On behalf of AFFIRM, I am pleased to open up this paid opportunity for a SCRIPT WRITER who is keen to build her storytelling and/or creative writing skills. We are looking for a *someone with a talent in non-fiction writing to join a small production team on a new short project on African Girls in Education. The ideal candidate should be open-minded, enthusiastic and ready to think critically of innovative...
Continue reading...In Our Own Voices
Is there such a thing like “Good Disobedience?”
by Oluwadamilola Akintewe “Chocolate or coconut flavoured?” I asked. “Is there a difference?” Sade responded to my question with another question, so typically Nigerian. “Well”, I continued, “one tastes like chocolate and the other like coconut”. “You’ve drank it before?” “No, Ma”, I replied with a sarcastic emphasis on the “Ma”. “Shebi it is colour white, I mean, coloured like water?” “Colourless is the word, madam”, I interrupted while she...
Continue reading...International Women’s Day 2021 – “Women in Leadership”
“It’s also about leading yourself in any environment that you find yourself in, it’s about having the opportunities to be self-managed, to having the agency and the voice… I think leadership first starts with self.” Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2021, I share my thoughts on young women in leadership, in an interview with Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA). Do read it here and let me know what...
Continue reading...Replanting my roots
by Deborah Owusu As a Ghana-born migrant into the UK, I have always tried to cultivate a sense of purpose in what I do and how I can use my skills in other places and one day, hopefully, to replant my roots in Ghana. I have always been a person of many interests which is why pursuing a career as an educator spoke to me. I am currently in my...
Continue reading...Marital Rape in Africa
by Eniola Oni Islamiat was my neighbour. We were also friends. She had poor parents and they could barely make ends meet. When Islamiat was fifteen, her parents agreed that she should be married off to Suraju, the son of the Chief Imam in our neighbourhood. Islamiat told me that her father charged Suraju half a million naira for her bride price. She never wanted that marriage but she was...
Continue reading...ASSU Strike: a dreaded term
by Anonymous Every Nigerian student has this enthusiasm and anticipation that fills his/her emotions the moment he/she gains admission into the university. The student automatically calculates the expected successful years he/she is meant to spend in school and the next phase to pursue in life after school years. “Yes, yes, yeaaaahhh”, Uju danced and jubilated on receiving her admission letter into university for the year 2016/2017 academic session. “I will...
Continue reading...Painful Endings, New Beginnings
Having recently completed my studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been thinking a lot about managing life within these confines and how it affects my career aspirations. It’s one thing to shut one door and try to open another one in normal circumstances, but given the pressures of today’s uncertain world, these endings and beginnings are an entirely different challenge. Whether it’s to do with our work, relationships, health, finances...
Continue reading...Kenya’s past is rooted in its future
by Anonymous As the world has finally woken up to discuss the real colourism issues facing our world today, Kenya is no exception. One might think as an African country, issues of racism, colourism, and privilege are not very prevalent, but rather on the contrary. Growing up in Mombasa, a beautiful coastal city, I learnt of the different privileges that our communities believed in. Mombasa holds a large Arab population...
Continue reading...Being Female in a Nigerian University
by Iretomiwa Dele-Yusuff I was 10 years old when Mummy called me to her room. She handed over a new polythene nylon bag. Thinking I got gifts, I eagerly opened the bag. Surprisingly, I found a pair of pants and a sanitary pad in it. She instructed me to keep these in my school bag and never ever take them out. She lectured me about what it was and taught...
Continue reading...“Why do you fill your head with such nonsense?”
by Nicole Jean-Louis Sometimes you get the notion that if you aren’t reading a book on ‘How to cure cancer’ or ‘10 ways to become rich’, you are seen as an idle dreamer; bombarding your brain with a completely false idea about life. To a lot of people, reading fiction can be seen as a waste of time. From the nicely tied endings to the immersion of a fantasy that...
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