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A beautiful yet marginalizing world

Living beings tend to have the ability to look up and look down, to move forward and move backward, to sit down and stand up. We can analyse the concept of our conscience in the same way. No matter the amount of riches that you have, you should be able to empathize with the hungry and those in need, and try to be a helper. Those without a disability should be able to imagine the hardships that come with having a disability and be kind to people with a disability. The point is that life shouldn’t be viewed from our own personal reality.

Here is an example: When people in positions of power embezzle money, it seems as though they are viewing life through their own reality. They have offered themselves to enslavement, under the dictatorship of power. They have not allowed themselves to be conscious of the plight of the young woman who wants to get an education but can’t afford it or the plight of the family who is going to lose a loved one to an illness because of poor hospital equipment – an issue that the money being embezzled could fix. These are examples but for many in different societies, a truth, a reality.

As human beings, we must tap into our conscience, we should make a bond with it and not abandon it. Life is not perfect for anyone – at some points in our lives, we all have struggles. I like that quote that advises us to be kind to one another because we all go through hard times. Whether you are poor, rich, disabled, marginalized etc., we all have something to offer one another. We all have the ability to empower one another. So, the fact that I have used the examples of the rich aiding those in need or that those without a disability should care for those with one or more disabilities, does not debunk that last sentence.

However, I see that we live in a beautiful yet marginalizing world. The poor are not always cared for and are often stigmatized. Disabled people in society are not always respected, some are bullied. There are many oppressions that people face in society because of their socioeconomic status, race, religion, level of education or disability. This is why we must all bond with our conscience, so that we do not become oblivious to the realities of people ins situations of need and we should strive to make extinct, systems that push people to the margins of society. I will leave you with these words by Jack Layton: “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world”.

Love,

Chiamaka

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Power, Potential and Social change

An interesting or even scary concept about leadership is how easily it can take turns – whether positive turns or shocking, disturbing ones. To people in the position of followership (as everyone is at some point in their lives), hope is what we hang on to as we are under leadership. The truth is that even when you are an avid supporter of someone and had a hand in getting that person into power, after he or she assumes leadership, hope is what you hold on to. This is because leadership can take turns. Someone who made impressive promises and seemed very compatible for a job, may turn out to be a poor performer. Or there may be systematic barriers that will slow the person down Or hopefully, the person could be the dynamo that you expected.

There are different angles that one may choose to analyze leadership from. However, leadership should be seen as a mandate to deliver, to make things better than before, to influence people positively, to produce solutions and to create future leaders. Leaders hold influence and as such, should be careful that their influence is being directed towards a greater good.

This week, the Pope’s visit to the United States was highly publicized. Social media was abuzz – news alert after news alert kept coming in. It was hardly impossible for me to not get caught up in the frenzy. I skimmed through the excerpts of the Pope’s speech to the US Congress and I was impressed. I could imagine the thousands or millions of Catholics in America and around the world who would have watched the Pope’s speech or read it with way more enthusiasm than I – and were being positively influenced. I considered Catholics lucky to have a leader that is seemingly open-minded and an advocate for the fair treatment of the marginalized and our environment. The events surrounding the Pope’s visit reinforced within me, the importance of using the fortune of influence for good.

In a world shaken by injustice, war and pain, we need leaders who are dedicated to using their role to lead people in the direction of unity, peace, success and care. We need leaders who can see above the powers they possess – to the potential that each individual possesses – and in this way, understands that people can be great contributors and changemakers when they are rightfully empowered. Picture the professor-student relationship: The professor has the leadership mandate in the classroom and imparts knowledge to people who have a potential to apply that knowledge in the near future, in service to others.

So, here’s to hoping for a world with leaders that are humbled to be in a position to guide and work with those they lead towards the path of greatness and social change.

Love & Peace,

Chiamaka

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Passions are no small things

Passions are no small things. Most of us are driven by these. They are the means to what we deem as our ambition. Passions can be very hard to fight – this is a good thing if the passions will lead us to something right and good but may be subject to reconsideration, if they will lead us to do bad things or to bad consequences. But I guess we all hope that the passions to greatness, to make a positive impact in someone’s life, in your community – turn out to be irresistible passions.

I appreciate that I have irresistible passions. Are there times that you wish you don’t dream too much, work as hard as you do? If yes, I know you are not alone. I definitely have had those moments but it is in those  moments that I see that some dreams or hopes are just too invaluable to let go of or even regret. It is in those moments of exhaustion – at all the strength you put in, at all the rejection you are receiving and at how those passions won’t let you go – that gratitude hits you.

Gratitude because you have a sense of your life purpose and the more it is irresistible to your attempts to make it vanish, it continues to be visible to you. Yes, our purpose guides us. I was 15 when I started my university education overseas in Canada. Being away from most of my family, I had to take on some new responsibilities and there were some that adults were shocked that I would be in control of. I remember when I was 14 or 15, I called my bank and they were worried that it is was a fraud and they had me do all these tests to confirm my identity – because of my age. Till this day, now that I am 18, when I go to the bank, cashiers cannot make a correlation between the person standing before them and the age on the account. I often find these events hilarious but there are times that I have felt a little bit saddened by them. Sometimes I wonder – Am I going too fast? Why do people find me to be “mature” for my age (even when it is a compliment)?

I have such dilemmas but it is in those dilemmas that I re-discover gratitude for the opportunity to start young and have a sense of maturity that continuously drives me to not only aspire but also, to work towards achievement. I hope that you would listen to your body and respond your passions. I hope that in those moments of frustration at all the setbacks and the weight of your goals, you will find gratitude and strength.

Love,

Chiamaka

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No More War

Sometimes when an issue arises, you take a step backwards and try to get to the root cause of why that happened – why a person behaved in a certain way, why a building collapsed etc. However, when people are risking their lives in all sorts of ways including taking the risk to swim through sea to migrate to a new country, there is no need to look too deeply. It is easy to deduce that only desperation will lead to such an issue, to such a measure.

In recent times, the stories of people fleeing their nation in some of the most dangerous ways in search of a calmer society – have become more and more common. It is heartbreaking. It makes some appreciate their own freedom and it is probably easy to put yourself in the shoes of people who have been so tormented that they have to risk their lives in search of freedom away from their own society.

The picture of a drowned Syrian child, Aylan Kurdi – just 3 years old – is the most recent reminder that our humanity requires that we lend a helping hand to those who are in desperate need of safety and freedom. In this world, we have only got each other so we must be our brothers and our sisters’ helper. At this time, so many Syrians need a helping hand, so many need someone to sponsor for them, a safe migration to a place where they can be free from the turbulence, scare and heartache of war.

Desperation is driving many of these refugees and for those of us who have freedom, let us in our own capacity, be desperate to help. If you can, please sponsor a family or brainstorm with people who can. Raise awareness on the refugee crisis that the world is facing. Many – Syrians and Africans alike are taking to dangerous measures to secure a better, freer future for themselves and their families. Many are not making it to the land their dreams. So please try in your own capacity to help stop this crisis, to stop the horror that people have to go through by swimming through a large body of water. No human being deserves to fight so hard for his/her freedom. Please put Syria in your prayers.

[TRIGGER WARNING: Disturbing photo] Here is an article that contains links to initiatives/organizations to which people can donate and calm the refugee crisis : http://www.today.com/parents/refugee-crisis-how-you-can-help-syrias-children-t42261

Peace & love,

Chiamaka

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17-year old CEO is working towards eliminating homelessness in Canada

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At just 17, David Qiu is taking major actions to change the world. He is the CEO of Castlestone – an initiative aimed at caring for the homeless and eliminating poverty. This initiative started in Ottawa and has spread to different provinces and even to France. David Qiu is also working towards creating a Vision Shelter that will accommodate the homeless and prepare them to create a better life for themselves, through business training. Read my interview with David Qiu below and be inspired:

Tell us a little about yourself

I am David Qiu and I am the CEO and Founder of Castlestone. It is a developing non-profit organization that works in eliminating poverty here in Ottawa in which it originated and we are now multiplying towards New Brunswick and Toronto. And now going multinational towards France.

Motivation to start Castlestone

How I started was back when I was in Grade 9 when I was around 14, 15. My church and I went up North to a Cree reserve to host a teens camp. My church and I went to Oujé-Bougoumou. It’s a Northern Cree reserve in Quebec. I saw conditions up there which really convicted me. I told myself I need to make a change because the place I went to was like being in a 3rd-world country (Correction – developing/underdeveloped country) in a 1st world country which is interesting if you think about it. I met random people. The random people that meet you and that you know are the ones that can help you to become who you are today and without them I wouldn’t be here. I only started with 4 people and now we are 85, multiplying towards provinces.

About Castlestone

What we want to do is have youth connect with the homeless and take action now. When we could get a lot of youth together and just take action on social justices, we are going to be able to eliminate poverty because we can. Like I feel that the greatest poverty, what poverty really is, is being uncared for and unloved and alienated from society. We are here to change that and to become their friend. Just like my idea with Vision Shelter, the idea is fellowship. People in the streets deserve to be cared for not alienated from society. They are human too.

About Vision Shelter and how it will prepare the homeless to make a living for themselves

A farmer and his crew of farmers wanted to teach agriculture to those who would want to partake. We used to have cooks and other trade people who wanted to teach the homeless and get them back on the street through these trades and survival techniques. And there’s of course, psychological issues. We did have psychologists and psychiatrists who wanted to volunteer. Back then, when I created this idea of having a Vision Shelter, back in August which was a year ago, I said this place would impact a change. Everyone would go in there because it’s like a community centre and you can live in it and you can learn how to go back into society, quickly.

Challenges

The biggest challenges I’ve faced are financial issues – funding for it and having people tell me you need to do this and that. We are constantly handing out care packages to those on the street, every week. Sometimes, we cancel because of financial issues, since not most of us have a job – we are going to university and in grade 12. We pitch in money together and make these things called care packages which are hygiene stuff, coffee or used clothing. We just put them together and give them to the homeless and interview them – become their friend.

Where do you meet at to give out the care packages?

We have our meetings and meet for care packages usually at the World Exchange Plaza which is on Metcalfe (Ottawa). It is right in front of Parliament Hill. We usually target Metcalfe, Rideau Street and King Edward (Avenue) and Byward market which is where most of them are.

When do you plan to have Castlestone registered?

On October 5th (2015). On my birthday.

How can people contact you?

Twitter, Facebook, my website

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Acknowledging our truths

To truly live life is to live in the most genuine expression of yourself. That is, to live in your truth – to make the rules of your own life, to listen to your body and trust in your own gut. This is not to say that your truth must be unquestionable. It certainly is open for scrutiny from family and friends – and this can positively influence your truth. However, it is first through the expression of your true self that you can then open up for alteration, certain ideas and attitudes that you hold.

So, living in your truth is about sharing. It is about letting those closest to you understand through conversation and mingling, what your pet peeves are and what your favourite things about people and life are. It is about making yourself vulnerable to judgement from even those you love. It is about taking the wise words, the constructive criticism but standing in your truth against wrongful judgement.

Living in your truth is about having comfort in the way and manner that you choose as the right way to live your life. It is about being comfortable with – cutting ties from people who put you down, showing love back to the people that value you and maintaining that bond, as well as never letting anyone tamper with your self-esteem. It is truly about observing life and people and choosing for yourself, a truth of what it means for you to live aright, in comfort and in love.

Living in your truth is about understanding that there are differences between human beings and so, the fact that you do not necessarily fit in with the expectations of a few does not mean that you are not good enough. There are people out there who can connect with you and as you go along in life, you will meet such people. However, it is most important that you can believe in your truth as long as you can truly see the positivity in it. By listening to your body and your mind, you are accessing your truth.

Everyday, I am learning to live in my truth – to listen to my body and my mind, to live in love and to smile easily at strangers even on my toughest days. I am learning everyday to never forget that I, just like you, am enough and that my truth does not have to match everyone else’s but it must be positive and it must be good for me.

Now, I want to hear from you. How do you live in the truth of who you are? Please let me know in the comment section:)

Love & Peace,

Chiamaka

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Day by day

It is such a dilemma trying to develop ideas on how you can change the world. Especially, as the world encompasses numerous societies, peoples and beliefs. How then can one person solve all the world’s issues? Thinking about that is a burden in itself but then there is that almost insurmountable burden to act. In a way, the burden pressures you to try, to start from somewhere, and that makes sense. Anybody who made an impact in the world started by first trying, by first acting.

Changing the world is such a broad concept, sometimes it needs to be narrowed down for us to ease the pressure on ourselves and that is important. Work at your own pace but is there really a sequence to go about tackling world change? I think not. You can start with the issues closest to the community or country that you call home. Infact, first start by evaluating yourself and working towards imparting within yourself – those values that you feel can create a better community or country. As you do this, you can become a part of a larger movement that seeks to make a positive impact in a variety of communities and countries, around the world. Think of organizations like Change.org, Amnesty International. By just signing their petitions, you are aiding justice for many people, from different places. There is no sequence to social change and any effort you take is making an impact.

It is very convincing to give up on contributing to positive change. It seems as though there is always going to be that news headline that will come along when you just thought the world was now rid of that particular problem. You feel void of hope of a better world, you are tired of convincing yourself that some world issues are worth the effort being put into eradicating them. These feelings are human. You must allow for mourning but don’t throw away your tools of struggle. Don’t give up on the world. Think of it this way – We all only have one special world. If you and I and everyone else do not make an effort to keep it grounded, then what or who else (from what other earth) will?

Remember to allow yourself that period of doubt but try hard not to suppress that conviction within you that says that you are powerful and that every little step you make matters. This is a note to you and also, a note to me.

Love & Peace,

Chiamaka

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Now, there will be no more pain but beautiful mornings. RIP Sandra Bland

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Sandra Bland was outspoken about the injustice that African-Americans often face. Footage from several of her inspirational videos where she would call on social change, have emerged. She would greet her viewers saying “Goodmorning my beautiful kings and queens”. She spoke with grace and calmness as she talked about injustice and the need for society as a whole to work towards social change, fairness and equality. She spoke with brilliance. Today, that brilliance, that beautiful queen is gone.

On July 10, in Waller County, Texas, Sandra Bland was stopped for changing lanes without any signalling and was later arrested on the allegation that she had assaulted an officer. Three days after her arrest, she was found dead in her cell room. Bland was 28 years old. Her death has been ruled a suicide. However, her family, the public and myself are not buying that. There is suspicion of foul play all around. In America, police has many times, been everything but a friend to African-Americans. Many unarmed black people because of their skin colour, have been shot dead by police officers. The stories of such murders are numerous and disturbing, so this particular story that Sandra Bland would have taken her own life is not one that will be easily embraced. More investigating is needed. Coupled with the fact of police brutality on black people in America, Sandra Bland was visibly full of life, full of hope for social change. As observable from her videos, she struck a presence of someone who was not quitting. She was in this life to win. So, we are really asking the police – what happened to Sandy Bland?

As many wait for more details to emerge, I feel so sad that an activist for racial equality and unity like Sandra Bland possibly went through the evils that she so wanted to work towards getting rid of. In several different videos that Sandy had recorded, she can be seen saying things like – “I was asked was I trying to racially unite or racially insight. My goal is to racially unite.”, “I’m going to call out racism wherever I see it.”, “for the ones who want to get on on my page talking about ‘all lives matter’, show me in American history where all lives have mattered. Where has there been liberty and justice for all?”.

Thank you Sandy for your service to humanity. I wish that you now sleep well in the place where there will always be beautiful mornings and where there is no more pain and injustice. God bless you.

Love & Peace,

Chiamaka

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Diversity should mean more than meeting a quota

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Photo obtained from http://www.rooshv.com

The challenge for every culturally and racially diverse society is the need to embrace all people within it. Indeed, this is the way diversity works. It is far more meaningful than the numbers, than meeting the quota. A truly multicultural or diverse society upholds an honest love for all people and their various cultures. Diversity is a beautiful thing and it only makes sense when it is done right.

While quite a number of countries are impressively diverse, this does not mean that they are very inclusive. Diversity encompasses different spheres – it is not just first acceptance or – your ability to enable migration to your country, your ability to provide social services for everyone regardless of where they came from or what they look like, your self-appraisal that you do not discriminate but accept all. A huge sphere of diversity that is often forgotten is the need to understand that everyone is just as significant – irregardless of whether they are called visible minorities or immigrants – and that their cultures are also important. Speaking from my own experience as an immigrant living in a Western society, I feel like there is an unconscious, constant persuasion for the the newcomers, the marginalized, to ‘assimilate’.

There are all these assumptions that – with all the bad news that comes from Nigeria, coupled with the Western media’s one-sided portrayal of Africa – coming to Canada must have been my ultimate redemption. I see how people with foreign or non-Canadian accents are treated and spoken of. There is pressure on the so-called other to dissolve into a melting pot. I have heard that there is no Canadian accent. While the sentiment of such a statement is appreciated, I do believe that honesty is the best policy.

In the United States, diversity blooms yet there is still so much racism. Unarmed black people are killed by law enforcement officials on the premise that the unarmed black person could somehow have been harmful, just because of his or her skin colour. Of what use then is diversity, if people are not free to be who they are?

Diversity to every society should mean more than using the faces of people of different skin colour on a billboard advertisement, more than boasting about the numbers of Asian, Black, White and Syrian people that reside together in a western society. It is beyond feeling blessed to be from a diverse society, it is beyond being accepting of more opportunities at diversity, it is beyond first-compassion for people who are seeking to migrate to flee war or poverty. These are all important but an ideal diverse society, must be one that also gives way to people to be who they are – to speak how they have always known to speak, to dress how they have always known to speak, to be proud of their skin not scared of what it may bring unto them. Diversity needs to be done right.

Love,

Chiamaka

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Jungle justice: It’s time to end it

Jungle justice is a thing. It is certainly a thing in Nigeria and the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa make one wonder the number of African countries in which jungle justice exists. The disturbing fact about jungle justice, in Nigeria is that it happens so often and there are little or no legal consequences.

In Nigeria, the most common method of carrying out jungle justice is to put a tire on a suspect’s neck, then pour kerosene or some inflammable fluid of that sort on the person and then light a match. The individual then burns alive, in the presence  of the perpetrators and onlookers and when the scenario is over, life goes on. Stating the word “suspect” is actually flawed because the person who is killed is not being seen or treated as a suspect but as a criminal. In a country with a Constitution and with laws, it is quite outraging that anyone can go on the streets and automatically take on the role of judge, jury and executioner. It certainly feels awkward referring to such acts with the word – justice, although it follows the word “jungle”. However, jungle justice is what such acts are indeed referred to.

Barbaric is the word for this sort of so-called justice. Anyone can be the victim. Innocent people could become victimized just based on an accusation. Imagine that some people are burnt to death over crimes which will certainly not demand an execution sentence at a court of law. So, why is jungle justice still a thing? Why are the perpetrators allowed to walk around as free people?

It is about time that Nigeria and other countries in which such acts of inhumane judgement are practised, enact laws that make  them (the acts) punishable. Jungle justice is unfair, callous and wicked – and this is not what justice is about. Justice is about due process – looking at the facts and asking thorough questions – before a verdict is made. It is time for a change and people need to be taught that such acts of inhumanity to a fellow person are intolerable and not in any way in conformity with being or becoming a just society.

Question: What are some other jungle justice practices that you have heard about and where did they occur? I would love to hear from you.

Peace,

Chiamaka

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