Monday, December 5, 2022

Girl Starts School with Confident Smile after Surgery

PRESS RELEASE
Girl Starts School with Confident Smile after Surgery
Aissatou from Louga, in northwestern Senegal, was born with a cleft lip and palate, and the stigma around the condition in her home village left her trapped at home

Access Multimedia Content

DAKAR, Senegal, December 5, 2022/ -- A little girl has been able to start school with her new confident smile after receiving surgery from a medical charity to treat a birth defect.

Aissatou from Louga, in northwestern Senegal, was born with a cleft lip and palate, and the stigma around the condition in her home village left her trapped at home, isolated and withdrawn.

Due to the unkind reaction she received, and the difficulties the condition brought, her father Ousmane and mother Khadija did their best to protect Aissatou. They felt the need to cover her head in public and felt forced into a decision to keep her out of school.

Left untreated, a cleft lip and palate can lead to difficulties eating, drinking, speaking, and hearing loss.

Farmer Ousmane used the proceeds from his harvest every year to try and find someone to repair his infant daughter’s cleft lip and palate. But every year, he was disappointed.

Ousmane said: “I love my daughter so much, I would never stop looking for her healing.”

In 2019, when Aissatou was just a toddler, Ousmane heard that a hospital ship from international aid charity Mercy Ships was coming to the port of Dakar to provide free surgeries and medical training.

He made the journey to the port with Aissatou, and they were thrilled to receive a surgery appointment. But the joy was short-lived as the operation had to be delayed due to COVID-19.

Ousmane and Aissatou had to return home and wait for the ship to return.

He said: “In my heart I knew that these people would help my daughter. I just kept praying and hoping that the ship would return.”

Aissatou was four years old when she boarded the Africa Mercy hospital ship in 2022 for surgery.

 Despite being a curious little girl full of life she only played alone and not with other children on board.

Ousmane came with Aissatou as a caregiver, while her mother Khadija waited anxiously at home, “I couldn't eat or drink,” she said.

Aissatou’s father, Ousmane was also nervous, “during the surgery I was afraid,” he said as he recalled the difficult hours of waiting.

“I don't know anything about surgery, and I had no idea what was happening. It took a long time before she came back, but when she came back, I was so happy!”

Once the bandages were off, Ousmane and his daughter could both see the transformation. Where before Aissatou’s cleft had been, there was smooth skin. Aissatou stared at herself in the mirror, looking fascinated.

Senegalese translator Boubacar Diallo who worked on the ship during Aissatou’s stay on board her joy was contagious.

He said, “The first thing I see changing on her is the smile. After the surgery she was smiling all the time.

“After surgery she was free. Playing and running everywhere, playing with other kids. She was dancing a lot.”

Her father said: “Her life will change so much now. She will be able to speak properly and go to school.”

When Aissatou returned home, some of those changes were evident immediately. She was embraced by her village and no longer hid her face. She started school, began playing with the other children and helped her father on the farm.

One of the village elders shared: “We had lost all hope. We thought she was going to die like this. Nobody believed that she would be healed.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mercy Ships.
 
About Mercy Ships:
Global health for the last two decades has focused on individual diseases, while surgical care in low-resource countries has not received the attention it needs. Lack of surgical care resulted in almost 17 million deaths annually.

Mercy Ships is an international faith-based organization that operates hospital ships to deliver free, world-class healthcare services, medical capacity building, and health system strengthening to those with little access to safe surgical care. Since 1978, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 55 countries, with the last three decades focused entirely on partnering with African nations. Each year, volunteer professionals from over 60 countries serve on board the world’s two largest non-governmental hospital ships, the Africa Mercy® and the Global Mercy™. Professionals such as surgeons, dentists, nurses, health trainers, cooks, and engineers dedicate their time and skills to the cause. Mercy Ships has offices in 16 countries and an Africa Bureau. For more information, visit www.Mercyships.org and follow us @MercyShips on social media.

SOURCE
Mercy Ships




Sunday, December 4, 2022

The Rings of Power

Rings of Power

(An original story by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima)

Kingdom of Nri
circa 4,000 BCE

The oldest monarchy on the continent of Africa is the Igbo monarchy of Nri Kingdom.

Ọ̀ràézè Ǹrì
Kingdom of the Rising Sun

How can you traverse the universe,
When you have chosen not to see beyond your nose? 

They called her the ageless woman of the Igbo Ukwu. The Mother of all the Dibias of Afa divination. 
I came to the peak of hills of Udi where I found her sitting under an Ugiri tree.
She was sitting on green palm fronds encircled by gourds. I came before her naked and bowed.
"Gini but afa ghi?" 
She asked  in the language of our our kingdom meaning, "What is your name!"
"Onyemachi."
I replied. 
She gazed at me. She gazed into my eyes. Her eyeballs were like golden almonds. She gazed at the windows of my soul. Then she nodded her hairless oval head.
"Hmm. Indeed Onyemachi. Of course, who knows God?"
She shook her head.
"Nobody knows God. They call, cry and shout His name every day and night and yet they don't know Him "
"Great Mother, I want to know Him. I have come to know Him," I said.
She gazed at me again.
With the index finger of her thin right hand she scribbled on the ground what I could not read and did not understand.
"You want to know Him whom they don't know?"
"Yes, Great Mother."

She brought out the bowl of the shell of a tortoise with a short stick of Ofo wood. Then she brought out the four strings of Afa one by one. 
"Open your right palm," she said.
I opened my right palm.
She held it and gazed at it.  She opened her right palm and gazed at it and gazed at mine again.
"The truth is only for the children of the covenant," she said.
"Not all the children of Yebu are called. Not all the ones who are called are chosen."

She picked up the first string of the Afa with her right hand and cast it on the ground.
Our forefathers and diviners said Yebu came with the Afa when he descended from the midst of the clouds in the sky with flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.
Yebu was one of the Sons of God who came down to the Earth 

Genesis 6:
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.


***
Read another original fiction by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima in "Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria" distributed by Amazon.



Thursday, December 1, 2022

Introduction of Drylab's ROUGH CUTS Featuring Comet

 


Rough Cuts


A view of Rough Cuts featuring The Comet

A revolutionary new extension tool within Drylab Viewer, Rough Cuts enables you to easily edit your rushes in a dailies platform. It is simplistically and intuitively designed to allow for effortless and immediate edits, giving you instant visibility of whether your takes will play out as intended.

While we are constantly refining and updating our platform, Drylab's latest Rough Cuts development is a ground-breaking technical transformation; not only within Drylab, but within the global production software industry

See all on https://www.drylab.io/products/creator


Happy New Month of December of Victory!

#ThursdayExaltations👏💕💋💞🙌

HALLELUJAH!

HAPPY NEW MONTH OF DECEMBER OF PROGRESS, PROSPERITY, SUCCESS, TRIUMPH AND VICTORY OF TRIUMPHANT OVERCOMERS AND VICTORIOUS CHAMPIONS OF OUR ONE AND ONLY ALMIGHTY FATHER GOD JEHOVAH JIREH!

AMEN!


Psalm 91


He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

I will iPost you soon!

 I will iPost you soon!

It is incredible that since I have been investing in the development of my iPost, not a single member of my family or relations and none of my  friends and none among those who claim to know me has asked me for the status update on it. They are totally clueless about the present status and this clearly shows how ignorant they are of my state of mind and stream of consciousness, including those who have slept in the same bed with me. Their intellectual ignorance of my preoccupation is shocking.
They only talk about the critical situation of my current lack of money and debts of owing over N280, 000 which is less than US$500 for the first time since I was born and I am 59, with a debt free duly Incorporated digital media company with a corporate bank account with Access Bank Plc.
As I speak I have become homeless and surviving by the grace of Almighty God through the kindness of few people, including members of my family, confidants and well wishers. 

No greatness comes without great trials.

Only key members of the Nigerian tech community and global tech startups community are asking for updates and setting up both physical and virtual meetings for me with funders and investors such as Techstars. 

#God #grace #support #kindness #great #development
#ipost #Tech #mobileapp #Startups #corporate #digital #homeless #funding #investors #investment #Techstars #greatness #virtual #Nigeria #global #friends #family #members #ignorance #debts #bank #depression #trauma

Monday, November 28, 2022

ALI'S COMEBACK: THE UNTOLD STORY

 


ALI'S COMEBACK: THE UNTOLD STORY




In 1970, Muhammad Ali has been exiled from boxing for his firm stance against the Vietnam War. stripped of his title, convicted of draft evasion. But in Atlanta that all changed. 
A diverse group of individuals came together to make sure the greatest boxer on Earth received a fair fight. 
An ambitious white attorney turned promoter, Atlanta's first Jewish mayor, and a visionary black Senator joined forces to make the impossible possible. 

"Ali's Comeback: The Untold Story" is the epic tale about the return of the greatest athlete of the 20th Century from the shadows of the boxing ring, and onto the world stage. 

Genre: Documentary 
Original Language:English 
Director: Art Jones 
Producer: Mandy Fason, Yahya McClain, Brittany Wyatt 
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 16, 2020 Limited Release Date (Streaming): Dec 1, 2020 Runtime: 1h 19m 



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Contact me.

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Message Development For Screenwriting

Message Development For Screenwriting

Having a Message Development workshop is a must in screenwriting.
- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
prize winning writer and Publisher/Editor of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry published since 2013.

I see the ignorance of the knowledge of message development by the majority of screenwriters in Nigeria.
They don't understand characterisation before writing screenplays.

To remember the five elements of Characterisation, simply remember the acronym STEAL, which stands for speech, thoughts, effect on others, actions and looks.

Speech. Characters' personalities can be greatly defined by the words they say and how they say them. ...

Thoughts. ...

Effect On Others. ...

Actions. ...

Looks.

Everyone who wants to be a good screenwriter must understand message development in character development to depict the personality of every character in the screenplay for a movie or series.

As a professional scriptwriter for TV from when I was only 18 in Nigeria, there was no room for flippancy in the writing of the dialogue. And I wrote for three years before I left to work as a public health illustrator for the John's Hopkins University's Population Communication Services (JHU/PCS) when I was 21 to produce fully illustrated booklets on family planning methods in the different languages of Pidgin English, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa for the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) in the 1980s and later became a national program consultant for the UNICEF in Nigeria. I produced a fully illustrated booklet for nomadic education which would have been very effective in the primary education of the herdsmen and their families and would have been used for the prevention of conflicts between the herders and farmers in Nigeria.



News in Pictures: Naked Beauty

 News in Pictures: Naked Beauty

News in Pictures 

New Nigeria

is the most popular Nigerian news in pictures blog on Pinterest with an audience of 280, 000 viewers monthly.

www.pinterest.com/nigeriansreport



"Naked Beauty" is the first Nigerian screenplay to be published and sold as a book. 
The recce for the film production was completed on Bonny Island, Rivers State in 2008, but production has been delayed by the political violence in the Niger Delta. The screenplay is based on crude oil thieves and militancy before the Amnesty for Niger Delta militants, co-written by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, aka "Orikinla Osinachi" and Dr. Chika Christian Onu, one of the founding fathers of Nollywood after four years research on Bonny Island, in Rivers State.