Dis Generation: August 2013

Friday, August 16, 2013

Up, side or down? Let love lead!!

I'm tempted to ask the guy in the taxi who the frame is for ;-) But my hausa language skill never reach that level. Na so o! #Love is a beautiful universal language!! Let love lead!

Love? It is a verb.

Just in! Youth volunteer opportunity!

VSO ICS is a youth centred community development programme, conducted in partnership between International Citizen Service (ICS), Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and our implementing partners.

The three-month programme brings together young people (aged 18-25) from the UK and Nigeria. Each team will typically consist of 20 young people, with equal numbers coming from the UK and the host country. In carefully selected communities, volunteers work in placements fully supported by our implementing partner organisations and two full time VSO ICS programme supervisors. Together, in cross-cultural counterpart pairs, volunteers live with host families and work in the host communities. The type of work varies depending upon the needs of the community, but can include service delivery, advocacy work, and peer-to-peer education programmes. Through a programme of structured personal development and learning, ICS aims to create a cadre of young people who will make lifelong contributions as advocates for international development and as agents of social change within their own communities.

Completed forms should be returned to the VSO-ICS Team at

No 14B, Banjul Street, Off Monrovia Street, Wuse 2, Abuja

Or by email

foluwasho.adeniran@vsoint.org

The deadline for submission is 20th of August 2013 by 4:30pm

Only short listed candidates will be invited for the interview.

Interviews will be conducted in two Locations: Ilorin and Abuja

We do not ask for any specific skills or experience in our volunteers. We do however look for people who show the potential to learn and to become active Global Citizens. Click the link below to read more and download the form!!

http://www.beforegraduation.org/2013/08/16/now-open-for-application-vso-international-citizen-service-ics-youth-volunteer-programme/

www.beforegraduation.org

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Three Questions Worth Asking in #Nigeria

Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living? - President Obama, in his State of the Union address.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Through PMTCT, we can protect future generations from HIV, says expert in #Nasarawa State

As part of HealthNewsNG's special focus on HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health issues,Jennifer Ehidiamen spoke to Nurse Egga, an expert in Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) and Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) who works in a general hospital in Nasarawa state, northern Nigeria.

Her bubbling attitude and high-pitched voice resonate with her passion for the fight to ensure women living with HIV/AIDS lead healthy lives that are void of stigmatization and related challenges.

She says she is not alone in the quest.

Nasarawa is one of the states with very high HIV prevalence in Nigeria. According to data released by the Nasarawa State AIDS Control Agency (NASACA), HIV prevalence rate in the state as at 2010 was 7.5%, with about 80,000 people currently living with HIV.

Despite the high rate of infection, the state government in partnership with Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, are taking the lead in ensuring people living with HIV have access to treatment. A major focus has been the creation of Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) centres in some hospitals. So far, there are about two hundred and fifty eight (258) PMTCT sites in Nasarawa.

In Nurse Egga’s opinion, when you prevent a mother from transmitting HIV virus to her unborn child, you are preventing the next generation from being infected. So when you are talking about Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT), it is a serious matter.

Nurse Egga represents the optimism many medical experts and stakeholders have in response to ending AIDS. She believes that it is possible to have a HIV-free generation. But there are still some challenges that need to be tackled.

Click the link to read the full interview:

http://www.healthnewsng.com/2013/08/through-pmtct-we-can-protect-future.html

Saturday, August 03, 2013

Journal-ising +234...

Howdy! Happy New Month!! :-)

A lot of exciting, challenging and beautiful things have happened since my last personal note. And in all of these things and for all of these things, I'm giving God all the thanks! I'm grateful to my family and friends for their prayers and love.

Early this year I went on a post-university/college paramilitary service called NYSC. It is a one-year volunteer service to Nigeria :-) Oh well, so that was how I landed in Nasarawa. Ask me for more details later.

For work, I have been dreaming up some Big Audacious Next-level Goals (BANG!). I'm so ultra-excited! Like you know, I have been reporting on the business of health in Nigeria. For more info checkout www.internationalreportingproject.org. The experience has taken me deeper into issues affecting people living on this side of the world. It has also taken me to a new dimension in journalism- I mean, I never imagined one day I'll be depending on an interpreter while working on a story in Nigeria. But these voices must be heard. Language differences should not be a barrier!

So expect more grassroots reporting for a global audience! Talking about global, have you heard that Global Press Institute has officially launched Global Press Journal? Yes! That is one of the coolest news wire to source for the latest development news report told by local journalists. Here is the link to the site: www.globalpressjournal.com

Africa coverage: www.globalpressjournal.com/africa

News from Nigeria: www.globalpressjournal.com/africa/nigeria

Enjoy reading!

Sending you some cool greetings from (north) central Nigeria! And yes, it feels like winter out here these days. Thank God for raining season! :-) Stay warm and keep your fire burning!

May God preserve our saltiness.

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What She Told God...And His Response

"She told God she wanted to fly. To escape every limitation placed on her from birth. To soar to places unimagineable to her ancestors. To reach for the stars and land on her dreams. She told God she wanted to create. To build legacy and transform everything she touched. To inspire generations to come and to nurture the visions of prophets yet to be born. To generate change with her mere words. She told God she wanted to love and trust unconditionally. To be the answer to every prayer he had ever prayed and the manifestation of every fantasy he had convinced himself would never come to pass. To be the breath of fresh air he had never sat still long enough to take in. And God told her that eyes had not seen nor ears heard what was to come for her."

- Rahiel Tesfamariam.

Half a Loaf & a Bakery

Half a loaf & a Bakery was created and published out of necessity. We want to encourage youths who have no loaf today to step out of their comfort zone and aspire. We want to inspire those with half a loaf to make the best use of what they have been given. We want to tell all young people in Nigeria that have their backs pushed against the wall by circumstances beyond their control, to arise, dare to dream bigger and take action towards greatness everyday. We have shared articles on education, entrepreneurship and related issues to stimulate positive enduring actions. We have also shared interview responses from youths who are leading by example. It is our hope that this book will inspire young people to embrace the culture of hands-on experiential learning and be prepared for the labour force, as entrepreneurs or employees before graduation. Owning a bakery and feeding others is within the reach of everyone who believes in the beauty of their dreams. Get a FREE copy on your android phone via Okadabooks.com or download via Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/210221423/Half-A-Loaf-A-Bakery-by-Jennifer-Ehidiamen-and-Funso-Bukoye

Have you read "Preserve my Saltiness" by Jennifer Ehidiamen?

"In Preserve My Saltiness Jennifer addresses life's everyday experiences to our world's trends and shared challenges of the 21st century. Every poem embodies piercing insight and breathless passion. This is the work of a career poet." Jess Rimington, Spoken Word artist & Executive Director of One World Youth Project, USA Also available on Amazon.co.uk and a Bookstore near you: • Naija-Sistas Book-stop, Henry Nelson Consulting26 Festival Road off Adetokunbo Ademola Street. Victoria Island, Lagos. • Terra Kulture (Bookshop), Plot 1376 Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island Lagos. • Florence & Lambard Publisher and Booksellers, 202-204 Ikorodu road, Palm Grove, Lagos. • Latter Rain Assembly Bookstore, Plot 4 Akilo road Ogba, Off Oba Akran Avenue Ikeja, Lagos.

A Review of "In Days to Come"

Jennifer is a remarkable young lady. Living in a country that she truly loves, yet recognizing the many problems as well. From her young mind she reaches out through her poetry hoping that her messages will reach out to educate, but even more so, to offer hope.

Jennifer does not write in rhyming verse or strict form, preferring the freedom to express her innermost thoughts without restriction. Yet poetry it undoubtedly is.

Many have struggled to define poetry, in the same way that many struggle to define art. Poetry paints with words and expressions and as such can be both art and craft.

I believe that if Jennifer’s words move you, then she has expressed both her art and her craft.

Finally, we have tried to avoid making changes to her writing, except perhaps for a few proof reading corrections. We hope by this you will capture not only the words, but (also) the essence of Jennifer’s culture that shines through her poetry.

Philip G. Bell

Editor,

Young Poet Society

Learning to unlearn

"We need to unlearn the idea that our unique mission must consist of some achievement which all the world will see, and learn instead that as the stone does not always know what ripples it has caused in the pond whose surface it impacts, so neither we nor those who watch our life will always know what we have achieved by our life and by our mission. It may be that by the grace of God we helped bring about a profound change for the better in the lives of other souls around us, but it also may be that this takes place beyond our sight, or after we have gone on. And we may never know what we have accomplished, until we see Him face-to-face after this life is past". Bolle in What color is your Parachute?

I SURRENDER!

show me a way
a channel, a route
through which I could reachout to this hurting world
and wipe out that tears rolling down her cheeks

I know, I know
I must tread only on that path I know well
else I cramp my style with stinking gibberish
My wallet is flat tonight
please don't count on that

Still this urge to belong
an undiluted desire to serve
yearns so loudly I can hold back no more

I surrender
in total submission my heart cry
Here I am, use me lover of my soul

to be a helping hand in my society
to learn to give without asking for a refund
to able to influence others into aiming for the best
never to try playing god over my peers
to you my king I obediently surrender.
(c)Jennifer Ehidiamen

Words on marble

“The challenges of our age are global; they transcend national frontiers; they are problems without passports. To address them, we need blue prints without borders. That is why more than ever before, we need dedicated and talented young men and women to be global citizens who make the choice of service to humankind….. a society that cuts itself from its youth severs its lifeline, but a society that engages their interests, enlists their talents and liberates their energies brings hope to the entire world”

Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General
1997-2007

"We are here to be excited from youth to oldage, to have an insatiable curiousity about our world... We are also here to help others by practicing a friendly attitude. And every person is born for a purpose. Everyone has a God-given potential, in essence, built into them. And if we are to live life to its fullest, we must realize that potential." -Norman Vincent Peale

"There is no thrill in easy sailing, when the skies are Clear and Blue There is no Joy in doing only things anyone can do But there is some satisfaction mighty sweet to take when you reach a destination that you thought you'd never make"

Isaiah 43:18-19:
18 “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

We all have an individual calling...a purpose why we are here on Earth. Life to me is not about being rich and famous but about reaching out to others in servitude...positively! so i try to help in every way i can...by God's enabling grace!

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