BlankPaperz and her Editor Mirabelle Get Recognized by the U.S Department of State
Here’s some super exciting news! Isn’t it amazing for Mirabelle Morah to be recognized by the United State’s government? Well yes! Look who got recognized by the Study of the U.S Institutes! It’s us!
Mirabelle Morah Represents BlankPaperz in South Africa as Ashoka Africa Youth Champion
Mirabelle Morah, our Editor represents BlankPaperz in South Africa as an Ashoka Africa Youth Champion. During the summit, Mirabelle alongside Catherine Peter, Chairman of One Young World Africa, facilitated a parallel session on the topic, A Future for Youth; asking fellow participants about their opinions on formal education in Africa and how formal education affects youth employability. “A good attitude and a great learning spirit, these two things go beyond formal education and are important skills or values every youth should have,” said Mirabelle. IMPACT! AFRICA is a mobilizing summit organized by the British Council and Ashoka, which aims to accelerate innovative solutions to Africa’s most pressing challenges by inspiring, supporting, and connecting leading social entrepreneurs and key ecosystem players across countries, organizations, and sectors – such as policy, social investment, business, and education. See more images and videos below.
YOU, YES YOU!!!
Many of us are boxed into a system that has majority of the population believing that they are whoever you say they are. We live and breathe based on what people say and on people’s validation. We are afraid to get out of our comfort zone and explore because we are afraid of failure and mockery.
EmpowerWomen
Photo credit: CARE.org Women, they say are the backbones of every society, community, family etc. It’s baffling how women in many of these societies still have little to no say on issues affecting them. They are still stereotyped in social, economical, political and even cultural affairs simply because of their gender which shouldn’t be the case in this modern day and age. We are all morally responsible for promoting gender equality since it cannot be shouldered by an individual body. We can all help bridge the gap of inequality in our own various little ways such as; appreciating the women around us, allowing women take up decision-making roles, contributing to the confidence and communication skills of women. Finally, as women, we should also be good role models and mentors to the younger ones. As Malala Yousafzai rightly puts it ‘I raise my voice – not so I can shout but…
The Aggrieved Mother
Dear earthlings, It is I your mother, earth. From the very beginning of time, I was created to house and nurture you and other diverse forms of life; to carter for all your needs with the noblesse obligé of ensuring consistency in the balance of life ad infinitum. You were built with a rational mind – one that supersedes that of all other creatures – for you to lead and to decipher that everything I bore existed with a divine purpose. Everything was indeed good and beautiful (at least in their own rights) as the Creator perceived. But centuries of your exploits have greatly scarred and weakened me, your once ever protective and graciously benevolent mother. You have severely upset the natural equilibrium I established by fighting wars with nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), wasting lives, contaminating potable water sources, and rendering arable lands sterile in…
The A-Writers Masterclass Just Ended!
Many thanks to the James Ene Henshaw Foundation, Bramodigi, Simon Cohen and the amazing rockstars who volunteered to make the masterclass work! Uche Nelson with his photography, Jacob Happiness with his strong hands on the technical unit, Godwin Ovat and James Okina with their presence to make sure everything worked well, Bukola Edgar taking care of the registrations and participants, and Mary Benedicta for being a participant and a volunteer! Thank you all!
Certificates
“I am a young pan Africanist writer who believes the African is capable of handling his own affairs. I write to correct the anomalies in my society. I am passionate about change as well as impact. I live my life to change the world and I do it through writing.”
Burdensome Love
Your love is my greatest burden!
And this I must offload!
The flower in me begs to bloom!
An Open Letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on Health, Education and Poverty
It is a ridiculous and unspeakable source of collective shame to humanity that an incredible 130 million girls are out of school, when a report has exposed that it costs less than a loaf of bread or a newspaper to educate a girl in a day.
I must admit
“I must admit, in my early days as a leader I was all about me. I had a title and I thought that was all I needed. I also thought because of my title everyone would automatically follow and respect me. Leadership wasn’t something I needed to work hard at. I felt I had already arrived.”
Dante’s Walks
Dante stood up from his desk and wandered to the window. He hated days like this. Days when he was so choked up by his work that he couldn’t take his daily walk through the city. He knew that the others cited his walks as proof of his un-Nigerian nature. But he did consider himself wholly Nigerian. His fluent and beautiful pidgin was a thing of pride for him after the many years he’d spent outside the country. Nobody walked in Nigeria, except you really had to. Especially not when you had a fleet of cars at your disposal. In Nigeria, even public transport was regarded as something for the poor and not-so-wealthy. In the beginning, his walks had been an issue between him and his father. Chief Vincent Omenuko, Dante’s father, was the founder and CEO of a multi-million naira pharmaceutical company in Nigeria and in his opinion, Dante,…