THE ADVANTAGES OF CHAOS!

Chaos is an advantage. Disorderliness is a chance to do anything.

The heavy advantage we have, that we often do not see, is that there is no limitation to how stupid or irrational we can be. Of course, there are many things that are wrong in this part of the world, but perhaps the very fact that EVERYTHING is wrong could be an advantage.

For many years, Jenta has been without direction. Everything is as cataclysmic as you can imagine. There is no existing system here. No system whatsoever. Practically, it means that everything is in a free fall and anyone can do anything that he or she wants.

A House in Jenta Adamu

Reports have it that a young man who was killed about a month ago was dragged through the streets to the slaughter. At first instance, the chagrin is over the death but if you think critically about it, what kind of society will watch while one of its own is being taken away without asking questions? Jenta exist in a vacuum and many people do not even know it exists, the few who know that it does do not care about it’s daily running. In a single week, more than 6 people were killed, and yet there was no single report on the media about it. No single blog post, no radio mention, and even the social media platforms were indifferent. The silence is reassuring that chaos, disorderliness, and nothing is the expectation from here.

While such circumstances can post a serious challenge, it also poses a great opportunity. It means you can do anything.

For instance, you can decide to organize a football match without experiencing too many protocols as expected in other climes; it means you can organize people into groups, cults or gathering without any form of legal protocol; it means that the whole community can be gullible to anything that is new and will rally around anything promising.

And that is exactly the advantageJenta Reads is leveraging on.

A Unique view of Jenta from COCIN Jenta Adamu

There are countless problems in this community. So many problems abound, that one may be overwhelmed and never really know where to start from if he or she wanted to do something about it. Jenta Reads has created a platform that looks viable and promising, hence the people cannot ignore. The scent of something new fills the air and none is able to resist it. Although there has been opposition, none has been able to ignore the little efforts that Jenta Reads is putting in place for such a hopeless community that’s because nothing like it was here before.  

This little effort is mostly chaotic, unprofessional and not recommended, but plenty of people appreciate it. For instance, it is totally unprofessional to use a library surrounding for medical consultations but what do you do in a community where there is no clinic? How do you respond to the needs of many sick people who need drugs on a set day of a medical outreach? The first logical question to consider when about to clean up such a community, one begins to ask where the refuse dump is, but none exist, in such situation do you abandon the cleaning because there is no official dumping site?

My point is that the chaos in Jenta (and Jenta is the same with many communities in Jos and other parts of Nigeria) present us with a challenge as well as an opportunity. An opportunity that even our fatal flows, lack of experience and lack of professionalism can be forgiven. With present conditions, YOU CAN NEVER START A PERFECT model for anything here. You have to walk THROUGH CHAOS. And walk through IT. The goal is not to remain chaotic, the goal is to walk through chaos even as you set out for excellence. It is a sweet relief to know that you are allowed to do anything! Start something. Because no one cares about anything, it means you can do a lot without even anyone paying attention to even say the more that they try to stop you! Being free allows you to be innovative, to be quick, to be ambitious and to be a just anything - including best!

N.B: The Jenta Reads team is constantly refining itself to achieve the highest excellence possible. Each program and each event reminds me of how much we need to change. According to the vision, nothing has been done yet.