So who will protect us from the people who should be protecting us?

A friend, I, called me yesterday and sent me a text about a colleague of her family member being beaten and stripped naked. I didn't have any more information. However today, she sent me a text to Google the name "Harry Arogundade." In the meantime, another friend, A, called me to ask if I had heard about the lady who was beaten up. I could only think back to the info from I.

So, I checked online and found the story on the Punch website. The victim, a lady Uzoma Okere, was dragged out of her car by the "boys" of naval rear admiral Arogundade, beaten and her clothes torn for allegedly not moving fast enough out of the way of the rear admiral's convoy.

This is one of the aspects of life in Nigeria that irks and angers one: this "big-man" syndrome and flexing of muscles. The police and military convoys, which demand that cars manned by civilians leap out of the path, are an utter bane in the life of Lagosians, where the endless traffic jams with cars lines in tight succession on all sides makes this inconvenient, not to mention impossible many times.

Apparently the lady Uzoma was blamed for holding on to the men as they beat her with a horse whip and the butts of their guns.

More info on The Village Square and a video on CNN iReport.

Theatre in Lagos

It's good to see more people taking an interest in the arts. I went to see The Lion and the Jewel at Terra Kulture today. And it was refreshing to see more than 10 people in the audience. Theatre@Terra has gradually gained in momentum since its inception a little over a year ago. However, I remember the early days when there could be 5 people in the audience. I guess what we lacked in numbers, we tried to make-up in terms of audience reaction.

At today's 3PM performance there were about 33 people (yes, I counted) and I am sure there were even more people at the 6PM showing because I think that tends to get more of a crowd.

Although the numbers might not appear worth jumping over the moon for; particularly for the director and producer who have slaved to pull the production together, I think it is somewhat encouraging. Especially considering the numbers of people I know who have any interest in the theatre.

Last Sunday I went to see Aluta & Osusu Owo, a dance-drama production by the Crown Troupe of Africa at Studio 868. Crowne Troupe used to perform the Bukateria series every 3rd Sunday of the month at Terra Kulture, before Theatre@Terra took over. I wasn't sure what happened to them, but a friend told me that they have been performing at the National Theatre for a while. Now they are extending their performances for the island crowd at Studio 868 (on Bishop Aboyade Street, VI). This takes place every last Sunday of the month (I believe) at 3PM and 5PM.

I really enjoyed it last week. Although both featuring strong elements of music and dance, the Crowne Troupe's production is very different from what you will see at Theatre@Terra. CT features skits and shorter pieces as opposed to one story. The pieces are intended to be a witty and sometimes sarcastic commentary on life in Nigeria. The performances also featured the folk music group Nefertiti, as well as a troupe of children dancers and drummers called Footprints.

There were not many people at the show though - maybe 10 (and I have a feeling most were family and friends of the performers). I suppose it takes time to build up some momentum. Word-of-mouth seems to be the most powerful way to draw people to a show, so I'm telling you to go if you can. I'll put up the dates of the next shows.

Arts Events

This is for the art lovers ....

Kaleidoscopes
New works by Moyo Ogundipe @ Terra Kulture Art Gallery, Tiamiyu Savage Street, VI, Lagos
Date: Nov 1-6 2008

MUSON 2008 Festival

The Divorce (a play)
Date: Sat, Nov 8 2008
Venue: AGIP Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos
Time: 3:00PM, 6:00PM
Gate Fee: N500 (students), N1,000 (everyone else)

Choral Concert
The MUSON Festival Choir, conducted by Emeka Nwokedi, will be performing excerpts from Mass in B minor by J.S. Bach and Choral Africana
Date: Sun, Nov 16 2008
Venue: AGIP Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos
Time: 6:00PM
Gate Fee: N500 (students), N1,000 (everyone else)

My Reading Updates

I finished a book today!!!! You don't know what a big deal that is for me these days. For me, it's blogworthy! Although, now that I think about it, I do feel like I recently completed another book..... What was that?

Okay, I remember now. It was The 'Girl Entrepreneurs' by Ibukun Awosika. I'll write about that soon. A few minutes ago I finished Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. Although I'm a fan of her work, I hesitated before buying this book, because I thought "Short stories! Again?

I thoroughly enjoyed The Namesake and was hoping that her next book would be a novel. However, some of the stories in UE were almost novel-like in scale and atmosphere - if that makes any sense; especially Hema and Kaushik, which makes up half the book. I'll write more about it later.

I attended a book reading today, though I should say "attended" with inverted commas, because really I arrived at the end of what appeared to be a vigorous discussion. However, I was just in time to talk with the author of the day, Ekene Onu, who wrote the book The Mrs. Club. I met her once back-in-the-day in Boston. I also used to read her e-zine, Nouveau Africana, which I looked forward to with almost the same degree of anticipation that I awaited my monthly Essence.

She recognised my face and I told her that we had met in Boston. Then, she asked me if I was Ore of Ore's Notes? I love it when that happens, because it's always so unexpected. She told me that she loves my blog and reads it regularly. Well, well, that was rather nice, because I tend to forget that a few people check in on this blog from time to time. I typically feel like I'm talking to myself. Anyway, she wrote a cool note in my copy of The Mrs. Club, which will be the next book on my list.

National ICT Youth Rally – Nov 7, 2008

The 2008 edition of the National ICT Youth Rally is scheduled to hold on Friday, November 7, 2008, at the National Stadium, Surulere in Lagos. The theme is "Nigerian Youth: Plugging into the ICT Revolution".

The National ICT Youth Rally is the principal gathering by and for the Nigerian youths for the purpose of bridging the digital divide. It offers a unique opportunity for brainstorming, sharing of ideas, interaction, mentoring and display of ICT projects/works by young people in the country.

Activities at the National ICT Youth Rally 2008 include the finals of the ICT Quiz Contest, ICT debate, SMS competition, workshop/special project exhibition, scholarship/sponsorship opportunities and special guest appearance from Nollywood and the music industry.

Ernest Ndukwe, executive Vice Chairman, NCC, is billed to deliver the keynote address while Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele, commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Lagos State, a seasoned technocrat and youth development enthusiast would serve as chief host.

Read more about the event.

PRI Social Entrepreneurship Podcast

Another podcast on social entrepreneurship. This one is brought to us by PRI and supported by the Skoll Foundation (www.skoll.org).

Do We Still Need Telecentres?

Here's an article based on a report commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). The report, written by wireless expert Ian Howard, explores sustainable ICT and the need for wireless internet access for development (W4D).

The article "Rural communication: Is there still a need for telecentres now that there are mobile phones?" is also available in French and Spanish.

Fellowship Opportunity @ Stanford

The Center for African Studies at Stanford University requests applications for the African Leadership and Economic Development Fellowship.

Fellows will receive training in economic development from the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies. Two fellowships will be offered. Awards will support tuition for this two-year master’s degree. A stipend will be included to help cover housing, books and other expenses. Upon graduation, fellows will be expected to return to their respective countries of origin where they will take leadership positions and make significant contributions to their country’s economic challenges.

Eligibility: To be considered for this fellowship, all applicants must be from Africa. They must be admitted to the Master of Arts program in International Policy Studies. Applicants must possess strong academic records and demonstrate commitment to economic development in Africa. We especially welcome applications from women.

How to Apply: Visit http://ips.stanford.edu for details on how to apply to the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies at Stanford University.

African Women Bloggers

Looking for information online can be so difficult. It's so easy to get sidetracked with one thing on the other. Reading the Technorati report, I decided to check the page for my blog there and saw that Ore's Notes was listed among Afrigator's top 45 female African bloggers (and just one of 3 blogs by Nigerian women).

Of course, this is drawn from blogs listed on Afrigator (Afrigator is an African social media aggregator), which is dominated by South African blogs (I used it last year to search for blogs by African women).

One good thing from this discovery is finding some new blogs to peruse.

Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2008 Report

I'm reading up about the use of blogging to build, promote and sustain social movements - particularly among women's groups. It's hard to find truly concrete examples of the use of blogging to do this and what I have found is anecdotal (nice, but if you have examples, please forward them to me0.

I am reading Technorati's 2008 State of the Blogosphere report. Their findings are not so surprising.

On a global level:

• Two-thirds are male
• 50% are 18-34
• More affluent and educated than the general population
  
  • 70% have college degrees
  • Four in ten have an annual household income of $75K+
  • One in four have an annual household income of $100K+
• 44% are parents

48% of bloggers live on North America; 27% in Europe; 13% in Asia; 7% in South America; 3% in Australia; and a measly less than 1% in Africa.

Of course, this is based on who responded to their survey, and so is not necessarily a true reflection of the actual number of bloggers.

However, if these figures are anything to go by, then blogging emerges as a still elitist activity and you can understand why blogging is having limited real effects particularly in Africa and among women.

The Future Awards: Nominations Extended

The Future Awards is a celebration of young people by young people. The event was recently launched at Studio 868 with nominations formally declared open. Judges for this year include Mo Abudu (Moments with Mo), Bolanle Austen-Peters (Terra Kulture), Siene Allwell-Brown (Nigeria LNG), with Dr. Reuben Abati remaining as the Chair.

The original deadline for nominations has been extended until at least Nov 10th, so if you know of any inspiring and accomplished young man or woman (ages 18 to 31, I believe), please send them in via the website, www.thefuturenigeria.com.

The winners will be unveiled at the awards ceremony on the 18th of January, 2009, in Lagos .

I met Emilia Asim-Ita, the Future's PR Director online and am yet to meet her. I finally saw what she looks like when she appeared on Today with STV. She now hosts a segment on books and reviewed Madeline Albright's autobiography. This morning, she appeared with the Future's Operation Director, Adebola Williams talking about the event.

I'm so glad that celebrations like this are emerging, where we are finally learning to appreciate young people more, especially in a culture that *still* believes that young people should be seen and not heard - despite so much evidence that we are capable of so much.

10th Lagos Book and Art Festival

Theme: Literacy and the Global Knowledge Society

Date: November 7-9, 2008

Venue: Exhibition Hall, National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos

Key Literary Events: Panel Discussions, Dialogues, Conversations, Arthouse Parties

Details on www.lagosbookartfestival.com; or visit the CORA secretariat at 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos; or contact Toyin (0805.762.2415) or Jummai (0802.368.3651).

I attended last year and it was fun. The panel discussion I attended (the topic was on Diaspora writing) was on was hugely entertaining with the speakers passionately defending their points of view. There were also lots of stands to browse. And in my great tradition, I bought books that I still haven't read yet.

Oxford Internet Institute: MSc in Social Science of the Internet

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) has announced its new Masters program in Social Science of the Internet. See below for more info:

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We are delighted to announce that the application process for our new MSc in Social Science of the Internet is now open. The first application deadline for the course is 21 November 2008 (for start in October 2009). The next deadlines are: 23 January 2009 / 13 March 2009. The same deadlines apply to our DPhil course in Information, Communication and the Social Sciences.

We are seeking applications from outstanding candidates, who have already achieved excellence in their chosen field and who display deep intellectual and practical curiosity about the many social aspects of ICTs. Further information about these courses, including course structure and reading lists, potential funding for students, and application process, are available at: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/

Best wishes,
Dr Victoria Nash
Director of Graduate Studies
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/

'Be Bold' Podcast: Social Entrepreneurship

If you've heard the term "social entrepreneurship" and are unclear what it means; or if you have heard the term and are thinking about related career options, here is a podcast that you might want to check out.

I haven't listened to it yet (my currently highly unsatisfactory internet service won't permit me to), but Echoing Green, the organisation behind this podcast, are great supporters of social entrepreneurs (infact it's all they do), so it can't be half-bad. If you are able to listen to it, please share your feedback. It'll be much appreciated.

Internet Woes

My internet access has been so patchy this past week that reading and responding to emails has been virtually impossible. Seeing as it would take on average 7 minutes to open an email (IF I was lucky), I only selected those emails that appeared to be absolutely important. Btw, this is the Visafone that I just got hooked up with. My Starcomms connection at work has been just as bad (and it's usually the worse one). Then, my Dad's 21st Century was also not working, so I assumed it was a general problem. Until a friend mentioned that MTN's 3G service is working just fine. Hmmmm......

Anyway, FINALLY after only 1 week of being virtually offline, I find my service seemingly working okay (at 1.25am, thank you very much)! I called Visafone's customer service to harass them anyway for good measure. The lady I spoke with said they are "experiencing some downtime." Whatever that means. However she was sure that "it would be working soon." Again, whatever. I asked her if their customers would be compensated for a week of service paid for, with no service received. She said that she was sure that "they would do their best."

I hope this week is a better one, internet-wise.

Gbenga Sesan is Awarded an Ashoka Fellowship

It's a season of winning for Nigerians. I just had to share this great piece of news. Gbenga Sesan, executive director of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN), one-time IT youth ambassador and ardent ICT champion has been honoured with an Ashoka fellowship.

Ashoka is a global organisation that supports leading social entrepreneurs in the work they do to make the world a better place. Fellows are selected following a rigorous screening process and become part of a prestigious group of changemakers.

Congrats Gbenga on this incredible achievement.

What a Day

What a day! Most of it was spent sitting in a car in traffic. I can honestly say that I got almost not work done today. There was crazy traffic on the mainland; really bad traffic on the way from the mainland to the island; and crippingly slow traffic on the island. I really don't know what else to say. And Lagosians lamenting about the traffic feels as cliched as British people talking about their weather. I ended theday in the gym and worked harder than I have in a while, so I feel less stressed and ready to take on the rest of the week.

Here's a series called Nigerian Women Speak Out on the PBS website. It's rather old, but still makes for some interesting reading. Interviews include Hauwa Ibrahim and Chris Anyanwu.

Chimamanda Wins MacArthur Genius Grant

Old news now. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was awarded a 'genius grant' from the MacArthur Foundation. The fellowship, which comes with a grant of $500,000 spread over the next 5 years, is awarded annually to "support individuals across all disciplines who show exceptional merit and promise of continued creative work".

More info is available on the Guardian and MacArthur Foundation websites.

Atrracting Women to FOSS

It's been a busy blog morning. I was sent this article entitled Ten Easy Ways to Attract Women to your Free Software Project. It explores the ways in which women are discouraged from participating and contributing more to free and open software software (FOSS) projects. It has implications and useful knowledge for projects beyond FOSS and makes for good reading.

Google's Project 10 to the 100th

Social Enterpreneurship seems to be very in right now. Google has launched Project 10 ¹⁰⁰ (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th", aka "googol" - what should have been the company's name), which is a call for ideas to change the world, in the hope of helping as many people as possible. They are committing up to $10 million (USD) to fund 5 ideas.

This should be a big idea which a huge reach. Read more and apply.

Mothering on SATC Deconstructed

I just read an interesting analysis of Sex and the City's Miranda's journey to motherhood in S&F Online. Anyone who has watched the series will probably have been flabbergasted that it was Miranda, the most cynical of the quartet, who first became a mother as well as a caretaker for an elderly parent (her husband Steve's mother) by the end of the show. This article explains how mothering does not necessarily come easily to all women, unlike is portrayed in society and popular culture, but is often a process of learning, practice, coming to terms with how much your life will have to change and continuous renegotiating of priorities in life. Very different from the easy, carefree images of the "yummy mummy."

There are also essays on The Sopranos. I recently finished watching the whole show, from seasons 1 to 6 (it only took me about a year) and wanted to write something about it, but the ideas are just swirling in my head and it's hard to articulate what I want to say yet.

Deenie

Thrown down memory lane after listening to the Judy Blume interview, I brought out a copy of Deenie, which I bought sometime last year in a fit of nostalgia and which I had not yet read. I took it with me to the salon today and read the whole thing. Granted, it's a very, very easy read. And although I am not dealing with many of the issues in the book (anymore or ever), I still related with some other aspects, like the family dynamics and the questions that adolescents have about life.

I remember when I read my first JB book, I wondered how she managed to capture so well what it was like to be a child. Somehow, we grow up and forget. I was still struck by that reading the book today.

Moving Back

In the last few months, I've read a number of articles on Nigeria's 'brain gain'/'reverse brain drain'/repatriation, or whatever you want to call the process of Nigerians moving back home from foreign shores. Here's another one.

My Love for Judy B.

Growing up, I loved reading books by Judy Blume and listening to her talk about her books brought back sweet memories of lying curled up on my bed reading the days away.

She's probably best known for Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret., which I still remember for Margaret and her friend's chest-increasing exercises and the chant that went along with it; "I must, I must, I must increase my bust." ROFL!

However, my favourite book of her's, by far and away, was Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. I loved Sally's vivid imagination, which saw her making-up stories about the people around her; imagining their lives to be something very different from what it was. That's something I did too, so I really identified with her. It's a really long time since I read the book and I've long lost my copy of it, so I'm fuzzy on much of the story now.

As an aside, I've found that sometimes when I'm not reading as much as I would like, listening to interviews of the authors can leave me feeling almost as satisfied as if I had just read their books. Almost, kind of, though not quite. Especially when you come across nuggets of wisdom from the author that so powerfully speaks to something in your life (this could be writing related or not).

Judy Blume mentioned that "Sometimes, the more you know, the more you feel the critic on your shoulder, or the censor on your shoulder, the less well you are going to be able to get inside and write what matters...... It's better when you don't know anything. It's better when you are fresh and spontaneous and don't know ..."

I think how true this is in so many situations in life. Preparedness is key, but frequently when we know so much about a project we're planning on embarking upon - especially about the challenges involved - we tend to limit our belief in what we can do and chastise ourselves to "be realistic." And when you really think about it, many of the exciting and innovative things in this world have come out of minds that were being totally 'unrealistic' and perhaps 'naive' according to the standards and expectations of the world.

Dance Drama: Crown Troupe of Africa

Crown Troupe will be performing Exodus and Monkey Post, a dance-drama this Sunday (September 28) at Studio 868 (Plot 868, Bishop Aboyade Cole, VI) with 2 showings at 3pm and 5pm - prompt! (according to the poster).

Crown Troupe used to perform every 3rd Sunday at Terrakulture, but I haven't seen them there in a long while so it was nice to hear that they are still very much performing.

Keeping at It

It's somewhat comforting to see that other bloggers neglect their blogs from time to time, but are inspired to continue by reading or hearing about other blogs.

Read notes from the Nigerian Bloggers Conference on Gbenga's blog.

Thanks, ST for awarding me a Certified Honest Blogger award. I'll do my bit to pass it on.

2008 Digital Media and Learning Competition

Some of you might be interested:

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The second HASTAC/MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition is now open!

Awards will be made in two categories:

1. Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards support large-scale digital learning projects. Awards will range from $30,000-$250,000.

This year we are piloting international eligibility for our Innovation Award and will be accepting submissions from primary applicants in Canada, People's Republic of China, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands,Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States; collaborators can befrom anywhere in the world.

2. Young Innovator Awards are targeted at U.S. applicants aged 18-25 year olds and awards range between $5,000-$30,000.

(You can find out about last year's winners at hub.dmlcompetition.net/)

Full information at: www.dmlcompetition.net.

Participatory learning is defined broadly: using new digital media for sharing ideas or planning, designing, implementing, or just discussing ideas and goals together.

Application Deadline: October 15, 2008

Call for Abstracts - Agenda Journal

Call for abstracts below:

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Agenda has been at the forefront of feminist publishing in South Africa for 20 years. The journal raises debate around women’s rights and gender issues. The journal encourages critical thinking, debate and social activism and strengthens the capacity of women and men to challenge gender discrimination and injustices.

January 2009's issue will focus on Community Media.

This journal issue aims to put a spotlight on gender issues within all forms of community media – print, radio, TV and internet as well as citizen journalism and blogging. We want to investigate if community media face similar gender issues to commercial, government and mainstream media, e.g. with regard to gender stereotyping, women’s under-representation in decision-making positions and women’s voices in the news.

Articles should debate social, economic or legal pressures of women working in community media as well as legal provisions that protect against gender discrimination in community media. We also welcome case studies and best practice examples.

Contributions may also discuss one or more of the following questions:
- What are women’s potential and challenges in community media?
- What is the importance of gender equality, awareness and sensitivity for balanced and democratic community media?
- How do community media address gender issues differently from mainstream media?
- Community radio – a women’s medium?
- How to effectively use community media as a tool to promote women’s decision-making roles and political participation?

We invite contributors from all over the African continent and other developing countries to write on the above-mentioned topics from either a research or an activism perspective.

Abstracts and contributions must be written in English language and a style accessible to a wide audience. Please submit abstracts to guest editor Kristin Palitza, kristin@iburst.co.za.

All abstract submissions must:
* Specify the specific key area you would like to write on;
* Count 200-300 words;
* Include contact details: your name, institution/organisation, telephone, email and the country in which you reside/country of origin.

Deadline: 1 October 2008.

Useful Blogging Tools

For the longest time, I've been meaning to add a link to my blog to allow people subscribe to it. While I'm sure many people use blog aggregators and readers to keep up with new posts, it's always nice if the blog owners make it that much easier for their readers.

Well, Hash of White African has posted on useful tools to incorporate to your blog. That gave me the incentive to finally add those links. If you're using the newer layouts and templates on Blogger, adding these options is very easy; however if you're using one of the older templates, you'll have to copy and paste the code into your template. Not that difficult, but enough steps to deter the lazier among us. ;-)

Exhibition at the Goethe

This morning I saw a clip about an artist who has/had an exhibition at the Goethe Institute. Her first name is Furo, but I didn't catch her last name.

The thing that captured my interest about her work was when she described her work as feminist. Her work, a mixture of paintings and installation art, depicted and raised questions about, among other things, Nigerian women's lives including patriarchy, subjugation, double standards and gender stereotypes. I was impressed.

That Feminist Label

I was reading today's papers and came across an interview in Punch with the director of Gender and Development Action (GADA), Ada Agina-Ude.

It was interesting because when asked if she's a feminist, she answered "an equivocal yes." This is very rare because even when women are passionate about women's rights, it seems that they still shy away from the title of "feminist." It's one thing not to declare yourself to be something if you really don't understand what it's all about; however it seems that all too often, women retreat behind that excuse of not wanting to be put in a box or wear a label.

Hmmm, I think - rightly or wrongly - we all tend to put ourselves and others into certain boxes. And just because you wear the label "feminist" doesn't mean that is all you are.

Ms. Agina-Ude explained that "feminism comes in different hues and colours", but that whatever strand of feminism they believed in, they shared a common goal of "improving the lives of women, having women participate fully in every aspect of life, bridging the gap in various spheres of development and empowering women."

Visafone Trial

Moved to Visafone last week, or was it the week before? It has been pretty good, I have to say. The service was supposed to be activated a few hours after paying at the Visafone shop, but that didn't happen causing me to wonder whether I had made a horrible mistake dumping my beloved Netcom.

I took my laptop back to the shop the next day and after a few calls, it was up and running. And since then, it's been really good. Much faster than the Netcom, it appears (I have the Gold account) and portable. The portability is actually the nicest thing about Visafone, as Netcom came with a bulky modem that had to be almost constantly plugged into the a socket. Although it should have been able to retain its charge for up to 3 hours, I had never found this to be the case and so was always tied to one spot.

The Death of Twitter in Africa

In July, I blogged about starting to use Twitter and not really seeing the point in it. I expressed some hope that once I started twittering from my mobile phone, then the opportunities and ease for sharing and receiving updates or 'tweets' would become more obvious.

Alas, I never got around to doing that and then I just read on White African's blog (yes, the 2nd link to his blog in as many days) that Twitter has cancelled its SMS service in Africa. My first thought was that "Well, it was just another tool for me to keep on top of anyway, so no big loss there."

White African shares some of the benefits of having a "one-to-many" messaging service and links to Soyapi Mumba's blog where he shares some of the benefits to Africa. These are some good points he raises in, especially for a continent where mobile phone use is far more prevalent than internet use.

One thing I always wondered about was the cost. Was it free to tweet from your mobile phone or does the user have to pay the cost of the SMS? I am guessing that they did, in which case it would have been a deterrent for many people.

Ory Okolloh: The Making of an African Activist

Erik Hersman (of the White African blog) shared this link on the Ushahidi Facebook group.

The Kenyan lawyer-blogger-activist Ory Okolloh talks at the 2007 TED Global conference in Tanzania about growing up in Kenya, her work as an activist, lawyer and blogger and what drives her in the work that she does. Aside from being more community-minded and thinking about the role that we can play in uplifting our community, she talks about using the power of blogs and other Internet tools to share our stories so that we don't find people telling them inaccurately for us.

How's Visaphone?

My sporadic blogging has been in part due to my lack of Internet access. I am thinking of trying out Visaphone and I'd love to hear some feedback from people who are currently using or have used Visaphone.

An Expensive Dinner

Interesting article by Reuben Abati on the N2.5 million per table fund-raising dinner held in US presidential candidate, Barack Obama: The N100 million dinner for Obama.

About Bats and Rats

I went to see Dark Knight, the 3rd installment in the Batman series, last night. I went to City Mall, because the previous Saturday I had tried to see it at Silverbird only to find it sold out. I'm not too keen on the crowds of Silverbird either, so I thought "Why not try City Mall? I've never actually been to see a film there, although I go there from time to time because of its proximity to my office.

One of the bigest pluses about City Mall is the availability of parking. You never really have to drive round in circles looking for somewhere to park your car; or maneuvere uncomfortably to park somewhere where your car is teetering dangerously close to an open gutter or straddling the median.

Then, there is the general absence of a crowd, which quite frankly is not really a good thing for a shopping mall; the increasing number of boarded-up shop spaces each time I visit an evidence of this. First, Cafe Verrgnano (sp?) moved out and then the Wrangler store and two others whose names I do not know. However, if you do not enjoy having to swim through a sea of people, then this is perfect.

Problem number 1 yesterday was the film that was supposed to start at 8.15pm turned out to be 8.30pm. Not too big a deal in itself, until we strolled up to the hall to be asked to wait until the film before finished. 30 minutes later we were still waiting. When we were finally allowed in, I immediately noticed the bare-bones interior of the hall. Yes, I admit - I have been spoilt by the relatively plush decor of Silverbird and NuMetro cinemas.

I reasoned all this is why City Mall charges N800 per film, while SB charges N1,500.

Problem number 2: The hall was freezing. What the hell? Despite enduring five frigid New England winters, I hate the cold and get cold very easily. My friend offered that I might feel better when the hall filled up. Unfortunately, this never happened. We remained the 7 or so people all through the film.

When I could not take it anymore, I went out to ask the staff to turn down the AC. The only thing was Where on earth were they?

No where in sight. I spotted a security guard and asked him.

- They've gone.

- Gone where?

He shrugged.

- Dey don go home.

- WHAT? All of them?

He shrugged again.

- It's very cold. Who can turn down the AC?

He shrugged (again).

I returned to the still freezing hall. I met a lady standing near the doors, wrapped in her headtie. She too, apparently, was cold. I told her there was no one outside. Her companion joined her and they both left the hall.

About 20 minutes later, the hall started to get noticeably warmer.

Thank God! Now, let me enjoy this film.

Problem number 3: About 15 minutes later, three people seated some way in front of us leapt from their seats in visible alarm. The man among them fled from the hall.

WTH is going on? My mind went immediately to creatures of the creepy and crawly variety.

From the moment we had entered the hall, I had heard a rustling sound coming from the wall near us and kept glancing in that direction to figure out what it was. Not seeing anything, I had assumed that it was the crackling of a faulty speaker. Now, I stared harder and more frequently to figure it out. And eventually I did when I saw a huge RAT crawling on the wall near the speaker.

I gave a muffled scream and alerted my friend who had neither heard nor seen anything. Jeez!! I ordered us to move our seats closer to the screen, where I perched at the edge of the seat glancing around me the whole time.

Hearing another rustle on the right side of me, I turned to see ANOTHER rat.

Seriously, WTH!!!!!!!!

We moved again until we were almost clambering into the screen to join the cast of the film. By this time, Dark Knight had totally lost me. Clutching my bag in my lap, with my butt barely on the seat, I was ready to run at even the minutest rustling sound.

And the film dragged on and on. [Spoiler Alert!!!] They caught the Joker, they put him in a cell. They transferred him to the interrogation room. A policeman came back from the dead to cross-examine him. No dice. Batman had a go at him. Again, no dice. The Joker escaped.

Will this damn film just END already!!!!! Was that something moving on the floor? Okay, no. I'm imagining things.

Batman performed some technical wizardry to tap into all the city's mobile phones simultaneously. It looked and sounded pretty chaotic to me, but I'm a mere mortal. He was able to pick out one particular conversation that helped him track down the Joker.

He fought through floors of armed bad guys(?) to get to the Joker. He got to him eventually. They fought. The Joker had him pinned to the floor. Then Batman was on top. Batman had the Joker just where he wanted him. And then, he spared his life!!!!

Okay, I'm no advocate for violence; okay, maybe a little. But, the film just felt too long and I wanted a speedy, conclusive finale and my mind was elsewhere by that time.

So, when the screen went black and all the lights in the hall went off before the film had ended, I really didn't care anymore.

So, Ore's verdict at the end of the day? The film was actually quite enjoyable. Heath Leadger's Joker is completely different from Jack Nicholson's portrayal, which seemed more like an evil party clown to Ledger's twisted, schizophrenic monster.

The film, like many these days, was TOO LONG!

When you see it, please go to a comfortable cinema with no rats. Needless to say, that was my first and last time watching a film at City Mall.

Random Thoughts on Reading

In the spirit of my anniversary, I got to re-reading old posts. It's funny. It almost feels like some of those were made in another lifetime. I used to write book reviews!!!!! I'll try to recapture some of that old joie de vivre that I seemed to exhibit back then.

I have been a very lazy reader of late; only managing to read the chick lit that I used to so despise and books related to my work.

So, right now I just finished Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes (probably THE queen of chick lit). And I am currently reading Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie R. Crutchfield & Heather McLeod Grant.

The Marian Keyes book, to be perfectly candid, was NOT great. It was a good laugh in some parts. But Lucy Sullivan is one of those extremely tiresome characters who grates on your nerves with her chronic poor self esteem, which causes her to make questionable choices in men (What? Like so many of us? No, not quite. Her's is to the max).

I had to suffer through interminable chapters of her being "in love" with a total loser, who anyone could see was a scrounger who only came round for sex or money or food (or frequently all three). I had to flip impatiently through the pages until she FINALLY came to her senses. It was all very painful for me.

So why didn't I just fling the stupid book out of the window? Well, I've started a lot of books in the past that I never finished, often because I thought the book unworthy of my time. Well, that works sometimes; after all, life is just too short to spend time voluntarily doing something you're not enjoying (though, a popular school of thought believes that suffering builds character). But, over the years, I decided that I was leaving too many books unread and would save that for when a book was truly, truly bad. Besides, after you've spent money on the book, the least you can do is to finish it.

I have a brand new Marian Keyes to get started on and this one actually looks quite promising. It's called This Charming Man.

My other new book reading rule is to read one book at a time. I typically do not follow this rule and in the past and result is about half a dozen partially read books. When I absolutely need to read more than one book simultaneously (which is still all the time), I read books of very different genres or types. This usually takes the form of 1 'fun' book and 1 'work' book.

Well, enough of my blah, blah, blah. I could better spend the time reading.

Three Years of Ore's Notes

Today was my blog anniversary. And yes, I feel like celebrating it because finding the time to blog has become increasingly difficult for me. At times I feel that my blogger card needs to be rescinded. No matter, I am still here - straggling slightly though I might be (in fact, look how late this post came - I barely made it on the 31st). Err .... here's hoping to a more productive blogging year ahead.

Firefox 3 - Continued

And I was really loving Firefox 3. Well, I still do on my work computer but my home computer is not liking the new version at all. And just when I had gotten hooked on the browser's ability to bring up the URL of any website that you've ever visited. And then, there is the ability to save the contents of your browsers and tabs before logging off, so that when you re-open the browser cached versions of the sites are still there. The earlier versions only do this when the browser shuts down unexpectedly.

Anyway, my home computer (w/Windows Vista) does not like this version and shows this by repeatedly shutting down the browser. :-(
So, I'm back to old Firefox version and Opera (which incidentally has a lot of the features I like about F3). :-)

Celebrities Square onTechnology

One of my favourite things to read right now is Celebrity Squares on Guardian's website. Not what is sounds like; celebrities talk about their favourite piece of technology and why they like it. Here's the latest post.

Faster Internet Soon?

According to an article in the Punch newspaper, Glo's telecom cable being laid from London to Africa will be completed next year. Hope this heralds lightening-fast internet.

************************************************************

Glo's 9,500km submarine cable project ready next year – Jameel

By Jonah Iboma
Published: Wednesday, 23 Jul 2008

The 9,500-kilometre submarine telecommunications cable being laid by Globacom to connect Africa with Europe and the United States is nearing completion.

A statement on Tuesday by the company said the Group Chief Operating Officer of Globacom, Mr. Mohammed Jameel, made this disclosure in Accra, Ghana at a press conference where the GSM licence won by the company was formally presented by the country's National Communications Authority.

The submarine cable project, which is costing about $250m, will run from London to 14 West African countries, with a dedicated link to the United States. It is expected to reach Ghana by May 2009, and shortly after, Nigeria .

The completion of the project, according to Jameel, will revolutionise telecoms services on the continent, and make them truly affordable to individuals and corporate bodies.

It will also enable more services and products to be introduced by Globacom.

Jameel promised that Glo would not disappoint the people of Ghana as it would replicate its success story in Nigeria and Benin Republic by giving the people value for money.

He said Glo would start operations in Ghana by the end of the year, and hoped to hit a subscriber base of two million in two years.

According to him, in Ghana, Glo has already gone to work to make this dream a reality. This, he said, would enable many Ghanaian businesses and individuals derive maximum satisfaction from Glo's services.

He added that Glo had applied to the NCA for a 3G licence, which he was optimistic it would get soon to improve its services together with the cable connection to make bandwidth available for businesses that required it.

These, he noted, would help Glo to provide high-speed Internet connectivity, data and voice transmission.

He commended NCA for making the licence bidding process "extremely transparent" as the authority kept to the timeline for issuing the licence as advertised.

Nairobi's Rising Profile as a Technology Hotbed

Interesting article from the New York Times on Nairobi's emerging coding community. Google set-up a development office there last September, which is intended to be a testing bed for new products and ideas for the African continent.

Being in Nairobi last week, I saw many of the same access issues that plague us here in Nigeria, with many of the young ladies who I worked with, who lived outside Nairobi, not having access to computers or the Internet or the means to pay for access. However, the costs seemed much lower than in Nigeria. It was also fairly easy to go to a provider like Safaricom and buy a modem, which would provide fairly fast wireless connectivity. This could be on a pre-paid or post-paid basis.

Influential Women Bloggers

NorthxEast, a blog that explores blogging, came up with its list of the 50 most influential female bloggers. There are many great bloggers on the list, some of whom I read - including Beth Kanter (who I've worked with on a number of occassions) and Heather B. Armstrong (who gained fame/notoriety for being fired for things she had written about her co-workers on her blog).

Overall though, the list could very easily be renamed the "Fifty most influential North American female bloggers" or "Caucasian female bloggers" for all the diversity it shows. I mean, restricted access to computers and to the Internet ensures that bloggers from developing countries are still under-represented in the blogosphere, but nevertheless, if we are speaking about "influential bloggers" there are quite a few bloggers not included on the list that come to mind. Maybe I should make a list.

Random

Argh!! I'm working, though I don't want to be right now. I know, we can't always do what we want. Anyway, it's incentive to quickly finish what I'm doing so that I can do something fun with the rest of my Saturday.

I started Twittering. I still don't see what the point is, but I can see that if I owned a Blackberry, then I might get hooked on seeing what other people are doing at any given time. For now, though, the jury is still out. You can follow me if you care.

Meanwhile, BlogHer is holding their annual conference at the moment in San Fransisco. FYI, BlogHer is a blog for women bloggers all over the world. The conference features technical workshops and sessions covering a dizzying variety of topics that would be of interest to women. You also get to meet bloggers who you have long admired from afar.

Two years ago, I was offered the opportunity to attend the BlogHer conference holding in San Jose, California - all expenses paid. I was crushed that I could not go. I love trips, particularly the free variety. And I had never been to San Jose too! Well, one day.

One of the cool things about visiting a blogger conference or meeting is getting to meet your fav bloggers. There's a post on BlogHer about favourite women bloggers.

Here's a post covering a Blogher session on keeping focused on your blogging.

So, Beauty isn't Everything

Films are very powerful and can say so much in very few words or scenes. I watched a short film day before yesterday from somewhere in Francophone Africa (I don't know the title of the film or the name of the director).

The film revolved around a man, whose name I cannot remember. Let's call him Ibn, because I think it was something like that. Ibn was a confirmed bachelor. His dear cousin, Diattou (Hey! I remember something, at least.) refused to accept this and set about finding him a wife.

Ibn told her that he wanted a wife without any flaws. She was to be perfect in everyway - in looks and manner - without even the tiniest scar on her body.

I hissed extremely loudly while watching this. "This man is a total joker! Where does he think he's going to find such a woman? And is he himself even perfect?"

And I will tell you right now that Ibn was no looker himself and didn't appear to be very be bright either. Anyway....

One day an earth-shatteringly beautiful woman appeared in the village (apologies for the cheesy superlatives, but you get the idea). No one knew where this woman came from, but she made her way to Diattou's hut and without much ado she was taken to Ibn as a wife. He was pleased to say the least that he had finally found the woman of his dreams.

One day, a little while after they had been married, she went out. To do what, I'm not sure - get some food for her husband? Go to the farm? The market? Take a bath at the river? (Just pick one)

A moor, who was known to be a chronic womaniser, spotted her and was consumed with the desire to have her. He followed her with the intentions of making his feelings known. As he got closer to her, he hid behind a tree and peeped at her just in time to see her turning into a donkey.

Startled and frightened, he took to his heels and blabbered to the first person he saw about Ibn's wife turning into a donkey. The moor must have had a reputation for being a drunkard, as well as a womaniser, because his friend treated this news with derision. Notwithstanding, the story spread around the village within hours (This part got me seriously cracking up; that people can believe a story not to be true, but spread it anyway. People!).

In due course, the story got to Diattou and to Ibn. Of course, I don't think that he really believed that his wife was a donkey, but he was thoroughly humiliated at being the centre of the village joke. At night in his hut, Ibn's wife fell at his feet crying and begging for forgiveness. Ibn held his head up in righteous anger. When he finally looked down at his wife, he saw that she had grown donkey ears. Shocked, he staggered backwards. By now, his wife had transformed into a donkey. He chased the donkey out of his hut and attempted to evict it from his compound. Well, donkeys don't always get the gist of these things, and so merely ran around in circles with Ibn following in confused pursuit.

We now cut to two ladies on another day, preparing food and gossiping. They talk about how Ibn is having a tough time managing his compound.

- Yes, oh! Afterall, managing a wife who is a donkey is no easy task.

They both laugh.

- What a fool to marry a woman who just appeared from nowhere. Nobody knows her people or anything about her.

- And what an even bigger fool to focus so much on beauty, when there are so many more important things to consider!

Nigeria Transmitted

Being out of Nigeria, you start to realise the potentially dominant influence that Nigeria can wield and sometimes does over the rest of the continent. In most cases, it's our popular culture that carries most easily to other borders via the power of Nollywood and the DSTV channel Africa Magic.

I am miles away from home, but every night I can watch a host of Nigerian films and feel like I'm still at home (afterall, virtually every other show on the channel is Nigerian). People I meet tell me all about the Nigeria they've come to know from films, which includes hateful mother-in-laws, juju, over-the-top theatrics, focus on flashy possessions, extreme wealth, extreme poverty, and the list goes on. People tell me me about our food, as conjured from descriptions in Things Fall Apart and The Concubine, books from their secondary school reading lists.

Tonight I watched an old episode of Moments with Mo on Africa Magic, featuring Adesuwa Onyenokwe. And as corny as it is to say, I felt very proud: to be Nigerian; that we have some good productions coming out of the country; that our culture is so rich and diverse.

Felistah

Felistah! Felistah! Felistah is another busy bee - actually ALL of these ladies are super-busy.

Felistah, like some of the ladies, is combining work and school. She's studying social work and community development at the Kenya Institute of Social Work and Community Development. At the same time, she works at Fortress of Hope Africa, where she works with adolescent girls.

Their programs include Okoa Wasichana Wetu (Save the Girls), which organises trainings on reproductive health, life skills and HIV awareness. Another program is the Tumaini Safe House, which is for girls who have been victims of gender discrimination, gender-based violence, thrown out of their homes and orphans. The organisation negotiates on behalf of the young women and provides counselling for everyone involved.

In the future, Felistah looks forward to being an activist for women and human rights. In her spare time, she loves to travel and socialise. BTW, she recommends visiting Hellsgate and the Hippo Camp, both in Kenya.

Nicole

Nicole is simply put, a powerhouse. She blows you away with her radiant and generous spirit. Nicole brims with so much confidence and energy.

Nicole is studying for a diploma in Social Work and Community Development, after which she would like to go for a degree in law. Not sure that she wants to practice law, but Nicole feels that the knowledge of law, especially in relation to how it affects women’s rights would be pertinent to her future ambitions.

Nicole combines school with her work at the Young Women’s Leadership Institute, where she is an assistant programme officer. At YWLI, she initiated the Young Mother’s Initiative, while still an intern. Now a full-time employee, she runs the initiative, which is targeted at young mothers, up to the age of 35, who come from the slums and also those who are in universities. Nicole also runs the Binti Initiative, which uses football to empower and educate girls on their sexual and reproductive rights.

Nicole is the proud mother of a 2 year and 1 month-old daughter, Angel. And becoming a mother at a fairly young age has undoubtedly been a driving force in her desire to work with young women all over the world.

Nicole is a woman of many parts. Aside from working with young women, Nicole loves to act and has starred in two plays at the Felix Theatre. She’d love to combine her future career with acting, but recognises that this might be difficult to do, given the amount of time that acting requires. Nicole learnt to swim at the age of 3 and is a certified lifeguard. She loves to dance and wants to be the best mother ever.

Caroline

Caroline puts me to shame. I used to think I was a busy woman, but Caroline is a phenomenal multi-tasker, who appears to very efficiently keep her many balls in the air. Caroline is always dashing from from one appointment to another, but gives 101% to each thing.

Caroline has a BSc in Recreation and Leisure Management from Kenyatta University. Her first job post-grad in 2007 was at the fitness centre of the Safari Park Hotel (which I saw today, btw. VERY posh looking). After this, she worked as director of sports and fitness at a Nairobi private school, where she developed programmes for the classes. At the same time, she found time to work as a personal trainer to the rich and famous.

Now, Caroline co-owns Ideal Sports Africa, a fitness consultancy which she founded with friends. They provide training and fitness testing for companies, provide nutrition information and look for sponsorship for tournaments and local sports teams. At the same time, Caroline teaches Human Anatomy and Exercise Physiology at Transnational College. That's not all! She works for the Young Women's Leadership Institute, where she uses football as a platform to empower young women. As part of this work, she plays and coaches football three times a week.

Caroline is going to Boston, in the US this August to try out for what will be the soon-to-be established women's soccer league. I wish her all the best with that.

Sandra

Sandy is the first of the young ladies who I would be training as a facilitator for the Blogs for African Women project who I met. Sandy appeared shy at first, looks can be deceptive because she can really talk. LOL!

She took me to the Masai market yesterday and to the memorial park built where the US Consulate used to be (before it was blown up in August 1998). It was really sweet of her to roll out of bed on a Saturday and spend what was a fairly cool and overcast day with me. She told me that I laugh like a friend of hers and my laughter makes her want to laugh too. I've been told many things about my laugh and that's one of the kindest things that's been said. LOL!!!!

Sandy is studying Development Studies in Uganda and hopes to work for a non-governmental organisation after she graduates. Eventually she would like to set-up an NGO that does work on women's empowerment, human rights, poverty, AIDS/HIV awareness and education. At the moment, she is interning with Fahamu. Sandra is obviously very dedicated to working with women, as demonstrated from her interaction with the young ladies who we have been training over the past week to use computers, blogs and social networking sites.

Book Reading: Kunle Ajibade at Jazzhole

Glendora Readings presents a book reading by author, Kunle Ajibade from his book What a Country. This events features a discussion of his book by Odia Ofeimun, Reuben Abati, Toyin Akinosho and the author.

Date: Thursday, 17 July, 2008
Time: 4PM
Venue: The Jazzhole, 168 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos

What a Country! goes beyond the narrative aesthetics of his prison memoir, Jailed for Life: A reporter’s Prison Notes, published in February 2003, to grapple with questions of justice, popular welfare, human rights and good governance. It is eloquent and poignant. Its vision is broad, both powerfully anchored in local knowledge and robustly cosmopolitan. Its passion for the betterment of Nigeria – indeed, what a country! – is evident and infectious. Kunle Ajibade, never lets go the respect for human value, the shared space that the creativity of writers, human rights activists and pro-democracy workers – especially the leading lights, avatars and exemplars of the cause – have defended across the world at great risks to their own lives.

Kunle Ajibade attended the University of Ife , where he earned a B.A. in English and an M.A in Literature-in-English. Before he became a co-founder/publisher of The News and P.M. News, he had worked in Grant advertising as a copy writer, in Chief Abiola’s African Concord as a senior correspondent and in African Guardian as an assistant editor. In 1995 he was jailed for life because of a story published in The News magazine and was only released in 1998 when his jailer, General Sani Abacha, died. Ajibade won the 1998/1999 Feuchtwanger Fellowship to write his prison memoir, Jailed for Life: A Reporter’s Prison Notes, which was published in February 2003 by Heinemann Educational Books. The book won the first Victor Nwankwo Book of the Year Award instituted by the Nigerian Book Fair Trust.

World Bank - Young Professionals Program

The World Bank is currently accepting applications for its Young Professionals Program. The deadline is July 15, 2008 so if you are interested you have a little time left to get in your application.

The Young Professionals Program is a starting point for a career in the World Bank. It is designed for highly qualified and motivated young people skilled in areas relevant to the World Bank's operations such as economics, finance, education, public health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, and natural resource management.

The Returning Set

Each month, I hear of more and more people moving back to Nigeria from wherever they have been working or living for the last few years. This article, interestingly called "Siege of the Nigerian Expatriate" follows some people who decided to move back home, their challenges, the rewards (of course) and what happens when it all becomes a bit too much.

Google Vacancy for Nigeria

I received this from one of the mailing lists I belong to. I am not sure what the application window is though.

Google is searching for an Office Lead for its Africa Market and Business Development team. This Office Lead will be based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Google's Market and Business Development team was created to pursue
technology-driven initiatives in Africa that will have a meaningful impact
on the continent's development. Google's presence is also in Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania.

The Office Lead will essentially be Google's country leader, representing
the company in all of its major business development and partnership
opportunities and serving as the voice of the Nigerian user at Google.

To learn more, visit the Google site. To apply, send a text (ASCII), PDF, Word or HTML version of your CV in English to jobs@google.com. The subject
field of your email must include "Office Lead, English Speaking West Africa
- Nigeria".

As 2008 Marches On

Tomorrow (almost today now) is July 1st. Where did the first half of the year fly to? Well, hopefully for most of us, it was a good start to the year.

For me, it was a year of changes and new beginnings. I left my old job to set-up an NGO. So far, so good. It's been an amazing journey so far and I pray for better times ahead. It's like I've heard said; if you take a leap of faith, somehow the road rises up to meet you. LOL! Well, it better, otherwise that would not be a pretty sight at all.

Firefox 3

Who's using this? I love Firefox and am in the process of downloading it, but I needed to make sure that my favourite add-on - Foxmarks, which allows you synchronise your bookmarks across multiple computers - was available in the new version.

Meanwhile, here's an article shared by Frances, 'Geek girl' helps keep Mozilla safe in scary times, about Mozilla's chief security something-or-other (yes, that's her official title), Window Snyder.

Seeking Kenyan Women Bloggers

Fahamu is organising a project - Blogs for African Women (BAWo) - with Nigerian NGO, the Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) to mentor young Kenyan women. If you are or know of a Kenyan woman blogger, who is interested in mentoring other young women, please contact stella@fahamu.org or info@w-teconline.org.

What a Day!

Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, a US TV program that I used to watch died. He was incredibly knowledgeable and a tough interviewer. It's saying a lot that for someone not interested in politics, I routinely watched Meet the Press. You will be missed, Mr. Russert.

Then, R. Kelly was aquitted on ALL charges in his recently ended child pornography trial. Unbelievable! But, then not really given how often the trial was pushed back (from six years ago) and the relaxed way Kelly was still able to continue about his business.

Yesterday, I learnt that M.K.O. Abiola had really won the June 12 1993 presidential elections. Thank you, Mr. Nwosu for clearing that up. Shifting more units of your new book wouldn't happen to have anything with that declaration, now would it?

Yesterday, I received my latest issue of True Love magazine and whose name jumped out at me from the cover? None other than Frances Uku, actress-on the-rise, blogger
and friend. Ms. Uku has a 4-page spread with some incredible looking photographs. It's not everyday you see such a natural beauty rocking her twists with total confidence on the pages of True Love. So, everybody grab ya copy NOW!!!! Or at least, whenever it hits the streets.

Then, out of the blue, someone sent me credit today. That was such an unexpected and touching gesture.

A Story of Sex and the City

So, the weekend wasn't a total bust afterall. I discovered in the last few weeks that a friend of mine is a published author. And no, he's not just a one-time author, but had 3 books to his credit, with the first published when he was still in university. We met during our NYSC year and served on the editorial board together. I mistakenly thought at the time that he was merely a good writer. The error was all mine. He turned out to be pretty damn good. He launched his fourth book on Sunday and I attended the book launch, which was a celebration of the book and the author. It's so good to see people living out their passions.

After the book launch, I went to see the much heralded Sex and the City. And much like I imagined it would be, going to see the movie was as much of an event as seeing the movie.

My friend planned on getting there early just to secure the tickets. When I arrived at the Galleria, I could see why. The cinema floor, ordinarily wall-to-wall with people, was even more so. I could also perceive an excited buzz in the air emanating mostly from the women (or maybe that was just me).

We posed for photographs by a Sex and the City poster, with the photographer taking additional shots just to make sure that he got my shoes (any SATC fan knows the import of the shoes).

Getting to watch the film was perhaps almost as much drama as the film promised. I went out of the cinema hall to get popcorn during a lull caused by an unceremonious halting of the previews. After I waited in that long line, I got back to the hall only to be asked to wait outside while some 'issue' was being sorted out. In the true nature of most things Naija, you are never really told directly what the issue is. Rather you are forced to piece it together bit-by-bit from hearsay and plain gossip. While we waited, a few people who declared that they were friends of the people at the heart of 'the issue' bogarded their way into the hall. On getting back into the hall, it seemed that seats had been reserved and cordoned off with ropes. Of-course, in typical fashion, with no one to watch over these reserved seats, they had been quickly filled up with people other than the intended. And, to cut a very tiresome story short (Believe me! I was there!), we were finally able to start watching the film about an hour after the scheduled time. This was African time to the nth degree!!! It also demonstrates the power of a few to throw a spanner in the works of many.

Maybe I was restless by this time, but the start of the film felt slightly anti-climaxic. The film was obviously intended for devotees of the show firstly, and then everybody else. So, I was left feeling that if I wasn't such a big fan of the show, I would not be overly impressed by it. In true rom-com style, everyone gets a nice, happy ending tied-up in a huge bow. I felt this way at the end of the TV series, particularly with the Carrie and Mr. Big storyline. With the film, I was even more like "Yeah, yeah! Whateva!". While I love a happy ending as much as the next person, I think I might be a little too cynical to really buy it, even when it's presented in the safe world of movies.

I was inclined to think that many among the audience instinctively felt the same way too. As the end credits started to roll, I just knew that if this was a cinema in some other part of the world, the hall would erupt in spontaneous and deafening applause. This was not to be in the Lagos hall in which I saw the film. I think we, as a people, might be inured against that kind of fairy-tale thinking (now, I don't know if that's a crying shame or perhaps the way things should be given the frequent harshness of life in Nigeria).

The clothes and shoes were fun of course, but even the way those were rolled out mercilessly, felt like they were pandering to an already love-struck audience. In fact the entire film appeared to be one long - much too long - loveletter to itself.

More balanced reviews of the film?
- MSN
- Boston Times
- New York Times
- Guardian

The Failed Night Out

It's been a really long time since I've been out at night and by that I don't mean dinner; I mean out to a bar or lounge. Returning home with hair extensions infused with cigarette smoke is just not the kick it was at 24 (and even then, come to think of it, it wasn't). Now, I tend to do movies and maybe dinner and be back home by 11 WHEN I go out.

Determined not to settle into early retirement before I even hit my forties, I try to shake things up a little and get out every now and again. Tonight was one such night. The first problem upon deciding that I wanted to go out was where to go to. The first option to go to a karaoke bar was suggested by my sister.

I was very doubtful.

She maintained that it would be fun.

- But I can't sing, I countered (a very important and lucid argument for not going, in my mind).

- Well, neither can I!

So, that kind of settled it. Karaoking singing we would go.

That is until she and her friend got there and called me to saying that the place "Was not happening."

Okay, so where was then?

She promised to call me back after a quick consultation with her friends. She called back 4 minutes later with no clearer suggestion than to see where the mood would take them.

That really didn't work for me, so I decided to meet up with my friend at Newscafe. I hadn't been there in a while, but figured that it was a safe enough bet.

Ahem. Was I wrong! The place was a far cry from the hot spot I remembered. Then I realised that I hadn't been there at night in about a year! OMG! Well, in Lagos a place that was the place to be a year ago is not guaranteed to maintain that record a year later (unless, of course, it's Bacchus).

The Newscafe I remember was abuzz with people, cars, music and energy; all of which were glaringly lacking tonight. Within minutes we decided to leave for Posh Cafe.

On getting there, my sister stopped and pronounced that the place "Looked dead."

The sign outside the Mega Plaza car park had declared a fee of "N200 per park." Determined that "my park" would be optimised as much as possible, I firmly marched in ignoring the virtually empty space. Comfortably ensconced in the chairs, we ordered our drinks and waited for the enjoyment to begin. And we waited. And waited...

My sister and her friend decided to throw in the towel and go home. I decided to stay and enjoy my, ahem, hot chocolate. As more patrons left and others stood outside, survey the joint and decide against coming in, my friend D and I confessed how out of the loop we felt.

Where WAS everyone? There was some memo that I obviously didn't get.

Determined that the next evening out would be much more fun, we vowed that next time we would "do our homework, ask around, know the place du jour, etc.

We ended up in the open-air food court on the ground level for a late-night meal of suya, which was probably the most fun part of the evening. There's nothing like the night that never was to make you feel like you just need to give it all up now. But perhaps, I also need to realise that my ideas about fun have really changed over time and embrace this realisation with wild abandon.

Creative Writing Workshop with Chimamanda Adichie, Binyavanga Wainaina, Dave Eggers and Marie Elena John

I was recently telling a budding writer about this program and now can't remember who.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be organizing a creative writing workshop in Lagos from August 19 to August 29 2008. The workshop is sponsored by Fidelity Bank.

Guest writers who will co-teach the workshop alongside Adichie are the Caine Prize Winning Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina (author of Discovering Home), the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominated Caribbean writer Marie-Elena John (author of Unburnable) and the Pulitzer Prize nominated American writer Dave Eggers (author of A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Genius).

Workshop participants will be expected to read and discuss a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, as well as complete short writing exercises. The aim of the workshop is to encourage published and unpublished Nigerian writers by bringing different perspectives to the art of storytelling.

Participation is limited to those who apply and are accepted. A symposium open to the public will be held at the end of the workshop.

Application
To apply, send an e-mail to Udonandu2008@gmail.com
Your e-mail subject should read ‘Workshop Application.’

The body of the e-mail should contain the following:
1. Your Name
2. Your address
3. A few sentences about yourself
4. A writing sample of between 200 and 800 words. Please indicate whether your sample is fiction or nonfiction. Acceptances will be based on the quality of the writing sample.

All writing material must be pasted or written in the body of the e-mail. Do NOT send any attachments. Applications with attachments will be automatically disqualified. Deadline for submissions is July 12 2008. If accepted, you will be notified by August 5, 2008.

Thanks Musing Naijaman for the link.

Girlfriends

Up late watching Girlfriends. I didn't always like the show, though over time it grew on me. The characters became more three-dimensional and it (the characters and stortylines) gradually all came together.

I've been watching the first 3 seasons on DVD and am noticing how polished and sophisticated it is, especially compared to some other African-American sitcoms. It has this sheen. My guilty secret is that I mostly like watching it to look at Tracee Ellis Ross's characters hair and clothes. That's my style star.

The Apprentice Africa

I just caught the ending of Apprentice Africa. I really enjoy the show, however the editing leaves a lot to be desired. I know that a lof of reality shows edit creatively, so sometimes you get the story they want you to get - as opposed to what actually happened. However, very often in AA, you are left feeling like you've missed some important chunk of the story, but not quite sure what it was. It just felt incomplete.

This is particularly so when watching the team enjoying their 'prize.' Some of these prizes have shown almost total unimagination, although the editing and presentation of the prize segment is even more lacking.

Today's prize actually seemed cool (a meeting with image consultant Ifeoma Williams of Fruition, a meeting with designer Lanre Da Silva and a photo shoot in one of her designs, which the contestants would get to keep). However, did we get to really share the experience of the prize with the winners? Nope! We got some visuals alright, but layered with an incredibly annoying soundtrack looping what I take to be exclamations from the contestants during their day of "Are you serious?", "I LOVE it", "This is great" and ..... I can't even remember now. We didn't get to hear anything of the conversation that went on during the day, e.g. tips shared by the image consultant, designer, reactions from the contestants.

I suppose one way of looking at it was that perhaps none of the conversation amounted to much in the first place and that we were kindly spared by the editors. However, because this is par for the course with regards this show, I think otherwise. I remember one episode in which the winning team (Zulu) won a lunch with Oba Otudeko (successful entrepreneur and chairman of Honeywell Group), did we get to hear what pearls of wisdom he shared with the team? No! Instead, we got to observe the tush restaurant in which they had their lunch, how nicely set the table was, what they ate, drank, etc. We saw the hand-shaking, bowing, curtesying that went on and the lovely picture they took at the end of the meal. Wow! I learnt so much from that. Nigeria! Too much emphasis on the superficial and not enough on what lies beneath.

Yoruba Bata Dancers

The Life of a Woman

W.TEC’s Girls’ Technology Camp

The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is now accepting nominations for its upcoming W.TEC Girls’ Technology Camp.
The 1-week residential camp, which will take place in Lagos in August 2008, is aimed at bridging the technology gap between boys and girls earlier in their career path. The camp is designed to encourage young women to choose a career path in information and communication technology (ICT) or to develop more interest in using and/or managing ICTs.

Objectives:
The primary aims of this camp are to:

1. Introduce young Nigerian women to a variety of computer applications and other ICTs, which they can use productively for leisure, school and work, and help develop their skills in using them
2. Encourage the young women to consider a technology career, by giving a realistic and positive idea of computing-related careers through career talks and career-themed films
3. Help the young women plan their future careers with the assistance of mentors and women currently working in these fields

The programme is targeted at female students who are:

• Currently in JSS 2 to SSS 2 and no younger than 11 years of age
• Interested in computers and other ICTs
• Considering a career in a computing-related field or one in which computers will be used frequently

Application:
Nominations should be sent to info@w-teconline.org, with the following information: First and Last Names; Class; Age; School; Contact Address; Phone Number; and Email Address.

Alternatively, visit the W.TEC website to read more and apply.

Dr. Love

I'm up when I should be asleep and listening to Dr. Love on Silverbird TV. He's hilarious! Between his fake Americana accent and goro-sheened hair, the show is a laugh-a-minute.

Tonight he was talking about (amongst other things, I'm guessing since I only caught the last 10 minutes) how to turn a woman on. He is spot-on in some ways though. According to Dr. Love, it only takes a second for men to be "Ready-Freddy-Steady" (ROFL), while a woman is like the volume dial on your hi-fi set. He ends the show with a list of 10 Ways 2 Get a Woman to Fall in Love With You, including making her laugh, not being possesive (not being "all sticky-sticky to her"), paying compliments and remembering little details she'd told you in the past. I don't know if those will make a woman fall in love with a guy, but I suppose it can help.

Okay, the show is over now and I should get offline now!

Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants

I attended a talk today at the ongoing CTO2008, a yearly technology forum organised by the United States Commercial Services.

First off, Shina Badaru editor of Technology Times presented the top 100 websites visited by Nigerians. Topping the list was Yahoo (perhaps no surprise there), closely followed by Google.com.ng, Google and Facebook. The highest ranking Nigerian-owned website was Nairaland, which came in at number 13, showing perhaps how much Nigerian love to talk.

Then, Ayo Atobatele, founder of Nigeria.Com, spoke about how the Internet is influencing how we do business in a presentation entitled Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants. Hmmm, interesting ideas on how the Internet has changed so much about how we get information, communicate, do business, etc and how most people are either drigital natives or immigrants. Digital natives are born into the technology of now and grew up integrating it into all facets of their lives. Digital immigrants are forced to learn how to use these tools later in life as a result of professional needs or personal interest. Most of us (I should say, most of us in the late 20s and over) are digital immigrants, while anyone younger could be a digital native.

There must be a 3rd group not identified in his presentation at all; the group of people for whom these Internet-based technologies have no impact at all, the digital aliens?

Anyway, he goes on to say that most tools we use now were developed by digital natives; usually to meet a personal need or just for fun. However, the profit-making or impact-generating angle was spotted and developed by digital immigrants, who tend to have more business experience.

The bottom-line is:
- If you want to reach out to this younger, tech-savvy group, you need to be sending out your message through channels where it will get to them e.g. blogs, social networks, discussion groups, SMS, etc.
- Don't forget about the digital immigrants while you're at it
- This also means providing services that both groups will appreciate. How about online banking that actually is, and not just limited to checking balances, for example?
- You will most likely need the digital natives to develop the tools, but have digital immigrants use them to create competitive advantage and address business needs

To this, particularly the last point, it's important to:
- Create a process that encourages the creativity of digital natives (apparently, most Google products were initially employees' personal project and Google allows employees time to work on these projects). Okay, I laughed at this, sure that NO Nigerian company would do this, until he said that GTB's GENS SMS service is based on an application created by a GT employee.
- Create digital native mentoring programs with digital immigrants as the mentors
- Since most of us listening to his presentation were at best digital immigrants, we would need access to some digital natives to give insight on proposed products, services, and information delivery channels

It was good to see some interesting ideas, as well as some things that we intuitively know pulled together so cohesively. Download the presentation.

The Internet is definitely having a big impact in our lives, however limited access (availability and low bandwidth) continues to curb what we could be achieving with it.

Watching Films ...

One of things I have to do everyday is go online (to check email, blogs, read articles, visit websites, anything, etc). One thing I LOVE to do while surfing is to watch or, more accurately listen to films.

I recently The Namesake, seasons 1 to 3 of Absolutely Fabulous, Daddy's Little Girls that way (I can't watch The Wire that way though). Now, I'm about to start the Three Colours trilogy and since I don't speak French I will actually have to pay attention.

The Namesake Re-watched

I watched The Namesake last year when it was shown at Nu Metro. I loved the book and liked Mira Nair's films, so I hoped that I would like the film. Thankfully, I loved it. I think my friend and I were the only non-Indians in the cinema hall. I said I would get the film on DVD.

I did a few weeks ago and re-watched it several times (I'm currently listening to the director's commentary). It still strikes me as such a beautiful poignant film. I would have added "one that so astutely depicts the immigrant experience in the US, or anywhere for that matter", but I fear that would be so nauseatingly cliched. LOL! Okay, so I just said it.

However, it still does bring back those feelings of loneliness, being the outsider, having to explain your country and culture to people over and over again when they ask you the maddeningly vague "So tell me ALL about Nigeria", and listen to them patronise you with their 'deep insight' on what the problem with Nigeria is.

However, the Namesake is so much more than that. It's such a gorgeously told story about family: you love them sometimes; you can't stand them sometimes; but somehow they always seem to be the ones at the start of the story and with you at the end.

ICT and Democratic Empowerment

This is an interesting article I read on African Path on how two Kenyan women are making a difference to peoples' lives in Kenya using ICTs.

On to another book

Yeah! I FINALLY finished Bluebeard's Egg by Margaret Atwood (will update my sidebar soon). It was good, but I was reminded why short stories are really not my thing. With each new story, you need to get acquainted with a fresh set of characters and just when you're getting into their story, it ends; often abruptly and I'm left feeling shortchanged.

Now, I'm on The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. It's my first book by the author and I'm excited to start it. The premise sounds *very* interesting.

Scholarships for ICTs for Development Masters Study in Manchester

I seriously hope that I am not getting to be such a slack blogger that I'm recycling old posts. This one, in particular, looked kind of familiar...... Ah well.

The University of Manchester is offering scholarships to succesful candidates for the one-year MSc ICTs for Development degree, which aims to create "ICT4D champions" who combine technical competencies in information systems and project management with an understanding of development context and practice:
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/06237/index.asp

Applicants who have applied, received and accepted a formal offer by 30 June 2008 will be considered for two fee-waiver scholarship opportunities. The IDPM Golden Jubilee Scholarship, worth £11,000, is available on a competitive basis for applicants from developing countries to any of IDPM's Masters degrees. The IDPM ICT4D Scholarship, worth £5,500, is available exclusively for developing country applicants to the MSc ICT4D programme. There is no specific application process for the scholarships but candidates are welcome to include a scholarship statement when applying for the MSc programme.

Details on other funding sources and on part-time employment opportunities while studying in Manchester can be found at:
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/postgraduate/taught/funding/

Biyi Bandele Book Reading

I attended the Biyi Bandele book reading over the weekend at the British Council. I'd have loved to do a proper post about it, but seeing as I missed most of it, I'm really not in a position to. I was running late, having had an earlier appointment, and I hoped that this would be one of those events that observed African time, but I guess even if they did, it still started early enough that I missed the actual readings.

I am not a fan of stories about war, so while I'd seen the book Burma Boy around, I'd not considered buying it. Plus, I already have too many unread books sitting on my bookshelf. However, I like attending book readings still, whether I've read the book or not; or intending to read the book or not.

Biyi Bandele, the author, appeared to be a very laid-back and chilled individual. He had an accomodating manner, as he responded to most of the questions pleasantly. There had been a fair amount of publicity for the event, as evidenced by the huge turn-out (standing room only); or perhaps this was a testament to the author's popularity. This might have been one of the most relaxed readings that I've been to in a while too; with the audience laughing easily at both intended and accidental humour; sniggering wickedly at sarcastic comments by the commentator; and sighing with impatience at questions that meandered just a bit too long.

Today

I attended the Titans of Tech's Women in ICT forum today at the MUSON Centre. It was interesting and, as it is with these things, I finally met someone who I've corresponded with many times by email and have spoken to on the phone. I was really tripped that she gave me a shout out after I asked a question and introduced myself. Woohoo! I'll have to blog about the event later; including the 'well-meaning' but sometimes off-the-mark comments on women working in technology.

Anyway, I've spent what looked like it would be a promising evening in front of my computer trying to figure out how to convert a TIF file to a PDF document. I mean, really, how hard can it be? Well, VERY trying as I was to find out. After several hours spent cruising the web for software that could do such conversions, downloading different applications and trying them out, I finally ended up with 3 that were able to do the job - albeit it with ugly watermarks across them. Ah well, they were trial versions, so I took what I could get. So, that was my 'relaxing' evening. Technology helps and yet it can really stress you out sometimes. Now, I'm going to really relax with a very, very late dinner, Top Chef and Project Runway.