A Georgia teen has gone viral on social media after she was accepted to 31 colleges with almost a million dollars in scholarship offers.
Kayla Willis, a senior at Westlake High School in Atlanta, got accepted into 31 colleges and was offered almost $1 million in scholarships after applying to over 40 schools without paying costly application fees.
The excited lady took to Twitter to show off all the schools that accepted her and wrote: ‘I kinda didn’t want to post this, but someone said “the whole world needs to know how great you are” so here we go twitter!’
Speaking with Fox 5, she said: “My goal was to have options. I didn’t want to limit myself. I also asked the question, how can I go to school for free?”
“I’m here to encourage. If you are proactive and persevere, you can achieve any goal,” she told Fox 5. In an interview with NBC affiliate 11 Alive, she said, “I really wanted people to see what they could do because a lot of people doubt their selves.”
According to Yale Daily News and the Class Day Planning Committee member Shuyu Song, the writer was selected based on her ability to give a meaningful and memorable address to the class.
In recent years, most of the Class Day speakers have been politicians, including former US secretary of state John Kerry and former US VP Joe Biden.
“The committee cannot imagine a better speaker to commemorate our four years at Yale than Adichie,” members of the 2019 Class Day Committee wrote in an email on Sunday.
“She is an inspiring global citizen whose words, teaching and social activism have had an indelible impact on the diaspora and broader contemporary culture.”
Song also said:
“Given Adichie’s extraordinary experience and poignant literary commentary, we have no doubt that her participation in Class Day will be a memorable part of this day of celebration and address concerns that are relevant to our class as we reflect on the changes that we have witnessed on this campus in the past few years.
Fatima Togbe, whose full name is Kike Fatima Togbe-Olory, is the founder and executive director of Hayati Communications Group, a media & entertainment agency that primarily focuses on improving and empowering the lives of Muslim women across West Africa. She launched Hayati Magazine in 2012, Hayati Retail in 2015, Hayati Fashion Week in July 2017, and Hayati Magazine Français in October 2017.
Hayati Fashion Week (HFW) is an annual series of events when modest fashion collections from Nigeria and other African countries are shown to the press and general public. HFW was founded by Fatima Togbe in 2017.
The inaugural event took place in 2017 and was sponsored by the Medicaid Cancer Foundation (MCF). Other sponsors include Dunes Center, Pandora, Nestle brand Maggi, Vlisco, and Arith & Paul.
Hayati Fashion Week was created as a response to the lack of representation of modest fashion on major Nigerian fashion platforms. It has provided designers, models, artists and other businesses who cater to the Nigerian modest industry, a platform to showcase their creativity, passion, and work, directly to their desired audience. The event features Runway shows, exhibitions, and a networking soiree.
Fatima appeared in two for Vlisco‘s 2017 campaigns (S2-2017 and S3-2017), which celebrated the different and unique ways African women wear Vlisco. She has also represented Nestle brands, Golden Morn Nigeria and Maggi as their brand ambassador.
Hayati Fashion Week (HFW) is an annual series of events when modest fashion collections from Nigeria and other African countries are shown to the press and general public. HFW was founded by Fatima Togbe in 2017
The inaugural event took place in 2017 and was sponsored by the Medicaid Cancer Foundation (MCF). Other sponsors include Dunes Center, Pandora, Nestle brand Maggi, Vlisco, and Arith & Paul.
Hayati Fashion Week was created as a response to the lack of representation of modest fashion on major Nigerian fashion platforms. It has provided designers, models, artists and other businesses who cater to the Nigerian modest industry, a platform to showcase their creativity, passion, and work, directly to their desired audience. The event features Runway shows, exhibitions, and a networking soiree.
Young people have always been at the center of major civil rights movements. From fighting for a seat at the table in conversations about gun control to pointing out racism and homophobia through art, here are five young black activists who deserve a round of applause for their activism.
Naomi Wadler, 12 When Naomi Wadler stepped onto the stage at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., last year, she gave a voice to young black women who have died from gun violence, including Courtlin Arrington, Hadiya Pendleton, and Taiyania Thompson, who “don’t make the front page of every national newspaper.” She captured the ears and hearts of many who were itching for intersectionality in gun-reform discussions.
Marley Dias, 14 Frustrated by the lack of representation in children’s books, Marley Dias decided to take action. In addition to calling out this problem in literature, the 14-year-old launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks drive, started her own zine for elle.com, and wrote her own book, Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You!
Kenidra Woods, 18 As an activist for gun reform, Kenidra Woodsfounded the Hope for Humanity Project in response to the gun violence in her community. Kenidra, who appeared on Teen Vogue’s gun control cover, in 2018, is one of several black teens who have fought for black voices to be elevated in the conversation for gun control after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland.
Fatima Jamal, 28Disgusted by the phrase “no fats, no femmes” in LGBTQ+ dating profiles, Fatima Jamal decided to use her voice to speak out. Fatima recently spoke with them. about the difficulty she faced securing funding for a film that explores this topic. The black, trans, independent filmmaker is passionate about fighting the “gay community’s inescapable legacy of white supremacy, and its idealization of certain types of bodies, manners of acting and more,” according to the profile.
Dr Victor Fayomi, a General Practitioner at a private hospital in Gwagwalada, FCT, says crying is therapeutic in managing emotional stress.
Fayomi said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by letting off a little water. Let your tears flow and where they go, let your sorrow follow.
Overtime, crying and shedding tears were considered bad and usually associated with ill health, grief and sorrow. However, this is not totally true.
Tears have also flowed as a result of good news, sound health, joy and laughter, he said.
Fayomi said the first sign of life, of a healthy one which must be seen within life’s first minute, was the aggressive cry of a new born baby.
He said it was better to let the tears flow in grief, disappointment, sorrow and when a loving relationship suddenly hits the rock.
Fayomi said bottling up ones emotion could actually break down ones health, saying that sorrow which had not vent in tears might make other organs weep.
Crying does not only reduce emotional stress, it also helps to improve our mood.
When we cry, our nasal passage is also cleared as crying helps to loosen up mucus in the nose.
Children will usually also fall asleep after crying, it stands to reason that crying helps put children to sleep, he said.
Fayomi said crying should not be seen as a sign of weakness, adding that it should be done when the need arises.
In an attempt at staying healthy, be sure to make your crying occasional; that is, only when indicated.
Too much of it, and when too often, may signify a sign of depression.
The key is this, cry only when indicated, do it moderately, get refreshed, lighten your mood and move on, he said.
You have been working out and trying to eat healthy, but the pounds still are not coming off. Its frustrating, we know. Thankfully, there are lots of little changes you can make to get on the right track. These are a few of the most surprising things that might be holding you back.
You are following a diet and exercise plan that isn’t tailored for you.
Everybody is different: thats the message Bruce Lee, the executive director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center at Johns Hopkins University, wants to send when it comes to weight loss. Theres been a lot of fad dieting and fad exercise programs, Lee says. The reason that a single diet plan and the same exercise routine dont work for everybody is that we all live different lives in unique bodies that have their own needs.
You have to tailor what you do to yourself, he says. Instead of following a specific diet or exercise plan, dont be afraid to try lots of different things to find what works for you.
Eating healthy foods and healthy portions needs to take a front seat.
Weight loss isnt just about working out: Its also about what you eat. But many people still dont pay enough attention to food and portion size, Lee says.
You wont have much success sustainably losing weight without getting your diet under control, for two reasons. First, without the proper fuel, even getting into the gym or out on the road is hard. Youll drag. Second, diet and exercise are both factors shaping weight loss, Lee says, and trying to figure out which one is more important is sort of like asking which is more important, your arm or your leg? That means you should pay as much attention to what youre eating as you do to how youre working out, which may mean investing more time in meal planning.
Intimidated? To start with, he suggests keeping a food diary and writing down everything you eat for a couple of weeks. Then figure out where you can trim unnecessary calories from your regular diet, as well as unnecessary dollars from credit card bill. Eating healthy has gotten expensive, Lee says. This method will help you figure out how to make your money count.
Youre only exercising at the gym.
Sure, your time at the gym is helpful in losing weight, and we’ve got tips to help you make the most of it. But the exercise outside the gym-and the mindset that goes with it-that will help you make long term changes to lose weight and keep it off. When it comes to exercise, Lee says, if you cant keep doing it, its not going to work.
That doesnt mean stop going to the gym-it just means you may need to change your mindset a bit. Your day-to-day life has plenty of opportunities for meaningful exercise, like taking the stairs, walking instead of driving, or adding half an hour of vigorous playtime with your kids to your daily schedule. Taken all together, these activities help ensure that even if you dont make it to the gym quite as often as you mean to, you can still do things that make a long-term difference in your fitness and weight.
The number on the scale is moving-but slowly.
Many people who lose weight dont keep it off: Take the oft-cited example of Biggest Loser contestants. When you lose weight, your bodys resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you burn just by living) slows down. When contestants on the show lost large amounts of weight-an average of 100 pounds-over seven months, their RMRs decreased significantly.
That means they had to work harder than they previously would have had to just to keep the weight off. Researchers who followed up with 14 of those contestants six years after they left the show found that their resting metabolic weights had remained low, which contributed to them gaining back some of the weight they had lost. The key to sustainable weight loss is time, not giant scales and reality television. What you have to do is retrain your body slowly, Lee says.
Unfortunately, theres no single thing that will make you lose weight. The good thing is that your weight loss goal might help you make your whole life better. Its more about lifestyle and long term changes, says Aaron Roseberry, a biologist at Georgia State University who studies obesity and eating.
Youve hit a weight loss plateau.
Plateaus happen: its all in how you handle them. Be patient, and dont give up on your goals, because slow and steady is the key to sustainable weight loss. What you have to do is retrain your body slowly, Lee says. If you see your weight on the scale not going down for a while, that may mean its time to reassess how youre approaching diet and exercise and see if theres something you need to tweak. Check out our list of the most common reasons people plateau for some ideas.
Still bummed? There are other indicators that youre getting healthier you can look to for motivation, like waist size. Abdominal fat, also known as visceral fat, surrounds your internal organs and is the most unhealthy kind of weight to carry, Roseberry says. Keep track of your waist measurement and how your belly looks: even if youre not losing overall weight quickly, youll be able to measure a loss in belly fat as you get healthier.
You need more sleep.
Sleep is essential, both for mental acuity and to help your body recover from working out, but it can be hard to get enough good sleep. Besides making time for that 7-8 hours of shut eye, ensure you’re getting quality sleep by evaluating your sleep environment and looking at your habits for things that could be decreasing sleep quality. If you need a little extra, try folding in a nap. Oh, and don’t hit snooze. It wont help.
You need to think about mental health.
Mental health can affect [weight] in a multitude of ways, Lee says. From stress which can change your hormones, to depression, which can cause someone to withdraw from others and not take care of themselves, these unseen factors can have huge impact. If you’re having trouble losing weight, maybe its time to look at the things in your life that may be impacting your mental health and evaluate how you can address them. For some people, that might mean seeing your doctor or seeking out a therapist, something that our editor wrote last year can still be very stigmatized for men. Know that you’re not alone, and that you are doing whats best for you by considering your mental health.
You need to see your doctor.
In some cases, underlying conditions that your doctor can treat or help you manage may be the reason why youre not losing weight. Head to your doctor (with that food diary in hand, preferably) and see if they can help you figure it out.
Medications youre on may also be affecting your weight loss, such as antibiotics, says Lee. You can stop in at your local pharmacy and ask if they can help you evaluate what youre taking and if it might be holding you back.
Where you live and work is making it hard.
If the only place near your work to grab lunch is the Wendys, chances are youll lunch a the Wendys-at least more than you would if you had other choices. If the nearest grocery store to your house doesnt have a lot of healthy options, youll probably buy and eat fewer health foods.
A common mistake people make in thinking about weight is to believe its all on you, Lee says. He suggests taking a systems approach to weight loss: In order to figure out why you’re not losing weight, look at the systems around you that make you keep it on. Once you’ve assessed your environment, you can figure out how to optimize the things in it that you can control. Whether that means folding in a lunchtime walk at work because your neighborhood isn’t easy to walk in during the evening, packing your lunch rather than eating out, or starting to eat breakfast, small changes can make a huge difference.
Unsure what to look at? Three factors affect weight, Lee says: diet, physical activity, and metabolism . Chances are you can make some changes in your life to affect all three. But don’t be too hard on yourself: Were so outcomes-focused, Lee says. And there’s only so much you can control.
You need a little help from your friends.
The good news is, you don’t have to do it alone: when it comes to habit changes, Lee says the people who participate in those habits with you can also help you change them. If you and the guys meet regularly for wing night, try mixing it up with a healthier option, or better yet, hit the courts for a game of pick-up basketball. Enlisting your friends to help you lose weight might also help them get started on a healthier path.
Dr Bamidele Iwalokun, a medical researcher, on Thursday condemned the use of tissue papers as sanitary pads by women, saying it could lead to severe health complications.
Sex during menstruation
Iwalokun, who is the Head, Immunology and Vaccinology Research Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that some tissue papers were products of waste paper, and such tissue papers were not hygienic for draining blood during menstruation.
The habit of using tissue paper in form of sanitary pads is a poor hygiene practice on the part of any woman.
Because no health policy has supported the use of tissue paper as sanitary pad, so its a bad behavior and should not be adopted health wise.
It doesnt have any credibility of use. This should be a way of informing women that it carries a serious public health risk.
The practice places such women at risk of having infection which may pass through the vagina cavity and enter the blood stream, thereby having a serious health impact, Iwalokun said.
The researcher said that the use of tissue paper during menstruation could affect the reproductive organs that could lead to other complications in life.
Sometimes it may be chronic infections that may not give serious symptoms to warrant going to the hospital, but it is indirectly damaging the reproductive system or that pathway.
One of them is the Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), many women do not know they have PID until when issues of infertility comes up and untreated PID is a major cause of infertility.
It also depends on the pathogens that are coming from such paper, so it is important to identify the types of pathogen that are isolated from such tissue papers.
There must be quality study that will show the various types of pathogens, in order to identify the type of damage it can cause.
However, women should abstain from the practice of using tissue paper as sanitary pads, in order to avoid such health complications.
Women should always adopt a proper hygiene at all times, especially during the monthly menstrual period, he said.
For 14 years, Gospel artist Nancy Masara and her husband, Abel Mokaya were looking for children. But today their home peals of laughter from their one-and-a-half-year-old triplets.
Speaking to People’s Daily this week, Masara beams with joy as she looks at the playful triplets – Patience Mokaya, Esther Kemunto and Samuel Elias– running around the house.
To Masara and her husband, this is nothing short of a miracle.
“I sometimes look at the children and wonder whether they are really mine,” says Masara.
She recalls her struggle with childlessness, how she sought medical help from different hospitals and how at some point she avoided visiting their rural home in Riakuro, Nyamira county as a result of the open stigma and pressure that had begun to mount from relatives after clocking her fifth year in marriage without a child.
“I got married at 22 years and getting a child was never part of my concern. That is until I turned 30. I started visiting hospitals including herbal facilities to look for answers,” she says.
At the height of her desperation to get children, she advised her husband to marry another woman to fulfil his dream of becoming a father and save him the humiliation that comes with being childless. He rejected the offer.
“Deep in my heart, I had started giving up and I expected my husband to be cheating on me because all tests had shown that he was okay.
I had already allowed him although I would cry silently. I was surprised when he told me he was not ready to let me go. He repeatedly assured me he would be by my side forever. He even suggested that we adopt a child if God had not planned a biological child for us,” Masara says.
Years came and went and the couple traversed the country seeking solutions to her problem.
“The number of hospitals I visited in this country in search of a child are more than I can remember,” she says.
Her story changed when she bumped into a gynaecologist and fertility expert at Pandya Memorial Hospital in Mombasa who told her there was a 50-50 chance of becoming a mother.
The doctor then put her on medication and she would go for frequent check-ups to monitor the situation. December 2016 was the turning point of her life.
“I remember it was mid-morning when the doctor broke the most exciting news I have ever had in my life—that I had conceived… I was torn between crying and jumping in joy,” explained the mother of three a midst sobs and tears of joy.
The announcement would mark a new beginning full of hope, a complete departure from the trauma she has known in all her marriage life. But it came with financial strains.
“We would spend up to Sh20,000 per month just for antenatal clinic,” she says adding that her husband who works at a local clearing and forwarding agency was forced to borrow a Sh500,000 loan to enable them settle some of the growing hospital bills.
On July 7, 2017 she delivered triplets through Caesarean section (CS). They were delivered in a space of two minutes apart and were put under special care as they were born prematurely.
“The firstborn weighed 1.1 kilogrammes, the second born was 1.8 kilogrammes and third born was 1.7 kilogrammes,” she says.
The family, however, had to contend with a Sh2 million hospital bill after the children were discharged. But nothing could dampen their joy.
Taking to Facebook today, she shared a newspaper clippings of her interview with People’s Daily.
“In the sight of the lord I can’t hide my joy or what God has done to me, no challenge is permanent when God says yes no man can say no, maybe ure in situation where u feel like giving up, maybe u re asking God questions why he has not answered your prayers,maybe people re calling you names which u can’t understand, u have nowhere to hide your head don’t be tired or never give up the best place to be is at the feet of Jesus, no prayer can be answered in Jesus name, one day, time, sec God will take away your shame and pain in Jesus name. Thanks God for triple joy..”
Women around the world are granted only three quarters of the legal rights enjoyed by men, often preventing them from getting jobs or opening businesses, the World Bank found in study published Wednesday.
South Asia made the biggest improvements in women’s rights in the past decade, while six countries including France and Sweden achieve perfect scores in the World Bank’s index
“If women have equal opportunities to reach their full potential, the world would not only be fairer, it would be more prosperous as well,” Kristalina Georgieva, the bank’s interim president, said in a statement.
While reforms in many countries are a step in the right direction, “2.7 billion women are still legally barred from having the same choice of jobs as men.”
The study included an index measuring gender disparities that was derived from data collected over a decade from 187 countries and using eight indicators to evaluate the balance of rights afforded to men and women.
The report showed progress over the past 10 years, with the index rising to 75 from 70, out of a possible 100, as 131 countries have agreed to enact 274 reforms, adopting laws or regulations allowing greater inclusion of women.
Among the improvements, 35 countries have proposed laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, granting protections to an additional 2 billion women, while 22 nations have abolished restrictions that kept women out of certain industrial sectors.
Six nations — Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia and Sweden — scored a 100, “meaning they give women and men equal legal rights in the measured areas,” the World Bank said.
A decade ago, no economy had achieved a perfect score.
On the other hand, too many women still face discriminatory laws or regulations at every stage of their professional lives: 56 nations made no improvement over the last decade.
South Asia saw the greatest progress, although it still achieved a relatively low score of 58.36. It was followed by Southeast Asia and the Pacific, at 70.73 and 64.80, respectively.
Latin-America and the Caribbean recorded the second highest scores among emerging and developing economies at 79.09.
Conversely, the Middle-East and North Africa posted the lowest score for gender equality at 47.37. The World Bank nevertheless pointed to encouraging changes, such as the introduction of laws against domestic violence, in particular in Algeria and Lebanon.
Media mogul, Mo Abudu is set to receive the 2019 MIPTV Médailles d’Honneur in Cannes alongside three other television executives. The other three are Stéphane Courbit (France) Jane Millichip (United Kingdom) and Ilene Chaiken (USA).
Mo Abudu who has been described by Forbes as “Africa’s Most Successful Woman” shared the exciting news via her Instagram page.
GOOD MORNING BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. I AM THANKFUL AND OVERJOYED AT THE NEWS OF BEING ONE OF THE 4 RECIPIENTS OF THE 2019 MÉDAILLES D’HONNEUR AT MIP TV. THIS NEWS WAS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽. SO OFF TO CANNES IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS TO RECEIVE THIS MÉDAILLES D’HONNEUR. I AM SO EXCITED AND MOST GRATEFUL FOR THIS RECOGNITION OF OUR WORK AND MORE THAN ANYTHING, THAT OUR STORIES ARE NOW MAKING A DIFFERENCE ACROSS THE GLOBE. WE MUST BE IN THE ROOM!!! OUR STORIES MUST BE TOLD, HEARD AND SEEN – LOUD AND CLEAR!!! YES, WE ARE CHANGING THE NARRATIVE!! IT REALLY IS HAPPENING!!! ALL THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO MY AWESOME GOD, THE INCREDIBLE AND RESILIENT EBONYLIFE TEAM AND MY DEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT ARE ALWAYS THERE FOR ME. I PRAY WE TRULY ALWAYS HAVE REASON TO CELEBRATE ONE ANOTHER🙏🏾❤. LINK IN MY BIO. #MIPTV2019#CANNES#CHANGINGTHENARRATIVE#AFRICATIMETOSHINE#NIGERIATIMETOSHINE
The MIPTV Médailles d’Honneur is usually awarded to senior executives who have, through their talent, leadership and passion, made a significant contribution to the world of television and the development of the international TV community.
The four will receive their MIPTV Médailles d’Honneur at a cocktail and awards ceremony taking place in Cannes, France, at the InterContinental Carlton Hotel on Monday 8 April 2019.
