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It’s been three months since Raymond, son of veteran actress Eucharia Anunobi passed on from complications from sickle cell. Eucharia took to her Instagram page to share a photo of her praying on her late son’s corpse, and also write an emotional message and tribute to the memory of her late child, as she completes the three months of mourning him according to tradition.

See her full post below:

“22nd August 2017 was the day God’s precious child and son, the amazing blessing God blessed me with , that made me to be a mother , travelled out of this earth . 5th September 2017 was the day his fleshly remains was committed to mother earth. 5th December 2017 was the day it cumulated three months of my mourning him, for the purposes of observing rites of culture / tradition. Raymond Joshua Chimaobi Chimnonso Ekwu , your mummy is absolutely distraught without you still . Our home is so silent now without you . Every time I still peep into your room to see if you’re there.When I drive back home , I long to see your smiling face radiating that joy of seeing me back . Cooking has lost it’s joy , because you’re not there to ask all those questions : mummy what are you cooking now ? What’s that ? Why do you put that ? Mummy please can I stir the contents of what you’re cooking? Can I get a piece of meat? No more will I hear you say: mummy my sleep mode is not activated yet , when I sa : Chimnonso go to sleep right now ! No one to ask me: mummy how come am getting pimples on my face and you don’t have? And I have to answer: Joshua , you’re in your puberty years and becoming a young man ? Aaaaah my son , my baby , the most considerate child , my six feet four inches ( 6ft , 4 inches tall ) adorable giant , I miss you oooooooo . Be that as it may , I want to use this medium to wholeheartedly appreciate God , the eternal rock of ages , the all-knowing emperor of the universe , the pillar of my life , for it all . THE GREAT I AM THAT I AM , I THANK YOU , I BLESS YOU , I HONOUR YOU , I GLORIFY YOU LORD – 1 Thessalonians 5 : 18 .” 

Nigerian actress,  Osas Ajibade, has been named as the new face of beauty brand Virgin Beauty.

The brand is known for manufacturing popular cosmetics products like Virgin Hair fertilizer and other hair care products under its trademark.

In line with their restructuring after a brief hiatus from advertising, the brand taps the pretty screen Diva to front it’s cosmetic products as they work on promoting them with full force.

 

Congratulations, Osas!

 

source: fabwoman.ng

Actor, Ik Ogbonna’s wife, Sonia, has admonished ladies who are so desperate to find a husband in a new IG post

She wrote:

“The biggest mistake a woman can do is dedicating her entire existence into “finding a husband”. My sister,if your every outing is about desperate “husband hunting” – you need to stop. Redirect ALL THAT energy into working on yourself instead,challenge your capacities,extend your ambitions,work on achieving your goals – invest into becoming the best possible version of yourself ,into becoming a FULFILLED woman who is proud of herself. In love with herself. Find yourself first. And then HE will find YOU.. As A QUEEN 👸🏽that you are! I promise you. It’s on him to recognize his own rib that is missing after all,😘 #soniaOgbonna”

Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga, who make up the iconic Nigerian bobsled team were guests on the popular Ellen Degeneres show.

The trio placed qualified Nigeria for its first ever appearance at the Winter Olympics and they have since become an inspiration to women all over.

Speaking with the host of the show Ellen Degeneres, Adigun the pilot of the team said,

“In Nigeria right now, everybody is going absolutely nuts. You know the crazy thing about it is most people don’t really understand what bobsled is like, Adigun said.

“They just know that the flag is raising high and they are excited. To be honest, that we are still learning how to do bobsled.”

While Nigerians and foreigners have been cheering them on, these women will remain a point of reference for years to come.

 

https://youtu.be/rrDvXLvUJlE

 

 

credit: fabwoman.ng, youtube

Veteran Nollywood actress, Joke Silva has revealed to great shock that she was an adopted child of the Silva Family.

According to the screen goddess, she was adopted decades ago from a foster home run by the Red Cross in Lagos.

This information came to light at the recent Annual Conference of Heritage Adoption Support and Advocacy Group (HASAAG) in Lagos when the  Joke Silva shocked many when she revealed that she was not a natural child of late lawyer, Chief E.A Silva who was the then Babajiro of Lagos and his late wife, Dr Abimbola Silva, reputed to be Nigeria’s first female medical doctor. .

Speaking at the event, the actress revealed that her family also kept the fact that she was adopted a secret from her, until she accidentally discovered that fact.

Here are some excerpts from what she said:

On fond memories she has of her parents

Everybody would be calling me whenever my adopted mum (Dr. Silva) came with cakes and a lot of things during her visit. I went to YWCA Nursery, which was not too far from the Silva’s home in Yaba. I also have memories of moving in with them when they moved to Glover Road in Ikoyi.

I remember reading newspapers to my Dad in our sitting room and pronouncing Brig-General Aguyi Ironsi, the then Nigeria Head Of State, Agolo Iresi! My father could not stop laughing at my hilarious interpretation of the newspaper.

On making her parents proud

Also I remember making them proud, when performing at St. Saviour School. My parents would be standing and were congratulated by other parent too for my acting skills. My parents were so excited that this child was incredibly talented.

I have memories of going to Holy Child College Lagos because my parents insisted on me going to Holy Child because that is where Julie Coker, Pearce Olusola and Ibidun Allison went and they believed with all my performing talent skills, that is the kind of school I should go to too.

On hearing that she was not a biological child of the Silva’s

I remembered going out with my cousin and we met a big cousin She introduced me as ‘my cousin’s daughter and this is Dr Silva’s daughter.’ Then, the older cousin was like, ‘Dr. Silva ke? Se Doctor Silva bimo ni? (meaning does Dr. Silva have a child?) . Did Dr Silva ever have a child?’

I was so confused and when I got home I told my mum, ‘I met this lady that says you never had a child.’ My mum froze and she said, ‘don’t mind them, they are used to rubbish talk.’

How she found out she was adopted

But I got to know years later when I wanted to travel and was looking for my passport where my mum kept it. Since she was not around, I opened the box in her absence and I saw my adoption papers. I never discussed it with my mum because I felt it was something that would hurt her, that was why, it was kept secret from me.

On them leaving a good will

Even in their wills, I was well protected. My Daddy being a lawyer said in his will that all his children, both adopted and biological, should be treated equally. I was not stressed in anyway. We were all well taken care of till my mum died at the age of 89. At 56, I still miss her but I know she has definitely gone back to her father.

Last moments with her mother

On her sick bed I always sang her favourite tunes, she would be imputing the melodious tunes and she died singing to her Lord. She had prepared her family before my coming into her life because I had an incredible big Silva family.

On her role in her family

I have a very big family I am the first daughter, I carried the responsibility of a first daughter. Everybody in my family cannot take any decision until sister Joke has come. I can’t call my parents adopted parents. They are my parents.”

 

 

Culled from fabwoman.ng

Even though Today’s Woman (how ironic) declared that it was impossible, La Femme Foundation is presenting The Slut Walk Lagos with the aim of bringing attention to rape culture, providing a safe space to educate, and empowering women.

It’s 2017 and women are not standing for any oppression or misogyny anymore and rightfully so!

Due to the stigma surrounding domestic and sexual violence in Nigeria, there is a very rigid culture of silence on the matter, which makes it difficult to collate and establish exact statistics and also sort of encourages perpetuators. There is also not a lot of research on this significant public health issue, arguably due to fear and resistance from the victim which is mainly because of victim blaming.

The Slut Walk (Strong Ladies United Lagos) aims to fight the epidemic of violence against women by creating a discourse amongst the youth to take a provocative stance. Through this protest, they aim to encourage those who have been affected or relate to the cause to speak up and enlighten others. The current climate within our culture is enabling, and until we unlearn the problematic stance, violence and misogyny will persist.

The Slut Walk will be held on December 17, from 9am with the meeting point at the Lekki-Ikoyi bridge roundabout. If you’re interested, make sure to attend in black clothes with a gele tied to show solidarity. Join them in creating a new era of humanism in our very own country – it is literally our duty to society!

See you then!

 

culled from konbini.com

Why do you beg him to stay with you?

Why do you beg him to stay with you?

You let this arrogant man feel like a king

Why do you not feel complete without someone?

When it is so clear he does not deserve you

You loved him since you were 18 you said

Gave in to his every whims

Tried to make him feel like a man

But still he felt incomplete

 

But you see the problem was never with you

Instead the problem was with him

A fragile shell of a man

Never allowed to think on his own, never held accountable for his actions

With a mother who babied him and a father who let her

Such a man never had a chance

 

He could never compete with a glorious woman such as yourself

Who has always known what she wanted and fought for it

The sad thing is that passion is what he fell in love with

As he was severely lacking in it himself

But he soon found that he could not compete with it

With every success of yours he saw several of his failures

So darling do not ever beg such a man

Let him go

You can cry and mourn the love you wasted

But don’t retreat for too long

Because the strength and passion that brought you so much success

Is what will transform you like a phoenix

To a better version of yourself

Who will never need to beg a man like him again

 

 

 

Chidinma is a final year law student at the University of Sheffield. Check out more of her work at chidinmachukwuma.wordpress.com

Can or are you able to really say honestly who you are? Someone once said if you do not know who you are, other people’s opinions will give you a false interpretation of who you really are? Well, I think that is very understandable right? This is because we as much as our friends, families and loved ones may know the ‘basics’ about us including our name, our place of birth, our parents, probably our age (probably not the case where people decide to hide their ages for some reason best known to them…wink**) and others.

Well, this is not the concern here? But aside these ‘basics’ what about what you are made of? Your character, attitudes, dislikes, your deep seated demons, pretence games which come to play once in a while…among others. These things constitute who a person really is. I mean given different situations, we can all be nice, compassionate, gentle, interesting, hold good conversations and the likes….but that character exhibited there may just be a nine day wonder! You know that deep down you are acting (living a lie or pretending to be someone you are not, at least for a while).

And you know one thing about acting? It has to be BELIEVABLE ( an attribute some movie actors lack, but hey they still make their monies right?). But one thing is, assuming or making a character come to life does not mean that is who you really are…For instance I don’t think a person who plays the role as a drunkard or a womaniser in a movie is like that in REAL life. Yet, many people even after the movie has been sold out and producers making their profits and all still associate the character with the person such that they are quick to believe that the actor is like that in real life (meaning they REALLY played that role really well right?). I once heard one Nollywood actor say he was walking down the street and people starting insulting him and throwing things at him just because he PLAYED the role as a LOVER BOY in a movie, breaking the hearts of girls here and there.

Isnt that interesting? Well it is, because the same way that people who ‘acted’ or ‘played’ out a character very well are being abused just because they were very believable, I think the same could be said for most people in the world today. This is because they are playing the character of someone else and made it soo believable to the extent that they HAVE become associated with it. This means you have killed your REAL SELF in order to allow your OTHER SELF (like I learnt in Social Studies) to come to play. This is very dangerous as such anybody who gets to this stage needs to do a serious self re-examination and identify the root cause like How did I get here?

More so, some people are very comfortable living the lie. Why? Because it may get them to some position they have been craving for, FOR A VERY LONG TIME or in order to someone or keep up amidst a group of friends. In fact there is always a benefit lying in there…somewhere. But the HONEST truth is, people will end up falling in love with the wrong person (which is not you) but that person you are trying hard for them to accept and LIKE. At the end of the day, different strokes for different folks! You decide to show your TRUE self for people to appreciate you or hate you OR show them your OTHER self and let them love you or hate you. Because at the end of the day, either ways, not everybody will like you anyway so PERSONALLY, I always do myself a BIG favour and be REAL…no need for fakeness (Not in my dictionary).

Thanks for reading. God bless you all!

 

About Gertrude

My name is Gertrude Asumadu, a 24 year old young lady who is passionate about women empowerment, girl child education and overall helping others to achieve their own dreams. I am a graduate of University of Leeds with a degree in BSc (Hons) Economics. My time in university was the turning point for me I believe as I have been able to stretch myself and in essence on way to achieving my purpose.

 

Email: asumadugertrude@yahoo.com/asumadugertrude@gmail.com

LinkedIn: Gertrude Asumadu

Twitter: @AsumaduGertrude

Facebook: Gertrude Asumadu

The Queen’s Young Leaders programme has announced that three Nigerians, Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph, Isaac Ezirim, and Hauwa Ojeifo have been chosen as three of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award winners in recognition of the lead they are taking in their communities to change lives.

The prestigious Awards programme, now in its fourth and final year, celebrates exceptional young people aged 18 to 29 from across the Commonwealth and the work they are undertaking to improve lives across a diverse range of issues, from supporting people living with mental health problems, helping children to receive a quality education, to promoting gender equality.

Kennedy, Issac and Hauwa will now join the Queen’s Young Leaders network of 240 Award winners, a unique community of influential change-makers, who represent all 52 Commonwealth countries. The winners  will receive their Award from Her Majesty The Queen at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London, UK, next year.

Meet Hauwa Ojeifo

Hauwa Ojeifo has experienced a darker side of life. A bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis in 2015 led her to start She Writes Woman in April 2016, when she could not find any support group to help her through her mental illness.

She Writes Woman is a movement of love, hope and support for women with mental illness. In July, just three months after its creation, She Writes Woman launched the first 24/7 mental illness helpline in Nigeria and have received calls locally and internationally since, helping people better understand mental illness and most important providing them with the right professional help.

In the words of the 25-year-old Business Administration graduate and fashion enthusiast, “Mental illness is not a death sentence, it is not wearing rags by the road in a bin pile. That’s the picture that always comes to mind even unconsciously. I always tell people that you can live an extraordinary life even with mental illness. I don’t try to be normal, I am extraordinary despite and in spite of my mental illness”. Hauwa is living the dream, here’s her story.

Speaking on her award, the 25 year old activist has this to say; “It’s such an honour to have been chosen to receive a Queen’s Young Leaders Award – a rare privilege to become a part of this diverse group of young people who are selflessly serving their communities. I can’t wait to meet the other Award winners, learn about their work and how this programme will further empower us for social change. I’m really excited to see what the year ahead will bring.”

Queen’s Young Leaders programme was established in 2014 by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust in partnership with Comic Relief, The Royal Commonwealth Society and the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education, in recognition of The Queen’s lifetime of service to humanity.

The Queen’s Young Leaders Award winners receive bespoke training, mentoring and networking opportunities, and take part in a residential programme in the UK, to help them build on the work they are leading in their communities. They join a now complete network of Award winners and, in tribute to Her Majesty The Queen’s lifetime of Service, will continue to connect and collaborate and change lives for years to come. Award winners will attend a residential programme in the UK in June, when they will receive their Award at Buckingham Palace from Her Majesty The Queen.