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 redefined continent and people. Shades of Us was founded on April 28, 2014, by Ramatu Ada Ochekliye to address dysfunctional social issues peculiar to Africans living on the continent, or descendants of migrants who may have voluntarily moved to other continents or may have been forced – through human trafficking and slavery – to leave. Goal: To promote a just, equitable and sustainable society for Africans and people of African descent. Objectives: – To use storytelling to promote equitable societies for African people; – To spark conversations on human rights, roles and responsibilities for more equal African societies; – To promote African cultures and increase indigenous, national, regional and continental pride in our heritage; – To promote learning, development and capacity building of young people to push for African development and growth; and – To create safe spaces for survivors of abuse geared at facilitating healing and shared communities for growth. The founding principle of Shades of Us is the belief that all human beings are equal, have the same basic human rights and should be accorded the same respect and opportunities that guarantee their growth and development. Based on this founding principle, Shades of Us is subscribed to all thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and works towards promoting these rights for every human being, with special focus on Africans and people of African descent. Beyond the human rights declaration however, Shades of Us has adopted eleven of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as focal points of implementation. These goals include: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and wellbeing; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; decent work and economic growth; reduced inequalities; climate change; peace, justice and strong institutions; and being open to partnerships for the goals. They translate to Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16 and 17 of the sustainable development goals. Shades of Us believes that the promotion of gender equality and reduced inequalities are the springboards to achieving all the other goals adopted. The organization is especially bias towards the issues that affect women and children. This is because globally, African women and children have been the most disenfranchised in all indices of human development. Speaking up for, and standing against societal norms that predominantly affect women and children, becomes the only recourse to redressing years of inequality and the drawbacks associated with it. What does Shades of Us offer? The answer is simple: storytelling. We tell stories for Africa, her people and descendants of her people. These stories are channeled through various platforms to engender discussion. They include: 1. The Blog: Primarily started as a site to air personal opinions, Shades of Us has grown to a magazine of articles, in-depth interviews, news and fictional stories from various writers. 2. Podcasts: Shades of Us has two podcasts: The Review and The Social Commentary. On The Review, the overarching themes in the art (music, movies, TV shows, books etc) produced by Africans and people of African descent are discussed and analysed to see how they shape society. With the Social Commentary, discussions around socio-economic issues affecting people are at the forefront of the conversation. 3. Video log: This is similar to the social commentary with special focus on issues affecting women and children. 4. Films: The organization produces short films that address the general theme of our work. This will expand further to feature length films, documentaries and other productions in the audio-visual category. 5. ‘Did you know?’ Quick-E videos: These showcase facts about indigenous African peoples and cultures are shared as short snippets. It is a fun way to learn about people who share the same skin tone and socio-cultural issues yet, are vastly different from us. The ‘e’ in Quick-E is Education. 6. Forum Fridays: This is a live interactive session where the audience does the talking. It would entail picking up trending topics and hearing their thoughts, feelings, rebuttals and rants. 7. Community Engagement: Beginning in 2016, Shades of Us started partnering with other organizations like Save Our Women (SOW) Foundation, Women Regaining Value, Stand With A Girl (SWAG) Initiative and Jela’s Development Initiative (JDI) to move our activism from the digital space to impacting, in-person actions. This will continue to happen in line with goal 17 of the global goals. And beginning in 2022, Shades of Us will host what would become an annual event called Safe Spaces. This is an avenue to bring together victims of abuse to talk about their abuse, how it affects their lives, how society – families, schools, governing authorities, law enforcement etc. – reacts to their abuse and what hope they have going forward. Another aspect of our community engagement will be through basketball and filmmaking. We will use these avenues to train young people to become the best versions of themselves. For years, our identity and brand has revolved around these areas of engagement. When we started Shades of Us, we designed our logos to be feminine because first, we are a feminist organization, and… they described the core of the work we were focused on. While that remains our core mandate, our next phase will be more inclusive. We have grown from personal commentaries on Facebook to a fully incorporated non-profit organization registered in Nigeria. We intend to branch out to eleven other countries in Africa and the Caribbeans: Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Seychelles, Botswana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya, Uganda, Barbados, and Jamaica. We want to tell stories about women, children, men, gender non-conforming individuals, people with disabilities etc. As such, we designed our new logo to be more representative of all the shades of us. So…it is with immense
Volunteer Roles at Shades of Us
Photo by Jep Gambardella On May 13, 2022, we got our certificate of incorporation as a non-profit organization from the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission. Since then, we have been looking to expand our operations and impact lives across Africa and with people of African descent. As a direct result, we are hiring volunteers to help us chart the course of our organization’s direction and growth. As a reminder, 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, with a view to facilitating open and honest conversations that lead to introspection, analysis and perspective change towards the greater goal of a redefined continent and people. Our goal is to promote a just, equitable and sustainable society for Africans and people of African descent. Our objectives are: – To use storytelling to promote equitable societies for African people. – To spark conversations on human rights, roles and responsibilities for more equal African societies. – To promote African cultures and increase indigenous, national, regional and continental pride in our heritage. – To promote learning, development and capacity building of young people to push for African development and growth. – To create safe spaces for survivors of abuse geared at facilitating healing and shared communities for growth. We have the following positions open and look forward to interested individuals applying. Job Title: Project Manager – Shades of Us Location: Abuja (Hybrid – 75% Remote) Employment Type: Volunteer (20 Hours Per Week) Duration: 6 months Openings: 1 Job Summary We are looking for a creative, dedicated individual to volunteer on our team as a Project Manager. The individual would be responsible for overseeing the organization’s direction, developing growth strategies and providing oversight functions to the team. Responsibilities Plan and execute programme activities in a timely and accurate manner. Develop and implement programme strategies/work plans. Collect, analyze and present information needed for programme development and implementation. Develop and implement project communication strategies. Assist in preparation, filing, compilation and dissemination of documents/materials relating to the programme. Prepare reports on the findings and lessons learned from specific projects and initiatives. Requirements Interested candidates should possess: Basic understanding of the sustainable development goals. Prior experience working in a non-governmental organization. Proficiency with computer technology and Microsoft Office applications. Oral and written communication skills. Negotiation and problem-solving skills. Time management and organizational skills. Attention to detail. Training and facilitation skills. Remuneration: N25,000 per month Application Closing Date July 22, 2022. How to Apply Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and Cover Letter to: shadesofusafrica@gmail.com using the Job Title (Volunteer Project Manager – Shades of Us) as the subject of the email. Job Title: Business Development Officer – Shades of Us Location: Abuja (Hybrid – 75% Remote) Employment Type: Volunteer (20 Hours Per Week) Duration: 6 months Openings: 1 Job Summary We are looking for a creative, dedicated individual to volunteer on our team as a Business Development Officer. The individual would be responsible for seeking funding and growth opportunities for the organization, and seeking community engagement activities to increase the organization’s impact in accordance with the sustainable development goals. Responsibilities Apply for film, podcast and operational grants. Apply for writing competitions. Research short film and podcast competitions and festivals and submit entries into them. Seek opportunities for community engagement. Write monthly reports. Requirements Interested candidates should possess: Basic understanding of the sustainable development goals. Strong business development knowledge. Ability to effectively research new markets. Creativity and problem-solving skills. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Analytical and detail-oriented. Strong negotiation skills. Decision-making and leadership skills. Time management and organizational skills Remuneration: N25,000 per month Application Closing Date July 22, 2022. How to Apply Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and Cover Letter to: shadesofusafrica@gmail.com using the Job Title (Volunteer Business Development Officer – Shades of Us) as the subject of the email. Job Title: Content Creator Location: Abuja (Hybrid – 75% Remote) Employment Type: Volunteer (20 Hours Per Week) Duration: 6 months Openings: 1 Job Summary We are looking for a creative, dedicated individual to volunteer on our team as a content creator. The individual would be responsible for developing the organization’s content strategy and working with other team members to create tailored content for our websites, social media handles, and newsletters. Responsibilities Develop content goals and strategies for the organization. Collaborate with other team members to brainstorm subjects for creative content. Create unique, simple-to-understand, and user-friendly content using good SEO techniques. Editing and proofreading new content before publication. Write scripts for podcasts. Support film research, production and post production. Support community engagement program. Document community engagement program. Managing content distribution through our various channels, including developing an editorial calendar. Analyzing performance indicators and web traffic and determining the effectiveness of created content. Write a monthly performance report. Requirements Basic understanding of the sustainable development goals. Copywriting, graphic design, script writing. Strong working knowledge of content creation and management software, including Canva, Hootsuite, Buffer etc. Good working knowledge of HTML and SEO. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Strong attention to detail, multitasking, and analytical skills. Ability to work independently and as part of a team. Remuneration: N25,000 per month Application Closing Date July 22, 2022. How to Apply Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and Cover Letter to: shadesofusafrica@gmail.com using the Job Title (Volunteer Content Creator – Shades of Us) as the subject of the email. Job Title: Audio and Video Editor – Shades of Us Location: Abuja (Hybrid – 75% Remote) Employment Type: Volunteer (20 Hours Per Week) Duration: 6 months Openings: 1 Job Summary We are looking for a creative, dedicated individual to volunteer on our team as an Audio and Video Editor. The individual would be responsible for creating tailored audio and visual content for our websites, social media handles, and newsletters. Responsibilities Record and edit weekly review podcast episodes. Record and
An Ode to Nigeria (For Country, for You and Me)
Photo by Tope A. Asokere from Pexels By Ojonugwa Yahaya. When you continually tell even the most beautiful creature… hmm maybe even more beautiful than Agbani Darego🤔…that she is ugly, in no time she may start believing and even start looking ugly… that is how dynamic nature and human psychology works. Learn to speak the right word to people, the environment you live in and the nation you call home. I will not stop holding on to this ideology of mine… that as we continue to confess negatively about Nigeria without making much effort to salvage what is left and to transform it to the nation of our dreams, she will constantly remain what we do not desire. It is not Nigeria as a geographical area that is bad or corrupt: an empty territory cannot be considered corrupt or bad. It is the humans that live in said territory that define and determine the character of the territory. So, if Nigeria is corrupt or bad, or “not homely”…it is me, you and the man next door that is corrupt and bad. Dubai isn’t what it is today due to the geographical area: after all I learnt that the territory is even a desert. It is the humans in Dubai that define Dubai that everyone – including you and I – see as a dream destination today. Think about it. Let us have a conversation. I am in love with great souls like Nike Okundaye. She is tirelessly holding and mending the broken artistic Nigerian heritage in an elegant and dynamic way. Nigeria has many heroes who do her great justice: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Kate Henshaw (an epitome of kind heartedness and courage), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (the queen of literature) Wole Soyinka (writing life on pages as if he was born with ink), Innocent Ifedaso of Innoson Motors, Allen Onyema of Air Peace, Folorunso Alakija, Mike Adenuga (master story teller! I mean…we learned to appreciate soap opera through ‘super story’) and many more. Then there are those Nigerians – including young people – who are tirelessly working in the development, economic, health, education, maritime, energy, ICT and advocacy sectors across country. With their work, they are reaching out to the underserved and hard-to-reach communities with messages of hope and provision of social amenities. Our nation has many unsung heroes! I think it is about right if we find a way to appreciate Nigeria. I know Nigeria isn’t treating anyone right but… the problem is more about the Nigerians than Nigeria as a geographical area. Yes…our reality is that we are overwhelmed and overshadowed with the many things that just aren’t working but do we fail to notice the many aspects of the positives in Nigeria? We can make the necessary sacrifices to change the narratives about Nigeria. We have the capacity to build our nation for ourselves. Let us build our country today!
Illiteracy and Functional Illiteracy in Nigeria.
Photo by RF._.studio from Pexels by Vanessa Oyiwodu Audu illiteracy /ɪˈlɪt(ə)rəsi/ noun 1. the inability to read or write. 2. lack of knowledge in a particular subject; ignorance. The loose definition of illiteracy can be subjective, especially when the ability to read, write and speak proficiently in a specific language is the main focus. By hammering on the ability to read and write, people can be perceived as literate in certain areas and considered ‘illiterate’ in others. An example can be seen with a person who is able to read, write and speak English proficiently but is not able to use a computer. By considering them ‘computer illiterate’, one may be diminishing the scope of their literacy. Rather than arguing about who is literate or not, the question that should be asked is if an individual is able to contribute to, and improve themselves and their society based on the level of their skills, knowledge, talent or education. In Nigeria, there is this belief that illiteracy is the cause of our underdevelopment or some of the social vices we face in the country. That may have been the reality in the past, but it is not the only reality of our country today. Over the years, the number of schools and graduates have increased across the country but the economic progress still remains low. So… should we still say illiteracy is one of the major causes of underdevelopment in the country? It is still a possibility. Illiteracy is without argument, a shortfall in Nigeria, but dwelling on it would be foolhardy. In truth, even illiterates can contribute to the country’s development. They might not be able to speak ‘proper English’ or even read or write, but they can still make use of their skill set and talents: some of which they were born with or acquired through informal learning. Rather than stigmatizing the individuals who are illiterate by standard definitions, we should consider giving them opportunities to show how their skills can be instrumental in our collective growth and development. Both illiterates and literates have something to contribute to the society and sometimes, hands-on experience in certain sectors can be a bigger plus than book-smarts. This brings us to the term, ‘functional illiteracy’. Functional Illiteracy means that a person has the ability to read, write and speak proficiently, but cannot use these skills for their own development and that of their community. Many individuals in Nigeria are functional illiterates who have spent many years in schools without being able to handle real life situations. What we should be fighting against is functional illiteracy. The reason underdevelopment persists in the social and economical sectors in Nigeria is most likely because we do not have literates who can function effectively or contribute positively to the development of the country. In conclusion, our struggle should be geared towards making individuals functional literates who can harness their knowledge, skills and talent in contributing positively to the economic and social growth of the society. One of the ways of doing so is by laying emphasis on the practical aspects of learning that ensure educated people are able to analyse problems and provide solutions for them.
Women’s Rights in Conferring Citizenship
Photo by Dayvison de Oliveira Silva from Pexels by Emono Bwacha A citizen of a country is basically someone who has legal ties to that country. One of the most common definitions of citizenship is that it is “the sum total of rights and duties ensuing for a given person by reason of his legal affiliation to a certain State”[1] The concept of citizenship legally ties an individual to a particular region or country. As a direct result, the individual has obligations to said region or country and in return, the region or country grants the individual rights to enjoy as a citizen. There are different ways by which a person can become a citizen of a country. It can be by birth, naturalization, registration, marriage, and an honorary citizenship can also be conferred on a person by the government of a country. Regardless of how one becomes a citizen of a country, he/she – ideally – gets to enjoy all the rights applicable to citizens of the country regardless of age or gender. In Nigeria, Section 42 of the Constitution prohibits any form of discrimination and promotes equal enjoyment of rights by all. On paper, it seems like a pretty straight forward segment of the constitution. In reality however, there are certain other provisions of the law that seem to promote the unequal enjoyment of rights between men and women, one of which is the right to transmit citizenship. Take Section 26 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999 (as amended) which relates to citizenship for instance. The law allows Nigerian men the right to confer citizenship on another person, but Nigeria women cannot enjoy that same right. This Section clearly states that the president may confer citizenship on “any woman who is or who has been married to a citizen of Nigeria”. By legal interpretation, this limits Nigerian women from transferring their citizenship to their foreign husbands. This is in direct contradiction of the provisions of Section 42 which prohibits discrimination based on sex, religion, and/or ethnic group. The experience of women’s citizenship is that it is treated as being of secondary or devalued status relative to men’s. The solution to this would be an amendment to the provision as there is no excuse for why men can transfer their Nigerian citizenship to their spouses, but Nigerian women cannot. Also, in many countries, women cannot transfer citizenship to their children. This has caused some issues of statelessness as outlined by the United Nations (UN).[2] According to the UN, equality between men and women in relation to conferral of nationality upon their children has not yet been attained in 25 countries over the world, with a significant number of these States found in the Middle East and North Africa (12 countries).[3] More than fifty countries have nationality laws with gender-discriminatory provisions, with most denying women the same rights as men to pass nationality to a noncitizen spouse.[4] Under the 1962 citizenship law of Somalia, mothers have no ability to confer their nationality on their children. In Eswatini (formerly the Kingdom of Swaziland), the constitution stipulates that a child born after 2005 can only acquire nationality from their Swazi fathers, unless the child was born out of wedlock and has not been claimed by the father in accordance with customary law: in which case the Swazi mother can pass on her nationality. In addition, Eswatini’s 1992 Citizenship Act contains the same provisions applicable to children born after 1992.[5] In a country like Nigeria where citizenship is experienced differently at both National and State levels, this brings in another issue women face with regards their ‘State of Origin’. Citizenship at the State level is defined in a patriarchal way, in terms of the ‘State of origin’ of one’s father but never their mother. In simple terms, children cannot identify with the State of origin of their mothers. They can only identify with the State of origin of their father. It becomes harder for women when they get married because they are then expected to abandon their fathers’ ‘State of origin’ and claim that of their husbands. In practise however, when the woman wants to run for office in her ‘new’ State, people from the State deny her this right because ‘she wasn’t born here’. If she then goes back to her father’s State of origin, people from there claim she’s no longer from that State because she is married to someone from another state. This has created confusion for many women, especially those vying – and are deserving – of leadership positions across many sectors of the economy. When women are denied these rights that are meant to be accessed by all citizens, it means they are looked on as second-class citizens. It is therefore important to amend these segments of the constitution to ensure women are treated as equally as men are. Equality in citizenship rights is not only fundamental to women’s rights but also supports child’s rights and sustainable development. [1] Ordor A. “Sharing the Citizenship of Women: A Comparative Gendered Analysis of the Concept of ‘Legal Personhood’ in Africa” (2000). [2] UNHCR, “Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness” (2014). [3] UNHCR, ‘Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness” (2020). [4] The UN Refugee Agency, “Time for all nationality laws to uphold women and men’s equality, says UN and civil society leaders” (2020). [5] UNHCR, ‘Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness” (2020).
Happening in September: The 2021 Abuja Literary and Arts Festival
We. Are. Excited. About. #ALitFest21! The fourth edition of the Abuja Literary and Arts Festival is about to happen and we are super elated! If you know us, you know we are huge fans of the festival. We can’t wait to be a part of the festivities, conversation and all the events lined up towards making art work. Check out their official press release below. The fourth Abuja Literary and Arts Festival [ALitFest21] presented by the Abuja Literary Society [ALS] is set to take from 25th September to 2nd October 2021. Now in its fourth year, ALitFest21 has become a landmark of Abuja’s cultural scene. The theme this year is ‘Making Art Work.’ With this theme, we invite speakers and attendees to explore tools, systems and institutions that will help creatives generate sustainable livelihoods from their art while using it to promotes community values. According to Festival Director, Teniola Tayo, “We would like to take things a step beyond conversations so the idea behind this theme is to programme the festival around finding solutions to the challenges facing the literary space in Nigeria and in Africa.” Last year, the festival was held virtually and extended its shores beyond Nigeria to other parts of Africa, and the rest of the world. This was a necessity in view of the global pandemic. We were also able to include the African diaspora in our conversations with cross over panels that included Africans and African Americans. The results of that virtual festival far outweighed our expectations and therefore, this year, we propose to host a hybrid festival which is scheduled to take place in two separate spaces: virtual and physical. The physical space which will follow COVID-19 protocols, would be held in Abuja and will require a token donation for tickets which can be gotten via Afritickets while the virtual space will be on Zoom, registration links will be shared on the festival website: www.alitfest.com and on its social media handles [Twitter @alitfest, Instagram @alitfest_, Facebook @Abuja Literary and Arts Festival]. Proposed activities on the festival’s program include panel discussions, poetry for stage, festival anthology, roundtable on creating a bestsellers list in Nigeria, art exhibition, fiction, poetry and script writing workshops, language translation competition, secondary school debate competition, outreach at camp for Internally Displaced Persons, intensive boot camp for creatives, book chats, poetry grand slam, writing competitions, book and arts fair, as well as a closing music concert. Pre-festival activities include; a 3-day writing workshop which seeks to empower participants with the skills and know-how that would enable them take their craft to the next level which include improved writing quality, networking, publishing, earning among others. The workshop will hold virtually for selected participants. ALitFest21 pre-festival activities also include a book drive whereby donated books would be taken and distributed to families at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp in Abuja. Books are being received at RovingHeights Bookstore, CVS Plaza, 145 Adetokunbo Ademola Cres, Wuse 2, Abuja. The ALITFEST is an annual celebration of the arts and literature from across the country and continent, since its inception the festival has explored insightful themes; In 2018 “Nigeria to the World”, 2019 “Arts and Social Consciousness” and 2020,” The Art of Empathy”. It has also seen speakers and panellists that transcends the Nigeria Literary and cultural space which include: Helon Habila, Edwige Dro, Sawad Hussain, Dike Chukwumerije, Kola Tubosun, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Toni Kan, Dapo Olorunyomi, Chika Oduah, Segun Adeniyi, Ayodele Olofintuade, Chuma Nwokolo, Chris Ngwodo, Abdulkareem Baba Aminu, Editi Effiong, T. J. Benson, Eketi Edima Ette, Osasu Igbinedion, Tunde Leye, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Esther Mirembe Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Layla Ali Othman, Odafe Atogun, Edify Yakusak, Bash Amuneni among others. The festival is grateful for the partnership of South Africa based Geko Publishing in the execution of the 2021 festival. For partnership enquiries, please email teni@alitfest.com. Signed Teniola Tayo Festival Director [teni@alitfest.com]. Whewww! It sounds like it is going to be a power packed couple of days. We are going to be attending. And we hope to see you there. Here are some pictures from the 2019 #ALitFest.
Partnering for the Health and Wellbeing Young People
Practical session during the ‘Data Made Simple’ Training-of-Trainers Capacity Building Session for SWAG Initiative One of the global goals that Shades of Us has adopted is Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals. The place of partnership in accelerating growth and development in all sectors of society cannot be overemphasized. Increasingly, we are seeing that no individual, government, organization or community can facilitate the kind of development they need all by themselves. It is therefore on us to create avenues for partnership where we can work together to solve our problems in line with global visions. With this in mind, we worked with Stand With A Girl Initiative (SWAG Initiative) on two of their projects: the Girl Advocate for Gender Equality (GAGE) and the ‘Data Made Simple for Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’ projects. The former, implemented by Stand With A Girl Initiative and Strong Enough Girls’ Empowerment Initiative (SEGEI), aims to equip adolescent girls with information, skills and resources to be advocates for gender equality. And with the Data Made Simple project, well…the name explains its goal. The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and supported by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs through its Knowledge SUCCESS (Strengthening Use, Capacity, Collaboration, Exchange, Synthesis, and Sharing) program. Through the GAGE project, we built the capacity of representatives of media organizations on ‘Gender Equality Reportage’ on July 22, 2021. The media is key to formulating (or reinforcing) many gender norms and the vision with this capacity building session was to take gender considerations into account, compensate for gender-based inequalities, and catalyze gender transformative approaches or strategies that can be applied in program design, production and transmission, and monitoring and evaluation. For us, this opportunity was an avenue to work on another global goal that is key to our work at Shades of Us: Gender Equality. Areas of focus during the session included: gender definitions and misconceptions; gender norms and social expectations; equality versus equity; gender bias in media reportage; gender-based violence; and concepts for addressing gender inequalities. Virtual session on ‘Gender Equality Reportage’ for the GAGE Project One interesting question that came up during this session was why gender equality conversations almost always focused on issues affecting women and girls. We explained that traditionally, women have been the most disenfranchised in our society and the media was one of many reasons why. To buttress this point, we asked if, when seeking ‘experts’ on topical issues in politics, the economy, national development or even sports, they would pick women. Many of these personnel began to see their bias in defaulting to men for these conversations. The idea of women as ‘experts’ rarely came to mind…except when the conversation was a “women’s topic”. We also looked at the framing of headlines and how they can serve to blame victims rather than perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence. This session had such passionate response and you could tell it was an issue that bugged many of the personnel who attended the session. For the ‘Data Made Simple’ capacity building session, the focus was on improving the capacities of members of the SWAG Initiative team in what we call a training-of-trainers session. This happened on August 4, 2021, at the SWAG Initiative office in Abuja. Our presentation was on ‘Data Visualization for Storytelling’ and participants learned about data formats, qualities of data design, font styles, color schemes, branding guidelines and the use of tools like Canva and Giphy for the creation of simple data products. ‘Data Made Simple’ Training-of-Trainers Capacity Building Session for SWAG Initiative As a follow on to these trainings, SWAG will monitor the media organizations and their reportage, noting if they follow through on their commitments to improve their coverage of issues affecting women and girls. This would – hopefully – be easy to track as these organizations promised to use the Girl Advocate for Gender Equality hashtag – #GAGE2021 – in their reports, news, programs and more. On our part, we will be looking out for, and sharing these news stories with the hashtag. With the ‘Data Made Simple’ project, Shades of Us is committed to designing some simple data products in the coming weeks for SWAG Initiative’s interaction with 5 State governments on some of the issues affecting adolescents and young people in the States. We look forward to how the media and State governments can improve the lives of young people using these information that we have shared. And as always, we are open to partnering with other organizations that work in the areas of development that are tied directly to our work.
Patching Things Up
Fixing Potholes.Credit: City of Ekurhuleni When I moved to my current neighborhood, one of the things that convinced me to take the house was the road. Oh! The road was bad but I saw that the potholes were being filled up with sand so I assumed the roads would be repaired in time. I should never have assumed that. You see, as the days went by and nothing more was done to fix the roads, I knew I had roped myself into something terrible. Then the rains came. The air became fresher and cleaner, and I was glad to be surrounded by my favorite scent: petrichor. But all of that didn’t matter when I stepped out of my house after the rains had abated and found that the top layer of the soil had been completely washed away. The revealed roads were an eyesore, with tributaries where the water tried to follow the path of least resistance and potholes that began to widen even further as more rains came. Walking on these roads became tasking; driving, an extreme sport. Cars groaned under the pressure, but there was an even bigger problem for road users. As the holes became bigger, the traffic situation around my neighborhood began to increase. Rush hour became hellish as people spent more time getting out of our neighborhood than they did on the express going into whatever part of town they wanted to go to. Flared tempers became commonplace and when someone acted a fool by refusing to stay on the line, things became even worse. One night when I was returning home from work, I saw the holes were being filled and guffawed in excitement. My elation was so great that as soon as I got to the front of my house, I quickly sent out a Tweet to celebrate the government for trying to solve this particular problem. People who lived in my neighborhood told me to tame my excitement. I thought they were being a wet blanket. I assumed – yet again – that the potholes being filled meant the roads were on their way to being repaired. In a way, it wasn’t a far fetched assumption because some roads were being worked on. I imagined my neighborhood becoming one with such good roads that commute became much easier and quicker. So I continued to celebrate the government for what I perceived was the start of something new. I would soon come crashing from my excitement because, when the holes were filled, the repairers disappeared. Turns out that was all the work they were pegged to do. Again, in spite of how many times the government had disappointed me, I still held some hope for the repair of the road. Full rainy season came and as expected, the water washed away the filling. Then the repairers returned. After the potholes had been filled, they were gone again. I watched this cycle happen at least five more times in less than a year before I stopped being optimistic and saw the scam for what it was. The government took us fi idiats and I was the biggest clown of the lot. A bigger problem was emerging though. Each time the potholes went through this cycle, they became bigger…or more appropriately, wider. It took me back to a conversation I had with my colleague. ‘Do you have masking tape so I can cover these spots that are opening up?’ I asked as I walked into his office with my Macbook and iPhone chargers. The iPhone charger was already wrapped with masking tape but I noticed I needed more. The MacBook charger had just opened up that day. ‘I can give you the masking tape to wrap it up but in my experience, it is the wrong thing to do. Wrapping your charger in the hopes of preventing further openings works to achieve that exact thing you are running away from. What happens is that, the spot around the masking tape weakens, breaking the protective covering around the wire and exposing even more of it. And because you will be tempted to wrap the newly exposed parts, you perpetuate the continued destruction of the charger. I will suggest you use it like that until you can get a new charger.’ This was exactly what was happening with our roads. The quick fixes were not the solutions the government thought they were. If anything, patching things up made the situation much worse than it used to be. This is not to say that when done right, patching cannot be effective. In fact, patching (in the real sense of the word) is fixing the problem. But in Nigeria, this is not how we translate things; unfortunately. We don’t take the time to analyze the faults or even send construction teams to the site. If these are done, the government would at least be given expert opinions on what needs to be done. No. What they do is get a couple of unemployed youth in the neighborhood to fill these potholes with sand, clay or debris from construction sites – with all the dangers those pose. (It is why I have picked up nails a couples of times when driving.) And when citizens try to help, they are sometimes set upon by agents of the government who either insist it is the government’s job to fix things or ask that citizens pretend the repairs were done by the government. In all, just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they continued to. I wondered when this would sink into the mind of the local government chairperson who is tasked with these repairs until I realized the deliberateness of this very response. The idea that citizens deserve the best from the government is not something that occurs to many people in power. This attitude can be seen in many other aspects of governance. It is then not surprising that there is a gradual erosion of the social contract between
The Stress of Being A ‘Tomboy’
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels I woke up, went to my wardrobe, opened it and stared at my clothes, wondering what to wear for the day. I have dresses on the right side, shirts in the middle and sweaters on the left. I looked at the dresses, most of which I had not worn since I bought them, and said yet again, ‘maybe some time in the future’. Then I went through my shirts and as I touched each one, I knew just what trousers would go with them and what shoes would be perfect for each look. Shoes. This was another thing to worry about. I had many stilettoes but as I thought through what shirt and trouser combination to wear, I didn’t envision myself pairing them with those stilettoes. I thought of my flats, sneakers and boots. In my head, ‘stilettoes are great and all but was I willing to go through my day in pains?’ Knowing just what a full day I was going to have, the answer wrote itself out. So, I dressed in my comfortable shirt and pants, got my boots and set out to work. But this was not before I looked in the mirror and was transported to the very first time I was asked, ‘why do you always dress like this? Why don’t you ever dress like a girl? Are you a tomboy?’ Tomboy. That word didn’t hurt the first time I heard it, chief because I really didn’t know its meaning. But trust that as soon as I could get my hand on a dictionary, I searched for it. tomboy in British English (ˈtɒmˌbɔɪ ) NOUN “a girl who acts or dresses in a boyish way, liking rough outdoor activities” My first reaction was, ‘oh’. This was because I didn’t think I was ‘acting like a boy’. I was just wearing (and doing) what was comfortable to me, what was natural to me. Then the overthinking side of me went into overdrive. From my earliest childhood memory, I recalled dressing the same way as I did when I was a teenager, when I had this word hurled at me for the first time. I loved big clothes. I loved the look. Women who inspired my fashion included Missy Elliot and Queen Latifah. Yes, there were some factors that influenced the look, like my parents buying us bigger clothes so we could wear them longer, but when I began to choose my clothes, I went for those same types. So, when that word was used to describe my style, I felt self-conscious for the first time in my life. But I had a devil-may-care attitude and couldn’t be fazed by what people thought. Around this time, I watched a basketball game and fell in love with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. I started actively watching sports: the Olympics, track and field meets, and football. I had been following Real Madrid and Raúl when I stumbled on a Manchester United game with Ruud van Nistlerooy scoring a screamer that was the definition of…beautiful. Then and there, I knew I had become a Manchester United fan. After watching a couple of other sports, I determined that basketball and football would be my major thing. So, I learned about the games, followed them weekly and talked about them with friends. And oh, I played too. I wasn’t the best player – heck, I wasn’t even a good player – but I could run run, so I made the team. I played full back, defending my goal post well and once I got the ball, you were sure I could run with it and give the striker – who happened to be my sister and an exceptional player – who would then go on to score. In my time as player and later coach of our junior and senior teams, we had some of the best records in inter school football competitions in my school’s history. All these didn’t help me. Girls were not supposed to care about sports and definitely not enough to know about the game, play it or even argue with boys about them. Even though these came naturally to me, boys and girls started calling me – and everyone like me in my school and neighborhood – a tomboy. My unbothered attitude was shaken when I had a crush on someone and heard him tear me down for being ‘like a boy’. He didn’t know I was there when he and his friends went at it. My look was analyzed piece by poor piece and the laughter was raucous. Again, I felt very self-conscious. But nothing made me as ashamed of my look as much as a teacher telling me to be more lady-like, cut out the interest in sports and the boyish behavior. She said, ‘girls who behave like this are usually lesbians. Are you a lesbian?’ At this point, I was homophobic from my religious and cultural upbringing and the disgust she used to enunciate ‘lesbian’ made me feel dirty and ashamed. I began to look at my clothes from a completely different point of view. For the first time in my life, I changed my look. I started to wear makeup, and I bought my first snug jeans and shirts. And you will not believe that I bought my first high heels. I became more conscious of doing my hair, wearing seemingly better clothes and acting like a lady. The biggest change however was that I stopped playing any sports. I still followed games and remained interested in all kinds of sports – except wresting and boxing of course – but a huge part of my life was completely shelved into the recesses of my memory. Ooooh! Despite all I did, I got laughed at a lot. Many of my attempts were a miss, with someone even saying I always looked ‘old school’. I put on a façade like it didn’t hurt but deep down, I was dealing
Boundaries
Photo by Alex Green from Pexels I have been thinking about boundaries a lot. As a people, and by that I mean Africans and black people in general, we seem to be have a poor understanding of boundaries. In a way, it can be blamed on our socio-cultural style of community living. You see, our cultures promote relationships where it is okay for everyone to be in your space: expected even. Parents believe that since they birthed a child, they have exclusive rights to all aspects of their lives. Siblings and friends think their relationship guarantee them unfettered access to those close to them. Teachers feel that because they impact knowledge, they can do as they please with the students in their care. Employers use people’s need for work and a paycheck to try to control the lives of their employees. Even the everyday market (wo)man and complete strangers think they have a right to know what’s up with you. It is a never-ending cycle of intrusion of people’s spaces! The idea of people having boundaries seems…foreign to many in our communities. In fact, the idea that a person would deign to demand boundaries is not just seen as ludicrous, it is perceived as an insult. But are boundaries an impossible – even disrespectful – ask? I would think not. Recently, I saw a definition of ‘boundaries’ that felt just…right. “A boundary is a limit or space between you and the other person; a clear place where you begin and the other person ends . . .” – Positive Psychology. Ooooh! The power in that statement! No matter what relationship we have with people, we need a clear space where we begin but most especially, where the other person ends. I believe that from a young age, people should begin to define their boundaries. It is okay to tell your parents – especially when you are an adult – that you have thought through an idea and can make your own decisions about them. Yes, they birthed you. They took care of you. They raised you. But does that mean that they should know – and control – every aspect of your life? The answer is no. This will be perceived as promoting ‘disrespect’, but it is a critical step in the evolution of the parent-child relationship or any relationship for that matter; in essence, it is promoting a culture of respect. Setting those boundaries ensure that relationships grow without any toxicity that would eventually create resentment. Let me give you an example. I used to always walk into my sister’s room without knocking. Of course, knocking on siblings’ doors was not ‘normal’ to us. If we wanted something, we just went in and got it. One day, my sister – whom I must add is significantly younger than me – asked me to knock on her door before I came in. I was livid! ‘Who the hell did she think she was?’ I thought to myself. But after a while, I understood it. It was her room, her space. I couldn’t just barge into it just because I was older. She wasn’t disrespectful to me…even though it would have been perceived as that in our community. But if I continued to barge into her room without knocking, I would be disrespectful to her. And because she was younger than me, she would take it…and resentment would grow. My sister showed me that she knew where she began…and why her own space was important. She was telling me to accord her the same respect that she did me and it was an illuminating moment for me. Even though she was enforcing boundaries for her physical space, we can take a cue from her and build boundaries for our emotional, mental, and spiritual spaces. I analyse my relationship with everyone now. I ask certain questions that determine how much of me a person is allowed to experience. And it may sound weird, but I build spaces in my head where I fit each individual. This helps me for example, shut down innuendos from colleagues that would be normal with friends or maintain an aloof personality at events instead of the bubbly persona close associates know me with etc. I wasn’t always like this. I used to let everyone in my spaces because I prided myself on being an ‘open book’. I am still open…I just don’t want everyone walking all over my spaces and dumping bits and pieces of themselves where I should – exclusively – be. And best of all is, I cannot abide by any disrespect of my person: because like I have established, people will disrespect you! Give them an inch…and you know what the rest would mean. So…I am learning to define myself: ‘where do I begin?’, ‘where do I end?’. Then I define others; parents, siblings, friends, lovers, acquaintances, colleagues, strangers etc. Where do they begin and where do they end? Having defined my relationships, I have built the requisite boundaries. I think you can take a cue from this. Ensure your boundaries are respected by constantly repeating them until they become the norm. Then respect other people’s boundaries…even if they don’t seem to have clearly defined ones. Or in other words, using the famous words of the Jew, Jesus Christ, “So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12 (Amplified Bible).
