Access Bank's #TheWINKChallenge Writing Competition Deadline!

Women are being encouraged to share experiences and thoughts around health, love, family, food, lifestyle and trending issues. The write-ups can be done as fictions and non-fiction.

Every woman has a story waiting to be told; a thought that needs to be shared and opinions required to challenge current situations.

As women around the world #PledgedForParity in the International Women's Month of March, The W Community of Access Bank made the call, inviting women all over the country to find their voice through #TheWInkChallenge Writing Competition.

The challenge, a prose competition opened on Tuesday March 1st 2016 and will close this Thursday, March 31st, 2016. There are fantastic prizes to be won from laptops to mobile devices, books and loads of discount vouchers.

The community's desire is to see women inspire creativity, engage in a conversation that is important to self-discovery and influence general societal behavior through writing. This is the time for women to question the status quo and build connections along the way while exploring the relationship between the Woman and her ink.

Join the WInk Challenge, Write, Submit and Win- https://thewcommunity.com/guidelines-for-thewinkchallenge/

INCREDIBLE PAINTINGS BY ORESEGUN OLUMIDE SIGNALS A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE FOR AFRICAN ART, MADE IN NIGERIA

Meet the artiste behind these incredible paintings after the cut

THE LADIES IN ME LIFE...

 



To all the ladies I have loved, crushed on, admired and still loving, I am writing you this poem..

Me words flowing like stream converging, just to give you thoughts vase like the ocean.

Sit back, savor this moment as I take you through the motion.

Motion through the memories we have gathered like cowries.

This love n war we shared like dowries.

Dowries for the relationships that was and still is between you and I.

You being you and I being I.

I thank you with deep appreciation for being part of what made me.

The love n war that made me.

Me heart smiling to the sight of you

Me eyes shining to the bright of you

Me lips curving to the thought of you.

You, I crushed on even if you never took reconnaissance of who I am or was.

Was and still is the feeling you gave me to the mere thought of you, never perished.

All you never knew we shared I cherished..

Cherished every enriching pleasure that comes with your beauty.

Watching over you like a guardian angel, call it me duty.

Duty that is the admiration I bestowed on your intellect.

Admiring your ideologies, your principles and the way you carry yourself with 'em walking steps from a distance, as it reflects.

Reflects the epitome of true Africans beauty that was neglect.

And if we talk about the pains that ensued from our union, we will gather the gains that kept us in strong connect.

Connect like emotions in every line as you visualize the picture behind every word and its effect.

The memories held in these pictures, telling the tales we have collect..

If this love for you in me heart will never die

So will this love we share ride on the hands of time, no standby.

Standby for the future, its a story we going to tell

Together we sutured as we dance to the jingles of time's bell..

Written by::

 ....hdrh (@iamheadrush_)

SISTER ACT....Broadway Musical Comes to Nigeria



World-acclaimed Broadway Musical, SISTER ACT, will berth in Nigeria later this year and will parade an all-Nigerian cast.

 

One of the most successful musical theatre productions of all time, its Nigerian production is the brainchild of Nigerian manufacturer and "serial entrepreneur", Dr. Soji Akinkugbe in collaboration with top executives of the prestigious Waterfront Theatre Company, Cape Town, South Africa.

  

Based on the 1992 film of the same name, Sister Act tells the story of aspiring disco diva, Deloris Van Cartier, who having witnessed her gangster (and married) boyfriend commit a murder, ends up in hiding in a convent whose parish has fallen on hard times. Though the sequin- free lifestyle doesn't agree with her, Deloris finds her calling working with the choir, and breathes new life into the dusty convent while discovering a sisterhood she's never had before.

 

Akinkugbe, Managing Director of Colours in Africa, who grew up in the 70s/80s campuses of the University of Lagos, and Ife when a robust theatre performance tradition ruled, has long nursed a vision to produce international musical hits with Nigerian casts. He also desires to use the productions to create a training platform that would transform raw local talents and skills into the best standards available around the world. He has been a regular patron of many theatrical productions at home and abroad especially in southern parts of Africa.

 

Through his association with one of the doveness of South African Theatre, Delia Sainsbury, and her business partner Paul Griffiths, Akinkugbe's vision is one step closer to being realised and the production of Sister Act is scheduled for the MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos later in the year. He says he believes strongly in the talents of Nigerians to realise a world-class production of the play.

 

His organization, Colours of Africa Productions, is spearheading the project with support from 2Wice As Nice, a firm headed by the actress and businesswoman, Elvina-Ibru.

 

Delia and Paul round off the creative team for Sister Act with award winning Musical Director Garth Tavares and international Musical Theatre Artist, Genna Galloway.

 

To set the realisation of Sister Act in motion, a three-day audition/workshop would hold in Lagos from February 25-27.

 

 

NB: For further information on the audition and the project, kindly contact Tony Offiong on +23408077833031 and elvinaibru@yahoo.com

EVERYWHERE WAS COLD?

 

Picture Credit: www.familyfriendpoems.com-

Everywhere was cold?
But a chill whispered warmth into a seeking soul
Eyes held burning eyes, bold
Desire melted fire beneath capable arms
The plan was to teach me...
But solos drifted past ears more eager to explore
Aided by hands in playful banters at grey areas

Everywhere was cold?
But hips thrusted passions to shine red
Sultry lips splattering the finest intentions,
Lustful serenades.."I love you"
And rabbit holes caved in..
Swallowing a void.

Love, Love, Love.
Everywhere was warm.

Creative work of Putting Waste To Good Use by Eluagu William

Eluagu William, a final year student of Yabatech Lagos, Nigeria, uses waste PET bottles to create his final year project. He titled it - "Your Destiny is in Your Hands".

 

We appreciate Art and Creativity; this ingenious act of exceptional talent must be exhibited.

 

See pictures below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

HER WILD PASSION

Picture Credit: www.pinterest.com

Her wild passion

In love with love

A terrific woman

Who couldn’t do anything pathway, halfway...

Beautiful!

Too Beautiful!

Too rare..

Uncommon, troubling

Overwhelmingly so.

Her wild  passion

The type you only read about

Such passion musicians sing about,

And artistes capture in paintings

Witty and funny

A smile wider than Mona Lisa smiles

Her character captures your heart

With piercing eyes that windows your soul

A classic;

The epitome of an epiphany

Revolutionary, Extraordinary

In love with love;

She is deeply indebted to the core of life

A lacking capacity to settle for a regular life

Her wild passion; 

Complexities!

Complicated extremes of emotions;

Joy or sadness

Peace or Pain

Such dept that swallows her mind

A beautiful mind you may wish to preserve

But too raw for your poisonous world to touch

Her wild passion.

An intense gale,

Cursed to a world undeserving of her beauty 

THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT STAYING IN LOVE

 



The ugly truth is that the more intimately you know someone, the more clearly you'll see their flaws. That's just the way it is. We meet people, make friends or fall in love never really taking into account the significance of making these connections. We fall in love and fall out, running on our heels like a rat escaping a burning bush. The ugliness we had seen or experienced chasing after our backs; while we never look back. We like people on surface values; for the things we hope to get from them, what they have to offer us, how they look or how they fit beside us to show off to friends. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don't last! We all seek happiness; a happy start, the happy life. Heck, even a happy ending. But life isn't ever truly like that! That is just the ugly truth! That the things that bring us such profound joy, are exactly the same things that will threaten the greatest pain or sadness. All the force needed is a turn to the back cover, or a flip of the coin.

Let me try with a slightly wise explanation. We may all prefer heads... I mean heads of a coin! Others, prefer tails. But can we pick and choose which side of the coin we keep? THE COIN - that insignificant value no one likes to drag along or brag about. But how it saves us that desperate moment we need "just 5 extra cents"--we leap for joy!. Staying in love is just like owing a coin, you feel you don't need it until you do. You toss it aside even though you have that 6th sense that it has value beyond which you can ever very well quantify. Regardless of this 6th knowledge, owing a coin is such a " huge nuisance, heavy to carry and makes us look poor". In other term; weak, vulnerable, angry, sad, unnecessary baggage, drama, pain, stress...... We just want to give it up any chance we get. Yet, should out of the blues, our bank accounts read an extra cent, we leap for joy, again!

You might think you love someone until you see the way they act when they are out of money, or under pressure or hungry, or going through a bad phase, for goodness's sake. Love is something different. It is not just finding someone with common interests, or finding someone who makes you so happy "you cant stop smiling about" or falling in love. Love is staying in Love. Love is acceptance. It is deliberate!

It is choosing to serve someone and be with someone in spite of their filty heart. Their filty hearts you may never get to see until after you've crawled out of the honeymoon phase. Love is patient and kind. It does not run after the honeymoon phase is over. Love sees beyond the ordinary eyes of physical beauty or kind. And because of this, love is hard! It is pain and sacrifice, it's seeing the darkness in another person and defying the impulse to jump ship. It is looking in always, even when looking threatens to blind. I have a wise friend who calls being in a relationship "a deep connection where the other person becomes an extension of you and you're in sync such that you almost breathe the same type of air". What more, for Love?

It may start off with the glamour of what can be seen or achieved but for it to remain love, it must breed and stay. Especially at a time one may fail to nurture it or all the odds defies common sense. Again, Love is hard! Love is that affection which threatens to get lost but somehow manages to find itself. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don't last! Why everyone complains that life is hard! Yet air fights to keep us to breathe and thrive!...It is patient and kind. For love may spoil but you must never run.

THIS YEAR, TWENTY SIXTEEN

Caption: Jan 4 - A kiss goodbye to a sociopath

I wish you a year of clarity

Twenty sixteen 

This year, 

We will stop avoiding our fears

Or burying our pains

We will be bold 

And our strengths will grow

Stroke of luck will strike us

Happiness will find us

The adventures we will seek

Will only lead our souls to peace

I wish you a year of merry

Twenty sixteen

This year,

The few you had will increase to many

Your labor will be skewed by favor

The temptations of failure may cycle 

But will pass you by

The guidance you shall find

Will leap you forward

I wish you a year of plenty

To feel only happiness at every chance

To feel content at any change

To meet only the right people

To travel within and without your mind

You will bloom 

This year

Twenty sixteen!

We will move