judge over the two of you na that particular case. The other person, loses all rights to hurt you and has to abide by the decision of this newly appointed judge.

The interesting thing really bụ na onye anara mbere is always fair to all and linient to onye nara ya mbere (who is obviously the weaker party). This person also ensures the safety of this weaker person. If only our judicial systems would emulate this. 

It is sad na mbere so na one of those things real life roburu from us. The sacred refuge that it grants, how it truly protects, that would have been enough for the woman of today who has to fear every man bịara ya nso to be capable of all sorts of abuse and hurt. The task of ibido imagine wa the looming fear that one carries around just because na ọ commitigo the crime of being born female in Nigeria is unthinkable! Fear follows you everywhere like a shadow.

Na-ịga n'iru, the loss of mbere eremove go confidence victims of abuse dị iche iche nwere kali inyere ha aka ispeaki up so that na the act will be corrected and the abusers prosecuted. Ebe a bụ ebe anyị dị guilty as a people, ebe a ka anyị nọ wee normalise a abuse.

To conclude this m ga agwa gị maka my friend a police officer raperu na police station, n'iru other officers na Port Harcourt. Till today adim sure na the police officer still walks free, breathing fresh air, stargazing at night and going to church on Sundays. You too ma mmadụ suffergo dearly at the hands of a police officer, army officer, lecturer or some rich man and nothing was ever done. All that shows bụ how far removed we are from this concept of mbere, a natural concept of humanity and humanness, one in which truly - agbatobi onye bụ nwanne ya.

Mbere worked in the administering of justice maka na ọ a system where the downtrodden and not the oppressor chooses onye ga eke ikpe. It also worked because humans made themselves available ịbụ angels for people littler and weaker than them. Dịri available mmadụ ịnata mbere.