Shaping Destiny

We went to a fundraising event a couple of weekends ago for "Shaping Destiny." We'll have more pictures uploaded shortly.

First Nigerian Gay Church

Is Nigeria becoming liberal and embracing openness to individuals' sexual orientation or is there something in the water?

Check out this news report from CNN by clicking here

Africa Investment - T-Bills

I'm no finance guru, and if there are any readers that are please chime in, but here is some information you might be interested in.

Nigeria to auction $341M in treasury bills

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria will auction 40.11 billion naira in 91-day and 182-day treasury bills on Wednesday to tame money supply, the central bank said on Tuesday.
The bank said it will issue 5.11 billion naira in 91-day bills and 35 billion naira in the 182-day paper, using the Dutch Auction System.
The results of the auction will be announced on Thursday, the regulator said.
The auction is one of the measures the central bank employs to control money supply, curb inflationary growth and help retail banks manage their liquidity.

Source: Reuters

What nation's flag are these African children displaying in the picture below?

Ghanaian Wins Boxing Title

Representing his homeland,Ghana, Clottey beats Judah, wins IBF title




Joshua Clottey, of Ghana, celebrates his newly acquired IBF welterweight championship. Clottey, who tore his bicep in the early rounds, hung on to defeat Zab Judah by unanimous decision Saturday night at the Palms. The fight was stopped in the ninth round because of a large cut over Judah’s right eye.

For the full story click here

Gay Nigerian tells of death threats

"Homosexuality does exist in Africa - it's not a Western thing, as our African bishops would want people to believe," he says.



Davis Mac-Iyalla is an Anglican from Nigeria - nothing unusual about that - but he is also gay and the death threats he has received since being open about his sexuality led him to seek asylum in the UK.

For the full story click here

FestAfrica - Baltimore, MD

Bmore has so much more to offer than what we on HBO's "The Wire", they also have the Aquarium and FestAfrica :)


For more information click here

AfriFest - Twin Cities, MN

For those in the Minnesota area, here is a fun-filled event in your neck of the woods

For more information click here

The Africa Convention - Hollywood, CA

...yeap, you read it correctly.
Event Highlights
# Empowerment & Economic Development Symposium
# Pan-African Couture Show
# Prayer Breakfasts
# Royal African Banquet
# African Film Festival
# African Fete
# Red Carpet Event
This seems to be a very interesting event.

For more information click here

Liberia's New Lap of Luxury

ROBERT JOHNSON PLANS POSH RESORT IN WEST AFRICA

...RLJ Kendeja Resorts & Villas will be an $8 million, 85-room, four-star resort on the Atlantic coast of northern Africa, near the capital of Liberia. Whatever images the world might have of an impoverished country that is still trying to recover from 13 years of civil war, Johnson wants this project to provide a new one.

"There is no hotel in West Africa like this," he says, sitting straight-backed on the edge of the bed in a crisp blue suit. "This will be a Class-A beachfront property, with great views from the bar and restaurant out to the ocean. This really is going to be something."

For the full article click here

Africa Rising: 3rd Annual THISDAY Music and Fashion Festival in Washington, DC

Superb event coming up this Friday



Renowned performance artists Jay-Z and John Legend will headline a star-studded lineup from the
world of music when THISDAY, Africa's leading daily newspaper and multi-media resource presents
the Africa Rising Festival.

"Africa Rising" was first launched in 2006 under the direction of THISDAY's Editor-in-Chief,
Nduka Obaigbena. Its mission is not only to reflect the culture and positive attributes of
Africa's social, political, and economic progress, but also to reach out to the continent's
diverse population as well as the Diaspora and international communities.

The show will also feature a major fashion element, as creations by such legendary international
designers as Deola Sagoe, Chris Aire and Momo are showcased by top models Tyson Beckford, Alek Wek, Liya Kebede, and more.

For more information click here

Redskins Rookie Travels to Liberia To Help Global Charity

Say what you may about the Washington Dedskins...I mean Redskins but at least...


MALCOLM KELLY LEADS CHARITY TRIP TO LIBERIA

Malcolm Kelly, former standout receiver at the University of Oklahoma and 2nd Round draft pick of the Washington Redskins, will lead a group of private citizens to the African Nation of Liberia, from July 5th through the 10th on behalf of the global charity, Mercy Ships. The "Vision Trip" is designed to shed light on the medical relief effort Mercy Ships is providing for the people of Liberia, as they continue to improve their health and well-being standards within the country.
During the weeklong trip, the group will visit with staff on the Mercy Ships' flagship, Africa Mercy, the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship, which is docked in the port city of Monrovia - the capitol of Liberia. The group will view surgeries in one of Africa Mercy's six state-of-the-art surgical suites, and tour parts of the country, now recovering from more than a decade of civil war. Malcolm will also meet with Liberian officials and hold an international press conference before leaving Liberia.

To read the full story click here

Comfort is eliminated from SYTYCD :-(

Yeah...I know we watch too much TV.

Anyway, So You Think You Can Dance eliminated the Nigerian, Comfort, last night, sadly. She had a good run.

Black in America

This is a very interesting report by CNN.

For more details and show time listings click here

Mauritius - Another Hidden Gem

Mauritius (pronounced: IPA: /məˈrɪʃəs/; French: Île Maurice /il mɔ'ʁis/; Mauritian Creole: Maurice), officially the Republic of Mauritius, French: République de Maurice, is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres (560 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 200 km (125 mi) to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km to the northeast

National Flag



Population: Estimated 1.3 Million

I'm really considering have a field trip to these exotic spots. Anyone else interested? :)

Let's Westernize some African Stuff

Let's start with the game of "Ayo", a Yoruba game from Nigeria...

and let's convert it to this

Z$100billion note

WTF?!?! 100,000,000,000 Note


Zimbabwe is to introduce a bank-note worth Z$100bn in response to rampant inflation - but the note will barely cover the cost of a loaf of bread.

For the full story click here

Happy Birthday Mandela!!!

To a man that needs no introduction...Happy Birthday Mandela.

Can he be described in just one word? perhaps "iconic"

Can Large Amounts of Money Help an African Village?

If the rich world poured huge amounts of money into villages across Africa, would it make a difference?

For some, sending financial aid to Africa is simply seen as a waste that will go into the hands of corrupt officials and dictators. But for the economist Jeffrey Sachs, the argument that aid has poured into the world's poorest continent for decades without much result is a false one - he says that there has simply not been enough.

In speeches, articles and his 2005 book "The End of Poverty", Sachs has been saying for years that massive outside aid investment is needed to lift Africans out of their vicious cycle of poverty - but he says it will work. And he has convinced a lot of people. Pop star Bono cites him as a mentor and his ideas inspired in part the Live 8 concerts of 2005 and have helped boost Africa aid funding.

Click here to read more

Korto, Liberian, is on Project Runway this season.

I think she's talented! Project Runway Africa, this season. Hope she wins :-)

Originally from Liberia, Korto moved to Canada to attend fashion school. After school, she moved outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, where she now resides with her husband and daughter. Drawing from her African roots, Korto infuses tribal details into her classic designs. She is inspired by rich fabrics and textures and says her designs are intended for real, full-figured women. In her spare time, Korto works as a freelance fashion photographer, dances in an African dance troupe and does African hair braiding and makeup. She says her family considers her to be fun and easygoing.

Random Photos

These are pictures from a fashion show a few months back




For more photos click here.

Enjoy!

The Gold Coast is Back

Ghana spends $1.4m on gold medals

The Ghanaian government spent more than $1.4m (£704,000) buying 515 gold medals from a company based in the Channel Islands, officials have confirmed.

Almost half the medals were given out last week to prominent citizens at a colourful national awards ceremony.

The government says the rest will be presented over the next four years.

The medals are intended to reward outstanding contributions to Ghana. But critics say the money would have been better spent alleviating poverty.

Click here for the full story.


There is a bit of an uproar about this. Is it warranted?

Cover of the New Yorker

media...perception...reality



What do you make of the cover of this highly reputable publication?

Somebody is gonna be cutting somebody's nuts over this :)

Organic This, Organic That

This organic craze na serious business O! As soon as a company places the organic label on a product the price goes up 25% or more...at least, so it seems.

I even came across a company that sells organic baby food. What?! Whetin happen to good ol' "breastses"

Well, there was a conference that included a fashion show for organic cotton. Whetin' be organic cotton sef?

Article: Fashion Show Promotes Ugandan Organic Cotton



The conference, organized by the Africa Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) in collaboration with the Organic Exchange and the local Ugandan cotton industry, provided a major opportunity to market and promote “Brand Africa” organic products to the world, and to develop strategies aimed at increasing Africa’s competitiveness in this sector. This self-funded industry event had the support of 12 major sponsors coming mostly from the regional supply chain.

For the full article click here

Dey Don Take Light Again - A Thing of the Past ?!

Back in the day, the common line was NEPA don take light O! Till today, parts of Lagos, Nigeria go months without any electric power. According to poll, Nigeria supplies other African nations with electricity. Isn't that an irony...well, one of the nations they supply, Niger, is now "outsourcing" abi na "offshoring" to China.

BBC Article: Niger signs power deal with China

The government in Niger has signed an agreement for China to help improve the country's power supplies.

China will transfer several electrical power units to Niger under the agreement, officials said.

The deal comes as Niger's cities have been experiencing power outages, partly due to problems in supply from Nigeria.


Click here to read the full story.

Nothing for nothing sha...

Happy Independence Day!

Happy July 4 Weekend for those in yankee!



USA! USA! USA!

All we need now is for the dollar to go to the gym and get strong and get gas prices under control.

Like my father and my father's father, I want a lot of children

It's no secret African men love to procreate...now that we have data to that shows the fertility rate of our women, population explosion WATCH OUT!

Click on the picture below to see the chart.

Zimbabwe: People [trying] to vote.

“i just wanted to finish the process which was started. i don’t want to say who i voted for. i just wanted ink on my finger.” –Judith, 65

A fearful day in zimbabwe. new york times photo essay of partially obscured portraits of voters in zimbabwe with statements of why they voted.

via nytimes via africa.visual media via tosin

25th Annual Ethiopian Soccer Tournament

Some of the many festivities for this upcoming 3-Day weekend...

For more information log on to http://www.esfna.net/esfna/

Music Project

We're currently in search of great African musicians for a project this fall and next spring. If you know of any up and coming artist we should know about, please give us a shout.

(Photo via Tosin, via Flickr.)

Your Monthly Dose of Nollywood

Misunderstanding, Energy consumption, wife from village, respect me O! etc

Our African Kings

King Goodwill Zwelethini is a descendant of the famous Shaka, founder of the Zulu kingdom



"My father is a king, I'm royalty, our household controls the throne in my village"

Na so we dey talk am when we dey school...especially the oyinbo schools. What significance do African kings play in today's global economy?

One thing I know that still stands is the polygamous lifestyle and sporting the nice one pack aka keg


King of Abomey in Benin

African Cartoon

Ha ha...Many people have toyed with the idea of opening buffet style restaurants in Africa. It get as it be!

Zimbabwe Opposition Candidate Drops Out | Mugabe Clings to Power

The story of the ongoing political unrest in Zimbabwe is all over the mainstream media. I was holding out on posting anything with the hopes of some sort of favorable outcome. Well, it appears this is not going to be the case.

Is there more to this story, is "President" Mugabe that bent on staying in power, or perhaps he's just "misunderstood"?

Africa's Next Top Model O!

Do you remember the song "African Queen"? It's officially summer here in the US, time for Bar-B-Qs, soccer tournaments, picnics and PARTIES!!!

A first trip to the dentist - Dentistry in Africa

I ain't gonna lie. I was a full grown adult before I paid my first visit to the dentist here in the US. When I told the dentist how old I was and that this was my first visit to the dentist, she shouted out to her receptionist "Cancel ALL of my remaining appointments, this is going to take a while"

Of course, there are the privileged few back in Africa that visit the dentist regularly but for the most part, many people don't even know such a profession even exist.

Whetin I dey go dentist for when I get pako?!


I mean, check out the 32s of a lot of Nollywood stars...many of the Nollywood stars are my close friends O! but if you think about it, they depict a fantasy world and if their grills are all jacked up, what hope does Toyin Tomato in Mushin have!

So when I came across this article...a sigh of relief followed

A first trip to the dentist

Three UK dental surgeons travelled to the heart of Africa to set up a clinic in an area where tens of thousands of people live in pain with rotting teeth or gums and no one to treat them.

Click here to read the full story

Afrobeat Throwback

In preparation for the summer, here is a throwback issue of Ariztos Magazine. It’s all about Afrobeat. Stay tuned for details of the "Green Soul Party”

We would love to read your comments as it relates to viewing this issue on the blog and/or any input you might have for the "Green Soul Party”

Enjoy!

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

The ongoing concerns about the environment and climate change are not fads , they are real and serious issues. Here is an initiative launched by Mr. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

For more information log on to http://www.agra-alliance.org/

Documentary on Nollywood

...appropriately entitled "Welcome to Nollywood"



Where there is will there is a way!