Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

Thedisempowerment of women does not happen all at once; it is a continuous, often insidious process that begins early in the life of a female child and goes on to infiltrate almost every aspect of her life. The girl who isnt allowed to play boys games. The teenager who is told a girl shouldnt talk too much. The young woman whose sole goal is viewed to be marriage. The mother who is expected to build her life only around her family.

An upcoming Indian classical dance drama, Saa Shakti, seeks to disrupt and question this process by telling the story of a womans journey to empowerment. The shows title, which evokes not just the Sanskrit word for power and empowerment but also the Hindu goddess Shakti, is an apt metaphor for a show that uses the classical traditions of odissi to express contemporary thoughts and ideas.

Saa Shakti plays at the Shantanand Auditorium in Kuala Lumpur on July 15.

For odissi exponent Leena Mohanty, the show is an opportunity to engage with issues of gender equality through the art that has become her lifes passion.

Mohanty, who trained under preeminent odissi guru Deba Prasad Das and his disciple Durga Charan Ranbir, is a renowned performer and choreographer in her own right, and a familiar face to odissi audiences in Malaysia. Her previous performances here include Anjali (2009), Leela Purushottama The Supreme Absolute (2011) and Sharanagati (2013).

While the award-winning dancer has presented many critically-acclaimed odissi performances around the world, this will be her first to take on specifically contemporary themes.

Gender equality has been an issue that continues to be relevant and is always a big topic of discussion. We have sent women in space, women in the armed forces. Yet, we still live in a world where women are exploited, treated unequally and not allowed to make their own choices. I realised that this was an opportunity for me to explore a topic that isnt commonly done in the traditional Indian dance format, says Mohanty, who is currently based in Bangalore, India.

Odissi-trained dancer/choreographer Leenas works will be featured in Kalpana Dance Theatres upcoming dance fusion performance Sharanagati. Photo: Ricky Lai/The Star

The show, presented in Kuala Lumpur by Kalpana Dance Theatre (KDT), will tell the story of a female child as she grows into adulthood, looking at the challenges and struggles she faces along the way. Performing alongside Mohanty will be Malaysian dancers Daisyga Rani Vijayakumaran, Nritta Ganeshi Manoharan, Lawrence Sackris, Kunaratnam Velautham and Muneeswaren Palsamy. The cast will be rounded out by 40 other local dancers in various supporting roles.

KDT founder and artistic director Shangita Namasivayam says there is much potential in Indian classical dance to engage with modern themes and ideas. These traditional forms are so well-codified and have such a strong language. We have the rasas (emotions), mudras (hand gestures), abhinayas (expressions) all of which can add so much richness to any story.

To help flesh out the initial idea behind Saa Shakti, Mohanty and Shangita turned to Indian writer, poet and art critic Kedar Mishra, as well as musician Kumar Mohapatra for the original music score. From there, despite it being relatively unfamiliar territory, Mohanty says the odissi simply flowed.

When it came to the choreography, Mohanty found inspiration in nature. By using the language of odissi to depict flora, fauna and natural landscapes, she discovered a way to break free of the constraints of modern life and instead depict femaleness in an equal footing.

Nature doesnt segregate between male and female; each are given an equal and important place. I linked this to the concept of gender equality through classical odissi gestures and postures that evoke nature, she says.

The culmination of Saa Shakti, says Mohanty, is the womans discovery of her own identity and inner power.

During the course of the show, she realises that she has become defined by the roles she plays to different people daughter, wife, mother but has lost her own identity. And so the story becomes about her learning who she is through her own eyes, she says.

As mothers of female children themselves Mohantys daughter is 12, while Shangitas are 19 and 20 the two women behind Saa Shakti are keenly aware of how important the message of female empowerment is.

This is of course an issue that is personal, something we have actually experienced. And sometimes you just have to say something, says Mohanty.

Empowerment is not about negating the roles associated with women, or putting men or marriage down. It is about freedom, the freedom to make choices, says Shangita.

Saa Shakti will be staged at the Shantanand Auditorium, Jalan Berhala, Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur on July 15. Showtime: 7.30pm. For invitations, call 017-672 5672, 012-650 7226 or 012-787 7467.

All comments are moderated. Your comment may not show up immediately. Please keep it clean and on topic. Offensive comments will not be published.

Continued here:

Odissi dance drama focuses on female empowerment - Star2.com

CONYERS Upon entering Camp Kesem, one can hear nothing but quirky names like Princess Peach, Cyclone, Maleficent or Cookie Dough. In fact, everyone there campers and counselors goes by a peculiar name.

This is simply one of many tactics used by camp organizers to get participants to feel at ease and be themselves while they learn to tackle a rather tragic situation having a parent with cancer.

Camp Kesem is a national program that aims to provide comfort and support to children whose parents suffer from cancer and to empower them by developing a sense of camaraderie and community through free recreational camps.

The University of Georgia in Athens began its own chapter of Kesem in 2011 and has since hosted hundreds of campers from ages 6 through 16. It also runs a counselor in training program for 17- and 18-year-olds.

UGA brought Camp Kesem to Camp Westminster in Conyers for the second year in a row this summer. Nearly 165 campers and 80 volunteers from all across Georgia and parts of South Carolina attended the program over the course of two week-long camp sessions.

The first session, we had a lot of new campers, said Meagan Chong, a graduate student at UGA and public relations co-coordinator for Camp Kesem. And those are sort of my favorite campers to watch because I think its really special to see them grow from shy kids to really integrate themselves and become a part of the magic of Camp Kesem.

Campers are sorted into age-based groups and participate in a variety of activities such as arts and crafts projects, zip-lining, canoeing, wakeboarding, archery, etc. as well as empowerment programs to share their personal experiences with others who experience similar struggles.

Fifteen-year-old Luis Valez of Newnan, who returned to the camp for the second year, described it as one of the best weeks of his life.

No one is really judging you. You can do whatever, be yourself, he said. It was just a really good atmosphere. Everybody cares about you, and its been great coming back. Ive been counting down the days. Its like coming home to a huge family.

For 14-year-old Jalen Young of College Park, this years camp was his first and an opportunity to try new sports.

There are a lot of things here that Ive never done before, Young said, listing canoeing and wakeboarding as new adventures he has come to love.

The people here, they are so happy and make you feel so welcomed, he added.

Sam Hepburn, a UGA graduate and third-year counselor, said the camp helps the volunteers as much as it does the children.

Its cool to be a part of something where not only you get to help these kids who really need it, but it actually helps everyone here, he said. Its a very therapeutic place, full of very uplifting moments.

For these kids, especially, its so important because not only are they dealing with this horrible thing called cancer in their lives, they are also normal kids with typical problems at schools.

In an effort to maintain continuous rapport with the children, counselors organize reunions and grief-support programs around the year. Students at UGA also meet regularly for event planning, fundraisers and volunteer recruitment.

Cassidy Chakroun, a rising junior at UGA and Camp Kesem public relations co-coordinator, said she joined the organization on seeing a video about the camp that inspired her.

So just watching them have fun and talk about their experiences made me want to be a part of it, she said. It felt like Im almost missing out.

Those wishing to not miss out on next years Camp Kesem can visit campkesem.org/uga for information on the program, registration, and ways to get involved.

Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Get Breaking News alerts from the Rockdale Citizen and Newton Citizen delivered to your email.

Daily local news headlines from the Newton Citizen.

Daily sports headlines from Newton Citizen.

Daily local news headlines from the Rockdale Citizen.

Daily sports headlines from Rockdale Citizen.

The rest is here:

Camp guides children through and beyond parent's cancer - Rockdale Newton Citizen (press release) (registration)

Most street opiates (including heroin) are now laced or replaced with fentanyl the drug that killed the singer Prince and its analogues. Photograph: Joe Amon/Denver Post via Getty Images

The number one killer of Americans under the age of 50 isnt cancer, or suicide, or road traffic accidents. Its drug overdoses. They have quadrupled since 1999. More than 52,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year. Even in the UK, where illegal drug use is on the decline, overdose deaths are peaking, having grown by 10% from 2015 to 2016 alone. The war on drugs continues but its a war were losing.

Most drug-related deaths result from the use of opioids, the molecules that are marketed as painkillers by pharmaceutical companies and heroin by drug lords. Opioids, whatever their source, bond with receptors all over our bodies. Opioid receptors evolved to protect us from panic, anxiety and pain a considerate move by the oft-callous forces of evolution. But the gentle impact of natural opioids, produced by our own bodies, resembles a summer breeze compared to the hurricane of physiological disruption caused by drugs designed to mimic their function.

Most street opiates (including heroin) are now laced or replaced with fentanyl the drug that killed the singer Prince and its analogues, far more powerful than heroin and so cheap that drug-dealing profits are skyrocketing at about the same rate as overdose deaths. The UKs National Crime Agency said that traces of fentanyl have been found in 46 people who died this year. Users dont know what theyre getting and they take too much. Fentanyl is recognised as a primary driver of the overdose epidemic.

Societys response has been understandably desperate but generally wrongheaded. We start by blaming addicts. Then we blame the pharmaceutical companies for developing and marketing painkillers. We blame doctors, for overprescribing opiates, which pressures them to underprescribe, which drives patients to street drugs cheaper, home delivery via the internet, and zero quality control. We say were going to reignite the war on drugs, recognised by experts as a colossal failure from the 1930s onward. We also continue to view addiction as a chronic brain disease, so the benefits of education, social support, psychological intervention, and personal empowerment receive far too little attention. Yes, addiction involves brain change, but ongoing medicalisation does little to combat it.

There has been some progress: There are pockets of activity here and there where prescribed opiates like methadone and Suboxone are made more easily available to addicts. Thats a good thing, because increasingly desperate addicts are often driven to the street, where theyre most likely die. The availability of naloxone, which works as an antidote, is slowly wending its way through the drug policy jungle, providing a simple resource to deal with an overdose on the spot. But in most segments of most communities in the US and elsewhere, it is still too difficult to obtain.

There are smarter answers at hand but also smarter questions to be asked. The overdose epidemic compels us to face one of the darkest corners of modern human experience head on, to stop wasting time blaming the players and start looking directly at the source of the problem. What does it feel like to be a youngish human growing up in the early 21st century? Why are we so stressed out that our internal supply of opioids isnt enough?

The opioid system evolved to allow us to function, not panic or shut down, when we are under threat or in pain. Support from other humans also helps us cope with stress, but that support is underpinned by opioids too. Our attachment to others, whether in friendship, family or romance, requires opioid metabolism so that we can feel the love. Opioids grant us a sense of warmth and safety when we connect with each other.

You get opioids from your own brain stem when you get a hug. Mothers milk is rich with opioids, which says a lot about the chemical foundation of mother-child attachment. When rats get an extra dose of opioids, they increase their play with each other, even tickle each other. And when rodents are allowed to socialise freely (rather than remain in isolated steel cages) they voluntarily avoid the opiate-laden bottle hanging from the bars of their cage. Theyve already got enough.

In short, mammals need opioids to feel safe and to trust each other. So what does it say about our lifestyle if our natural supply isnt sufficient and so we risk our lives to get more? It says we are stressed, isolated and untrusting. Thats a problem we need to resolve.

Many have proposed targeted education, community support and interpersonal bonding through group activities. Johann Haris powerful book, Chasing the Scream, reviews how such initiatives have worked in diverse societies. An intriguing example is the compassionate, blame-free dialogue that has evolved among high-school students in Portugal, highlighting the dangers of hard drugs and urging the most vulnerable to abstain not because theyre going to get in trouble, but because addiction is miserable and dangerous. This dialogue has paralleled the decriminalisation of drug use.

Portugal had an astoundingly high heroin addiction rate 16 years ago. It now boasts the second lowest overdose rate on the continent. Social inclusion actually works against addiction while punishment only fuels it.

But the peculiar appeal of opioids tells us more about ourselves as a society, as a culture, than the tumultuous ups and downs of addiction statistics. Todays young people come of age and carve out their adult lives in an environment of astronomical uncertainty. Corporations that used to pride themselves on fairness to their employees now strive only for profit. The upper echelons of management are as risk-infected as the lowest clerks. Massive layoffs rationalised by the eddies of globalisation make long-term contracts prehistoric relics. I ask the guys who come to the house to deliver packages how they like their jobs. They cant say. They get up to three six-month contracts in a row and then get laid off so the company wont have to pay them benefits.

People pour out of universities with all manner of degrees, yet with skills that are rapidly becoming irrelevant. But people without degrees are even worse off. They find themselves virtually unemployable, because there are so many others in the same pool, and employers will hire whoever comes cheapest. The absurdly low minimum wage figures in the US clearly exacerbate the situation. As hope for steady employment fizzles, so does the opportunity to connect with family, friends and society more broadly, and there is way too much time to kill. Opioids can help reduce the despair.

The opportunity to settle into a viable niche in ones family and ones society is being blown away by the winds of unregulated capitalism in a globalised world. As for the intimacy and trust we humans have always sought in each other, in friends, colleagues, and lovers, the bonds are shaky these days. Even if we have the opportunity to connect were still too stressed and depressed to get to know each other well, to develop trust, to give and receive compassion. Urban life requires juggling high-stress relationships past the point of mental and emotional exhaustion.

The early 21st century offers less structure and stability through religion or extended family than we humans have experienced in millennia. And maybe thats just the way it is. But we dont have to throw away the basic currency of security and interconnectedness entirely. We can build social structures governments, corporations, community organisations, and systems of education and care that encourage stability, hope, and trust in our day-to-day lives. Like the school kids in Portugal, we can offer compassion and inclusion as an alternative over heroin. If we fail to do that, we may as well hook ourselves up to an opioid pump. Just to endure.

View original post here:

Why are so many people dying from opiate overdoses? It's our broken society - The Guardian

True empowerment is to live from a state of joy, optimism, success, and creativity. Our empowered self is aware of our innate potential and the infinite possibilities for us to explore.

To be empowered we live free of fear, doubt, worry, or depression. We are confident in who we are and we joyously pursue the inspiration that manifests in our lives.

Empowerment does not mean arrogant, domineering, forceful, or flawless. Empowerment has little to do with wealth, fame, or beauty. It is a blossoming and becoming of our authentic self, the remembering and embodying of our true nature. From this state, we can come to alignment with our unique and divine purpose and the passions that arise to guide us on this path.

Many people are seeking a way to arrive at their own empowerment. The journey of awakening our own empowered self-begins with a commitment and practice of self-love. Our personal health is profoundly connected to our ability to live an empowered life. Love is by far the ultimate master healer, and so the practice of self-love becomes a powerful force of healing in our own lives. As we remember that our bodies are temples for our divine soul to dwell within as we make this tour of Earth, we then naturally incorporate practices that honor our bodies as sacred. This inpouring of love helps to not only raise our level of health but also raises our vibration and experience of positivity. The more we commit to a healthy way of living and how we treat our bodies, it becomes natural for our emotional and mental health to improve as well. With the absence of infirmity, depression, anger, or suffering, we have less distraction and more energy and focus for projects, relationships, pleasurable activities, and creative endeavors.

Following self-care and self-love, what I have found to be a sure path to living in empowerment, is to follow inspiration and intuition. These inner guidance systems are our way of incorporating divine navigation. Inspiration and intuition are built into our blueprint of being to assist us in actualizing the optimum reality for our lives. Although most of us come from a culture that teaches us to make decisions from the mind logically and rationally, I encourage you to try a different approach to life.

Our innate wisdom and ability to follow truth is built into us. It will take practice, trust, and dedication if you are not accustomed to living your life led by your inspiration and intuition. Begin by tuning into what brings you joy. What do you feel drawn to? Inspired by? Excited about? This is what you need to pay attention to. This is an inspiration and it is trying to lead you to your purpose, success, and joy.

Intuition is a gut feeling and a heart feeling. It is what feels like truth and pulls you to listen and follow. When you tune into intuitive guidance, there is no doubt or second guessing. Intuition is a sure knowledge, a magnetic attraction to where we need to give our attention.

Purpose and empowerment are undeniably inter-related. With love being the most powerful force we know it is through our own willingness and ability to share and receive the love that we deliver ourselves out of suffering and lack, into the abundant state of empowered living. Instead of choosing to live according to the expectations of others or to prolong suffering by repressing our inspiration or denying love to ourselves, we can choose the path of great love and begin to heal and transform our lives. Through this nurturing and caring for the life we have been given, we call back to life the true essence of our soul which is a glorious, magical creation with a divine purpose for being born.

As we continue this journey by honoring and listening to inspiration and intuition we will be guided to the opportunities, relationships, and resources needed to enhance our experience and support our purpose. Each of us is unique beings with infinite possibilities and potential. Learning to dwell in that knowing and begin to access that infinite source is the beginning of empowered living.

I encourage each of you to begin making simple changes in your lives and see the results. Think only positive

and loving thoughts towards yourself stop the self-hate and negativity make healthy choices for your body and in your relationships. Do the things you love to do and express your creative urges. Make time for nurturing and caring for yourself. Tune into integrity, honesty, and what feels right. Allow your intuition to teach you and guide you, and allow yourself to follow inspiration as it manifests. By continually incorporating these simple practices, you will grow in your empowerment and your ability to create the life of your dreams. This takes dedication and courage. You will need to stand up to every limiting belief and habit you have allowed influencing your life. You will need to overcome apathetic tendencies and take the risk of rejection for your authentic expression. Yet the work and the risks are worth it. As we strengthen our superpowers and remember our true nature, we find ourselves manifesting the joy and success we once only dreamed was possible.

For those of you seeking a catalyst for your empowerment, you are invited to join us in Costa Rica December 17 -23 for an all womens Awakening Shakti Retreat at the gorgeous and magical Posada Natura. Follow the link below for more info or to register http://www.zahrahsita.com/awakening-shakti-retreat

To learn more about me, and for health guidance, life and wellness coaching, mentoring programs, retreats, and other services, please visit my website

http://www.zahrahsita.com

See original here:

Awakening To Empowerment - The Costa Rica News

Wole Soyinkas propensity for the enactment of the extraordinary probably commenced on that day in early 1937 when, at barely three, he sensationally imposed himself on a classroom at the St Peters School, Ake, Abeokuta. This singular demonstration of infantile audacity, no doubt, provided an early illumination of the constitutive character-fibres of one of 20th centurys most defining personalities, as much as it prospectively pointed to an explosive life of successful intellectual resilience. Wole had clearly not attained school age, but had certified himself ripe enough to explore the enchanting world of learning. So, armed with a selection of his fathers most precious books, he had sneaked unnoticed all the way to his elder sisters class, and staged a brilliant argument on why he deserved to be there before an astonished audience of teachers and pupils.

Have you come to keep your sister company? No. I have come to school. Then he looked down at the books I had plucked from fathers table. Arent these your fathers books? Yes. I want to learn them. But you are not old enough, Wole. I am three years old. Lawanle cut in, Three years old wo? Dont mind him sir, he wont be three until July. I am nearly three. Anyway, I have come to school. I have books.

The above drama, as captured in his first published autobiography, Ake: The Years of Childhood, finely situates the beginning of a life-long affinity with books. Before now, he had marvelled on end at his fathers devotion to the printed page, but could not conjure an apt link between books and the classroom: I had made some vague, intuitive connection between school and the piles of books with which father appeared to commune so religiously in the front room. The momentousness of this episode would be highlighted years later, following Woles emergence as a leading global man of letters.

An early, fulminating, almost desperate love for formal education was not the only prior signal of the making of the infectiously enigmatic Wole the world would come to know many decades after. Gerard Moore, providing an interesting accurate picture of the adult Wole, has written: Soyinka combines a talent for society, with an equally marked cultivation of solitude and silence. This characterization also matches his childhood ethos in near absolute terms in the first ten years of his life. Wole sufficiently demonstrated, and in equal measures, that he could be both explosively worldly and deeply introverted. The texture of this paradoxical endowment could only grow with time. Woles incomparable capacity for friendship which is perhaps qualified by a rare brand of large-heartedness is one major pointer to his gregarious tendency. His adult life brims with this rich dose of human companionship. Femi Johnson, the Nigerian business man with whom he enjoyed an enduring alliance would describe him in the following poetically glowing terms: If theres anybody to whom you can give out your heart for safe keeping (if that is possible), go to Hong Kong, come back, and still find the heart pulsating, its Wole. Johnson would further describe Woles predisposition to friendship: He is a very compelling person, someone that you not only wine and dine with; he imparts a lot without being didactic about it. Its amazing what influence he has on people. He has got that compelling, charismatic influence. One episode that Johnson must have known, in corroborating the above submission, is that in which a grown-up Wole leads an entire village men, women and children to hunt down a mysterious wild boar which had tormented them endlessly. Wole, who had personally shot the awe-striking creature, dramatically felt entitled to and eventually took one tigh, leaving the rest of the spoils to the elated villagers. Another long-time friend, the poet and political scientist, Odia Ofeimun, attributes Woles attitude to friendship to his selfless personality, and his almost maniacal generosity. To Ofeimun, Wole is one friend who could give his last, who dwells in the spirit of generosity that he has created around himself.

This same image dominates an assessment of Woles childhood. He had hardly begun schooling when he made himself a couple of friends. Apart from Osiki, his school mate, whose love for pounded yam drew to Wole, there was Mr Olagbaju, his teacher at school, with whom he spent stretches of exciting periods over food and the game of ayo. Soon, Woles mother saw enough in his infant sons inclination and remarked: This one is going to be like his father. He brings home friends at meal-times without any notice. Woles reflective retort to this light-hearted charge captures a frame of mind that would govern his entire life: I saw nothing to remark in it at all; it was the most natural thing in the world to bring a friend home at his favourite meal time. As Woles mother, Eniola, the inimitable Wild Christian would tell Dapo Adelugba, the young enigmas proclivity to companionship played out once more in characteristic drama when on one of his early birthdays in the primary school, Wole assembled a cast of friends for the celebrations without the knowledge of his parents. Wild Christian returned to find their home in an explosive birthday fever, with a gaily Wole announcing to her: Welcome back home, mama, today is my birthday, as you can see.

Another aspect of Woles social-spiritedness has to do with his keen sensitivity to the socio-cultural atmospheres of his time. This temperament may have eventually turned out very critical to his development as one of the most celebrated theatre figures in the world, but the sheer intensity of his curiosity in the Yoruba socio-artistic conversations as a mere child was nothing short of magically prodigious. In spite of the restrictions imposed on his sensibilities by his strong Anglican background, in terms of prescribing a large chunk of the indigenous artistic culture as abominably pagan, they always swayed to these rhapsodic forms of expression of nativity. At the age of four, Wole had to scale a fence to follow an Egungun masquerade procession. He says of those effervescent moments: It was quite usual for me to be returning from church and suddenly find an Egungun masquerade, thats an ancestral masquerade cult, parading with lively music, drums, etcetera, along the street to the discomfiture of the Christian worshippers. Woles insatiable, questioning mind would always break through the barriers of Anglican protection, to yearn for answers: I asked for their significance, what was their meaning? What did they do? His attachment to the community that the masquerades represent, elicits a personal/radical verdict about their importance: I dont know what was so describing about it. I thought it was a glorious spectacle. These views did not change, even when, according to Wole himself, for following them around once or twice I received the requisite number of lashes or slaps.

Woles propensity to withdraw into his deep thinking, meditative, sombre introversion has also been heavily highlighted in the integrated narrative of his life. He sometimes sickening individuality, his unshakable personal conviction on issues, his unwavering confidence in his own judgement and volatile and expansive intellectualism have all been notably linked to his bouts of introspection.

Even individuals with whom Wole has shared the most boisterous of social relationships have had to deal with this sporadic removal from the public space. Femi Johnson, one of Woles closest allies ever, certainly made a preoccupation of handling this situation. According to Johnson, I call him AMP Absent-Minded Professor, because you feel he is always absent-minded. I think his mind is ahead of his entire body. He grunts, and waffles away but he hasnt said anything. Wole cherishes solitude, and the outrageous predilections towards lonely detachment, and this is understandable, particularly because it tends to stimulate his stupendous forge of creativity.

But it is debatable if his intellect would have been as sharp, and as overawing if he had not somehow cultivated a sense of retreat into himself from the earliest stages of his life. Biodun Jeyifo, all of a former student, a personal friend and a leading critic of Woles art, identifies a curious tendency towards inwardness and radical individual autonomy as a major pattern of Woles childhood.

Similarly, Laura Pilar Gelfman, a reviewer of Ake, detects and fleshes out the contours of necessary isolation which Wole imposes on himself: From the beginning of his life, Wole Soyinka finds peace in solitude. He discovers outlets to his family life in nature and he claims these sites as his own. This solemn, introspective behaviour is incongruous with his mischievous nature. The peace Wole finds under the guava tree or on the Jonah rocks helps him to understand himself. He holds great respect for the power of the guava tree. Thus, Wole would always be sufficiently equipped for the intellectual challenges that his life has thrown up in abundance.

Anybody who knows Woles family will be quick to identify his most defining attributes as clear parental bequests. Several commentators have dissected Woles personality along the lines of the copious duality of what mannerism comes from which parent. Dapo Adelugba, reviewing Gerard Moores characterization of Wole as combining a talent for society, with an equally marked cultivation of solitude and silence, points to the well-remarked contrast between his father and mother, who Biodun Jeyifo qualifies as surely one of the most well-matched monogamous marital couples in modern African literature. Jeyifo is, in the above statement, definitely referring to the surprisingly effective complimentarity of the many divergences of the couples life, and of course how they cumulatively converge to very special effect in Wole, the man, and also Wole, the artist.

Woles Father, Samuel Ayodele Soyinka, headmaster at St Peters School, Ake, Abeokuta, was as a convert of the Empire, an embodiment of missionary discipline and decorum, a man very much in love with impeccable intellectual order and an uncompromising believer in the transformational possibilities of colonial education and personal empowerment through learning and character. As a devout Christian, he sought to build his home and raise his children in strict accordance to the teachings of Christ and would deal decisively with any manifestation of juvenile deviance. A very meticulously organised fellow with prominent streaks of bookish withdrawal and deep-thinking composure, Samuel cut the perfect picture of colonial breeding. One of his sons, Femi, describes him, not only as a disciplinarian, a very strict person, religious, very honest person, but also as a gentleman to the core who paid great attention to such matters as mannerisms and appearance. For Femi, who grew up to become a respected medical doctor, He was always well dressed His shoes were always well polished, his suit well kept, and if it was agbada, it will be ironed.Highly intellectually stimulated, he did not just make sacrosanct companions out of books, but revelled in the charged atmospheres of arguments with his friends, one of the very few social indulgences on his very highly regimented schedule.

Woles mother, Grace Eniola Soyinka was the explosive opposite of her husband, Samuel. Boisterous, energetic and full of activity, she is driven by a wild passion in everything she does, from evangelical Christianity, to domestic responsibility, and to civil rights activism. Nowhere near Samuel, Essay, whom Biodun Jeyifo describes as the essence of order, in compact organization, Wole himself gives her the nickname Wild Christian, mainly because of her detonative obsession to get things done almost always with chaotic efficiency. For Jeyifo, Woles appellation also suggests the riot of disorder in her bedroom and the profligate jumble of commodities and objects in her market stalls [which] embodies flamboyant disorganization and barely-contained chaos.

The dominant image of Grace (from Woles Ake and from other sources) is that of the spiritually, mentally and physically strong woman. Extremely courageous, he becomes an important member of a strong pressure group agitating against the colonial injustice of improper and unfair taxation.

A former primary school mate, Chief Simeon Adebo, a former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations, corroborates the sense of Graces physical strength in a tribute to her on her death in 1983: I was small at the time and it was she, the female, who protected me from the bullying of the bigger boys. Despite the vast personality difference between them, Woles parents shared certain important traits, and this would invariably play a huge role in the success of their marriage. Both were very hardworking, and of course very kind. Wole remembers their parsonage apartment at St Peters always filled with people, waifs and strays. According to Wole, Essay and Wild Christian collected strays. It seemed a permanent aspect of our life at Ake; with very few lapses, there was always an adult who appeared, without warning, seemingly from nowhere; became part of our lives and then disappeared with no explanation from anyone. These strays almost always received the same treatment as the children of the house, Wole and his siblings. Again, both Samuel and Grace believed strongly in justice as was evident in Graces vitriolic anti-colonial sentiments and Samuels endorsement of them.

As very committed parents, they were disciplinarians, who shared the vision of raising purpose-driven, religious children, who would make notable, if not excellent impact in their chosen life endeavours. Woles younger brother, Femi, reflects on their parents many sacrifices aimed at providing them with an education: Our parents were not rich but one remarkable thing about them was that they denied themselves a lot to educate us. So, I will say that they were parents with vision. They knew the value of education at that time. It was really tough, not that we were denied anything but while our playmates were already wearing shoes, we were going about barefooted. It is not therefore surprising that Wole and his siblings would receive the solid foundation to pursue the very best of education.

No doubt, Woles curious duality as a man of both the private and the public spaces derives from the rich texture of parental distinction provided by Samuel and Grace. That Wole could, in other words, vacillate between temperamental extremes, could be a man of the world as much as he would be a man of his own self, may be traced to strategic genes taken from both parents. The totality of parental influences available to the young Wole can be bifurcated into the direct and the indirect. The direct influences, in terms of consciously articulated and streamlined life patterns dutifully prescribed for the child, include an entrenchment of the foundational behavioural codes governing acceptable existence especially from a Yoruba African point of view/and an inculcation of a sense of life vision, discipline and social responsibility. Wole himself would say of his childhood: Theres a way in which a child is brought up in my society. The first thing is that a child is supposed to be a responsible member of the household. You had your duties, and you had better carry them out I had no problem carrying out duties.

The other critical manifestation of direct parental influence on Wole was in the area of mental, intellectual and artistic equipment. The academic ambience he was born into and his parents positive reinforcements were deeply fundamental. The Soyinkas rigid, religious allegiance to education was never in doubt, but Samuel and Grace made it clear that it was one path each of their children must take. Wole recollects about his parents: They had ways of making us understand that education was critical. Our primary responsibility was to go as far as we could in our own education. So it was letting us see that we had that responsibility to ourselves, to the family. His father, the school headmaster, had even more practical ways of impressing the imperative. He encouraged Wole to read as much as he could, ask questions and have those questions patiently answered.

Samuel Ayodele Soyinka had a keen eye for detection of talents. Soon enough, he found out the direction of Woles instincts and set about nurturing and honing them. Woles penetrating curiosity, of course, made an early, unusual voracious reader out of him and Samuel made appropriate provision for that. Samuel also discovered the artist in the young Wole, who was fascinated will colourfully illustrated catalogues and the brilliant artistic radiance of his first classroom. Femi Soyinka recalls how their father very competently tapped Woles fledging artistic resources: I remember that he had a flair for English and Literature right from childhood and this was helped by our parents, especially our father, who was a teacher then and whom I suspect found these qualities in him early because he encouraged him in this direction. For example, our father really liked a lot of writing and reading and plays and so on. So he used to organise drama and other forms of concert when we were in primary school. And he used to give Wole a prominent role to play. There was this play, I cant remember who wrote it, where Wole played a magician. It was a brilliant performance and there were also other plays that he took part in. Ezewa-Ohaeto was a professor of literature at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Onyerionwu is a doctoral candidate at the University of London, while Ngozi Ezenwa teaches literature at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

7 hours ago Film

11 hours ago Arts

11 hours ago Revue

12 hours ago Revue

13 hours ago Arts

13 hours ago Film

Read the original:

Genius of the unconventional and the patterning of dualities: Wole Soyinka's early childhood Part 1 - Guardian (blog)

You are here: Home News Youth disillusioned as empowerment fund is looted

A BIRDS eye view over Harare reveals a blanket of minute stalls stacked with second-hand clothes for resale.

BY MICHELLE CHIFAMBA

Desperate, unemployed youths have created informal jobs in the streets as life gradually becomes unbearable for the working population.

The 2012 Population Census recorded that youths aged between 15 and 34 years constitute 84% of the unemployed population.

According to Zimstats, due to high formal unemployment, many of them were now deriving a living from the informal sector.

The Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment in 2006 unveiled the Youth Empowerment Fund established as part of the Old Mutual, Stanbic, Industrial Development Bank of Zimbabwe and CBZ Banks contribution to the countrys indigenisation and empowerment programme.

The facility was meant to support youth empowerment and development as a revolving loan facility for income generating projects, according to Old Mutual chief executive officer, Jonas Mushosho.

He noted that the youth fund was flexible and youth friendly in that there was no form of collateral required to access the funds.

CABS head of fund, Brian Mpofu, is on record stating that the fund was aimed at curtailing financial crisis and high rate of unemployment that had crippled the Zimbabwean youth.

Yet almost a decade later, there are a few success stories recorded as the youth fund failed to effectively empower the youth, with an estimated $40 million having disappeared as a result of loosely-knit policies, lack of accountability and corruption.

Corruption is a global problem that affects most developing countries. A United Nations (UN) 2016 study on corruption noted that at least $148 billion is lost to corruption every year in Africa alone.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth Development Indigenisation Economic Empowerment in May this year conducted a fact-finding mission on the youth fund. The mission also confirmed the abuse of $40 million under the empowerment facility. According to the Committee, at least 95% of the projects visited were either non-existent or had collapsed because they had never been genuine.

Analysts maintain that the funds were too flexible, having no complex terms and conditions attached to the loans. The loans had a non-monitoring and evaluation process making it vulnerable to corruption and misappropriation.

Analysts maintain that the fund, like the land reform programme, was used to win the young peoples support for Zanu PF.

Leakages were created in the vetting process being done by partisan departments. Youth proposals at district level were vetted by youth officers who were former youth militia. At provincial level those who would have made it were vetted by personal assistants who are party of the state machinery, by the time the bank is given the final list a lot of corrupt activities would have preceded the final choice and the bank has no say, independent political analyst Sydney Chisi noted.

The fund is not an empowering tool but a perpetual dependency model where the funds given to the youth are so small all they can do is to spend it. Youth are given a maximum of $5 000 which cannot run any effective project. But some politically linked youth were being given more than $20 000 which was never paid back.

Zimbabwe National Students Association (Zinasu) national spokesperson, Zivai Mhetu, said misappropriation, abuse of funds and loosely knit policies could all be attributed to corruption.

As a result of the abuse of funds by both the beneficiaries and the government officials the empowerment program failed to transform the lives of many youth in Zimbabwe, he said in a statement.

He said through the youth empowerment fund, the government deliberately failed to transform the lives of young people in the country as many youth did not understand business and financial management hence their businesses collapsed in infancy.

The government should be held accountable through the minister of youth. The way in which the funds were disbursed had no clear protocol or procedure which was supposed to be followed in order to avoid the abuse of funds. In this abuse I would blame the minister of youth for his negligence, he said.

Chisi noted that looting of the youth fund was part of Zimbabwes corrupt governance culture and from the look of things will continue for as long as the funding is associated with elections.

The refusal by the former ministers of youth Saviour Kasukuwere and Francis Nhema to arrest all the fund defaulters clearly shows that this fund is partisan and creates a culture of patronage making the system ungovernable.

See the rest here:

Youth disillusioned as empowerment fund is looted - NewsDay

Pramod Varma, the chief architect and technology adviser for ID project Aadhaar, is also an adviser to the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the company that has built the technology to enable the rollout of the new tax. A quintessential technocrat, Varma wears several hats: he is CTO, EkStep, a not-for-profit creating a tech-enabled platform to improve literacy; adviser to the National Payments Corporation of India; and architect, IndiaStack, a set of APIs aimed at leveraging Aadhaar, Indias ambitious citizen ID project, to solve the countrys real world problems. Varma is also on the boards of several technology startups.

FactorDaily caught up with Varma to understand the technology behind the GST regime, the power of data, and Indias data privacy law. Edited excerpts:

Q: We are going from a data poor country to a data-rich country. On the personal side it is Aadhaar and on the business side it is GST Networks which is enabling data richness. What are the ramifications GST specifically has for the future of data and its use in India?

A: One of the unfortunate things that happened in the United States or the developed western society is the concentration of data with one or two companies or the government. No one else benefits out of that. I am hoping the data laws that India is creating is not just about data protection, but also about data empowerment. Law should ensure it empowers individuals or SMEs and ensure right to access ones data. If it is only about protection, we will end up with black boxes of data sources! It is useless. Instead, individuals and SMEs should be able to build their digital assets through accessing their data resulting from digital participation.

Law should ensure it empowers individuals or SMEs and ensure right to access ones data. If it is only about protection, we will end up with black boxes of data sources

Aggregate data is hugely valuable in this age of big data and machine learning. The use of that data will remain locked within the entity keeping the data. Even if they protect it from theft etc, they will still use the data and insights derived from it. Thats what companies like Facebook and Google are doing. Billions of dollars are at stake there for them.

I sometimes fear that we have so much of public discourse on data protection that we will have a protection law and not an empowerment law. If any entity holds any data against yours or my identity, it must be clearly said that it is co-owned. That means, by ones right to access their own data, these entities should give machine readable data back to users which people can use it to get access to various services. So, the footprints that you leave behind will become useful to you.

Also read: Turning the debate on Indias data protection laws

The discourse should not be against digitisation, because we cant go back to the dark ages, you know. Then you shouldnt have internet, you shouldnt have mobile phones. Point is, can India leapfrog in data regime with both protection and empowerment given equal weightage? That is a powerful way of empowering people to participate in digital system, behave well, and earn digital assets!

I sometimes fear that we have so much of public discourse on data protection that we will have a protection law and not an empowerment law

If SMEs and companies cannot take advantage of their own GST data, machine readable and digitally signed for higher trust, for getting better lending rates or invoice discounting and manage their cash flow, we would have created just a tax filing system which is necessary but not sufficient.

GST will be a very powerful system and enable positive incentives if the overarching data empowerment factor comes in. Otherwise GST may become a one-sided tax payment system. I am hopeful India will get it right.

Q: Havent countries like China made use of that system? Because Alibaba the commerce data was available. Credit systems were developed.

A: Not for the people in terms of using their data outside Alibaba ecosystem. Where is Alibaba or Amazon giving back the data? Even most of our banks do not give us digitally signed machine readable data, instead they give PDF or unsigned Excel sheet that no other entity trusts. By the way, some have started doing it which is great. EU is getting their PSD2 (revised payment service directive) implementation soon which will force banks to provide data. So, companies like Alibaba or Amazon or Facebook or Google are surely using the data to provide further services within their closed system and keep the users locked in.

Q: As an adviser to the GSTN, what are some of the technology issues that you had to address?

A:The concept of the tax system as an Open API-based platform is the biggest thing that we were able to bring to this system. From the tax department perspective, a portal is sufficient. Go to the portal and file taxes, no? Upload your excel or pdf and youre done. The tax system is a just a vertical closed solution, right? And we were saying no. The platform you are building has to be open for further innovation and empowerment of taxpayers. While aportal is needed, it needs to be built on its own APIs.

Now, the GSTN has a tax payer authentication API, as a derivative of the tax filing system! You can do a KYC on a company with nothing to do with tax! Lets say you want to give a loan to a company, or you want to sign up as a petrol bunk merchant or something. Today, how do you do KYC? Its enormously costly, pretty much paper based and low trust. How do you know the people representing the company is indeed authenticated? Today, everyone takes all the paperwork and redoes all these checks, which is avoidable repeated cost. With the GSTN API, you can do this because you already have a GSTN ID and people who are signatories of the company have their IDs are attached so you can actually authenticate a company.

The GSTN system is expected to handle 3-4 billion invoices every month each having 100 to 200 line items. Unlike Aadhaar, GST is going to be a big bang rollout and not a gradual one

The second big influence we could bring in is build vs buy. Generally in any large system like this there is this question. Should we just buy a system and customise? Here at the GSTN, we said we will build because anyway you wont get what you want (if you buy). And you have some heavily customised product that you have no control over because you dont have the source code or the intellectual property. How can you build a national, critical infrastructure where control of the IP and source code is not with you? So we said, it has to be built and it has to be built using open source.

The third one was about using open source to build. So it was also very much debated. When we put out the RFP saying open source be used, there were enough complaints! Thankfully we had a good strong committee. In addition, MeitY policy already articulates this clearly.

Q: How are APIs going to help?

A: Its a fundamental belief. People like us who build digital infrastructure believe that a solution in a box is never possible in a large diverse country like ours. We cannot have one guy saying that I know the solution, heres my app, and it solves all the worlds healthcare problems or education problems. We must always take an infrastructure building view especially when building public goods. Open APIs are fundamental for creating well encapsulated building blocks that others can use to further build specific solutions.

The GSTN has done the right thing in building APIs first and then building portal which works off the same APIs. Ecosystem partners who are building products for SMEs etc can also get access to these APIs and allow end users to use their app

In the case of GST, how can we expect one portal will serve the needs of very large companies as well as small SMEs? That too with different language skills, different technology needs, etc. The GSTN has done the right thing in building APIs first and then building portal which works off the same APIs. Ecosystem partners who are building products for SMEs etc can also get access to these APIs and allow end users to use their app. For example, if one small SME is using MS Word to create invoices, it should be as easy for them to upload those invoices right from MS Office to the GSTN. Tax filing should be integral part of doing business and not as a painful, costly extra process.

It is also based on the belief that you can never build an app that fits all. For a small SME sitting in a small town in Tamil Nadu may need a much simpler app on her mobile in Tamil. How can you say the same portal should also work for a large company having millions of invoices? It is unfair to expect government to build many apps. While there is a common portal to get started, we must let entrepreneurs build specific solutions to meet the needs of people.

Q: If you look at India right now, theres this whole digital revolution thats happening. How do see this playing out and data tying into this?

A: Again, I just want to say keep it simple. Its not confusing. Do we have a choice not to digitise? In my opinion, whether we like it or not, internet and mobile phones and digital platforms are here to stay. When this happens, there is an explosion at which digital footprints are created, every interaction is creating a digital footprint. Unfortunately if we do not design the systems and laws correctly, this data will stay very concentrated with few entities. That should never happen. I think India has the golden opportunity to fix that upfront.

Q: The technology sophistication of Aadhaar and GST is enterprise class. What are the main features?

A: Within the Aadhaar system, 600 million plus authentications are done every month now. A billion plus people are already in the database. The GSTN system is expected to handle three-four billion invoices every month each having 100 to 200 line items. Unlike Aadhaar, GST is going to be a big bang rollout and not a gradual one.

For such scale and national critical systems, reliability of the system is very important. Its about having a failure resilience within all components of the system. Most important, its about the re-factorability of the system. That means, knowing that you will not get everything right in the beginning, how do you constantly re-factor so that years later you still have an evolving system. You dont want an ageing system. You want a system that can easily adapt and evolve.

Most important, its about the re-factorability of the system. That means, knowing that you will not get everything right in the beginning, how do you constantly re-factor so that years later you still have an evolving system

When you say enterprise class, for me, its about reliability, well designed security, resilience to failure knowing failure happens, and most importantly re-factorability. Then there are the obvious must have features such as scalability, traceability etc.

Q: In your opinion, what are the constituents of digital india? Not the government program called Digital India, but what are the constituents of India as a digital nation? What are the blocks?

A: I think, there are primarily three parts to it. One is the physical infrastructure, the connectivity. All that falls into that bucket. National fibre network, telcos expanding 4G network, TRAIs initiative on public WiFi, etc. are all part of that.

The second one is a software stack that will allow a billion people and millions of companies to digitally interact seamlessly with low cost and high trust. So the real question about India Stack was not about anything else. It was about creating shared infrastructure on which inclusive services can easily be built in a cost effective fashion. These days, with India Stack, a bank or MFI can now effectively offer their services to much wider use base without high cost. Otherwise, everybody has to build their own vertical stack, right? Does anyone write a web server anymore? I wrote a web server in 1995. Its stupid to write a web server these days. Why? Because of commoditisation of infrastructure layers.

Also read: To pay or not to pay GST, mull bloggers, app developers. Theres no escaping it, say experts

What is commoditisation really? Creating shared infrastructure. So that you and I dont have to write a database or web server anymore. We have to do it at scale. So,the digital software stack is a shared infrastructure that allows very easy assemblage or solutioning. People who build solutions can assemble something much faster and cheaper today than 10 years ago.

The third part of Digital India is digital literacy. Thats huge and necessary for a country like India. Its about literacy, awareness, behaviour, thinking whats right and whats wrong. Physical society evolved over centuries. But, we dont have centuries unfortunately, with the digital world. Its happening in a decade. I am afraid there is no simple answer but to constantly evolve!

Disclosure: FactorDaily is owned by SourceCode Media, which counts Accel Partners, Blume Ventures and Vijay Shekhar Sharma among its investors. Accel Partners is an early investor in Flipkart. Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the founder of Paytm. None of FactorDailys investors have any influence on its reporting about Indias technology and startup ecosystem.

Here is the original post:

India's top tech architect talks about the tech behind GST, data empowerment - FactorDaily

As the retirement wave continues among Baby Boomers, the commercial real estate sector is grappling with its graying workforce.

According to the Institute of Real Estate Management, the average age of a property manager is 52, and many real estate professionals are in their 40s and 50s. Facing that reality, folks responsible for attracting and retaining workers in commercial real estate recognize that theyve got to woo Millennials in order to keep their businesses running. After all, Millennials now make up the largest generational share of the American workforce.

Yet recruiting Millennials to work in the commercial real estate sectoror any other sector, for that mattergoes well beyond serving free lunch, providing unlimited vacation or lavishing other cool perks on them.

Fortune magazine recently released its ranking of the 100 best workplaces for Millennials, and several employers in the commercial real estate sphere appear on the list. NREI reached out to executives at three of the winning companiesConcord Hospitality Enterprises, Transwestern and Walker & Dunlopto find out why their workplaces are Millennial magnets and what lessons you can learn from these employers.

Transwestern

Fortune ranking: 38

Larry Heard, CEO of Houston-based commercial real estate services company Transwestern, believes that shining a light on Transwesterns mission is critical to recruiting and retaining Millennials.

We go to great lengths to make sure that any new employeewhich would include the Millennial workershas a very clear understanding of our mission and our vision as a firm, so they can personally buy into that, he says. Thats an important aspect of the decision-making tree that the Millennials go through when theyre discerning the best company to work for.

Once theyre working for Transwestern, Millennials are encouraged to get involved in young professionals groups at the companys major offices. That and other efforts are designed to cultivate personal empowerment, innovation and teamwork.

In trying to entice Millennial workers, Transwestern also hosts holiday parties, year-round social events, wellness activities, one-on-one mentoring and training and skill development courses.

Every Millennial is unique, however, so workers in this age group cant be lumped together and treated exactly the same. One may appreciate social activities in the workplace, while another may gravitate toward personal development opportunities.

Its hard to paint all of the Millennials with a single brush stroke, so I would not fall into some of the misnomers that are out there that may exist about a Millennial worker, Heard says.

Recruiting tactics that were prevalent, say, 20 years ago wont necessarily work with Millennials, he notes.

When trying to hire Millennials, I do believe that the things you stand for as a firm do need to be fully appreciated and [need to] check a lot of the boxes that they have when theyre going through the process of determining where they want to work, Heard says.

Concord Hospitality Enterprises

Fortune ranking: 81

Raleigh, N.C.-based Concord, a hotel developer, owner and operator, treats each employeenot just Millennialslike a customer, says Debra Punke, senior vice president of human capital.

The experience from hire to retire is essential to Millennials, and if you are thoughtful about each interaction, they will join your team and stick around, Punke says.

Millennials want to stick around at Concord because theyre energized by the companys purpose-driven nature, she says. These workers are drawn to employers that have crafted a well-articulated mission that resonates inside and outside the workplace, according to Punke.

Millennials want to be affiliated with an employer who cares about giving back to the communities where they live and work, she says. They want to be part of a company who has a greater purpose and impact.

From what Punke has observed, some employers in commercial real estate are failing to attract Millennial workers because they are all about the business.

Its high-pressure and only the results matter. They are not purpose-driven, she adds.

Punke says Concord fosters a work environment that appeals to Millennials in four key areas:

CharityConcord enables employees to engage in fundraisers, volunteer projects and other charitable endeavors. Over the past decade, employees have raised $750,000, served more than 2 million meals, refurbished a dozen homes and donated 17,000 volunteer hours, Punke says.

FunConcord employees recognize and support each other in a variety of ways, according to Punke. She says Concord wants its workers to have fun in all that they do.

SustainabilityAmong other things, Concord builds green hotels, repurposes soap and shampoo into bars of soap for vulnerable kids around the world and diverts tons of waste from landfills.

WellnessOn-site fitness centers and virtual competitions are among the tools that Concord uses to promote mental, physical and emotional wellness in the workforce.

We believe if you take care of them, they will take care of the customers and the profit will flow, Punke notes.

Walker & Dunlop

Fortune ranking: 83

Millennials who join Walker & Dunlop, a Bethesda, Md.-based provider of commercial real estate financing, find a number of opportunities to flourish professionally.

For instance, Walker & Dunlop sponsors a high potential program for employees who have been with the company for a few years and have established a track record of success, according to PaulaPryor, senior vice president of human resources.

In that program, a manager identifies someone whos got the potential to rise through the ranks over the next five years and nominates that person to participate, Pryor says. Every year, executives pick 10 high potential employees for the program. Over the course of a year, each participant learns how to polish presentation, leadership and teambuilding skills; shadows a member of the management team; and collaborates on a corporate initiative.

Additionally, Pryor says, the company strives to help Millennials carve out a career path, which includes consideration for in-house promotions.

She notes that more than 40 percent of Walker & Dunlops workforce consists of Millennials.

Not only do we place a strong emphasis on learning, opportunities for growth and recognition, but we also insist on having funwho doesnt love that? she notes.

Read more here:

Why Are These CRE Companies Magnets for Millennials? - National Real Estate Investor

Photo provided by author. All rights reserved.

Paid domestic work is not recognised in my country, neither socially nor economically. This absence of recognition is experienced by thousands of women who do this type of work, and the valorisation that we receive or lack thereof is reflected in the terms used to describe our work.

The terms that are usually used for people doing paid domestic work are often pejorative. For example, servidumbre (servitude), is a term that originated in feudalism and whose meaning doesnt correspond to the notion of workers as subjects of law. Another term commonly used is domstica (domestic), which evokes the treatment of animals that are tamed to live in peoples homes.

For these reasons, a few years ago, we began insisting on being called domestic workers, as this term reflects that we are indeed subjects of law. However, our recognition as workers should not only be reflected in our designation, but must also manifest in concrete ways on both social and economic levels. In other words, we would like our work to be seen in the same way as any other type of work.

I am one of over two million domestic workers in the country, which represents 10% of women currently employed in Mexico without employment benefits or social security. And today, through this text, I want to claim my rights and those of my compaeras.

Defending my rights as a domestic worker has been a process of building awareness, surmounting obstacles, and personal empowerment.

When I was a girl, I lived experiences that marked my life: poverty and the lack of opportunities, including the opportunity to study. But these were also the factors that allowed me to make important decisions for my life in the future.

At the age of ten, my father sent me to work for a family so that I could continue my studies. However, my heavy workload meant that I worked far more than I was able to study, and the opportunity of having an education became more distant each day.

At the age of 14, I left Oaxaca, my state of origin, to move to Mexico City, a city as big as it was diverse and rife with discrimination. Working in peoples homes was my only option, since I was a minor and had progressed very little in my studies, a constraint that remains common for many women in our country. In fact, female domestic workers have an average of two to three years less education than the rest of the employed population and begin working as domestic workers when they are minors in many cases.

While I abandoned my dreams, I committed myself to taking care of children, keeping houses clean and organised, having breakfast ready, and waiting for my patrones (employers) with a set table and fresh food. This is what all my days looked like for many years: I took care of lawyers, legislators, teachers, feminists, and public workers, and ironically, they did not take my rights seriously. Many of them were afraid that I would leave them. They told me I was like family, and yet would give me leftovers to eat or demanded that I wear a uniform. They would go on vacation, but left me behind to work, since that was when the house had to be cleaned or the piled up work had to be done.

They told me I was like family, and yet would give me leftovers to eat or demanded that I wear a uniform.

In this field of work, affective relationships often blur the lines between labour and voluntary acts of goodwill, but what we seek are working relationships based on mutual respect.

Psychologically, many domestic workers experience blackmail from employers who dont want them to leave. This is especially true when it comes to childcare, since we establish very close relationships with the children, which might in turn make us accept mistreatment from the parents.

Not only did I abandon my dreams and the security of my surroundings, I also experienced racial and class discrimination, as well as exploitation and low salaries because of my age.

But one day, as a teenager, I decided to free my dreams from inside the four walls of a house. Not because the job was indecent, but because I felt I needed to strive towards my goals, regardless of my young age. Many of my compaeras live in conditions of marginalisation and exploitation, with little value given to their labour and to their person.

I realised that domestic work, which remains undervalued and invisible to many, is valuable for workers, but also for employers. It was not the act of caring for an employer that reduced my dignity or violated my rights as a person and a worker, but rather the way most of us have been and continue to be treated. So I learned to claim those rights and seek out dignified work conditions.

I wanted to break barriers and convince other domestic workers, employers, and the government that dignified work and regulation is everyones responsibility and that we must be protected and supported by a just and fair legal framework. So I decided to become a human rights activist after having been discriminated against, mistreated, and exploited as a domestic worker for over 20 years.

Since the age of 29, I have been a part of the Conlactraho foundation, which serves as a trade union school. I served as general secretary there 18 years after its creation, taking up diverse roles in which I had the opportunity to participate in the creation of ILO Convention 189 on domestic workers. I also had the great opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from other continents in the creation of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF). In 2000, I founded the Centro de Apoyo y Capacitacin para Empleadas del Hogar (CACEH), with the goal of creating an alternative space for implementing strategies for the recognition of domestic workers rights and to strengthen the collective organisation for social dialogue at a national level. Until December 2016, I was Latin America's regional coordinator for the IDWF.

This fight has not been an easy process but it has been very satisfying and challenging to bring domestic workers issues into the public agenda. This is because while the public sphere is destined for men, the private sphere is usually destined for women, and often comes with problems of discrimination, mistreatment, abuse, exploitation, and in some cases, child labour.

I had the great opportunity to represent domestic workers in the debates that took place in the ILO in Geneva, Switzerland for the creation of Convention 189, which was approved on 16 June 2011 and whose ratification in Mexico is currently but a governmental promise. While the government appears to be open to ratifying this convention, they do not seem willing to incorporate any of its stipulations into existing Mexican laws.

We aim to dignify the work of the 2.4 million domestic workers and we are convinced that we will be heard.

We now have a collective national organisation where workers can exercise their individual and collective rights, thanks to the creation of the first national domestic workers union in Mexicos history, which is a monumental advancement. These rights include autonomy, collective agreements, and the right to strike or protest if a worker experiences a rights violation, for example, by being fired without justification. This came as the result of more than 15 years of struggle from our sector, which has been socially invisible.

We aim to dignify the work of the 2.4 million domestic workers and we are convinced that we will be heard. This is why we promote the ratification of Convention 189, which will allow for millions of domestic workers to leave their informal conditions and have the ability to exercise their rights as workers, to be recognised and to access justice.

We dont want any of our domestic workers to experience injustices or for any employer to go through complicated procedures if they want to register their employees with social security, as there are currently no appropriate paths to do so.

Due to the lack of legislation in Mexico to protect domestic workers and as a way to support the ratification of Convention 189, we consistently execute a campaign called Ponte los guantes por los derechos de las trabajadoras del hogar!, which translates to Put your gloves on for the rights of domestic workers!

Our struggle reached an international level and the domestic workers of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are united today through the IDWF, with the mission to turn our rights into a reality.

During the entire process of creating the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras del Hogar (SINACTRAHO) which counted more than 100 members when it was established in 2015 community support has been fundamental. This includes other unions, feminist and human rights organisations as well as the employers collective Hogar Justo Hogar, an organisation that was formed recently to raise awareness about how improving the work and life conditions of domestic workers can also benefit employers and society as a whole.

Many of you are employers of domestic workers. After reading these lines, I urge you to call us domestic workers, as we are subjects of law. And I want to invite you to reflect about our labour, which was perhaps invisible to you up until now, because this is an issue that affects all of us.

Ponte los guantes por los derechos de las trabajadoras del hogar!

Put your gloves on for the rights of domestic workers!

A previous version of this piece was published in Spanish at La Silla Rota.

View original post here:

The work is not undignified, but how you treat domestic workers is - Open Democracy

Last week, Hardin United Methodist Church held its Vacation Bible School. The school convened from 5:30 through 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday nights.

According to Pastor Gideon Watson, the theme of this year's VBS was "Hero Central: Discover your strength in God. The message is that Jesus Christ is the greatest hero, and that every person can be a hero by developing a personal relationship with Jesus."

The entire campus was transformed into a superhero zone. Capes shields and arm cuffs were made for each student or anyone who wished to wear them each day. The concept did get through to the children. The place was swarming with heroes of all sizes and shapes and colors. If questioned,even the smallest would pipe out with, "I'm a superhero!"

Daily schedule included class rotation for courses such as Bible lessons, science,crafts, story time and short skits in which characters acted out real life conflicts which could be resolved by applying biblical principles such as the Beatitudes.One of the actorsbore a striking resemblance to a familiar figure.

Included in the day was an assembly led by Assistant Pastor Klint Bush dressed in fire fighter gear. Under his tutelage,the kids were energetic and enthusiastic. His sidekick, the dancing,singing, guitar playing puppet, was a show all her own.

Another one-woman show was found in the person of Marcie Alford. She served as narrator, actress, Clark Kent in that fabulous way that only she can achieve. She was marvelous and undaunted.

Director Kim Bush,and her family members,Linda Brandl,and her team begin working on VBS many months ahead of time. Says Bush,"The success of our VBSis directly related to the hard work of everybody working. I'm grateful."

The church runs a bus that goes into the Knight's Forest neighborhood and other areas of the community. Assistant Pastor Klint Bush attributes the highattendance at the VBS to the bus. "We decided," he added,"to make VBS our outreach program. It has been successful. We do all we can at the church on the hill." The bus also runs every Sunday morning. Laura Yarbrough is the most efficient bus driver and she also served as a team leader for VBS. The bus offers hope for those without transportation. The youth were taken to camp last week; provided by the church.

This Christian Superdelegation dined sumptuously each night.

Monday night,the adults ate gumbo and the children had chicken nuggets. Everyone had hot dogs Tuesday. It was spaghetti all around on Wednesday night. Thursday, the final evening of VBS, Bro. Cecil Godwin fried up some down home mouth watering catfish, fries, and hush puppiesfor the grown ups and the children had fish sticks. The parade of desserts was endless each day. Robin Allen served as hostess for adults. Carrie Yarbrough and a team provided for the kids. All were dressed in superhero gear.

As a special treat, for the family and friends night on Friday,the church hosted TEAM IMPACT. Keenan Smith of Crosby Church and Franklin Harris performed incredible physical feats while testifying to the power of their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The superheroes clapped and cheered the two big guys on as they ripped a phone book into shreds, broke a baseball bat across their own back, rolled an iron skillet into the size of a burrito and more.

Members of the Hardin Volunteer Fire Department visited the VBS Tuesday. Wednesday,Liberty County Sheriff Deputy Brett Audilett and the drug dog Chance came for a presentation.

Every child was given a Bible. They were encouraged to open them in good times and bad times, and read them in order to know how to live.

Read the rest here:

Empowerment on Hardin hill - Liberty Vindicator