Betty Olayinka Folarin-Akinlosotu (BOFA), was born on  January in Ikenne Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria to the family of Pa & Mrs Joseph Folarin. Her  education started from 1989 to 2015.

She completed her elementary and high school in Nigeria in 1994. She also obtained a degree in Business in Nigeria and got married to Mr. Valentine Akinlosotu in the city of Lagos in 2003. They both relocated to the United States four months after their marriage. She then proceeded on her career to obtain another a Bsc. in Healthcare, A Masters in Organizational Management and a MBA Degree  (Business).

The enterprising Role model is also an event Planner and MC. She is the CEO for Betty Exclusive Wedding & Event Management (BEWEM) located in Nigeria & America. She is also   a current employee of U.S. Veteran Affairs, New York  as a Medical Administrator and The Executive Manager for Rain International LLC in the United State.

Mrs Akinlosotu is a member of American Management Association (AMA). She is also a member of National Association of Professional Women (NAPW).

Our Role model for this week is a giver, career, and a philanthropist in her own little way. Many people regard her as a generous, social, loving and an accommodating woman in the society. She was chosen as a welfare leader in her church due to the spirit of giving she possessed. Mrs Akinlosotu has offered many donations to churches and organizations in different communities.  She is blessed with two beautiful girls and one handsome boy.

DEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS,

WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE LIST OF NOMINEES FOR THEAfrica4u Awards for People of Colour in New Jersey and New York, TAKING PLACE IN JUST UNDER THREE WEEKS IN THE USA

Tony Tokunbo Fernandez IN CONJUNCTION WITH 9Ja Pop Art Graphic Arts Exhibition NEW JERSEY PRESENTS
Africa4u Awards for People of Colour in New Jersey and New York

The YOUNGEST KING IN NIGERIA FROM DELTA STATE MEETS WITH DELTA STATE GOVERNOR.

15 year-old Obi Chukwuka, Akaeze 1 Of Ubulu-Uku, Nigeria’s youngest King, met with Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa at Delta State Government House, Asaba recently.

.

We wish him Obi Chukwuka, Akaeze 1 Of Ubulu-Uku many years of great manifestations, success and wisdom in his tenure of office.

The Youth are The Leaders of tomorrow, we need to feed them with enough content and wisdom to set the pace for the future, we need to feed them with enough knowledge and exposure to lead with example and to learn from the past

Dear Family, Friends and Fans, Its all happening this April,
YARAM – ARTS & FOCUS ORGANIZATION Present:
A night with KANDA BONGO MAN (By popular demand)

Kanda Bongo Man – The pioneer of Soukous Music, The King of Kwasa Kwasa and one of Africa,s greatest living musicians returns to London to deliver another unforgettable performance on Friday the 1st of April at TheRich Mix London ADV £15, OTD £18
+DJs Palm City Social Chipper Inter (Afrobeat performance)

DEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, – ITS ALL HAPPENING NEXT MONTH
Tony Tokunbo Fernandez IN CONJUNCTION WITH 9Ja Pop Art Graphic Arts Exhibition NEW JERSEY PRESENTS
Africa4u Awards for People of Colour in New Jersey and New York
VENUE – THE MEETING ROOM, WEST ORANGE PUBLIC LIBRARY,46 MOUNT PLEASANT AVENUE, WEST ORANGE,NEW JERSEY, NJ07052, USA AT 1PM ON THE DOT
IF YOU ARE LIVING IN NEW JERSEY OR NEW YORK, THIS IS AN EVENT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS.
COME AND BE PART OF AN AMAZING AFTERNOON OF AWARD PRESENTATIONS, INSPIRATIONAL TALKS, EXHIBITION & SALES OF CUSTOMISED T-SHIRTS, ART WORK,BOOKS AND AFRICAN PRODUCTS
COME AND NETWORK, LETS CELEBRATE TOGETHER AS ONE.
THE EVENT IS ALSO BEING PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY Afro Carib Radio, USA AND THE AMAZING I Am Lady B Bless (Barbara E Walters) BASED IN THE STATES. THE LIST OF NOMINEES FOR THE AWARDS WILL BE MADE PUBLIC NEXT WEEK.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF BOIKANYO TRUST PHENYO

Born in a remote village in Botswana 11 miles from the nearest school, Boikanyo showed her determination to succeed from an early age by running the full distance every school-day and arriving on time without fail. The fitness she achieved enabled her to win races and study hard so nobody was surprised when she got a place at university in the capital, graduated with honours and went on to gain her masters in the teaching of Mathematics & Physics.

After working as a teacher in the capital for four years and getting involved in the  modelling & beauty pageant business she decided it was time to expand her horizons and moved to the UK and over the following ten years became a successful modelling & beauty queen consultant. Every year she helped organise the celebration of Botswana Independence day and returned to her home village to provide support in the form of clothes & Christmas party for the kids who no longer have to walk to school because her 5 year project to raise funds for a school bus came to fruition in December 2014.

Gaining the title Mrs Commonwealth International 2012, Boikanyo became deeply involved in the activities of a beauty pageant which uniquely empowers its title holders to run charitable projects for the benefit of their home country. She attended charitable events as one of the triple queens (Miss Teen, Miss & Mrs), provided catwalk training for the finalists, ran workshops for the title holders to ensure that they understood their roles & objectives, acted as their personal consultant and was appointed Director of Events & Projects in 2014. She organized support for the website and Facebook page which was essential to attract contestants, promote activities and report on the successful achievements of the title holders.

Boikanyo was proud to be the recipient of various awards including: Empowering African Women in Europe Award 2013, African Achievers Award 2013, Panache Global Recognition & Award for Excellence 2014, International Achievers Award 2014, Top 100 Outstanding Africans Making a Difference 2015, Best Motivational Role Model 2015 and Outstanding Supporting Judge 2015. She has become a well known personality who met the royal family at the Commonwealth of Nations Reception at Buckingham Palace in 2013, was interviewed on various TV shows including Princess Halliday, Chrissy B, Pauline Long and Sporah, has appeared in various publications including a interview with Touch Base Africa and was excited to meet & become ongoing friends with the Botswana athletes at the London Olympic Village in 2012.

She has been a catwalk choreographer and guest judge at numerous beauty pageants including Miss Commonwealth, Miss England Rugby, Miss Portugal UK, Miss London Borough, Miss Black Africa and many more. This lady has inspired everybody she met including an author who wrote a book called Eleven Miles about an amazing lady who had to run 11 miles to school every day and overcame all the odds to graduate from university and become a successful Olympic athlete!

Boikanyo was very proud to be appointed by Justina Mutale in 2014 as the Botswana representative for Positive Runway Red Ribbon Models and continues to empower African women everywhere to achieve their rightful place in the world. She is now proud to be part of the Justina Mutale Foundation for Leadership and International Representative in Europe for Destiny Organisation, she looks forward to the exciting challenges that these two will bring.

We are pleased to announce that the 34th edition of Afropolitan Vibes will feature Naija Ninja SOUND SULTAN, Afro-Folk vocal legend BLACKMAN AKEEB KAREEM, Singer-songwriter FALANA & Yoruba-Reggae singer ORANMIYAN, all sharing the stage with the 13 piece BANTU collective.
Aftershow party with DJ JAVA & DJraybeeBrowne

There was only one front cover that we could have this month and it is taken from the selection of pictures from the visit by German President Joachim Gauck to Freedom Park this February.
Ade Bantu was there to show President Gauck around the park and talk to him about the Afropolitan Vibes movement. We love this particular picture taken by TOJ because it shows a relaxed and friendly vibe, which epitomises all that Afropolitan Vibes is about.

source news 24

It was a sad day, wasn’t it? For the staunch followers and supporters of my favourite Kenyan comedian Eric Omondi, when rumours leaked out that he was HIV+. The drama that followed after the rumours, like the withdrawal of some endorsements that he was expecting, is what amazed me completely on the state of matters of human rights ignorance among the endorsers and we as artists and entertainers in general. Although it was later realized as just another prank to sabotage the comedian’s efforts , just like the crocodile’s pose with its mouth wide open attracting flies into it, that was an open act of discrimination on the part of HIV/AIDS victims.

In this age and time we must be able to openly reject any myths and misconceptions and fight unnecessary HIV/AIDS related discrimination and stigma.  The people in positions of authority have to accept the reality of HIV in our communities, and recognize the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is another killer disease which requires management and daily medication just like cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease, diabetes, tuberculosis, asthma, ulcers etc.  The difference with HIV is that it impacts greatly on the individual’s social identity and sometimes integrity. According to UNAIDS’ HIV/AIDS HUMAN RIGHTS YOUNG PEOPLE IN ACTION  TRAINING KIT – “Lack of recognition of human rights not only causes unnecessary personal suffering and loss of dignity for people living with HIV or AIDS but it also contributes directly to the spread of the epidemic since it hinders the  response. For  example,  when  human  rights  are  not  respected,  people  are  less  likely  to  seek counselling, testing, treatment and support because it means facing discrimination, lack of confidentiality or other negative consequences”.

If I try to picture the whole scene at the time, it must have been a very trying moment for the comedian both psychologically and socially. The business entity went ahead to give him an economical blow at that same trying moment and if the guy was really infected then he would be seeing his whole world fall down and all his dreams and ambitions thrown to the sharks with betrayal from those that he trusted all along!

If he was the breadwinner in the family both extended and nuclear, then the betrayal would affect so many people close to him as well as the people working in the same industry who victims of HIV/AIDS. His right of employment had just been abused and he was discriminated against because of his perceived HIV status. Link and Phelans theory of stigma states that “ stigma is the convergence of labelling, stereotyping, separation, and discrimination by a stigmatizer with access to social, political, and/or economic power”.

In the case of Eric Omondi’s prank the endorsers should have known better with facts all over regarding care and support as well as nutrition and medication for those infected with the virus. They should have gone ahead and endorsed him while at the same time giving him psycho-social support and care to set a positive example to society and world in general but they did the exact opposite and set a negative precedent on perception in the media and entertainment industry for the millions of “victims” of the disease.  Now an artist whose privacy has been violated and is perceived to be a carrier of the virus will find it very hard tosurvive in such murky waters of indecision and practical support for victims of HIV.

When a person is already laden with the mental trauma associated with the disease then you go ahead and give him a cold shoulder and turn him/her away you appear very hypocritical to everyone. Let me tell you this for sure. If you are not infected you are affected through someone close to you like a relative or friend so we are all involved in this. I challenge the endorsers to change their thinking so that everyone in the entertainment industry may show solidarity to fellow countrymen entertainers who are just victims of the disease and not criminals.

STIGMA – YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!

A lot of people talk about HIV based on their understanding of the literature they may have gone through or as a result of having observed a suffering relative/patient that had been attacked by opportunistic infections and underwent tremendous pain, but few speak out of experience living with the virus.

When I first tested positive for HIV the impact was enormous! That result accelerated a collection of toxic emotional states that were both intense and chronic. In short I was filled with:

 Intense fear

 Intense shame

 Intense guilt

 Intense helplessness

 Intense hopelessness

Such intense emotions are actually what undermines and knocks out a person’s natural defences due to the constant feelings of hurting.

During this period a pattern slowly developed where I stopped eating well, stopped sleeping regularly, and stopped taking care of myself. The only thing I thought of during this period was getting sick and dying. The worst feeling was that I had failed in maintaining the family’s integrity. In my mind I was preparing to die. Everything was over and I noticed that even the people that surrounded me, that had knowledge of my status, also had expectations that I was on my way to the grave.

I thought I would never be loved or love again and in fact stayed away from women for a whole two years not getting intimate with anyone! I believed I would never be touched freely, and I would never kiss again and I just became horrible thinking myself being a walking dead person.

During that period I noticed that everything around me was conspiring for me to get ill and die. I thought that everyone including the health workers I sought help and advice from, the doctors giving me prescriptions, the government, NGO’s and donor funding agencies were all sure of my death and appeared willing to help me go through that sad noble path to my death as long as I stayed in that path and played the role of a victim.

Although that path seems noble and attractive, to me it’s like giving up! Deep down I believed that God would never make me a victim of anything but would make me a victor in everything.

After hiding in the worst of slums in Mombasa for a whole year, I finally saw that the power of HIV/AIDS is the belief of death that people have given it and it is propagated mostly by stigma.

After some intense soul searching, I looked back at the blessings that God had bestowed on me in the form of talents and decided to use those in a way that may help other people to overcome the fear of getting tested and to overcome the intense toxic feelings one gets when they receive the diagnosis results for the first time. In short I started viewing the HIV as a blessing and have never looked back.

Today I am here praising and thanking God for HIV because instead of killing my spirit it has actually given me more reason to stay alive. This is survival of the fittest. I am surviving in my own way with the help of medication and everyone else is surviving in their own unique way even if HIV negative. At the end of the day we have different destinies and purposes to fulfill in this world and I believe that HIV/AIDS is my purpose on earth.

I want to urge the people living with the virus to live their lives to the fullest. If you had a dream, don’t let it die because you tested positive, Know that you are GREATER than HIV/AIDS. Do not give the scourge any power, you must stand up and declare that you are greater than the enemy. In this kind of war that we are in, we must face the enemy without fear because the enemy thrives on fear.

The more we fear, the more this disease will be transmitted by those that have it and don’t know their status because they fear knowing it. This creates more chances for those that are not infected yet to get infected in due course. It’s a silly thing that HIV is viewed the way it is simply because it is sexually transmitted. Sex is very normal/natural whereas the virus is not! Its that simple.

Its high time we stop the empty talk on matters of stigma and let pro activity and action take effect. Political parties whether in opposition or in the government should show support to the millions who have been infected or affected by the virus, and the irony of the matter is that we are gaining the numbers!