FEATURE STORY

   

  AN INVENTION THAT CAN POUND YAM FOR 24 SECONDS

Many at times have we seen children being beaten by the mother because they are sluggish or just because they waste their time in the kitchen. Times without number have we heard that people eat contaminated food due to the process of preparation of the food? There are some people that their body can hardly fight diseases in this case the issue of food poisoning.

Teju was in the kitchen trying to prepare the utensils that are going to be used because they are hosting the monthly family meeting that held in Tade’s house last month and she had in her mind that she had to impress mummy this time so that she could be recommended for the next magi cooking practical.

In a bid to do this, she cleaned up the necessary things to be used and suddenly while trying to carry the mortar and pestle because they were preparing pounded yam as an Ekiti indigene that was necessary on the list of food. She noticed that some rats had been there as they have urinated inside the mortar and also passed their waste product in it this was disheartening and devastating because she had to wash it, over and over again but what was the guarantee that those things were going to be removed completely without causing food poisioning.

Busayo, had a mother who had a canteen sought of a cafeteria, where people come to eat and get themselves healed of the hustles and bustles of the Lagos Ibadan Expressway. She so much loved the crowd that kept coming as some of them gave her tips after she had served them their meal of hot pounded yam and the variety of soup that they have.

Gradually things began to change as they witnessed customer drought, people no longer patronised and busayo as well as her mother became worried. They went to churches, mosques and priests but all to no avail and one day, to their greatest surprise one of their old customers came and instead of coming to them, he went to another shop and after eating his meal, he requested for the presence of Busayo mum and told her that he is sorry that the reason why he can’t come to their shop anymore to eat is because he notices strands of wood in his pounded yam whenever he is eating and advised them that maybe they should try and do something about it. When she sat down to think about it she discovered that the mortar as well as the pestle were old and because of this, they peel and get stocked in the pounded yam during pounding.

If the cases of Busayo and Teju are not convincing enough how about Rolake, a final year student of Olabisi Onabanjo University who had studied Biochemistry and was in her finals when she decided to come home and help her parents at home. That fateful night, because of the amusement of their daughter’s arrival, they decided to pound yam with Egusi soup which was her favourite. She was asked to rinse the mortar and the pestle when she decided to take it to the bathroom and because of the size, while battling with it on getting to the bathroom, she slumped with the mortar in her hand and she died with the mortar breaking her waist. It was like the horror films in the cinemas. From pounded yam, to pounded death, her parents thought, maybe they shouldn’t have eaten pounded yam, maybe she shouldn’t have come home and suddenly their happiness turned to sorrow how sad?

At inception, Covenant University stated her mission on the league of institutions as not one that has come to occupy space like matter, nor just bear the name that is why day and night, they are making sure that their vision of raising new generation of leaders is emphasised. These leaders are not just people who will rule or occupy the corridors of power but people who will impact every area of life, talking about government, academics, business, agriculture and every other sector you can imagine. It is however not surprising at all that this sigh of relief is coming from within the borders of such a great school.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering in Covenant University has called the world to come and see their latest invention which hasn’t been giving a name yet, a device which was declared successful after the Beacon set of 2011 were declared eagles was also described by the HOD has a health saving device ‘I can’t imagine it what this boy has come up with am proud of him.

Mothers wouldn’t want anything to do with pounding yam because of the stress that this delicacy involves. The washing of the mortar and the pestle, making sure that there are no dirt after washing, watching out if the mortar is peeling and all manner of security checking. Now husbands can smile home if this equipment is in their wives kitchen, children can stop going to the canteens to eat poundo yam (a powder imitation of pounded yam) because of this wonderful and innovative invention.

An invention they call it but for others, they would call it many things also for the girls in the stories earlier told will agree with me. For the parents of Rolake it would have been a lifesaver, for the mother of Busayo probably a marketer, an advertiser or maybe a customer attractor or whatsoever they wish to call it. It is obvious that Covenant University is pursuing her dream and will stop at nothing to achieve that else how would you explain, a pounding mechanism that can pound yam in just twenty four seconds? 

ADURAGBEMI JOLAOSO