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Friday, August 15, 2008

21st Annual National Convention of the Akwa Ibom State Association, USA

by Elfonnie Inokon, special to Ladybrille, Photo credit: Picture Mane Photography
Akwa Ibomites from all over the world gathered to celebrate the 21st annual National Convention of the Akwa Ibom State Association, USA at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Virginia. More than two thousand indigenes and non-indigenes of the Southeastern Nigerian state attended the convention which was held from August 7th-10th, 2008.

This year’s event was like no other as top government officials, past and present flew in from the motherland to unite with their fellow citizens. Governor Godswill Akpabio accompanied by top ranking officials of his administration, was an honorable guest at the event. Other high profile personalities that graced the event included: The Secretary to the State Government, Umanah O. Umanah, the first female Head of Civil Service, Grace Anwana, former First Lady of the Southeastern State and former Federal Minister, Helen Esuene, Chairman of the Niger-Delta Commission, Bassey Dan Abia, former Gubernatorial Candidate, Nsima Ekere, former First Lady of the State, Imoh Isemin, and former Military Governor, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga.


Also in attendance were famous Nollywood names like Emem Isong [Producer, Director & Script Writer] actresses Ini Ikpe and Ini Edo.

Every year, Akwa Ibomites gather to promote their culture, raise money for education scholarships for the youths back in Nigeria, discuss economic and health development and create an avenue for the youths in the United States to learn about their heritage as they build life-long friendships. For most people, the convention is a means of returning home with their children without physically doing so. “Calabar women,” the term used to identify a woman from either Cross River or Akwa Ibom States, are known for their natural beauty and fashion sense. They lived up to that reputation, all weekend, as they came out dressed in various colorful, magnificently designed traditional outfits, ranging from the very traditional look of two wrappers; one tied short over the longer one with a fitting blouse and a big head gear, to more contemporary looks where traditional fabrics are used to design hollywood-like dresses. The men, both old and young also got their fashion on as they displayed their traditional wear of a long wrapper tied around the waist, worn with a big shirt, a traditional hat with matching shoes and a walking stick.

The four-day event was filled with cultural performances, a Miss Akwa Ibom USA pageant, fund-raising and a town-hall meeting with the governor. In his speech, the governor reassured the people of his state that just like his name; God’s will has begun in Akwa Ibom state. He announced that in less than a year of being in office, 49 roads have been tarred in Eket Local Government Area and the State was working on ways to improve the electricity and water situation. The highlight of his speech was when Governor Akpabio announced that from September 2008, education will be free from primary [grade] through secondary [high] school. Diasporites responded with excitement and applause.

Further, to support the association’s “School of Excellence Project” which promotes scholastic excellence, sports and upgrading of schools, the governor donated $100,000.00. The audience responded with a standing ovation and jubilant cheering. The convention ended with the crowning of Miss Ima Usoroh of New York as Miss Akwa Ibom State USA 2008-2009. Miss Usoroh along with the four other contestants were surprised by the governor with first class round-trip tickets to visit Akwa Ibom State plus $2,000.00 taxi monies, each.
Famous Nollywood Actress Ini Edo with fans at the 2008 Convention
Akwa Ibom male youths at the event
Akwa Ibom female youths at the event
Akwa Ibom Cultural dancers
L-R: Godswill Akpabio & Secretary to the State Government, Umanah O. Umanah
Ms. Akwa Ibom USA 2008, Ima Usoroh
A cross-section of Akwa Ibom women from Maryland Chapter
The very first picture featured is the very gorgeous Elfonnie Inokon.

****** Get a sense of Akwa Ibom cultural dances with "Udim Ket"

Experience Akwa Ibom hip-hop hit makers with "Eyen Akwa-Ibom"

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Ladybrille Web Snob, 8/11/08 to 8/15/08

[Set by Diamond girl]

Happy Friday! Check out some of the bests posts of the week from our top online publishers/bloggers.

  1. 55 Secret Street visits curly hair master Dickey and gets a great new haircut!
  2. A Few Goody GumDrops snags an eyebrow tweezing with Robert Sweet William that was well worth the plucking!
  3. Stiletto Jungle picks the best of the Juicy Couture Fall Trunk Show.
  4. All About the Pretty has found a new lip treatment for overnight with Sally Hansen Lip Recovery.
  5. Back to School cool bags from Bag Snob!
  6. BagBliss gives some tips on choosing the right Handbag for Your Body.
  7. Line your way to sexy with Shu Uemura liquid eyeliner pen- Beauty Snob.
  8. Coquette's got the perfect magic shade of pink with Smashbox O-Gloss.
  9. Fashion, evolved celebrates the launch of boho, the first green fashion magazine!
  10. Fall's hot trouser jeans that love you & your rear view...Fashiontribes has 'em!
  11. KRISTOPHER is wanting, wearing, hating bags for under $500.
  12. Zara's no.1 beating out Gap and Papierblog explains why.
  13. Quinta Trends talks to Colombian designer Viviana Alba about her blessed clothes
  14. Do you agree with our picks? Check out Second City Style's recent Celebrity Style Smackdown.
  15. Shopping and Info found the most amazing platform wedge shoes Vivienne Westwood designed a collection for this company.
  16. StyleBakery.com has four cutting edge denim designers you want to wear now.
  17. Stylehive's Top 10 Online Fashion Webzines! (and free, too)
  18. The Beauty Stop has tips for maintaining your health while on holiday.
  19. Stylenotes loves handbags, jewelry, shades (you name it), so we found a handful of fabulous Must-Have Accessories Under $35!
  20. The Fashionable Housewife found undies that are actually wedgie-free! Plus, they're virtually invisible. Erase panty lines forever!
  21. On a shoe budget? The Shoe Goddess thinks you should splurge on timeless classics, but spend less on fleeting trends.
  22. Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Ladybrille African Fashion News #44

Mark your calendar for August 30th, 2008 for the Miss Nigeria in America pageant [MNIA]show! The event will be held labor day weekend at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and will be hosted by Sammi Rotibi and the very Ladybrille emerging Hollywood actress we introduced you to last month, Ebbe Bassey. We like the MNIA site and are particularly thrilled with the well thought out assignments assigned and completed by the gorgeous delegates. Be sure to visit the site, purchase your tickets, invite your friends to support MNIA and on August 30th, enjoy great culture, beauty, brains, passion and talent! On to our weekly collection of fashion news relating to or about Africa:
  1. Celebrities Show True Colours In Charity Fashion Campaign ...
  2. The Dubai Mall unveils retail world's most sophisticated ...
  3. Bullet-proof fashion for S Africa
  4. Local designer for London Fashion Week
  5. Face of Africa scouts coming
  6. Playing dress-up
  7. One on One with Namugenyi Kiwanuka: Uganda's Greatest Television ...
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Ladybrille Woman of the Month, Funke Adenodi Akinbuli


If you didn't already know, most of Africa’s disabled [including the blind, paraplegic etc.] citizens live in deplorable conditions. Most are unemployed and can be found on Africa’s major streets and highways placing themselves in harm’s way as they beg for money to meet their basic needs. Rarely will you find a paraplegic in Africa, for example, with necessary medical equipment i.e. wheelchair. Most navigate the streets and freeways on their hands.

Sadly, a lot of Africa’s citizens have become desensitized to the deplorable conditions of the disabled partly because most are frustrated with economic and political conditions in the continent and are barely trying to keep heads above water. Others just have no idea where to begin helping and still most lack awareness of the plight of the disabled.

[Olu]funke [Funke] Adenodi Akinbuli, our Ladybrille Woman of the Month, a woman passionate about advocating for the disabled. “Among society’s marginalized people, the most vulnerable and excluded are those living with disabilities,” says Akinbuli. “We are all susceptible to [experiencing] a disability. [F]or the average African, disability is a daily observation as major African [countries] and cities are saturated with beggars who have obvious forms of disability.” Akinbuli’s empathy for the fate of the disabled in Africa led her to establish Exodus Guild Inc. a USA based non-profit organization focused on advocating for the rights of the disabled in Africa and locally in the States. “The Exodus Guild, Inc. was [established] to facilitate the inclusion and social welfare of the world’s largest minority group into the public and private domain of public health and education.”

Including the disabled in society’s public and private domain is no cheap venture. Exodus Guild Inc. has indeed experienced and continues to experience its fair share of financial challenges. Yet, one of the biggest hurdles in advocating for the rights of the disabled in Africa is the stigma attached to being disabled. “In addition to the fundamental challenges faced by [Exodus] such as limited resources, the stigma that is inherent to disability remains one of the biggest challenges [we] face,” laments Akinbuli. “Public sentiment assumes that having a disability suggests an inability to perform,” explains Akinbuli. Educating the public that even the disabled deserve a life of dignity and not one of isolation remains a daunting task, especially in the African community,” adds Akinbuli.

The daunting task and limited resources has seen Akinbuli having a very difficult time sustaining Exodus’s mission to provide “mobility in adversity.” In fact, she has often had to pull from her personal funds for the many programs necessary to help provide dignity and respect to Africa’s disabled communities. Programs such as Project 411-which provides and disseminates information to the disabled; DIS-AIDS, a program that focuses on creating awareness to the susceptibility of the disabled to contract the disease; and CAMPABLE which provides life-changing experiences to children who have physical impairments.


Akinbuli is nevertheless determined to press on. The Bachelor of Science degree holder in Paralegal Studies and a Masters in Urban Affairs plans on fulfilling her childhood goal “to see society operate with a focus on making lives better.” In May of 2008, she completed a graduate certificate program where she conducted a case study on Disability and Stigma from the African perspective. That same May, she received recognition from Boston College as an Outstanding Community Activist of the Year, something she says is her "most gratifying" accomplishment to date.

Akinbuli is also using her professional accolades which includes over ten years experience in public policy for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Medicaid Office, MassHealth; Welfare Agency, Department of Transitional Assistance; and the John Kerry for President, Inc., where she served as National Comptroller to help her with her day-to-day activities at Exodus Guild, Inc.

This month, Ladybrille salutes and celebrates Ms. Olufunke Adenodi Akinbuli as our Ladybrille Woman of the Month. Please join us in applauding and celebrating the beautiful heart and work of this remarkable/brilliant woman! Also, please visit Exodus Guild Inc., get involved, donate your time and/ financial resources to help one disabled person at a time live with dignity and respect.

CONTACT: To get involved or donate financial resources, e-mail Exodus Guild, at reach@theexodusguild.org. Website: visit www.theexodusguild.org

Interesting Facts you should know, from Exodus Guild's site, about Africans with disabilities in Africa: Africans with disability are estimated at 10% of their general population, but make up 20% of the poor.

80% of working age Africans with disabilities are unemployed.

The number of Africans living with some form of disability is increasing with population growth; aging; chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer; injuries at home, work and on the roads; violence; birth defects; AIDS; environmental degradation; malnutrition; and other causes often related to poverty.

The vast majority of Africans with disabilities are excluded from schools and opportunities to work, virtually guaranteeing that they will live out their lives as the poorest of the poor.

School enrollment for the disabled is estimated at no more than 5-10 percent, in Africa.

Only 1 percent of disabled women living in developing countries are literate.

In many countries [Africa included] disability is excluded from the public health and other social policies, which would ideally support and protect people with disabilities.

Stigma and discrimination are among the underlying factors thwarting the inclusion and full participation of people with disabilities in African societies.The social stigma associated with disability causes Africans with disabilities to become marginalized and isolated from society. Ultimately, such persons resort to begging as the sole means of survival.

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Monday, August 11, 2008

Vote to Add our Fashion Panel to the SXSW Interactive Festival!



We are excited to tell you about a panel Ladybrille has proposed for SXSW 2009 Interactive Festival!
This year, we had the pleasure of being an invited guest to the awesomely HUGE SXSW conference by G. Kofi Annan of Annansi Chronicles. While there, we saw an opportunity to get the fashion industry involved and when invited to submit an idea, we quickly jumped on it.

PROPOSED IDEA:
"Creating a Fashion E-Presence With Social Media and New Technologies."

DATE AND LOCATION: Austin, Texas March 13-17 2009

PANEL DESCRIPTION:Social media and new technologies have changed the way products and services are marketed. While a few fashion industry leaders have embraced the social media movement, many have been reluctant. This panel explores the benefit of social media and how fashion businesses can increase their bottom line by embracing it.
VOTING TAKES SECONDS!:Our idea is now up for your votes! Please VOTE now to add Creating a Fashion E-Presence With Social Media and New Technologies to SXSW Interactive 2009 festival!

***Voting closes August 29th, 2008. NOTE: look for the "Vote For" followed by five stars on the SXSW page which you can access wuth link above. Once you do, click on the number of stars you want to vote! Voila- That's it! You are done!

Sample confirmed names that will be panelist speakers at our panel:
Lesley Scott- Editor in Chief/Publisher Fashion Tribes http://www.fashiontribes.com/
Samir Arora- CEO Glam Media http://www.glam.com/
Anina CEO & Founder, Anina.net, http://www.anina.net/
Uduak Oduok, Editor in Chief/Publisher, Ladybrille http://www.ladybrille.com/ [Moderator], Yetunde Taiwo, CEO & Founder ICY Works, http://www.icyworks.com/ .

Names pending confirmation are Brian Sugar, Founder & CEO Sugar Inc., http://www.sugarinc.com/ and Pasha Sadri of http://www.polyvore.com/.
To be considered as a panelist, please send an e-mail to editor [at] ladybrille.com.
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Welcome to the GSM Revolution


I like to look at things comparatively and I think to fully appreciate where you are, you need to remember where you're coming from. The Nigerian Telecommunications sector has improved vastly compared to the early days that were completely restricted to the rich and upper class. "Call me on my 090" was a status symbol, it said "I'm so busy making money that I have to answer urgent phone calls on the go", a luxury item whose price could pay the salaries of some, for at least 5 yrs. Well those days are gone, I had been away during the formative years of MTN, Econet (now Celtel) and Glo, but right from the airport I noticed that mobile phones were…well everywhere, everyone had one, some even had more than one.

The growth of the telecommunications sector has reverberated through the economy, providing more jobs and opportunities for the many consultancy services that work with these companies, touching on the IT sector, and Banking sector, enabling the growth of ATM(automatic teller machine) networks. The large population of the country has provided a ready market for the services of the GSM companies, who continue to rake in huge profits year after year.
Nigeria now has a blossoming CDMA service as well, from providers like Starcomms, Reltel, Mtel, and most recently Visafone, most Nigerians now own a CDMA line as well as their GSM lines. CDMA networks are cheaper, but the quality of service is not really impressive, there's a lot of room for improvement, and hopefully they realise the potential of the market.

The rapid growth of this sector has however not been without any problems, many of the companies say that the adverse power situation across the country has affected the level of service provided, their base stations run on generators for 24hrs every day. There have been complete blackouts of various networks, where users are unable to load airtime cards on their prepaid phones and several instances of dropped calls, which eventually prompted a senate committee to look into the disruptions. The GSM subscribers in Nigeria have exceeded the 45 million mark, a staggering amount which is now the largest in Africa, I do not know how many of these lines are actually still active, but that’s a lot. Many companies use CDMA or GSM networks for their official lines, The national telecommunications company NITEL, has been hit by many problems and can not be relied upon, but with the sale of NITEL to Transcorp, there is some hope that a much needed boost will be given to the company to enable it function at maximum capability.

-Article by Chiedu Ifeozo
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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Why do Men Cheat?

Hope you had a brilliant weekend. Mine was fabulous! I spent some quality time with friends and family and also enjoyed arts and culture at a local arts festival. By the way, have you been watching the Olympics? Volleyball is my favorite sport and I am loving the beach Volleyball games.

This past week, it was hard to miss the John Edwards debacle and the fact that he cheated on his beautiful wife, Elizabeth. In fact, while Senator Edwards has acknowledged his infidelity, he denies he is the father of Rielle Hunter's baby, the woman he cheated with. Talk about a true Maury Povich, "You are or are not the father!" drama.

That politicians cheat is no suprise. Many a politician, men for the most part, have brought shame and embarassment to themselves and families with infidelity. What I wonder, however, is WHY do men cheat?
Is society setting standards for men, when it comes to expecting that men will not cheat, that is simply unattainable? Are men inherently cheats i.e. is it nature? Is our society [Western] better off adopting so called third world ways, like that reminiscent of the African Traditional Religion/Islam where men have up to four wives? That way women stop expecting monogamous relationships and accept that men cheat? I realize women do cheat. Actually recent statistics say 40% of married women cheat. [wow!] But, my focus is on men. Seriously, why do men cheat?

Have a brilliant upcoming week.

~Uduak
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