OMOLUABI

“Omoluabi" is a Yoruba word for a good, well-behaved child,the kind of child who embodies respect, integrity, and makes their family proud. In this photograph, Belinda stands transfixed before a painting that is the very picture of this ideal. The portrait shows a complete family,a father, a mother, and their child, dressed in a graduation gown and holding a scroll. It is the perfect image of a successful "Omoluabi" fulfilling their parents' dreams. For Belinda, the scene resonates with a painful depth. It pulls her back to her own childhood, to a time when her relationship with her parents was just as the painting depicts: "love so tender, love so innocent and pure." But as she stands there, the portrait becomes a mirror to a life that is no longer hers. That past is gone. The loving, proud family on the canvas only serves to highlight how "thin" her own family bond has become, leaving her in a moment of silent, heavy contemplation, caught between the ideal of the "Omoluabi" and the reality of her life.

Uploaded on 24 October 2025.