In an interview with Extra, Lupita Nyong’o, who got the rights to Chimamanda Adichie’s book, ‘Americanah‘ 4 years ago, has revealed that she will be teaming up with “Black Panther” costar Danai Gurira to make the book into a tv show.
Lupita had in January revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that “Americanah” is in the process of being made into a miniseries.
Speaking to Extra, she finally revealed more details, saying Danai, who is Zimbabwean descent, will be writing the miniseries, and she will be playing the lead actress.
This will be the third time the two will be working together, after “Black Panther” and “Eclipsed,” a play written by Gurira and which earned Lupita her first Tony nomination.
Serena Williams was named the Laureus World Sports Awards Sportswoman of the Year on Tuesday night at a ceremony in Monaco, giving her a record fifth win. Her 11 nominations for the international honor is also a record.
The 36-year-old from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, won her 23rd Grand Slam title and her seventh Australian Open in 2017 before going on maternity leave and giving birth to her first child.
Serena returned to competition for an exhibition match in December but skipped January’s Australian Open.
In addition to her dominant play in the Grand Slams, Williams has competed in four Olympics since 2000, missing only the 2004 Games. She has one gold medal in singles, won in 2012 in London, and three gold medals in doubles (2000, 2008, 2012). Entering the 2016 Olympics, she and sister Venus were undefeated in Olympic doubles at 15-0 and were the winningest doubles team in Olympic history.
The Laureus World Sports Awards were founded in 2000 to honor athletic achievement from around the world and the ability of sports to bring about positive social change.
Patriarchy has been the ruling system for as long as life has existed, and this means social power is given to the men of the community.
Unfortunately for men and perpetuators of patriarchy, women are not having any more of this such as the group of women in Kenya who in the bid to reject patriarchy, formed Umoja, a women’s only village.
(Photo: Christophe Calais/Corbis via Getty Images)
Umoja was founded in 1990 by Rebecca Lolosoli after being assaulted by her husband and other the men in her village, Samburu. She was beaten and battered for speaking out and demanding justice when British soldiers raped other women in the village. Knowing that the world would be a better place without men, Lolosoli escaped and founded a village with a group of 15 other women.
The name “Umoja” is Swahili for “united”, and the principal aim of the village is to provide a safe haven for women who are trying to escape sexual violence or female genital mutilation. Their primary source of income is the sale of jewellery, which is a business the women have managed to maintain despite frequent ambushes from men in nearby villages. Some of the men attack them for personal reasons, while others just don’t want women to have nice things without them.
The women of Umoja have since inspired several other villages, Nachami and Supalake, however things aren’t quite as cutthroat in these places. In Nachami there are men allowed in, but only if they reject traditional patriarchy, while in Supalake, men and women co exist, however the women have overriding power in the running the village. You go girls!!!
To everyone who is of the opinion that feminism is ‘not African’ and it’s something we’ve learnt from the western world: you should stop giving white people so much credit because these rural women are the definition of feminism!
Check out this documentary on the Umoja women here:
Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdufatah Ahmed has approved free bus rides for school children in uniform, pregnant women and the physically challenged.
This social welfare will be implemented under the Maigida Soludero Mass Transit.
The Chief Executive Officer of the State Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Bureau, Mr. Segun Soewu, made this known while featuring on a radio programme on Tuesday.
Soewu explained that the pregnant women and physically challenged will be entitled to the free bus ride throughout the day, while the school children can only enjoy the free service in the afternoon.
He added that Governor Ahmed gave the directive as part of efforts to bring relief to families and the less privileged.
The MSME Bureau boss added that the mass transit scheme has been offering subsidized intra and inter-city transport service to students and other members of the public since it was launched in June 2017.
The #BlackPantherChallenge is an ongoing online challenge created by a New York resident Frederick Joseph. The aim of the challenge is to take more kids to watch Black Panther in the cinemas in the bid to expose them to all the representation in the film.
Many celebrities have taken up the challenge, and Lupita took it a notch further by sponsoring 600 students in her hometown: Kisumu, Kenya to watch the film.
(Photo: Lupita Nyongo/Instagram)
Black Panther is a celebration of blackness that both powerfully pays homage to African heritage, while showcasing what Africa could be through the highly advanced Wakanda. Young children all over the world don’t usually see black superheroes in films, and Black Panther is one the first movies that offer this.
It is important for young black children all over the world to see this movie, as more than just a fun superhero movie, it’s a chance for black people to see themselves reflected on the big screen without being whitewashed or diluted.
Speaking about why she sponsored children from her hometown on Instagram, Lupita said:
“I joined the #BlackPantherChallenge and sponsored 600 schoolchildren to watch the film in Kisumu, Kenya with my mother’s help.
I wanted kids from my hometown to see the positive images reflected in the film and superheroes that they can relate to on the big screen.
No matter where you live, you can help make this happen for more children who can’t afford to see the movie.”
After seeing what not just the titular superhero can do, but also the bevy of ass-kicking ladies who help him save Wakanda, it’s hard not to leave Black Panther feeling like you too can save the world!
Former First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama is going to release a personal memoir she titles Becoming.
The book is about her personal journey and how she grew up to being the First Lady of the country. Michelle says this journey is very personal to her and wishes t share the experience with people and inspire them.
She tweeted,
“Writing BECOMING has been a deeply personal experience. I talk about my roots and how a girl from the South Side found her voice. I hope my journey inspires readers to find the courage to become whoever they aspire to be. I can’t wait to share my story.”
According to the publisher Penguin Random House, Becoming is an “unusually intimate” book will follow Obama’s journey from the South Side of Chicago to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The book is scheduled to be released November 13.
Read her tweet.
Writing BECOMING has been a deeply personal experience. I talk about my roots and how a girl from the South Side found her voice. I hope my journey inspires readers to find the courage to become whoever they aspire to be. I can’t wait to share my story. https://t.co/d7DxEG85NK
A Chinese female cyclist, Huang Shuang, has cycled from Morocco to Lagos, Nigeria, within five months.
Huang, also known as CICI, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that she was inspired to embark on ‘`cycling around the world’’ after riding around her country.
The cyclist said that her experience in China motivated her to begin global cycling in America where she covered about 5,500 km in two months.
“I am glad that I have also been able to ride from Morocco to Lagos, Nigeria.
“ This is an indication that irrespective of our sex, we can achieve anything we set out to do.
“The whole idea about my cycling started when, one day, I decided to embark on a cycling trip around my country, China.
“After the trip around China, I was motivated to take my first cycling around the world to America, where I covered about 5,500km in two months.
“Now, I am in Lagos from Morocco, after I flew from America to France, where I cycled around Europe for four months, before taking ferry from Spain to Morocco,’’ she said.
Huang said that she always travelled with money, noodles, tent, sleeping bag, clothes and bicycle repair accessories.
The cyclist, who left Morocco for Lagos on Sept. 6, 2017, said that her trip was fascinating though she experienced tiredness, robbery, accidents and sleeping under bridges and in gas stations.
Huang told NAN that she crossed the desert within six days and was well received by many African villages.
The cyclist said that, sometimes, she happily ate local meals made by the villagers.
”I have happily sung and danced with children in different African villages and communities where I passed the nights or stopped to cook.
“I have seen the most beautiful sunset, the most stunning mountain views, breath-taking lakes and virgin forests across Africa.
”My trip has also exposed me to many African children still living in poverty, hunger, without education and basic amenities,’’ she said.
The Chinese said that she would be cycling to about 33 countries in the next three years, adding that she would continue her cycling from Lagos to Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, East Africa and some other countries.
Huang said that her cycling was also informed by her desire to interact with children in African communities before inaugurating a free lunch for them in 2018.
The cyclists said that she hoped to raise some money for the benefit to about 2,000 children.
Veteran actress, Eucharia Anunobi has taken to her Instagram page on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, to share a number of photos for her fans as she graduates from RCCG’s School of Disciples.
In one of her photos, she made reference to her ability to finish her exams despite being in the process of burying her son.
“If you keep looking at the mountain, it becomes overwhelming, go to the base and start climbing, don’t look down and don’t look up, just keep at it, before you know it, you are at the top.
“If I could finish my exams while burying my son, what is stopping you from completing your studies. I prophesy as commanded may all satanic agenda put in place to stagnate your destiny be truncated now in JESUS name,” she wrote.
This is coming barely a couple of days after Eucharia Anunobi had revealed that her son, Raymond was mistakenly killed by doctors. The veteran actress revealed this while granting an interview with Saturday Beats and also talked about why she celebrated her son’s posthumous birthday.
The actress had celebrated her son’s post-humous birthday with a visit to the motherless babies home on Friday, February 16, 2018 where she shared gifts. She revealed that she usually visits motherless babies home where she gives out gifts yearly and that this year won’t be different.
One of the guests on a recent episode of the show, Seriously Speaking was Ibidunni Ighodalo and she in a chat with Adesuwa Onyenokwe, gave a rare look into her life and emotional journey to starting the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation, a foundation designed to “bring joy to the hearts of couples through their fertility journey”.
In the interview, Ibidunni opened up about her own fertility journey which led to the birth of her foundation. From personally going through IVF 11 times, the societal pressure from in-laws and friends, to finding happiness in the joys of women who passed through her foundation as well as in her daughter Keke, Ibidunni’s interview is emotional and so powerful.
We have a few excerpts of the interview below
On her journey leading to the birth of her foundation
It was born out of pain. When you’ve waited… when you get married you expect to just have children and everything just works out fine for you. But, when you start to wait… First year you’re not pregnant. I honestly thought, first six months I would be pregnant. I just thought, ‘ok, ok, it will come it will come’. I waited a year, two years and then I started getting worried.
On if her husband was worried
No he wasn’t. He still isn’t. He keeps saying, ‘God is going to do it and whatever God is going to do, let it be left undone’. So I held onto that.
On feeling the pressure to take action
You know as a woman you never want to sit down and not do anything. So I started… I got worried, I’d go to the hospital, and I’ve been on this journey for 11 years now. It’s been tough. Especially because, in our society, they don’t spare you. They. Society. I mean, in-laws, friends. Sometimes it’s not intentional. It’s not on purpose.
But when you are waiting on God for a child, you’re so sensitive that the little things that people do gets to you. They might not even know that it’s getting to you. And everybody is running around, doing school runs… your friends that you got married together, you guys are together, their kids are coming to yours and you get back home at night and it’s just you alone.
On still waiting for her bundle of joy
Yes. (Adesuwa: But you’ve forgotten the waiting). Oh, totally. I’m not waiting anymore. I’m a mother of many. My foundation has twins… I have three kids from my foundation, I have a daughter, a beautiful daughter God has blessed me with. (Adesuwa: So you adopted a daughter). Yes. My goodness she’s a gift. She’s beautiful.
On the desire for a family
It gets to a point where you just really want children. You want company. I mean your husband is your friend, he’s your best friend, but you guys go to work together, you guys come back… After a while you want to plan a family. You just want people. You want kids around you.
On starting up a foundation to help other couples
Like I said, it was out of pain. After going through IVF 11 times. 11 times is not a joke when you’re doing IVF and I just woke up one morning on my birthday (I usually have this thing I do on my birthdays, I sit down, I pray, I have a conversation with God… ‘Last year of my life, I achieved this, I’ll love this to happen’… I write things down and we talk) and I said to him, ‘You know what, I am not doing this IVF again. How you’re going to do it, I do not know and I do not care but I am trusting you completely. And I heard something, ‘In the meantime, just go ahead and help as many people as you can’.
I thought I didn’t hear properly and I thought to myself, ‘I should help other people while I wait’ and honestly, I felt life. I felt like, this is why I was born. And the meaning of my name is Ibi dunni, “sweet to give birth”, “sweet to have” and for the first time it was as though my life was playing in front of me. And I said ‘ok, I will obey this voice’.
And I didn’t know how I was gonna do it, I didn’t have a clue, it’s never been done before, so I just said to God, ‘I’m trusting you on this journey, and I’m going to obey you completely and totally. You have to promise me something, that every single woman and every single couple that walks through this foundation, mentions this foundation, sees this foundation, you must give them a child’.”
