Lighten up a face. :) #RandomMusings

Hello everyone, hope your week is progressing well? If your week has had a few hiccups like mine has, then this post is for you.

It is a sequel to the Smile post I wrote last month. I got a lot of reviews and encouragement about that post that simply validated the point of the whole post which is the fact that giving a smile out does make the world a better place. :)

So here's a collection of dazzling real smiles to brighten up your day and lighten up your face. Enjoy. :)

Please Be #AllHeartsAlways To Bemigho Anene

Good morning everyone, I trust your week is going on fine. I heard about a young lady in dire need of help and I thought to make a post about it for a wider reach. While I have never met Bemigho, I have a few mutual friends with her and I have heard glowing things about her. People say she's a good person with a good heart but whom, sadly, life has dealt several cruel blows to.

                                                              (This is Bemigho now)

Bemigho was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in the UK in 2010. She has been living with sickle cell anemia and as a result she currently has both kidneys affected and is in immediate need of a transplant. She had been managing the ailment over the years but recently started dialysis and has had her five sessions in a week so far. Bemigho has been given a bill of N8,000,000 ($46,000 or 28,000 pounds) for a transplant in an Indian hospital. The cost includes her surgery and hospital stay for the period. Sadly, she lost her job a few years back and has been bearing all the bills by herself, until now.

Bemigho is a daughter, wife, mother to a toddler and friend to many. I beseech you all to please reach and help her out. Remember, every little goes a long way to help.

                                             This was her prior to the kidney diagnosis. :(


You can make your donations to her accounts below:

Bemigho Anene, Diamond Bank (Nigeria) 0041241995 

Enajite Omogbo Lloyds TSB Bank Sort code-309988 Account-36164560 in UK and around the world


Thank you for your kind assistance. #AllHeartsAlways

Shine Your e-Eyes O.O

Hello everyone, I found this image online a few days ago and marveled at how apt it was to modern day advancement. Most of us spend outrageous time online these days (me inclusive. I'm working on the addiction though. Lol) and it is only normal that we meet new people and learn new things daily online.

Over the years, I have met many wonderful people online and have a few friendships which started online and evolved into something so pure, true and real. I have also learnt online far more than I could have ever learned from any one teacher or in any classroom.

However, the dangers lurking behind our screens cannot be overemphasized. Many people hide behind their screens with evil intentions to cause strife, malice, chaos, enmity and spread hate. We have seen situations where several people have committed suicide due to cyber bullying. The sort of things that could never be told to their faces, they had hurled at them through their screens via the internet. While some people may think them weak for committing suicide as a result, I can relate with the victims. I have seen some really nasty bile and backlash spewed at others and wondered about the victims' capabilities to cope with such hate. We are all different human beings with varying levels of tolerance threshold, thus while one person may seem oblivious to online hate, others may not be able to handle it and opt for suicide or other dangerous ways to deal with such.

Over the years we have also had cases of murder over the internet. You know the scenario of boy meets girl online and have textual affairs before opting to take it offline and them BAM! Turns out one of them is a serial killer or sycophant. Sigh. The sad part of this is that it is often very difficult to know a person's true character online. One can easily "wear" any character one wants behind the screen, as easily as putting on a costume, and no one would be any wiser often at least until a physical engagement occurs.

Over the past few years, I have heard all sorts of stories about the horrors on internet and therefore I implore everyone to be extra careful before jumping headlong into online friendships or relationships. A little bit of caution never hurt anyone, rather it helps you put things in perspective.

#ShineYourEyes

Hello Monday, Goodnight Whitney Houston, Welcome Ashly Williams. AMAZING!!!!!!!!

Hello and welcome to a brand new week. I apologies for not blogging all weekend. I have no valid excuse other than the fact that I was so busy being a mum, wife, friend and neighbor (rme, long story). Anyway, I'm back and shinning brighter than a diamond this beautiful. :) Monday morning. I wish you all a brilliant week ahead.

I came across this video tonight and it is just absolutely beautiful. I had goosebumps all over me. Wow. She did Whitney and her momma proud, I tell you. Enjoy.

Charity Still Begins At Home With YOU.

Gone are the days when principles, manners and the likes were taught in school and instilled in us by our parents and older ones. You dare not go past an older stranger without greeting, talk less of forgetting your "please and thank you".

These days, it appears like the parents have left these teachings to the teachers, who in turn have left them to the religious tutors who in turn have other topics in mind while expecting the parents and academic teachers to have done the needful. And thus the vicious circle of moral decay in the society spins on. -__-

The buck does not not stop with your children and wards though, you must take it further by letting other people know how to decipher wrong from right. No man is an island and the unruly children you ignore today might be the ones to influence your own well brought up children.

I am not even going to go into the sorts of moral decadence we have sunk into, rather I would try to proffer some solutions to getting back on track.

*Home Front: Parents, relatives and guardians need to understand that it is their core responsibilities to raise children right. I am not the perfect parent or aunt but I know that teaching children the basics like greetings, courtesy, manners, kindness, and so on from an early stage helps to form and build their characters as they grow into teens and adults. We must not, in our vain and distorted quest to appear cool, neglect to train our children and wards right. We would suffer for it when we are old and grey, trust me.

*School: At the elementary school stage, social studies which focuses generally first on community and family values need to be taught and incorporated into ALL curriculum. By secondary school level (middle and high school),  this curriculum ought to become more discipline-based and content-specific.Many children who appear unruly and over-pampered at home, very often respect and listen to their teachers' opinions better.

*Religious Front: The religious houses have the largest follower-ship thus putting them in key positions to influence positive changes in our society. Growing up, the absolute fear of God was put in me. Even when I erred, I would quickly and frightfully repent. When I became older and realized that the perversion in the church was on a high, I derailed. I discovered that most preachers were all about the do-as-I-say-but-don't-doas-I-do life. Sorry loves, but it doesn't not work like that. Be that example for others to seek after and follow. Let your own lives be exemplary of your beliefs and teachings such as would be absorbed by children and adults. If you cannot stand the heat, then by all means step out of the kitchen rather than cause others to believe it is alright to lack morals.


The one thing I know is that we cannot merely sit around and do nothing. What role will you play in ensuring positive changes around you?

#DoSomething #ActRight #ActNow #AllHeartsAlways

Wow Ad - Coca-cola's Hello Happiness Campaign

Good morning, good people. I came across this advert from Coca-cola this morning and it blew my mind away. Truthfully, while watching it I had a bit of reservation about it (the health implication) but the whole concept still caused me to marvel and even made me shed a tear or two. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.(If you can't view the video, the gist of it is down below ;)

Summary

Coca-cola gave laborers in the UAE a few extra minutes of happiness by creating the Hello Happiness Phone Booth -- a special phone booth that accepts Coca-Cola bottle caps instead of coins for a free 3-minute international phone call, helping them connect with their families back home more often.

A regular one-minute call is $0.91, so 3 minutes of calling would cost ~ $2.7.  Research shows that a bottle of Coke in Dubai costs ~ $0.27. This means they can make calls for 10 times cheaper.  Brilliant concept I must say.

Now this is being #AllHeartsAlways. :) Touch a life today.

Justice For Victims of Rape

From my heart and armed with facts, I wrote (I'm still not a writer though;) an article for our NGO, Stand To End Rape. Please read it below and share. Thank you.

 Majority of Nigerians staunchly believe that rape victims never get justice and we at Stand To End Rape Initiative (S.T.E.R) always do our best to convince them otherwise. One can hardly fault them completely given some past records, but the fact remains that determination in seeking justice with the precise evidences are what makes a success out of such cases. The path to seeking justice for rape victims are never smooth nor easy to tow, but tow them we must if we want to put an end to these heinous crimes against humanity.

When I read this article (Read HERE) in the news, I was overwhelmed with mixed feelings. A 45-year-old man had raped a 10-year-old boy horrifically, in Jigawa State. Firstly, I was sad at the plight of the young victim and concerned about him getting the right treatment and counseling to overcome the trauma. I'm not quite sure how accessible and efficient rape counseling centres are up North.Then, I was glad about the way the public handed the culprit over to the police rather than commit murder under the guise of jungle justice in a bid to take justice by force. So many people have lost complete faith in our legal system, thus the uprise of jungle justice in recent times.

Finally, I was elated that the 10-year-old male victim got justice. His rapist confessed to the crime and was convicted accordingly. He got 12 years in prison for raping the minor and also to serve as a deterrent to others.

We need more cases like this for people to renew their beliefs in our legal system, but this can majorly be achieved when families of victims step forward and seek professional help for the victims and follow the cases through in the courts. I have seen instances where the families of the victims dropped charges or did not even press any charges against the culprits because they were convinced they would not get justice at all. In doing this, they let the beastly rapists roam free and thus enable them to attack others. Speaking out on rape issues and following the cases through are sure ways of curbing this societal menace.

S.T.E.R Initiative is an N.G.O readily available to assist and offer full support to rape victims and their families. We are partnering with various NGOs across Nigeria to ensure we help as many people who need our help. We also have a wide range of trained medical doctors, psychologists and lawyers that can help get you the justice you yearn for and more than that, help you get to a better state psychologically. All you need to do is reach out, we'll take it from there!

Please contact us via Standtoendrape@gmail.com, 08189299887 or on twitter @StandtoEndRape. We would love to help you.

Kids Sure Do The Darndest Things.........

By now most of you have probably read the story of the 4 year old Chinese boy who defaced his father's traveling passport while away in South Korea on a holiday. If the situation wasn't so serious, serious enough to get his father stranded in a foreign country as a result, it would be absolutely hilarious. The cheeky young child went all "Van Gogh" on his father's passport, drawing a beard, people and animals with a black pen. Though I found it incredible and funny, I was mortified on his father's behalf.

Of course, with toddlers, one can never be too careful which is why I always subscribe to putting all vital objects out of their reach always. I recall my daughter sneaking up after dinner one evening to have a gulp (or maybe more) out of the bottle of dettol the nanny had put out for her evening bath. I went berserk and even her usually cheeky self felt my angst that day. I can laugh over it now, but it was not a good feeling at all at the time.

Children are always inquisitive and they have little or no sense of danger in them at all, bless their dear hearts. :) After I had my first child, a respected friend of mine said to me "congratulations, you have just murdered sleep". I felt really weird getting that message but I waved it off in my euphoria of being a new mum. A few days later, I totally understood what she meant. LOL. You simply have to watch over them like a hawk for the rest of your life.

I absolutely love children and their innocence even when they get up to mischief.

What is the worst "angelic" (you know I meant horror, right. LOL) scare a child has given you or anyone you know?

Trouncing Monday Blues

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new week. I had the most restful weekend I've had in a long time. Besides cooking, being climbed upon, pulled, pushed and caressed by my ever active children, I didn't do much. Usually I have lots of functions packed into a weekend but this one weekend, I just chilled and I feel better for it. (although to be honest, it felt odd in a good way, lol)

Anyway, the weekend is over (boohoo) and Monday is here (whoop whoop). A lot of people dread Mondays but not me. Even though getting out of bed is one of the hardest things I face on Monday mornings (Sunday nights often seem shorter, in my mind), once I'm up I get right into it. I hardly let dreary Monday facts gets me down.

People call it "Monday Blues", which is basically that dragging feeling of reluctance workers and students feel at the thought of returning to work or studies. Still, life must go on with or without you, so why not just make the most of it.

I have a few suggestions to overcoming your Monday Blues (I'm telling you free of charge too, hehehe) and I will list them below:

* By mentally boosting ones spirits up. Believe it is mind over matter. 

*By helping others. Nothing perks me up better than doing this. Give it a try.

*Orchestrating a successful and productive day ahead, regardless of any obstacles that may arise.

*Have a lush cuppa. This is guaranted to cheer you up if well prepared.

*Finally, paint your nails before work resumes. I find this therapeutic.  (not for the guys though, then again....;)

Phew! Well there you have it. I hope it works out for you.

Have a splendidly productive day ahead.

#AllHeartsAlways

HAVE A JOCUND JUNE :)

It's a brand new month and I'm a part of it. I'm grateful for that considering how I wasn't sure I would see the end of April due to a health scare I had (that would be better explained in a whole post;).

I just want to ask that you make this month of June an extraordinarily blissful one for as many as you can. I believe we can achieve greatness and change by reaching out to as many as we can as often as we can. Be #AllHeartsAlways

Have a jubilant June. :)

P.s Did you have a peep in your dictionary to figure out the meaning of "JOCUND"?  LOL