THE CHALLENGE!

THE RED VELVET WRITING CHALLENGE!

#AwakenYourLiteraryMind

ONE WINNER!

$100!

The objective of this challenge is to awaken our creative minds in terms of writing.   Instructions will be set out below and please you are advised to read and adhere to these instructions CAREFULLY as they will be part of the criteria for judging any entry submitted.

HOW TO ENTER FOR THE COMPETITION

1.      You MUST begin your story (fiction or non-fiction) with this opening line - "He/she always walked amongst them, watching quietly, unseen, unnoticed….”

2.      Your story MUST be between 300- 500 words. Do not EXCEED the 500 word limit.

3.      It MUST have a title of your choice and the hash tag above, both at the top

4.      Your entry MUST be written in MS WORD FORMAT (no pdf files please) and attached to an email stating your full names, phone number and the number of words you have written.

5.      Your entry MUST be submitted via email –redvelvettsofficial@gmail.com OR redvelvettsofficial@yahoo.co.uk on or before Sunday, 7^th December 2014

6.      The writers of the TOP 5 entries chosen for the competition will be informed and will be expected to do the following to enable them win :

v  Get their friends/public and family to view and read their entry

v  Get their friends/public to comment on their entry saying they are voting for it to win

7.      The entry with the highest views and comments/votes will emerge as the winner of the grand prize - $100 or its equivalent on or before 24^th of December 2014.

8.      Direct further enquires to :

·         ELLA- nwandoella@gmail.com OR +447535883660

·         ADESUWA – adesuwailuobe@gmail.com OR +2349094302026

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COMPETITION ITSELF BETWEEN THE 5 SELECTED ENTRIES WILL BE FOR 7 DAYS STARTING FROM THE DAY THEY ARE POSTED ON THE BLOG. 

LIFE AS SHE SEES IT- FOR HER .....by Adesuwa

"Heyyy!" He hugged her and lifted her off the ground. He didn't let her go "I have missed you".

"Same here" she murmured. While his hands lingered around her..her eyes rolled behind him,Your squashing my tummy!

"You look so beautiful and have added weight at interesting places" he winked

She smiled. "Come in"

"So how are your parents? How is Odion? I hope she is still not angry with me o?"

"They are fine..she is not"

He was just so happy to see her. Today was the day they had started dating five years ago. He was excited.

He watched her as she stood by the window...He felt blessed to have her. " 'Khere.." she was faraway and flinched when he moved close to hold her waist. she leaned into him and sighed. "Are you okay?"

"Yes I am..do I look otherwise?"

"You arenot here..please share"

"Time flies...I am remembering all we have been through"

He hugged her and smiled "it's been beautiful despite our challenges you know.." Then he drew back and went one knee, bringing out a ring... same one she chose one day while they surfed the net ...

"Marry me...Marry me because it has become evident that I cannot do without you..please say yes and let me get this off my chest  " he had asked her a year ago. She wasn't ready.

Were those tears he felt in his eyes...Akhere started crying and joined him on the floor "yes!!!". They clung to each other and cried.

They stayed the way for a while "'Khere, it looks like it would rain soon do you have clothes outside? " the curtains were billowing and the room suddenly felt chilly.

"Yes!" she got up and dashed out.

When he was sure she had gone, He jumped up and dived on the bed . Happiness was an understatement as to how he really felt. Akhere would be his wife!

He grinned and grabbed one of the pillows, as he did he felt something like paper. He set aside the pillow to look at it...and froze.

It was a marriage certificate between Akhere Omorodion and Kunle Adegbite, dated five days back. He saw an envelope and opening it, he saw pictures.

He threw the pictures and certificate on the bed and scrambled up...hugging himself, he realised he was shaking.

"Hey! Sorry I took time..The rain has..." she first saw the pictures and then the certificate. She let out a small cry and rushed towards him.."it's not what you think!"

He stepped away from her.

Tears streamed from her eyes.. "Frank am sorry.." It was not her fault. Her mother would not hear of her marrying Frank. In her opinion Kunle was a better choice. Kunle was based in America, he had money and he was respectful. Herself and Frank were classmates, he had just started working.

She subconsciously rubbed her stomach and then sat down. Kunle visited last two months. She couldn't help the fact that he is was quite handsome and did make her feel like she had butterflies in her stomach.  

She never meant to hurt Frank..but she couldn't bring herself to tell him all this while. She did her best to avoid him and kept up the story that she was still at Ibadan. She loved Frank still and didn't want him to leave her.

"I am sorry...we can work something out..please. I tried to tell you.."

"When?"

"It has not been an easy phase...and Mum wouldn't let me be because she didn't want me to start showing..."

"Showing?.."

She immediately held her mouth

"Showing what?!"

She was mute.

"Answer me!!!" he was mad

"I am pregnant...for him" she was looking at her palms.. like she wa reading from bit. "That's what mum hinged on to ensure that we got married" she got up and knelt before him "please...let's talk about this as we have always.."

His head reeled with so many thoughts... raw pain was all he felt. Hands clenched, and still shaking, he  stepped back staggering. He looked lost, turning around he rushed for the door and let himself out of her house.

"Frank please don't go!" Akhere called after him.

He didn't answer her...even the rain didn't jolt him from the shock.

Image source: imgarcade

WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS EH?!......by Ella

Naturally, we humans like to shift blames, accuse and criticise the next available “scapegoat” of the same things we do. In Nigeria blame shifting and criticism is a happy trend.  We love and enjoy blaming everyone else for our problems while forgetting that we are bigger culprits. I guess because it’s safer. A lot of us (the regular man on the street) who for example, criticise the government’s corruption are deep in the game too. Going back home recently opened my eyes to a lot of things which I will highlight briefly to drive you where I am headed.  These things have been there long before now but this time around they struck me a different cord in me.

SCENARIO 1

I was driving through the Berger round-about when the traffic warden raised a hand to stop those on my side from moving. Of course this was to allow motorists on the other side move. Now, I was driving behind a lady and was already slowing down but she was obviously bent on beating the traffic. Fortunately and unfortunately for her, the traffic warden saw her plan and promptly blocked her way and motioned to a police officer standing close by to get to the lady’s car. As the police officer approached, the lady was reaching to what looked like a bag at the back seat and brought out two naira notes (probably #1000). On getting to the car, the police officer spoke to the lady then after a short laugh, walked away. She didn’t take the money.

My concern is this - the lady driver was about to violate traffic rule but was obviously not bothered about what will be done to her because she knew she could 'settle' the officer even before she was approached! i watched this and began to question myself – “Are we (Nigerians) that bad now? Is everything now all about money? No one cares about laws and rules anymore?” From all indications –the offender holding the money ready to offer it to the officer and the officer sharing a laugh with the offender and waving her off –apparently yes! 

SCENARIO 2

I walked into a bank to make a transaction. From the 'security personnel' (because honestly I don’t think they know what exactly they should be checking for) who swiped his electronic gadget (if it works) over me to the ones who man the gates, I got comments of “Aunty anything for your boy?” “Anything for the weekend?” Boy? Huh??? Looking at the person saying this, it’s obvious he is way older than me and I should be the one calling him “uncle” if I had to. I smiled and walked away. I came back the next day and lo! He wasn’t so friendly anymore. Aha! He remembered me- the stingy lady who refused to dash him money!

I laughed but it actually got me thinking. Isn’t this all part of the corruption we keep accusing 'big men' of? Asking to be tipped especially when you are being paid for the service you just rendered screams CORRUPTION to me!

You begged God for this Job (whatever the job is), you swore that you will never do this or that again if God ever gave you this job and now you have it, you think the pay isn’t good enough. It is okay to want extra but not at the expense of others. The security man asking me for money does not know if I have just gone into banking hall to send my last cash to my ailing father. We simply don’t care so long as we are on the receiving end.

Maybe we do not realise that Corruption stems from greed and lack of contentment. The sole reason politicians and public servants steal pubic funds is greed! They have enough but want to acquire more even for unborn children. This is the same way I look at a “security man” who thinks it’s his right to demand and be dashed money because he opened the door or gate for you! No difference.  Just as sin is sin, whether you lied, stole or killed, so is corruption. There is really nothing as small corruption. It is our tiny bad and selfish actions that make a huge mountain of CORRUPTION.

The scenarios painted above may not be a big deal to somebody but it definitely shows how the minds of people in the society at large works while we keep throwing stones at the people we think are committing “bigger sins”. It reminds me of the adulterous woman who the Pharisees wanted to stone to death because she had sinned forgetting that they themselves were not without sin too.

Our government and politicians are corrupt, agreed.  What are you doing about it? Fuelling it by adding your own quota of corruption? (Stealing the little you can from your place of work or bribing people so you can have your way) Doing nothing and merely talking?  Please don’t ask for the government to change if you haven’t changed yourself. Ever heard the saying – remove the log in your own eye before removing the speck in your neighbour’s eye?

So, next time you want to accuse/blame/criticize the Government, President Jonathan or Babangida for syphoning all of Nigeria’s money and for the downfall of the country, ask yourself if you are ENTIRELY free of guilt!

ELLA.

Image courtsey of vanguard

FOR THE LOVE OF JOLLOF RICE!! ..... by ELLA

So Jamie Oliver decided to make a "twisted version" of Jollof Rice? WHAT???!!! Hmmn!  All these international celebrity chefs tho! (Rolling my eyes) Apparently he posted his quirky recipe sometime in June which went unnoticed but furious comments began appearing on the Jamie website last week and has attracted over 4,500 comments. What he didn't know was that no one messes around with the Black man's food and goes scot free! He never esperedit! lol.

To say that he murdered our darling Jollof Rice is an understatement o. No exaggeration here. Traditionally, as we know, Jollof Rice is made with just tomatoes, pepper and spices abi?

what a normal regular Jollof Rice looks like....err...not sure of that leaf tho..lol

 But Jamie’s version included whole vegetables such as “on the vine” cherry tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and scotch bonnet. It went on to advise readers to use coriander, parsley, and a slice of lemon.

Errr....Lemon? Parsley? Huh? EXCUSE ME??!!!

JAMIE'S VERSION: THIS CAN'T BE JOLLOF RICE! NO!!!

Since i saw this a few days ago, i have been unsure what/how to feel. At first i thought it was hilarious but later i began to see the annoying side of it. I can completely relate with Africans who are protesting. MotleyMusings wrote on the issue and i agree with all she said. Why do these people feel they have a right to change anything about us eh? Sigh…They have succeeded in changing our dressing, imposed their language on us, forced us into the jet age, made us too conscious of our bodies (hence the increase in implants & liposuction) and now our food?? NO! Yes i love Jollof Rice that much. Ask Motley and she will tell you that Jollof Rice is one of the seven wonders of Africa. lol. I agree o! Especially the party Jollof Rice that has that amazing-life changing-burnt-smoky-firewood taste!

More annoying is even the way a spokesman for Jamie Oliver said: “Obviously there was no intention to offend anyone which is why the recipe printed on the Jamie Magazine website is described as 'Jamie's twist' on Jollof rice.” Eh?!! I am offended o! Twist ko! Twist ni!  Don’t they realise that this word "twist" is infuriating?  Didn't he read about how the same Jollof Rice also caused a stir last year when a big British supermarket Tesco was forced to remove its Jollof Rice recipe from its website after Twitter users branded it inauthentic? He should have known better not to mess around with our scared-sunday-wedding-owanbe-every child's favourite-Jollof rice all in the name of twisting it!

On a more serious note, the good thing that seems to have come come out of this whole incident is the fact that:

·         First, Jollof rice has become internationally famous. Even the hashtag #JOLLOFGATE has been created on twitter too. (seems hashtags are now the new means of drawing the world's attention to any problem including Jollof Rice twisting!) Now the world knows Jollof Rice and will learn to respect it!

·         Second, this has shown that food is another factor besides football that can give nearly a whole continent one voice. I was amazed to see that even my East African brethren that are not into Jollof Rice like those of us in West Africa ,Nigeria especially  (Ghana please park well! our cold war over the ownership of Jollof is still on...lol) spoke up against this so called  recipe (if we can call it that!) this shows that we are very sensitive when it comes to our food.  Some of the comments on his blog showed that some people were ready to maim him for this “ATROCITY” yes! that is how important Jollof Rice is to us!

So next time, Please, DON'T TOUCH!

ELLA...xoxo.

Image Sources- Jamie Oliver, SPB food