Monday, July 22, 2013

My Thoughts On ‘Child’ Marriage




 Did you know that one in three women between the ages of 20 to 24 globally were first married before they even turned 18. Also in developing countries, 90 per cent of births to adolescents aged 15-19 are to married girls, and pregnancy-related complications are the leading cause of death for girls in this age group.

What is the Solution? Education. The United Nations has urged Nigerian government to protect the girl child from early marriage and abuse by enrolling girls in schools to enable them “build a foundation for a better life for themselves and their families.”
~ Nigerians Report Online


My Thoughts On ‘Child’ Marriage  

~ By Dr. Peregrino Brimah

Senate proceeding was about renunciation and not child marriage

Firstly, it is important to correct an outrageous error that spread as fast as bad news is know to, all over the Nigerian media and blogosphere. The senate proceedings on child marriage were actually not about child marriage. Section 29 is in respect to the right of a married lady no matter how young, to be empowered "of age," to take important decisions like renunciation of her citizenship, if she so desires--to seek foreign asylum for instance. Being "of age" after a legal marriage is global legislative setting which proffers on the individual various rights and abilities to make decisions and choices to be respected by all parties and the state, as well as entitlements. Marriage must first have occurred legally and the topic of marriage age and requirements is not covered under section 29 in view.



Age of marriage in America

The United States is by no means a standard for Nigeria's legal decisions or considerations, however for a robust conversation, I will like to point out the ages of marriage in various states in America. In all states, to marry without parental and/or court consent, the minimal age is 18. But, with parental and in some cases, additional family court consent, the ages of marriage are rather interesting and will be a cause of grief for Nigerian senators and the media, no doubt: New York has the minimum being 14 years. North Carolina allows marriage at 14 years too. South Carolina sets it at 14 for females and 16 for males. And New Hampshire sets their minimum age of marriage at 13 years.


But it gets more interesting. In several states, there is actually no legal minimum age of marriage. Nigerians will say, 'so you can marry at one year old?' Yes, so it appears in the United States--with court approval, theoretically you can. Washington state, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Texas and Rhode Island states set no minimum age of marriage for Americans. Once you can get court approval, you can marry in these states, regardless of your biological age. This information is freely available online. This website carries it:http://www.usmarriagelaws.com/search/united_states/teen_marriage_laws/

Who is a child?

This is the next relevant question in this essay. The phrase, 'child marriage,' is notably unpleasant. So we will summarily discuss who a child is. There are two markers for the defining of who a child is.
Western/UN: According to the United Nations (UN), a child is "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". Thus, the UN defines child based on the 'age of majority,' which is set by the state. Age of majority, as opposed to 'minority,' or being a minor, is an age limit set by countries usually ‘18,' by which time minors have assumed the legal rights of adults.


Biological/Cultural: According to medical science and biology, as well as from a traditional and cultural perspective, an adult is anyone who has attained puberty. Puberty is defined as physical and social maturity, based on hormonal changes and their related effects on the individual. This is called 'Biological adulthood.'


The day I hit puberty, I stopped being a child
As can be expected, Western/UN adulthood hardly ever correspond with biological/traditional adulthood. One, the former is strictly based on years and does not consider the physical attributes of the individual, whereas the later, Biological adulthood, considers the attributes and development of the individual on a case basis. From an economic stand point, the former, Western/UN adulthood based on set age of majority, is more easy to regulate, as it will limit assessments needed to check individual by individual, the physiological and social maturity as the later demands. With this understanding, we get an insight into the rules of marriage in the United States. The approval for minors (children) is granted by a court which evaluates biological maturity, as these states in America do not subject themselves to the adult age regulations of the Western/UN maturity 'age of majority.'
It is also important to mention at this stage, that the UN strictly in a big-brotherly manner, watches and criticizes developing nations who utilize similar methods as the United States does, not relying devotedly on the global UN recommended age of majority set point, simply because we, Africans for instance are not mature, and our health care system can not cope with nutrition related complications of biological maturity marriageability determination. This leads us to the next aspect:

VVF (Vesico-Vaginal Fistulae)

Does early marriage predispose to VVF? The surprising answer is no, not anymore than living in Russia causes rickets. Early marriage and pregnancy does not cause fistulas unless you are malnourished and in a third world country with poor health care. The United States is developed world leader in teen pregnancies. With up to 500,000 teen pregnancies per year and over 4000 pregnancies at age 12, the United States should have some of the highest VVF rates in the world, but not so. VVF is not a problem in America, this is because of nutrition and good health care. Consequently, the UN does not breath down their necks. See:http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_tee_pre-health-teenage-pregnancy



VVF arises as a result of obstructed labor due to multiple causes, either due to Cephalo Pelvic Disproportion CPD (“the baby is too big and/or the pelvis too narrow”) or Malposition (“the baby comes the wrong way” – ex. transverse or oblique):

A study from Nigeria found that more than 30% of the fistula patients were younger than 16 years of age. These women usually have had just 1 pregnancy. In Ethiopia, more than 60% of the fistulas seen are a result of a woman's first delivery.As mentioned previously, these women are usually isolated and have limited support. Another study from Nigeria found that 80% of fistula patients had been abandoned and 60% were divorced or separated. An overwhelming number of these women are uneducated. One report from Nigeria found that 99.4% of the fistula patients were illiterate. In another report of 1443 patients who underwent surgery for vesico-vaginal fistulas, only 3 had received any conventional education. As a result, these women maintain a subordinate position in society. They are often excluded from decision making, even decision making about their own health. As noted by Zacharin, "in an unequal world, these women are the most unequal among the unequal."


Another factor is the lack of skilled obstetric providers in the developing world. It has been said that the incidence of obstetric fistulas is a direct indicator of quality obstetric care in an area. It is easy to understand that Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of obstetrical fistulas, considering the fact that there are more Ethiopian doctors in New York City than in Ethiopia. Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/455965_4


A very important study of Fistulas at the Aira fistula Hospital, in Ethiopia had this to say: Even if all marriages and first time pregnancies could be delayed until whatever age, even if malnutrition could be prevented and female circumcision eradicated, there would still be a lot of new fistula patients.


One has to focus on the fact that the one and only cause for a fistula is lack of competent nearby obstetrical service. Everything else is of no or minor importance. If only every woman in labor had access to obstetrical service, so that a caesarean section could be performed within four hours after the delivery gets complicated, there would be no fistulas occurring.


Ref CNN http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/14...ath/index.html
Yemeni girl, 12, dies in painful childbirth "Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.
contd....
Remember that some hundred years ago fistulas were as common in the west world as it is in Ethiopia today. Only when trained midwifes and hospitals with surgical service became generally available in the west world, the incidence of fistulas decreased, and is now unheard of. Teen-age pregnancies are not very uncommon in the developed world, certainly not in the USA (where you even have religious sects practicing polygamy, child marriage and child pregnancies) but VVF/RVF are extremely rare due to the fact that good obstetrical service is at hand, and no obstructed labor goes unattended for a longer period.


Another important fact to keep in mind is that more than 50% of the fistula patients in Ethiopia are multipara (have already delivered one or more children), so it is certainly not exclusively young first time pregnants who are victims of VVF/RVF.


Any midwife who has seen a large third degree tear (a tear involving the rectum) in an otherwise normal delivery will understand that the soft tissues can never cause any major obstruction to delivery. The expelling forces are simply too powerful. That is why female circumcision, even in its most extreme form, is not related to fistula. Some years ago a Swedish gynecologist published her result of comparing the second stage (the time from start of pushing to the delivery of the child) in circumcised and uncircumcised women. Very surprisingly she found that the second stage was shorter in circumcised women!


Only when good obstetrical service is generally available, are fistulas prevented.
So we easily appreciate the problem in Africa. Poor health care, and postponing pregnancy is a quick and cheap fix to this serious problem. In rural areas, the prevalence rate is said to be higher due to inadequacy of facilities for pre and post-natal care. In such areas, long distances combined with high cost of care; ignorance and poor nutrition make women more vulnerable to VVF.


Causes of VVF could be direct or indirect:
Direct causes of VVF - The main and direct cause of VVF is ‘unrelieved’ obstructed labour. This means that in an ideal situation, where there are health facilities to prevent obstructed labour, and where pregnancy has been monitored during the course of at least 6 months before the onset of labour, the likelihood of obstructed labour is minimised. Other factors that influence the incidence of VVF include accidental surgical injury related to pregnancy, and crude attempts at induced abortion.


Surgical procedures that cause VVF are of two types. The first, orthodox medical accidental injury, which refers to injury caused to the bladder during surgical obstetric procedures performed within a formal/modern health care system, such as a hospital. Such procedures include Caesarean sections and difficult forceps deliveries.
The second are traditional procedures commonly employed during pregnancy and labour, and sometimes result not only to VVF, but also haemorrhage and sepsis. Examples include female genital mutilation (FGM), ‘Gishiri’ and ‘Angurya’ cuts.


In conclusion, fistula's are related to young pregnancy due to social constraints, including poor nutrition, poor perinatal --cum-- obstetric care and social abandonment, and not due to the 'age factor,' itself. If these confounders are resolved, there will be minimal to nil incidence of fistulas in the young. Due to the irresponsibility of our men, however, setting age limits and possibly even banning marriage altogether for some men is understandable.

Historical and Cultural perspective: Coming of Age

From a traditional point of view, there was never a magic bullet age (18) as obtains today-- implemented by the colonial master. Traditionally in African and Judea-Christian cultures, at puberty a man or woman was deemed mature. However, to further protect the individual, certain social exercises were conducted to determine and prove the individual was ready for manhood, or womanhood as the case may be. This is called the 'coming of age' ceremony. It included strenuous tasks and contests the boy had to overcome, to become a man, and likewise the girl. Youth stood and endeared painful lashes of a cow tail, jumped bulls, climbed heights and jumped down and other rigorous tests to prove at puberty that the individual was ready to be a man or woman.
Westernization largely wiped away these traditional methods of adulthood determination. Coming of age ceremonies are native to all extremes of the world, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Korea, Taiwan, South Africa.
Biblically, the same are called the Bar and Bat Mitzvah for boys and girls. After completing the bar or Bat Mitzvah, the Jewish child is now an adult man.
In Christianity, though the exact age is not known, based on Jewish culture the age at which Mary had Jesus is put somewhere between 12-16 years.
The Protevangelion of James, a rare Biblical book from the 'Lost gospels:'
CHAPTER 8: 2 And when she was twelve years old, there was a council of the priests, saying: Behold Mary is become twelve years old in the temple of the Lord. What then shall we do with her ? lest she pollute the sanctuary of the Lord. And they said unto the high priest: Thou standest over the altar of the Lord. Enter in and pray concerning her: And whatsoever the Lord shall reveal to thee, that let us do.
CHAPTER 8: 1 And Joseph cast down his adze and ran to meet them, and when they were gathered together they went to the high priest and took their rods with them. And he took the rods of them all and went into the temple and prayed. And when he had finished the prayer he took the rods and went forth and gave them back to them: and there was no sign upon them. But Joseph received the last rod: and 1o, a dove came forth of the rod and flew upon the bead of Joseph. And the priest said unto Joseph: Unto thee hath it fallen to take the virgin of the Lord and keep her for thyself. 2 And Joseph refused, saying: I have sons, and I am an old man, but she is a girl: lest I became a laughing-stock to the children of Israel.
The Catholic encyclopedia supports this age estimate ( http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm), Bible gateway, a popular Christian Biblical information source online also suggests this age range for the old Joseph and young Mary: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/When-Virgin-Gave-Birth
Considering the importance and advantage of coming of age, over UN dates. A person can be 19 and too immature to marry, whereas a 16 year old Fulani cattle rearer, may be so physically and socially mature and developed, delaying him will be meaningless and risky.

Coming of Age ceremonies around the world

CHINA
TAIWAN
"...Twenty years ago I consulted with elders about the meaning of the 'coming-of-age' ceremony. They said that the two-day ceremony was part of the 10-day harvest festivities. Rituals dedicated for men and women were separately held in two days during the festival. There was also a special ceremony to test if the young people were able and mature enough to become adults... whether they had experienced life in the forest and if they were able to form families and start careers. A cultural tradition was thus established...."
NATIVE AMERICA
SOUTH AFRICA
PUYUMA
ETHIOPIA

Islam

In Islam, sexual puberty is the delineating factor in marriage. Once a woman is biologically mature and the social experts determine her mature, with her consent and the consent of her parents, she can be married off. It must be pointed out that there is no forced marriage in Islam, the young lady must agree. Case to note in Islam is the report of the prophet marrying/being bethrothed to Aisha at age six, and the marriage being officiated at age 9--though the age is debated ( http://www.muslim.org/islam/aisha-age.htm). Though these ages can not be certified, what must be realized by Muslims and non Muslims alike is the condition in which the marriage was consummated. See: http://newsrescue.com/prophet-mohammed-of-islams-young-wife-aisha-was-mature/

Maturity of Aisha

Aisha stated of the occasion of her marriage:
The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl. We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a young girl.
What happened? - She lost her hair.
What was the remedy?- No treatment, maybe water on her face and gentle reassurance
And what was the outcome- It rectified it self. Her hair re-grew!
It is self explanatory that the hair loss she made sure to mention in that hadith, served the purpose of informing that maturity was essential before man and woman can consummate.
Reversible hair-loss being a traditionally recognized sign of puberty.
Here is the modern medical assertion/confirmation of  pubertal hair loss-
"…Female hair loss can first show up at puberty. However, this may be due to normal hormonal changes and it invariably rectifies itself…." http://www.buzzle.com/articles/female-hairloss/
“..The very first signs of the effects of androgens on scalp hair growth occur soon after puberty, which is the stage in the human life when the reproductive organs reach maturity. In boys, puberty occurs around age 13. After puberty, the front hairline above the temples may recede. In some men, this may be as far as the balding process will develop…” http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/hairloss/HL_causes.html
“…When blood levels of androgen decrease during puberty, patterned hair loss may begin its pattern….” http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=73233
"…Female pattern hair loss may begin as early as puberty…"
http://www.aocd.org/skin/dermatologic_diseases/female_pattern_hai.htmlhttp://www.ahlc.org/causes-f.htm
It is important for those wishing to marry young girls or women at any age whatsoever to understand this feature of young marriage. Puberty must be attained and it must be determined and confirmed by social experts, parents, the court, maternity nurses. Islam does not allow a man simply picking up a young girl without such sincere verification of physio-social puberty.

Pedophilia

Paraphilia's are sexual perversions. According to the DSM statistical disorders manual, there are over 500 paraphilias. These include, wearing your wives panties, which is a disorder. Love of the elderly (Gerontophilia), Menophilia, menstrual sex. Nasophilia- love of noses. Foot fetishism- loving feet and the like. Homosexuality used to belong to this group of disorders, but in 1976 after a APA meeting it was liberated from this group. It is important to know that, though the common man loosely throws these names, these are all medical disorders requiring professional diagnosis. Ephebophilia is when an adult loves adolescents, 15-19. Hebephilia  is age-related love. Pedophilia is still included in this group of paraphilias and is defined as the recurrent exclusive sexual interest toward prepubescent children. It is a medical diagnosis as mentioned above and involves exclusive love and obsession with prepubescent children. If you have an old wife and add a young wife, you are not a pedophile because your interest is not exclusive. If you date or marry anyone post pubescent, you are not a pedophile, because the precondition for this diagnosis is love of sex with children pre-sexual/biological maturity/puberty. Key words- recurrent, exclusive and pre-puberty.

The challenges

Are there any advantages of early marriage? Medically there are some as well as disadvantages of delayed marriage and pregnancy. According to the US National Cancer Institute, early child birth, IE- the first child has been correlated with decreased risks of breast cancer. Getting the mammary tissue working, with full breast-feeding early helps to prevent it from developing breast cancerous properties. Source: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/reproductive-history You must breast feed for several months however after delivery, aborted pregnancies have the opposite effect, they lead to breast engorgement/tissue-lactation related changes and then if an abortion takes place, the 'confused' tissue is more susceptible to malignant transformation later in life.
The younger a woman has her first child, the lower her risk of developing breast cancer during her lifetime.
A woman who has her first child after the age of 35 has approximately twice the risk of developing breast cancer as a woman who has a child before age 20.
Additionally, the obvious exists, the increased risk of STD's when a man or woman is delayed from marriage, while his or her hormones are shouting. We know all these, the hundreds of thousands of single parents and 'illegitimate births' in the western world is a testimony to the results of delayed marriage with the reality of hormones in youths. Abortions and the entire abortion debate is largely a complication of delayed adult life for western education purposes. We all want education for all, but what of where there is no chance of education, should our youth sit down doing nothing but having illegitimate, risky sex, waiting for their 18th birthday? Here we introduce a largely overlooked aspect of this discussion:

Right of the Child

What is the right of a child, yet unborn. Do we ever consider the rights of unborn children in these discussions? OK, with delayed marriage there is an upsurge in abortions. This must be considered in these discussions. In addition, delayed marriage as is manifest in the west, leads inevitably to single parenthood. Children born to parents out of wedlock. There are currently several programs in New York, by the state governor, intimidating the public with the negative social outcomes of single parenthood. Face it, at puberty, hormones are secreted and people want to have sex. What happens next? In the modern world, you have the sex, sometimes you use condoms and wait till you are 18. Many times women get pregnant and in USA for instance many women get HIV and die of AIDS, the most common killer of black American women between 25-34(http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/reproductive-history). In Africa, sex happens just as much and most resulting pregnancies are aborted. In America, the kids are born and these cheated infants are welcomed into the world, deprived of their rights of a functional family consisting of married father and mother. There are many social ills and social and educational disadvantages these children of single parents automatically face. These can be looked up online. Point is, we trade off one problem for another when we force higher marriage ages. And as society becomes more irresponsible, the age of majority is likely to be pushed higher, to 19, 20 maybe.

The choices

Will I prefer my daughter to decide--note she must decide--to marry an older man, or will I prefer her to delve into fornication, abortion and have children out of wedlock as is common today? I am not sure. Joseph was an old man when Mary was betrothed and wed to him. There are supposedly advantages from a human survivalist point, of older men marrying younger women. This study found: It turns out that older men chasing younger women contributes to human longevity and the survival of the species, according to new findings by researchers at Stanford and the University of California-Santa Barbara. Read more athttp://scienceblog.com/14203/old-men-chasing-young-women Importantly, we must always be reasonable and abide by the laws of the society to which we belong. Children are born not to be abandoned to destitution or sold. Wives are not property, bought or sold, but partners to be loved, adored, respected and cared for. Divorced women, abandoned sick women with fistula's and other such conditions are a shame to us and ways we incur the wrath of God. Without our religious and social responsibility, I dare say that we loose our privilege to marry as a whole, talk less, take young brides. There are many problems in this world and different ways to tackle them. This paper was written because of the obvious inflated obsession in Nigeria with this particular problem.



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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Why Quintessentially Co-Sponsored Miss Nigeria Beauty Contest



Thelma Adaeze Okonkwo

QUINTESSENTIALLY IS THE ULTIMATE INTERVENTION, HELPING HIGH NET WORTH INDIVIDUALS TO BALANCE WORK AND LIFE
An Interview with Thelma Adaeze Okonkwo the  Managing Director of Quintessentially Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s only seven star concierge services provider on the occasion of Royal Lifestyles Group’s sponsorship of Miss Nigeria beauty Contest.


Q: What does Quintessentially really do?
Thelma: Quintessentially is what I call the ultimate intervention for the business executive, for this high profile individual, for this celebrity that has a tight itinerary; this person that has a personal struggle of trying to balance hard work and living. Quintessentially has always tried to be the ultimate service provider and conveniences support system, to make sure that every thing about every aspect of your life is run seamlessly, it means that we run bespoke errands for you, centred at giving this individual, a virtual taste of the world. Whether you are traveling for holiday, for business, whatever the interest for which you are traveling, Quintessentially will be on hand to help you ease into the environment as if you are a local. In the consortium, we have over 960 businesses that have been developed over ten years, targeting these different aspects of your life which is mainly your health, your business, your family and you as an individual. Because when you have things going well in these aspects of your life, you will automatically have a balanced life. Let me give you insight into the kind of requests that we get from clients: somebody calls you and he says: “my wife is pregnant and she is craving don kings doughnuts, and she wants it to be flown in from the UK in the next 24 hours”. So Quintessentially is that company that caters for you from the most important aspect your needs to the most mundane whim, because we believe that you have worked so hard and being able to access anything that is inaccessible, should not be a problem, as long as you have a company like Quintessentially that you can leverage on. Quintessentially as a business gives you that networking platform, where you can travel globally and network with people of like minds, and promote your business and get your commendation, so it is the business of informed delegation, because we know that when you know how to delegate your logistical headache to people, you automatically clear your cache. For corporate organizations, we advise them to give this beautiful service, to the brains that run their companies, the senior management team, the executives, because when you clear their cache and make sure that all other aspects of their lives are put in order, they will concentrate and put all their energy into their work and increase their level of productivity. But when they do not have this kind of service, you see them buying into the company’s time and using it to attend to their personal errands and obviously this will take a toll on the productivity rate of the company. So those are the options of collaboration that we offer our corporate organizations. Then we also create an avenue where you can gift quintessentially to your priority clients. So that means you can use quintessentially as a tool to sustain profitability in your business. Any client that you serve and you now go out of the box to give him a service that if his wife touches down in Croatia, in Netherlands, in any part of the world, she is bound to have a group of specialists who are specially trained to do this kind of job, take her orders, take her right off the airport and take care of her just as long as she makes that call, you can be sure to retain that client for good. Our unique selling point is that we have all kinds of services in our bouquet, you don’t have different kinds of people running different kinds of errands for you, in which case if anything goes wrong you don’t have a professional body to hold liable, Quintessentially provides that security you need. You want to do your domestic staffing and you want to get people that are professionals, thoroughly verified to chauffer your children, to be your cook, to be your gardener, Quintessentially comes in at every aspect of your life to make sure that life is so much easier.

Q: Who are your target clients at Quintessentially?
Thelma: Our target clients remain high networth individuals, opinion formers, the celebrities, people that have a tight itinerary, people that find out that 24 hours in a day is not enough for them to achieve their delivery base at work and  also have a balanced family life, because it has been a constant struggle to achieve a coveted work-life balance.

Q: How long has Quintessentially been here in Nigeria?
Thelma: It has been three years and a half, but globally, it has been around for the past 13 years and it is still expanding.
Q: What opportunities do you see for Quintessentially in the Nigerian Economy?
Thelma: In the Nigerian economy, as well as the Global economy, the outsourcing market has become a huge market especially in Africa as an emerging market because you have a situation, where a lot of CEOs do not have to over-function, they do not have to be the jack of all trade and master of none. So what we are saying is outsource these things to specialist people that their level of expertise is targeted towards handling that aspect of your work for you. It will create a lot of job opportunities, if people can actually learn how to do it, and it helps organizations to maximize their profits because now, something like a protocol department in your company, these are the people that take care of travel logistics in your company. If any staff doesn’t get to travel, you must pay them because they are on your payroll. But their services are not required daily. But you can cut the costs by outsourcing it to a company like Quintessentially where you can pay as you go literally.
Q: What is the connect between Qintessentially, Palatially, Angels Champagne and Recherche?
Thelma: These are businesses that we have identified as looking out for the same target market. Pallatially stocks exotic wines with limited editions that you can’t find everywhere, Recherche is a premiere event company that creates bespoke events, for high net worth individuals and celebs, and they manage only people that are in this group of target audience so that is the relationship. So we have been working hand in hand with them to make sure that we service all the needs of our clients because we understand that our clients are the kind of people that we expose to different kinds of things, they want you to keep re-inventing yourself. They want you to let them have access to that luxurious item that nobody has. Palatially wines helps us to make sure that when it comes to wines and spirits we have that, same way with Recherche events, for people that want to have private events and expect the best results. So they are our partners and that is the relationship.
Q: What was Quintessentially’s objective in supporting Miss Nigeria tonight?  
Thelma: the business we are in is an image business. So for Miss Nigeria, it is very iconic for you to be singled out as the female ambassador for the most populous black nation on earth. And when you talk of Quintessentially, you are talking about the exquisite, you are talking about an extended level of exposure; the elegant, the informed, the refined taste, so the objective is that on this journey that Miss Nigeria is going to go on, she will have to represent the country in the most quintessential form. We want to pass that on to our youth because she has become ambassador for the country and a lot of our youth look up to her, so her comportment and everything that comes with that office has to be quintessential so that is the sort of thing we like to endorse.

QUINTESSENTIALLY IN NIGERIA:
30 ADETOKUNBO ADEMOLA STREET,
VICTORIA ISLAND,
LAGOS, NIGERIA.
PHONE CONTACT: 234(0)1 4488230, +2349(0)8067279258
WEBSITE: http://www.quintessentiallygroup.com/

Media Consultant:
Mr. Ingram Adichie Osigwe
MD/CEO Fullpage International Communications Limited.



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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Madiba Wake Up! I Did Not Forget Your Birthday!



Dear Madiba wake up!

 I did not forget your birthday.
But the cacophonies of Xhosa melodies blocked my way
The chants of the mammoth crowd I saw on Thursday July 18
It was the most colourful scene I have ever seen  
Njengo mdudo ka Mapassa
Yes, Madiba Mandela It was like the marriage feast of Mapassa.
I call it the euphoria of Pretoria
As they came with their bouquets of flowers
And also with their chaplets and hearts full of prayers
They kept vigils at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital
Many were having a carnival and others it was a revival
Including the uniformed Omasiza mbulala
The people who rescue and kill.


South Africans are holding a vigil outside Mandela’s former Soweto house. Photo: BBC Online.

Everyone was claiming to be your child or relation
But lest we forget what we always say in Xhosa  
Izinto azimntaka Ngqika zonke
It is not every one who is a son of Gaika.  
Ubukulu abubangwa
One does not become great by claiming greatness.




Then I saw one clown chanting Lukozo lomya! Lukozo lomya!
As he saw your beloved daughter Zindzi.
Yes, Dalibhunga, they were all there for you
Even the strange bed fellows from Mvezo with their warts and their flu  
Kuhlangene isanga nenkohla
The wonderful and the impossible have come into collision.  
Alitshonanga lingenandaba
The sun never sets without fresh news.

And they are still coming and coming from everywhere
Yinkungu nelanga
The mist and the sun are together.
I know you are not happy Mandla Mandela is in court
He is even snarling at Makaziwe with contempt
Umke namangabangaba aselwandhle
He has gone in pursuit of the (fabulous) birds of the sea.
Sova singasemoyeni
We shall hear, we are on the side towards which the wind blows.
Akuko nkanga idubula ingeti
There is no wormwood that comes into flower and does not wither.
But lest we forget, you told us:
There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources, those who are poor, illiterate, and ridden with terminal disease.
Zindzi said she saw you smiling
So, Madiba, wake up! For your sun is still shining!


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, author of Children of Heaven, Scarlet Tears of London, The Prophet Lied and other books distributed by Amazon and other booksellers. The poem is a tribute to Nelson Mandela for his 95th birthday. And composed with proverbs from his native Xhosa language.


 © Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima. 2013. No reproduction in any format of media without the authorization and permission of the author.



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Friday, July 19, 2013

The IMAX Expereince

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