Clad in a silver-colour spacesuit like Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, I boarded my shuttle of prose– on a mission through myth and reality– to the ancient town of Ikoro-Ekiti, a lush land that existed long before western capitalist-cartographers carved territories out of ancient empires they later christened Africa; long before the white man arrived with his brutal scissors and treacherous thread to cut and suture lands, lineages and languages. I am not terminating this journey at Ikoro-Ekiti; it is only my first port of call. Here’s the flight schedule, if you care.  From Igbajo, the Land of the Brave, in Osun, I shall power my pencraft towards Ikoro-Ekiti, on a nonstop flight, before heading to Islam-dominated Ilorin, the city of Àfònjá, located in modern-day Kwara State, and then head to Iwo, the illustrious town in present-day Osun State, where the parrot sings truthful tunes on the banks of Obà River. Are you ready to embark on this exploration with me? Okay, if the egungun is ready, the cane is ready, too. O ya, hop on board, and let’s travel through the marrow of myth. Once upon a time, writes Prof. Wande Abimbola in his book, “Ifa Divination Poetry”, published in March 1973, a king ascended the throne of Ikoro-Ekiti. His name was Oba Onikoro Mèbí. The powerful king had many queens, among whom was a promiscuous belle, whose name was not dignified with a mention in the Ifa corpus that bears her story. The warmth and succulence of Onikoro Mèbí’s bed notwithstanding, this beautiful queen was stoking the heat of another man’s loins. “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is delicious,” says King Solomon in the Book of Proverbs, chapter 7, verse 17. Onikoro’s queen and her lover got carried away by the juice of their dalliance; they ate and drank until the king caught them red-handed. Unlike these days, there’s a punishment for anyone caught in the trap of sacrilege, in those days. Such a culprit would be stripped, bathed in ash, bound hand and foot, and dumped by the roadside on the way to the market, for passersby to see their shame. In ages past, palaces in Yorubaland consisted of 16 separate quarters, with the king living in the biggest and most dignified of the quarters. The king’s wife was to be given the ash treatment, but Onikoro Mèbí felt that it would belittle his esteem in the eyes of the world. So, he had his male servants strip his wife, drench her in ash, and tie her up in front of one of the apartments, figuring out which day of the week was best to behead the culprits. In a moment of sober reflection, however, Onikoro Mèbí sent for his herbalist, Àgbìgbònìwònràn, expressing his wish to seek Ifa’s counsel on the matter at hand. Before Àgbìgbònìwònràn left home for the king’s palace, he went and consulted a group of herbalists whose tradename was Kese-Kese Baba Kàsà-Kàsà. The herbalists told him to offer a sacrifice to the gods urgently. But Àgbìgbònìwònràn did not offer the sacrifice as charged, valuing royal summons above spiritual sacrifice. So, off to the palace, he went. Onikoro Mèbí unburdened his heart to Àgbìgbònìwònràn, who stared at the floor while the king talked. When the king was through, Àgbìgbònìwònràn consulted Ifa, and Ifa warned that the king should be careful with the way he handles the case of his wife, saying the king had only seen Kese-Kese, adding that Kàsà-Kàsà, the father of Kese-Kese, was coming behind. Thus, Àgbìgbònìwònràn used the wisdom in the name, Kese-Kese Baba Kàsà-Kàsà, to counsel the king. Through the story of Onikoro Mèbí and Àgbìgbònìwònràn as enshrined in Ifa teachings, the myth of Kese-Kese baba Kàsà-Kàsà was entrenched in Yoruba worldview and subsequently became a popular proverb. As Ifa called for caution, Onikoro Mèbí felt ashamed to free his wife by himself, so he told Àgbìgbònìwònràn to go and untie the queen. When Àgbìgbònìwònràn got to the naked queen, their eyes locked, and he untied her hands, legs, and thighs. While Àgbìgbònìwònràn was digging the queen’s soil to sow his wild oats, the queen burst into a shriek: “Fife ni n fe mi o, fife ni n fe mi, Àgbìgbònìwònràn ko kuku tu mi sile, fife ni n fe mi,” meaning: “He is not untying me, he is not untying me; Àgbìgbònìwònràn is making love to me, he is not untying me!” The king heard the scream of his queen. He rushed down to the apartment and found a stripped Àgbìgbònìwònràn, his Ifa pouch, clothes and cap flung in different directions, sweating and panting. Instantly, the king unsheathed his sword, swung it, and Àgbìgbònìwònràn’s head thudded hard on the ground, blood squirting. The news of Àgbìgbònìwònràn’s beheading travelled like wildfire, reaching the paramount palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, whose panegyrics – Obaléyò Ajòrí, Oba Ajodo emi gbára, Oba Ajeèsé-Yokùn-Tòòtò-Léyò – resounded at home and abroad. So, the Alaafin summoned his vassal, Onikoro Mèbí, to Oyo. Obaléyò Ajòrí asked Onikoro Mèbí why he beheaded his babalawo. The embattled king told his side of the story, bereft of caution, patience and due process. The Alaafin gave his verdict: Onikoro Mèbí, too, must die. His head bounced on the ground like that of Àgbìgbònìwònràn. Now, Ilorin comes into view as I nose my spacecraft in a descent. Ilorin is a beautiful city. The touchdown will be in a few minutes. Fasten your seat belts, please. After disembarking, we shall go to Oke-Kudu, an area of Ilorin. Factually, the Onikoro Mèbí analogy exemplifies the latest katakata between the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, and his longtime alfa, whose name was simply given in a viral video as the Magaji of Oke-Kudu in Ilorin. In the ungodly video, the magaji portrays himself as the creature who controls the creator. The video provides a classic tool to atheists, who see God as a creation of man to explain the unknown. Also, the video has the potential to drive agnostics farther away from the realm of belief. Indeed, if a little child watches the video, he is likely to come off with the notion of Allah as being a king kong, who is controlled on a keypad by the reckless. To start with, Magaji Oke Kudu claims he knew Akanbi when he was hustling in Canada, and that he was the one who told him to marry his first wife, when Akanbi wouldn’t stop getting into trouble. He explained that the marriage to a northern Nigerian lady produced two sons. In a bid to show how close he was to Oluwo, the magaji produced an alleged photocopy of the information page of Akanbi’s passport, saying the Iwo monarch had invited him to Canada long before he became king. Sitting regally in Arabian apparel, with a ceiling-high turban, the angry Magaji said that when Akanbi had a run-in with the law in Toronto, he was the one who begged Allah to make the principal witness in the case against Akanbi go mad. He said, “Akanbi was arrested for money laundering. They (police) came to his house and saw money in his house. He was set up by his girlfriend, Loranie, and was arrested. The case came up in a lower court; we begged God on his behalf, and he won. They rearrested him and took him to the central court. They retrieved the huge sum of money from him. “The judge asked that Loranie be produced in court to come and testify; if the lady testifies against Akanbi, he would go to jail. A lot of Nigerians abroad bag 50-year jail terms and more. He became jittery and confided in me. And I told Allah, ‘God, you’re the one who forgives; forgive me and forgive Abdulrasheed, too.’ “So, the lady was produced in court, with both of them in separate witness boxes. The judge asked the lady if she knew Akanbi. Of course, she knows him. (Magaji waves his right hand to God in supplication.) If Akanbi appreciates what we did, he shouldn’t forget us; he shouldn’t forget Ilorin forever. “When the judge called on the lady to talk, she became mad instantly. May God forgive me and forgive Akanbi. She became mad! They asked her questions, but she was just tearing at her hair. The judge dismissed the case immediately.” Magaji recounts how the Oluwo was caught and jailed in the US for criminal impersonation while on a visit, saying he (Magaji) again begged God for him (Akanbi) to regain freedom. “I saw that he had no one; that’s why I stood by him fully. I didn’t help him because of money; he had no money,” the magaji said. Though it is on record that two British tabloids, The Sun and The Mail, in 2024, revealed how Oluwo was jailed twice in the US and deported to Nigeria in 1999 for engaging in money fraud, among other crimes, I shall not dwell on his past transgressions. While digging in on this story, I discovered that the Magaji was annoyed with the Oluwo because of the shoddy treatment the king allegedly meted out to him some time ago. Specifically, the man, who calls himself an imam, said he was chased out of Iwo palace by 12:30am, when he was on a visit to the palace, stressing that he had to go and sleep in a mosque till daybreak. Magaji called on Akanbi to return the Toyota Camry, aka Muscle, which he claimed he had given to him. By coming to the public with the news of the false and ungodly help he rendered to the Akanbi, the Magali was going to kill two birds with one stone. He aims to display the authenticity of his brutal powers so that ignoramuses could flock to him, seeking protection, ritual money, etc. He also wants to get even with Akanbi for turning his back on him. The Magaji, whose video I watched, appears to be over 50; a fool at 40 is a fool forever, goes a popular Nigerian saying. It is baffling that an imam, who has a congregation and who teaches people, doesn’t know that anyone who holds the tiger by the tail ends up in its belly. To be continued

He was a top apparatchik of China’s Communist Party. His duty was to oversee the economic development zone in Inner Mongolia’s Hohhot city. The power of his office and access to free and fast cash got his sticky fingers dirty in a scam running into 3bn yuan (about $432M). Money embezzled. Funds misused. Bribes offered and taken. And criminal syndicates hobnobbed to fashion out the ease of doing the dirty business in a corruption escapade that lasted over a long period of time. The 64-year-old Chinese man was Li Jianping. In any society where there is enforced comeuppance for broken anti-corruption laws, potential law breakers are wary before they go wayward. However, where laws are loose and lousy, something strangely and starkly different happens. Public funds are claimed to be swallowed up via the venomous mouth of a strange snake. And the buccal cavity of a mysterious banana-munching monkey becomes a melting point for stolen government cash. In this Chinese true story, the laws of the land pounced on Jianping. The axe of justice came smashing down on the thieving top gun. Jianping received a death sentence. Rounds of volleying bullets with accompanying steely staccato pierced into his greedy bodily frame in an execution last year. Head down. Arms limb. Spirit surrendered to the Grim Reaper of justice. The man died. Li Jianping will not steal again as his body now lies still in another world, six feet below. In China, corruption is suicide. In Nigeria, the corrupt is a celebrity, and the thief is crowned a chief. May God help us! Many years ago, in diverse fora, I asked this question that did not elicit an answer even from my friends. Today, I ask the same question: If corruption attracts the death penalty like it does in China, how many nefarious Nigerians in the porch of power and veranda of authority will be standing? Iniquitous immersion in the baptistry of corruption made many of our businessmen and women billionaires overnight. They dodge paying requisite taxes and skip scheduled levies. They duck requisite duties on imports and offer and take big bribes. How do Nigerian civil servants easily become billionaires? By working 9am-5pm? How many people privileged to run Nigeria’s crude oil business aren’t feeding fat from the carousel of corruption? Swift swing back to history and down the low-lung summary of the noxious absurdity and fetid excrescence called stealing by our big men and women will reveal a lot. Once upon a time, the EFCC traced a whopping sum of N34bn to Allison Maduekwe, Nigeria’s former petroleum minister. Her hidden $37.5m mansion was also uncovered. A former Local Government Chairman in Kogi State, Gabriel Daudu, was jailed for five years for N1.4bn fraud. The uncontrolled new bride in the wedlock of corruption is former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, the man who wanted to be president even while sitting as a governor over Nigeria’s cash cache. His wealth of illegally amassed assets while he governed Nigeria’s wealth well is not comparable to the remuneration he earned for being the CBN boss. Diversions of government funds running into billions, mismanagement of Nigeria’s social investment programme totalling another hundreds of billions; illegal economic crimes of national security dimension, money laundering, and unwholesome activities through proxies, are some of the allegations against this man, who cooled his heels in the calaboose before he was granted bail. Ugly stories of bold and blatant corruption are Nigeria’s testaments just because God blessed us with crude oil. One fuel subsidy of the worst and most acerbic albatrosses on Nigeria’s economic neck was the shenanigan that enriched a few Nigerians and a few neighbouring countries, but pauperised the country and its citizenry. On the day Bola Tinubu was sworn in as President, he yanked off the oil subsidy that had cost Nigeria billions of dollars over many years. It was long overdue. Tinubu knew that was a slippery area. Presidents who came before him had stealthily avoided the discussion. The President also knew that baneful benefactors from the filthy pool of corruption in the crude oil business would sooner or later come after him. But he hit it head-on. In a little over two months, Nigeria saved over N1tn that would have found its way into criminals’ pockets. They are funds meant to better the healthcare and transportation sector, schools, housing, and national security, among others. Oh, poor Nigerians! Where is your messiah of milk-and-honey, who will deliver you from these corruption troubles in the hands of big men? From the days of the historical hit of goldmine is Oloibiri, Nigeria has been running three massive refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna. The cost of building these refineries has been bodaciously behemoth; so also has the haemorrhaging involved in keeping them alive and profitable for the Nigerian nation. With an estimated whooping $25bn sunk into the dead-today, dying-tomorrow machinery, they have become like the grave that keeps asking for more dead bodies but is never satisfied. Despite the infusion of whooping cash stacked to rehabilitate the refineries, they were producing at less than 30 per cent capacity. Refineries run by the government agency in Nigeria are a conduit and carousel of cruel corruption. It is why there has been a ‘civil war’ of sorts against the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery now bailing Nigeria out of a possible economic shipwreck. Refineries operated by governments are located mostly in repressive and undemocratic countries. They are found in the Middle East, with Saudi Aramco being a prime example. Same in China, which is home to state-owned giants like China National Petroleum Corporation and China Petrochemical Corporation. They are in repressive Russia, where companies like Rosneft are government-owned. Corruption in Nigeria is a pre-existing condition. It drove our leaders to opt for importing products that we are wired to export. We refuse to take advantage of our natural endowment to grow food we can all feed off with satisfaction. Although the naira seems to be finding its competitive level against the US dollar under Tinubu, corruption has always been the reason our local currency has been bouncing around like a yo-yo against the dollar. It is why over the last 37 years or more, about 650 industries have shut their gates and ferreted out into other nations around us. It is why Nigerian big thieves are getting bolder, and life is getting harder for the common man. Dangote is not only refining crude oil, but he is also refining crudity in our economy. The private $20bn Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company is a blessing. It could earn Nigeria foreign exchange savings of between $25bn and $30bn yearly. The impact of the savings is already slowly reflected in Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves by reducing the pressure on the country’s balance of payments. Nigeria’s domestic fuel consumption is about 450,000 barrels per day, while the excess production would be available for export. Dangote’s private mission is generating thousands of direct jobs and millions of indirect jobs, over 135,000 permanent jobs for Nigerians. Up to 12,000MW of electricity will be generated, meeting 100 per cent of Nigeria’s consumption needs for all refined products. We should, as a matter of urgency, auction off our comatose refineries and put them on the shoulders of savvy businessmen and women, who know how to run things onto a higher ground of economic success, not aground. X-@Folaojotweet

In our clime it does not always happen that political chief executives challenge their appointees to work hard. One reason is that some don’t want their appointees to ‘outshine’ them. There are also political chief executives whose priority is to take care of their own pockets, not the public. Appointees who show they want to work are, therefore, a threat to the chief executive who doesn’t want to work. So, when one sees a chief executive who tells his political appointees he expects them to work but they don’t, it’s worth pointing out. This is what the Governor of Bayelsa State, Duoye Diri, did lately at a meeting with his appointees. The governor’s action reminds me of one political appointee who says he’s careful so as not to be seen by his boss and fellow aides as wanting ‘something’. Diri is showing he’s not in the mould of chief executives who watch every step taken by their appointees to ensure they neither outshine them nor be a barrier to their ulterior motives. Diri wants to see his appointees work. He said that much when he addressed his Commissioner of Agriculture, who happens to be a professor of agriculture. During the meeting shown on TV, Diri said he expected the state to produce enough food. Obviously, he wasn’t pleased that the state wasn’t doing that on a large scale. He felt his appointee in charge of agriculture should have made Bayelsa the food basket of the nation, but it didn’t happen. He said to the professor that if he didn’t make Bayelsa produce enough food, he would consider the professor to be a classroom theoretical teacher. Diri further explained that he travelled to one of the Asian countries with the professor, and they visited entities that were into agriculture. Those entities made promises to assist Bayelsa in its drive to produce food. Nonetheless, since the governor and the agriculture professor returned, no action had been taken to indicate that the agriculture ministry wanted to leverage the promises made during the visit. For this reason, the governor asked rhetorically why he had not seen changes thus far. He added that he expected technology to have been deployed for large-scale agriculture in the state, but thus far, nothing had happened. In one of the responses made at that same meeting, one of the attendees commented that practising agriculture by using a machine for large-scale production in Bayelsa was impossible because farmlands had trees on them. That attendee said help was needed in that regard. As for the observation Diri made publicly at that meeting, it indicates a few things. It indicates a governor who wants to work for the state and people. It’s obvious Diri purposely selected persons he assumed would come up with initiatives to assist him in different departments. From his agenda, any appointee could take a cue and come up with measures that would bring the governor’s plan into reality for the Bayelsa people. It’s what dedicated appointees do, and a political chief executive who wants to work for the people would appreciate them both now and in the future. My example is the manner President Bola Tinubu operated his government both now and at the time he was the Lagos State governor. He had a plan for Lagos. He brought on board appointees who helped him achieve them. After Tinubu left office as governor, many of the appointees who had proved themselves were recommended for appointment in the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari. Many others from the 1999-2007 era in Lagos are currently working in Tinubu’s administration. They proved themselves in the past; now they’re elevated. Some current appointees say they ask Tinubu what he wants them to do, but he says they’re the professionals in their fields, so he expects them to do what they deem best for the nation. However, it’s not all the time political appointees have a boss like Tinubu or Diri. Many chief executives are petty, insecure, jealous of brilliant persons around them, and it’s not always that their ulterior motives in office rhyme with the zeal of appointees who want to “work”. Many political appointees have been bruised in their efforts to make a difference. As such, most of them take a cue and adopt a “sit-down-look” approach. This situation calls attention to a few other issues in our political space. Too often, political chief executives don’t state clearly what they expect from their appointees from the outset. They don’t explicitly say they want to see “workings”. This lack of clarity has its effects on governance, as most appointees are cautious, playing it safe. Many state governors render their appointees ineffective this way, including cabinet commissioners. They allow commissioners no room to take initiatives and make contributions. There was a state where commissioners weren’t even permitted to sign off on a N2m initiative. Every single kobo was controlled by the governor. This situation makes political appointees become indifferent. Nonetheless, I believe this shouldn’t make appointees stop trying to contribute as best as they can, and I made this point here in the recent past. Sometimes, one initiative brought to the chief executive is approved. At other times, another initiative is not. But it shouldn’t be said that an appointee makes no moves, that they come up with nothing for their superiors to look at. Reason? The appointee has a reputation to build, a political future to look forward to. Furthermore, I observe that most people think chief executives know everything. It’s not true. Now, I’ve always enjoyed thinking up things, putting ideas together and embarking on new initiatives. I had made some ideas available to superiors in the organisations where I once worked. There were occasions they received such with so much appreciation. Some commended me for taking the necessary steps to see a project to its successful completion before I reported later the obstacles I confronted. One superior once commented, “If it were another person, he would have left it undone, waiting for me to arrive.” Regarding another initiative from me, one former boss said, “I didn’t even think of that before.” No appointees should fold their hands and do nothing; what if their new boss turns out to be a Tinubu or Diri? Effective leaders value new initiatives from subordinates. Successful leaders tend to be those who encourage new ideas and offer support. In Bayelsa, Diri appointed a professor of agriculture as commissioner of agriculture, believing the professor would come up with initiatives that would change the face of agriculture in the state. He didn’t see what he expected, so he spoke out. I imagine that Diri didn’t have only the professor in mind when he made his comment. I suspect he was commenting on a general trend among all his appointees. For instance, if there were other appointees in his entourage during his visit to the Asian country he referred to, and they attended to other matters, Diri would have been expecting proposals from them too. Yet performance or lack of it that the governor commented on couldn’t have been about the visit only. It’s what he’s noticed generally about the performance of most of his appointees. Therefore, since Diri is one state governor who wants to work and achieve, he needs to make this expressly clear to his appointees. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind where their superior stands about new ideas and initiatives. I urge Diri to, henceforth, expressly make his lieutenants know what he expects on each issue, as well as promise them that good initiatives from them would get his unreserved support. Meanwhile, on the aspect of taking initiatives, the professor of agriculture should have worked to find a way around the identified obstacles to large-scale farming in Bayelsa. Now that he knows his governor welcomes new ideas, he should come up with workable proposals such that Diri would ask why he didn’t bring such to his attention before. Since trees constitute a hindrance on farmlands, could small-sized machines be designed to do the work without felling trees needlessly? These are issues the professor should look at, and there are research outcomes on them gathering dust on shelves in tertiary institutions, which he can recommend for adoption.

For many people, drinking water is something done without much thought. But for those living with sickle cell disease, water is more than a daily habit. It is a critical component of health management. Hydration affects everything, from how your blood flows to how often you experience crises. In fact, for people with SCD, staying hydrated could be the difference between stability and a medical emergency. Understanding sickle cell disease and the healing power of water Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects the shape and function of red blood cells. In people without the condition, red blood cells are soft, round, and flexible, allowing them to move freely through blood vessels to deliver oxygen to every part of the body. In someone with SCD, however, many of these red blood cells become sickle-shaped, hard, and sticky. These misshapen cells don’t flow smoothly through blood vessels. Instead, they tend to clump together, block circulation, and cause pain, organ damage, fatigue, and other complications. This painful blockage is known as a vaso-occlusive crisis, a hallmark of the disease. Why water matters in SCD Sickle Cell Disease causes red blood cells to become rigid, sticky, and crescent-shaped. These abnormal cells can clump together and block blood flow in small vessels. This blockage, known as vaso-occlusion, is what causes the intense pain known as a sickle cell crisis. Drinking water helps keep the blood thinner and more fluid. Proper hydration makes it easier for red blood cells to move freely through the bloodstream, reducing the risk of them sticking together and causing a blockage. Simply put, hydration helps reduce sickling. Hydration and the kidneys People with SCD are more prone to kidney complications because their kidneys struggle to concentrate urine properly. Over time, this can lead to chronic kidney disease. Drinking water helps flush waste products from the kidneys and reduces the strain on these already vulnerable organs. Temperature regulation Individuals with SCD can have trouble regulating body temperature, especially during fevers, hot weather, or physical exertion. Dehydration only worsens this issue. Drinking enough water keeps the body cool and helps maintain a stable internal environment. Avoiding dehydration-triggered crises Even mild dehydration can thicken the blood, making it harder for red blood cells to travel smoothly. This increases the risk of a sickle cell crisis. Many people with SCD notice a pattern: when they forget to drink enough water, pain episodes often follow. Transporting nutrients and oxygen Hydration aids in the circulation of nutrients and oxygen, two essentials for anyone, but especially for people with SCD, whose red blood cells already have a reduced capacity to carry oxygen. Water supports energy levels, organ function, and overall vitality. How much water is enough? Adults with SCD should aim for at least 2 to 3 litres of water daily (8–12 cups), increasing intake during hot weather or physical activity. Children should drink around 1.5 to 2 litres, depending on age, size, and activity levels. It’s important to sip water consistently throughout the day. Gulping large amounts all at once is less effective than steady hydration. Practical tips for staying hydrated Keep a water bottle nearby at all times. Infuse your water with lemon, cucumber, mint, or berries if you find plain water boring. Set hourly phone reminders to take a few sips. Eat water-rich foods like watermelon, cucumber, oranges, and strawberries. Be cautious with caffeinated drinks, as they can have a dehydrating effect. Many people with Sickle Cell Disease say water feels bland or unappealing, especially when drinking large amounts daily. Here are gentle, effective ways to encourage hydration, which you could include in your book as tips or a sidebar: When water feels bland: Making hydration enjoyable Infuse water naturally Add fresh flavour with slices of: Lemon (refreshing and cleansing) Cucumber (cooling and light) Mint leaves (invigorating) Ginger (warming and soothing) Strawberries, oranges, or berries for a subtle sweetness Keep a jug in the fridge overnight to let the flavours infuse. Use a fancy cup or straw Sometimes the experience matters. A colourful bottle, reusable straw, or chilled glass can make drinking water feel more special. Track progress creatively Use a hydration app, a water bottle with measurements, or a checklist. Each glass becomes a small, celebrated victory. Eat your water Incorporate water-rich foods into your meals: Watermelon Cucumber Oranges Celery Tomatoes Homemade soups, broths, or smoothies made with coconut water or plain water Set a sip schedule Instead of forcing large amounts at once, encourage small, regular sips: 1 glass upon waking 1 before each meal 1 with medication 1 before bed That’s already 4–5 glasses—without effort. Try warm water or herbal teas If cold water feels hard to take, try warm water with lemon, or herbal teas like peppermint, rooibos, or ginger. Educate with empathy Sometimes, understanding why it matters helps. Remind readers that each glass: Keeps their blood flowing Lowers the chance of pain crises Protects organs Boosts energy Not all drinks are equal While water is best, other fluids like herbal teas or natural fruit juices can also contribute to hydration. However, avoid sugary sodas and energy drinks, which can do more harm than good. A daily commitment For someone living with SCD, hydration is not just a wellness tip; it is a lifeline. It’s a simple act that holds extraordinary power. Each glass of water is an act of self-care, protection, and prevention. In a body that is constantly working hard just to stay balanced, water offers support, relief, and healing. Let water be your companion. Let it flow through your day with intention and consistency. In every sip lies strength. Encouraging Affirmation: “I may not crave water, but I honour my body with every sip. I drink because I deserve to feel better.” Until next time. If you would like to get in touch with me about Sickle Cell, do so via my email address: [email protected]. And do check out my blog: https://www.dailylivingwithsicklecell.com My book on Sickle Cell – How to Live With Sickle Cell – and my other books are available for purchase on www.amazon.com.