Okay…..so this DIY is so easy to create and trust me, very perfect to rock anywhere. You know how people rave about printed bags? You can also make yours without having to go through the hassles of the materials and the sewing. This is originally a Japanese method of carrying items, also called Tokyo fashion but you can totally use any lovely material for this, as long as it’s big enough. You can make this easily and thank me later.
Here is the tutorial:
“To know is not enough. One must try to understand too. There will be a lot of talking in the Cape these days, one man’s word against another’s, master against slave. But what’s the use? Liars all. Only a free man can tell the truth. In the shadow of death, one must walk on tiptoe, for death is a deathly thing.”
In the early nineteenth century, a slave rebellion, one of the very few that ever existed, rises in the Cape Colony in the heart of South Africa. On a farm, the master’s family and the slaves co-exist, at first without really interfering with each other; the white master, Piet, is tough and inflexible farmer, Alida, his wife is sad, nostalgic about her youth in the Cape. As their two sons Nicolaas and Barend get married and build their own lives on separate farms, the slave community has to follow the new masters. With time, new tensions and passions form until a rebellion eventually occurs.
The increasing tension is at first framed by an act of accusation of the slaves, the novel is literally the chain of characters’ voices speaking; all characters, dead and alive, have their say in this literary chorus. It is this tense climate that the debate on the abolition of slavery reaches the ears of the Bokkenveld inhabitants, disrupting the established relationships between masters and slaves, men and women, friends and enemies.
The atmosphere of the book is very similar to one before a storm; there are signs of change, the wind silently blowing in different directions… As the abolition of slavery comes to the front stage, the established norms in human relations change and even blur; old friends are set apart by ambition or rivalry, wives question their husbands and their precarious status. A Chain of Voices is at the same time a chorus of different tones and complaints, and the clanging echo of chains breaking to set the human spirit free.
You want to give a friend a wonderful pair of shoes for Christmas and the shoes didn’t come with a shoe box? Here’s a way of transforming an old shoe box into a brand new one worthy of carrying your friend’s new shoes. In this DIY, only the cover of the box was covered but you can switch yours up b covering both top and bottom or you can cover the top and use the same material to make the big bow around the bottom. This box can also house your jewelry, makeup or gifts you want to share this Christmas. Enjoy it!
Nigeria’s Next Top Model winner, Queen Onyemaechi, who is currently signed to Isis Model Management and Brave Models Milan strikes edgy poses in fashion editorial for Spotlight P&I dubbed the Black Religion
Recently, Vogue.com listed her as one of fashion’s faces to watch our for next season. In this shoot we see Queen striking killer poses for photojournalist and documentary artist Emmanuel Arewa‘s new shoot for Spotlight P&I – “Black Religion”.
She is dressed in all black edgy pieces and dramatic accessories.
Photo Credit
Photography: Emmanuel Arewa (Instagram: @EmmauelArewa) for Spotlight P&I (Instagram:@SpotlightPI)
Styling and Direction: Oluwatosin Ogundadegbe of TheStyleInfidel (Instagram:@TheStyleInfidel)
Makeup: Miels Signature (Istagram: @MielsSignature)
Hair: Henry Patrick for the Blackmustang (Instagram: @TheBlackMustang)
Ensembles: Desire1709 Fashion (Instagram: @Desire1709Fashion) and Ama Ariol (Instagram:@AmaAriol)
Model: Queen Onyemaechi (Instagram: @Choco_Millo)
Nigerian fashion designer Lanre DaSilva Ajayi lives up to what she is loved for. Her effortlessly stunning pieces and apt attention to details is seen in every hem, every line and every embellishments in her pieces. Recently, new campaign images have been released for her new Spring/Summer 2015 collection titled‘Rock Delight’. The campaign features exquisite laces, heavy embellishments and gorgeous prints with dresses that flatter a woman’s silhouette.
Photographer: Silvia Dee
Models: The Purves twins &MajoriePrempeh
Art Direction:OnyinyeFafi Obi
Styling/Creative Direction: Ola Ebiti
Styling Assistant: Emily Midwood
Hair & Makeup: Vicky Alice
The story is told of a African King who had a close friend with whom he grew up.
The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, “This is good!”
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.
Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!” To which the king replied – “No, this is not good!” and proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.
As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. “You were right,” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened.
“And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.” “No,” his friend replied, “This is good!” “What do you mean, ‘This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?” “If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you, and not here with you right now.”
In a very unusual way, the message here unfolds into exposing the following principle about life. “Absolutely everything happens for a purpose; and out of what seems like adversity at the time; always comes good”.
I’m sure that if any of us care to reflect back on the tragedy’s, the heartaches, the ‘bad times’ in our lives, that we discover that we have really grown or developed during that period of time: even though the reflection may still cause us discomfort in some way.
It is in this way that we slowly gather experience and wisdom, and even though we may think or feel that it is unfair, that’s the way it is. “This is good”.
Combine water, 1/4 teaspoon chili powder, salt, pepper, and eggs in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk.
Place bread in a food processor; pulse 5 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1/2 cup. Add 2 tablespoons egg mixture, fish, parsley, and garlic; process until a thick dough forms. Shape dough into 16 (1-inch) balls.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge fish balls in flour and dip in remaining egg mixture. Add fish balls to pan; sauté 10 minutes or until browned on all sides, turning frequently.
Pour tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes (optional)
Mosunmola Folake Abudu a.k.a Mo Abudu is a woman who wears many hats. She is the CEO of EbonyLife TV, talk show host, TV producer, media personality, human resources management consultant, entrepreneur and philanthropist and has just recently added executive producer of the movie ‘Fifty’. She has been described by Forbes as “Africa’s Most Successful Woman”.
Mo was born September 11, 1964 in the UK but relocated to Lagos, Nigeria at age 7 where she lived with her grandparents in Ondo State. She moved back to the UK after her father’s death at age 12 and continued her education, going to college and graduating with an M.Sc. in HR Management from the University of Westminster, London.
Her career started off in the UK as a recruitment consultant, to manager of the Corporate Credit Management Exhibition fof the Starfom Group, to head of Human Resources and Training Unit of Arthur Andersen for Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited (now ExxonMobil), before leaving in 2000 to establish a human resources development company known as Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited (a.k.a VLA) and developed an executive training centre at the Protea Hotel, Oakwood Park, Lagos while running VLA. She is a member of the British Psychological Society, and is qualified in occupational and personality testing.
Moments with Mo, a TV talk show launched in 2006 and executively produced and hosted by Mo, had by 2009, recorded over 200 episodes and aired with numerous topics throughout different fields and interviewed great and upcoming people from all walks of life. Mo is the executive producer for ‘The Debaters’, a reality show aimed at promoting oratory and giving voice to Africa, founder of The Inspire Africa Foundation, a non-profit organisation concentrated on fund-raising to execute social impact causes and the foundation has opened “The Designers Outlet for Charity”, a charity store which opened on 5th of December 2009 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Mo Abudu is no lightweight as her remarkable works have been locally, nationally and internationally recognised, many of which include recognition as the first African woman to launch a Pan-Africa TV channel by Forbes media, one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Global TV by the Hollywood Reporter and also recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year award by Women Werk in New York and Honorary Doctorate Degree (Honouris Causa) from Babcock University. She is more than a visionary who is fiercely determined to succeed beyond all odds and positively impact her generation, while leaving a lasting legacy for generations to come. You can check her on her website, www.moabudu.com, @MoAbudu on Twitter, @moabudu on Instagram and Mo Abudu on Facebook.
It is beyond admirable that despite being a proud mother of two children, a son and daughter, and efficiently performing her duties, Mo Abudu is showing no signs of slowing down. She just premiered her first executively produced movie, ‘Fifty’, and the movie will be showing in cinemas from 18th December, 2015.
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, known as Angélique Kidjo, is a Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and activist from Cotonou, Benin Republic, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Angelique Kidjo is the powerful voice between that jam ”Wombo Lombo”. Another awesome single by the Afro-pop singer is ”Agolo”, released in 1994, and we are throwing back in time with this one the video is directed by Michel Meyer. Enjoy!!!
The fever rises,
And all seems lost,
The world is going back to dust,
But there’s a man,
Who’s standing still?
When the tempo aims to kill,
And he watches,
All the chaos,
People begging, “Who will save us”
He sees the beauty,
In the madness,
That skilful little temptress,
The people pass him,
And say he’d mad,
“Is he happy that we are sad?”
They gave a name,
The called him ‘The Watcher’,
The one as still as the dead water.
If there is one photographer who is very hands-on with her work, so much so that she still uses and prefers manual/analog photography to digital photography, it is Ethiopian born Aida Muluneh. The photographer and contemporaray artist does not believe in the ease and simplicity of digital photography; rather she thinks that “in this digital world, every photographer should get his or her hands dirty in the darkroom. I am still having a hard time accepting digital photography and having 20,000 images to edit every time I go shooting”, and as regards monochrome images, she says “truth is either black or white. Human elements are exhibited though it. Black and white is the foundation. Colour is tricky. But whatever I use, my focus is capturing light”.
Born in 1974, young Aida left her home country, Ethiopia, and after spending her migrant childhood between Yemen and England, she settled in Canada in 1985 with several years of boarding school in Cyprus behind her. She then graduated from Howard University in 2001 with a B.A. in film, radio and television after which she worked as a freelance photojournalist with the Washington Post and other publications. Along came the planned three-month visit to Ethiopia which lasted till the present and Aida poured herself into photography and also founded DESTA (Developing and Educating Societies Through the Arts), an organization that has promotion of cultural development through the use of photography by providing workshops, exhibitions and creative exchanges.
Aida Muluneh’s works are so deep and compelling that it has been found worthy of exhibition as a group of her artworks can be located in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art and the Museum of Biblical Art in the United States. She also received the European Union Prize in the Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie in Bamoko, Mali in 2007 and the CRAF International Award of Photography in Spilimbergo,Italy in 2010. She also founded the Addis Foto Fest, the first international photography festival in Ethiopia and is currently the Director of the Modern Art Museum/ Gebre Kristos Desta Center inside the Addis Ababa University .
You can find more of Aida’s works here: 1) http://www.contempafricanart.com/artist.asp?id=AidaMuluneh&inl=1 2) http://destaforafricaorg.blogspot.it/ and catch her on Twitter at @aidamuluneh and on Instagram as @aidamuluneh.
More pictures below:
Lisa Folawiyo’s designs are seriously stunning. Her custom prints and impeccable attention to detail — each hand-embellished piece requires around 240 hours of work — have won over the hearts and sartorial sensibilities of women across the globe, including one of our favorite style goddesses: Solange Knowles. One look at her line and we guarantee you’ll be totally smitten.
Lisa Folawiyo (formerly known as Jewel by Lisa) is a multi-faceted global womenswear and accessories collection. Designer, Lisa Folawiyo perfected the art of wearing Ankara (local West African fabric) through the use of ornate embellishment; Lisa Folawiyo transformed the fabric, creating a global print and turning the label into a coveted luxury brand. Incorporating texture with this culturally established tradition has been the key to Lisa Folawiyo ʼs success, creating a conceptual and global design hybrid.
Fused with its very own custom luxury prints, Lisa Folawiyo masterly delivers contemporary garments. With a strong eye for tailoring and fit, Folawiyo creates feminine and modern silhouettes with nods to traditional African aesthetics. Each Lisa Folawiyo garment boasts a handcrafted and unique history from inception to construction.
Folawiyoʼs expert beading craftsmen hand embellish each Lisa Folawiyo piece, on average a 240—hour process that reflects the brandʼs focus on design integrity.
Lisa Folawiyo has shown its collections on international platforms – from Johannesburg, London, Paris, to New York at New York Fashion Week (SS10 & SS12) as part of the Arise Magazine collectives at the Mercedez-Benz New York Fashion Week Spring Summer ‘10 & ’12 collections, and Lagos at the celebrated Lagos Fashion and Design Week (LFDW) in Lagos, Nigeria.
Additionally, the label presented its AW ‘12/Resort ‘13 collection at the prestigious Pitti W Tradeshow in Florence via Lagos Fashion and Design Week, with Nigeria as Guest Nation. Most recently, the label showcased its Spring
Summer 2013 collection in Milan at the Vogue Talent Exhibition in collaboration with Vogue Italia.
Lisa Folawiyo has been featured in several publications such as Vogue.com, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar US, Harpersbazaar.co.uk, Lucky, Women’s Wear Daily Drapers, , Vogue.co.uk, Style.com, BBC.co.uk, MTV.co.uk, Vogue.it, Dazeddigital.com, ModaOperandi.com, The Financial Times Online (How To Spend It), Glamour Magazine (South Africa), Essence, Arise, Ebony, Marie Claire (Italia, Russia, & South Africa). The brand has also been well received and worn by the likes of Actresses, Lucy Liu, Thandie Newton; and Singer, Solange Knowles.
Lisa Folawiyo ‘s AW ‘12/Resort ‘13 collection was available on Pre-order on esteemed luxury online pre-tailer Moda Operandi. Lisa Folawiyo’s SS13 collection was available at British Luxury Department store, Selfridges via a Pop Up space designed and supported by Lagos Fashion and Design Week (LFDW).
Lisa Folawiyo has collaborated with global brands such as Blackberry and L’Oreal, to create limited edition Blackberry Phone cases and Lipstick & Nailpolish covers, respectively.
Lisa Folawiyo, founder and creative director of Lisa Folawiyo studied Law at the University of Nigeria. With no formal training, she started the label in her home, after the birth of her daughter in 2005. Her passion for clothes and her innate sense of style led her to create what at the time had never been done, the embellishing of the local Ankara fabric; which has now become a global phenomenon.
Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson says he’s moving to South Africa if Donald Trump becomes the next US president!
Jackson made a cameo appearance on ABC’s late-night talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” as the wise voice of facetious answers to obscure questions in the Tarantino-like ‘Hateful Eight Ball.’
When Jimmy asks the ball if Donald Trump will be the next president, Jackson answers with some of his colorful expletives.
In case you missed this book by Nigerian author, Sefi Atta..
At thirty-nine, Deola Bello, a Nigerian expatriate in London, is dissatisfied with being single and working overseas. Deola works as a financial reviewer for an international charity, and when her job takes her back to Nigeria in time for her father’s five-year memorial service, she finds herself turning her scrutiny inward. In Nigeria, Deola encounters changes in her family and in the urban landscape of her home, and new acquaintances who offer unexpected possibilities. Deola’s journey is as much about evading others’ expectations to get to the heart of her frustration as it is about exposing the differences between foreign images of Africa and the realities of contemporary Nigerian life. Deola’s urgent, incisive voice captivates and guides us through the intricate layers and vivid scenes of a life lived across continents.
**SPOILER**
The great ones capture you. This one is illuminated and magnified. It is a photograph of an African woman with desert terrain behind her. She might be Sudanese or Ethiopian. It is hard to tell. Her hair is covered with a yellow scarf and underneath her image is a caption: “I Am Powerful.”
An arriving passenger at the Atlanta airport momentarily obscures the photograph. She has an Afro, silver hoops the size of bangles in her ears and wears a black pin-striped trouser suit. She misses the name of the charity the photograph advertises and considers going back to get another look, but her legs are resistant after her flight from London and her shoulder is numb from the weight of her handbag and laptop.
She was on the plane for nine hours and someone behind her suffered from flatulence. The Ghanaian she sat next to fell silent once she mentioned she was Nigerian. At Immigration, they photographed her face and took prints of her left and right index fingers. She reminded herself of the good reasons why as she waited in the line for visitors, until an Irish man in front of her turned around and said, “This is a load of bollocks.” She only smiled. They might have been on camera and it was safe for him, despite the skull tattoos on his arm.
I am powerful, she thinks. What does that mean? Powerful enough to grab the attention of a passerby, no doubt.
**SPOILER ENDS**
Written by the award winning Sefi Atta who won the inaugural Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2006 and the NOMA Award for Publishing in Africa in 2009 for her short story collection, ‘Lawless,’ -published as ‘News From Home’ in England and America. A Bit of Difference was originally published in 2012 by Interlinks Book.
In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the Askari Monument stands proudly at the centre of the roundabout between Maktaba Street and Samora Avenue, a spot that also defines the particular centre of downtown Dar.
The remarkable monument, which is a remembrance of the askari soldiers who fought in the British Carrier Corps in World War I, was unveiled in 1927 with its main characteristic as “The Askari” which is the bronze statue of a soldier. The soldier, which holds a rifle with a bayonet pointed towards the Dar es Salaam harbour, stands on a pedestal. There are 2 pictorial plaques showing fighting African soldiers and the carrier Corps on the wide sides of the pedestal and plaques with a dedication in Swahili (Arabic and Latin script) and English are on the narrow sides of the pedestal. It was actualized in the United Kingdom by James Alexander Stevenson,a British sculptor who worked for Westminster’s Morris Bronze Founders. He signed the statue with pseudonym “Myrander”.
The location of the Askari Monument used to harbour another statue which was that of German explorer and army Major Hermann Von Wissmann, governor of German East Africa in the late 19th century. The statue represented Wissmann standing with one hand on his hip and the other on his sword, looking towards the harbour and at his feet was an African soldier covering a dead lion with a German flag and it was unveiled in 1911. The British removed the statue when they entered Dar es Salaam in 1916.
The monument in Dar es Salaam belongs to a group of three Askari Monuments that were all unveiled the same year in different parts of what was then British East Africa: the other two are at Mombasa and Nairobi.
For tourists visiting the city of Dar es Salaam, one of the most popular of the numerous must-visit places and attractions is the historically important site which is the Askari Monument.
Make your homes special this Christmas without breaking the bank with this 5-step do-it-yourself home decor.
Popsicle crafts are not new but they never go out of style. Partly because they are so cheap and affordable but I prefer to think more points goes to the fact that they allow you to be as creative as you can get with straight lines. You will enjoy making this as much as your guests will enjoy them too. The tools listed below are as basic as basic can be so you can make additions of your own.
What you need:
Step 1 – Glue Popsicle sticks to form whatever design you like
Step 2 – Cover every inch of the design in whatever color of paint you chose
Step 3 – Let paint dry off
Step 4- Tie ribbon around it
Step 5 – Hang it up on your wall!
Tip: Use white adhesive because they last longer.
Directed by Ikechukwu Onyeka and produced by Chinwe Egwuagu, the movie ‘Mr. and Mrs.’ is a tale of how a woman whose marriage had been reduced from the love-filled home it originally was to a shadow of itself plagued with violence, lack of love and care and subjection to emotional maltreatment, finds a way to rescue her home and regain the love of her husband.
The movie starred major players in the movie industry who interpreted their roles perfectly among who were Nse Ikpe Etim, Joseph Benjamin, Barbara Soky, Thelma Okodua and Paul Apel. The romantic drama reflects the struggles that marriages go through and attempts to correct some of those wrongs.
Two marriages play out in this drama; the marriage of Ken Abbah, from a wealthy home and Managing Director of Hills Oil and Gas to Susan Abbah, daughter of a poor ‘washman’ who is being maltreated and abused by her husband and the marriage of Linda, banker and career woman to loving husband, Charles, who loves her so much and supports her. The Abbah family is more prominent in the movie as the ordeal of Susan is more horrific as she has been reduced from a wife to a maid by her husband, Ken, whom she still loves so much but who seems to have fallen out of love with her but still uses her to satisfy his sexual needs. On the other hand, Linda and Charles eem like the perfect couple from the outside but the imperfection in their marriage was later revealed and it turned out to be ugly.
Eventually, Susan and Ken work out their problems and Ken falls back in love with his wife. Linda and Ken jointly decide to make their marriage work despite their shortcomings and Linda agrees to make sacrifices in her career.
The movie is very educative in terms of relationships and how to approach them without taking each other for granted. One beautiful thing about the movie is the dialogue which just fits in so right with the perfectly interpreted roles.
Without a doubt, this movie is one to watch. Get it here, don’t have people tell you about it. Enjoy!!!
This is a very funny video that has been trending recently and has even been the subject of a lot of memes.
It is an episode of a short comedy series which features the talented little Emmanuella and is produced by Mark Angel Comedy.
Enjoy
What you need:
– 1 yards/meter of fabric
– a non separating zipper
– an iron ( Suggestion: http://bit.ly/1LUkxMS)
– thread
– fabric scissors
– pins
– sewing machine (A Brother DS140 is used in the video http://rstyle.me/~2ieBk)
Semba, from the singular Massemba, which means “a touch of the bellies”, is a move that defines the Semba dance. This dance is still as popular today as it was years ago before Angola’s independence on November 11, 1975 from the Portuguese system of ruling. Semba is danced to the Semba music which is a native type of music sung in a witty rhetoric from the Southern-African country of Angola and is often an advisory tale relating daily life and social activities. The ability of this music to transmit a wide variety of feelings is a feature that has made it the major type of music at most Angolan functions.
Each year, new Semba artistes join the veteran artistes who are still performing and they perform to the dancing pleasure of the people. The Kizomba, Rebita and carnival music such as Kazukuta and Kabetula are other dance syles succeeded by the Semba dance style. Semba music, generally being categorised as World music, conceivably has popular Angolan singer, Barceló de Carvalho a.k.a Bonga to thank for putting Semba music on international scale.
Here is a video of a dance couple dancing this very beautiful African dance below: