The Power Series: Power Outage and Maternal Health

By Adetayo Adetokun Power outages are a major challenge faced by many African countries, with limited access to electricity being a significant barrier to development and progress. According to the World Bank, over 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity, making up nearly two-thirds of the population on the continent. Furthermore, […]
Cheating (vrb). Women (n).

Photo by Ogo on Pexels Men cheat. And yes, women also cheat. It is not strange, yet… people raise their brows when they hear that a woman cheated. It is even believed that women cheat more than men and that it is a well-kept secret. They just don’t want to accept it or talk about […]
International Day for the Girl Child

Carefree Girls: What we aspire for ever girl in the world. Image: Unsplash. Today, SHADES OF US joins the world in commemorating the INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL! We believe EVERY GIRL deserves the following; 1. Equal Access To Basic Human Rights; 2. Equal Access To Education; 3. Equal Access To Proper Health Care; 4. […]
Ending Violence Against Women

Image Credit: BBC – AFRICA’S A COUNTRY There is a concerted effort to keep women ‘in their place in society’. It doesn’t matter if it is in the seeming free societies of the Europe, Australia, America or South East Asia; the strict societies of the Middle East; the budding developments of Africa; or the backwater […]
#JusticeForChisomAnekwe: WHY YOU NEED TO JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline and happened on this story by Milly Milly. This is Chisom Anekwe (nee Okereke), a young, vivacious, graceful, kind-hearted and intelligent woman who had devoted her life to helping indigent kids and giving their lives a meaning. She’s an alumna of LEAP Africa. Two weeks ago, precisely April […]
International Day of Tolerance

Tolerance Picture Culled from: ODYSSEY Tolerance. Noun tol•er•ance ˈtä-lə-rən(t)s, ˈtäl-rən(t)s : Willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own Merriam-Webster Dictionary A relatively simple word. Why then is so hard to understand? Why is it so difficult to apply in our everyday lives? The world is filled with greatly intolerant […]
World AIDS Day

Photo by Klaus Nielsen from Pexels Today is marked globally as WORLD AIDS DAY. HIV/AIDS is still a problem in many African countries, with adolescent and young female adults being more at risk. The global HIV statistic put together by UNAIDS IN 2016 showed that; 1. 18.2 million [16.1 million–19.0 million] people were accessing antiretroviral […]
1 Girl 1 Pad Campaign

Shades of Us is a forum for open discussions on issues affecting Africa, Africans and people of African descent, with a view of changing the ‘dark continent’ narrative of Africa. Since our inception in 2014, most of our work have been online campaigns for or against social issues and dysfunction. At the start of the […]
We. Are.

Photo by Askar Abayev For all the Shades of Us, Tones of black, Hues of white, And all that holds in between, Moving strong in harmony. Undefeated! We are Elephants! “We are chapters of revelation,” “We are travelers of science,” But we all believe in life and hope, With powerful voices, And beauty to behold, […]
Allow Us to Re-Introduce Ourselves

Shades of Us Storytelling Initiative for African People (‘Shades of Us’) is a non-profit organization using storytelling to address the socio-economic issues affecting Africa, Africans and people of African descent. This is with a view to facilitating open and honest conversations that lead to introspection, analysis and perspective change towards the greater goal of a […]