Jazz, Champagne & Shopping

A fashion event to be held at the Daisy Centre, Idowu Taylor Street, Victoria Island on May 1.

Contact alero@christianerubi.com for more information.

I Do Not Come to You by Chance - Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

I haven't had much time to do a lot of (no, make that ANY) personal blogging lately. It's not that there's a lack of things to write about, but there is a lack of time. Plus, there are so many other things that I want to do.

One of them is to read more. In the last few months, I've gobbled up an interesting variety of books from the literary to the professional to bubble-gum pop. So, I've read The Executive Director's Guide to Thriving as a Nonprofit Leader, The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver and Big Girl by Danielle Steele.

Now I'm devouring I Do Not Come to You By Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (is it me or is there a trend of writers including their middle name in their professional name?) Prior to stumbling upon this book at Quintessence, I did not know anything about this book except that it's written by the Acting Editor of Elan (Next newspaper's style Sunday magazine). So out of admittedly more out of curiousity to see what type of book a fashion editor would write, I bought a copy of the book. This is the latest from the Cassava Republic publishers.

I'm still reading it, but this is an extremely funny book, which tells the story of Kingsley, the eldest child in his family who turns to online fraud aka '419' to take care of his family. I have carried the book everywhere with me since I started it on Friday. Ms. Nwaubani is a very talented writer with an observant eye and a sharp pen. No wonder, the book is raking in a fair share of accolades. Sometimes, these awards really miss the mark, but from what I've read so far, I think I Do Not Come to You By Chance deserves to be noticed.

Call for Proposals: HIV & Violence Against Women

Call for Proposals: HIV Young Leaders Fund

The Fund seeks grant proposals from organizations working to address the needs of young people most-affected by HIV in their communities, including young people living with HIV. Deadline for applications: May 1, 2010.

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Deadline Extended: 3 Calls for Proposals: UNIFEM: "Campaigns to End Violence against Women and Girls", "Working with the Security Sector to End Violence against Women and Girls", and "Working with the Justice Sector to End Violence against Women and Girls"

The knowledge asset on "Campaigns to End Violence Against Women and Girls" (distilled programming guidance, programme examples and case studies) should be tailored to provide practical guidance for the development and implementation of campaigns that address gender-based violence specifically.

The focus of the module "Working with the Security Sector to End Violence against Women and Girls" is to provide 'state-of-the-art' how-to guidance on working with the security sector to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.

The focus of the module "Working with the Justice Sector to End Violence against Women and Girls" is to provide 'state-of-the-art' how-to guidance on working with the justice sector (in particular, the informal justice sector) to implement legislation and human rights standards related to ending violence against women and girls.

Deadline for proposals has been extended to April 23, 2010 and for the knowledge asset to April 27, 2010.

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Exhibition of Paintings & Drawings: Obi Nwaegbe

The Ben Enwonwu Foundation cordially invites you to ‘Tainted Visions’, an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Obi Nwaegbe.

Date: Friday, April 16 (opens at 4PM) - Friday, April 23, 2010

Venue: Omenka Gallery, 24, Ikoyi Crescent, Ikoyi, Lagos

Celebrities Walk Against Rape

This event, Celebrities Walk Against Rape is sponsored by the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs.

For enquiries, call: 0706.090.7388; 0806.865.3263; 0807.551.7713.

New Nigerian Web Tools

More Nigerian-developed content on the web. Here are two new ones:

1. Style House Files, Nigerian style website, "aims to be a leader in fashion, style and beauty for fashion insiders, industry professionals and the savvy internet user."
www.stylehousefiles.com

2. Gistcaster, like Twitter and NaijaPulse, this micro-blogging tool "is a social messenger that helps you share and discover what's happening right now, around you."
www.gistcaster.com