LADY OF AFRICA AIMS FOR THE SKY

PRINCES BUKOLA FASHUYI OF LADY OF AFRICA FOUNDATION  SHARES HER THOUGHTS WITH PAEDIA EXPRESS MULTIMEDIA'S MANAGING EDITOR,ABDULMUMINI ADEKU on issues within her organization,her pet project ,Adiire Carnival recently in Lagos,Nigeria

Question; Time and time again it has been said that it is not enough to just pity this people without actually doing something to bring them succor, how have you contributed your own quota?

I quite agree with you that it is not just enough to tear for these people and that is why I and some friends put together our resources to establish the LADY OF AFRICA EMPOWERMENT AND ADVOCACY FOUNDATION which caters for the less privileged, physically challenged and indigent people, most especially women.

It is worthy to mention that the foundation has resettled a number of indigent and afflicted people, ranging from terminal ailments to victims of mundane jealousy and others too numerous to mention here. And some of them have been operated on to remove the affliction where possible.

 

Question; what else is the Foundation doing in other areas of life?

Yes, the Foundation has other areas of interest like I earlier said; the women folk have our greatest sympathy for the malicious treatment meted to them by some cultural and social practices.

 

In order to be able to mobilize women from all walks of life into a very big movement to further strengthen the campaign for women empowerment, there is the Women’s conference and Award Dinner to discuss our challenges as women and honour women achievers, we have also created the WOMEN’S GOLD CLUB as a wing of the foundation. This is a pivot group working through the Role Model/Protégé concept, Women Empowerment Programmes, Mentoring and Youth Capacity Building in order to create a new league of female leaders.

We also have the Lady of Africa Monthly Dialogue, where our members meet with women in successful careers and gain from their wealth of experience, our Quarterly Dialogue provides a platform for women network for the cross fertilization of ideas and the quarterly dialogue is exclusive to only our gold members.

Question; one question that quite a number of our readers will like to ask is; where does the funding come from?

The Foundation is partly funded from my income and we get help from some well meaning Nigerians most of who don’t want their names in the media.

Question; it is obvious that the income of a journalists will not do some of these things you have mentioned here. Do you have any other source of income?

I am actually a lady of many parts; first, I am an actress, a motivational speaker, writer, film producer and human rights advocate.

Asides acting in several life touching movies, I have also produced and acted in a purely educational movie named “Ife J’aye ju”; which seeks to teach young women to behave properly in life and refrain from immoralities.

We also have the Street Couture which is our fashion business wing, Pure Soul Cosmetics and Domestic Items Company; and a burgeoning food and beverage company.

Question; if you work so hard, then how do you relax?

Well I don’t have much leisure time. I adore African Cultural values and that is why the Lady of Africa is expressing our views through the Adire Street Culture Concept which includes “the street culture carnival” which is one of the sources of our funding for the Foundation.

It is my pleasure to also inform you that we will be part of the 2014 Association of Ogun State Indigenes in Ireland’s celebration in September; with the Adire Street Culture Carnival as part of our own contributions to the celebration of our culture, values and norms; and as a means of raising funds for our task of making life better for the indigent and the needy.

We will also be in Austria, Canada and the United States, before the Grand Carnival in Nigeria slated November 2014.

Question; some years ago you were a recipient of the prestigious CAMA Awards, how and why were you so honoured?

Although the organisers will answer better some angles to your question, but the Black Culture Outstanding Achievers Award is for achievements while the Classic Africa Merit Awards is in recognition of Humanitarian Services.

You know we had this movie titled “Ife Jaiye Ju” that drew so much rave review from movie experts and

Question; Who is or are your Role Model(s)?

Laughs….of course my loving and dotting but firm mother, and I am also inspired by the likes of Mother Theresa, Oprah Winfrey, Late Pastor Bimbo Odukoya and Mahatma Gandhi amongst others.

Question; what is your philosophy of life?

Life is indefinable; life is not a game of chess, where you checkmate, win and rejoice and then see yourself as a success. For me life is a mirage, where we continue chasing without knowing what we are running after and we are never satisfied even after getting what we think we want.

This is why I try as much as possible to touch lives rather than amass wealth and I believe we all have our visions but different missions.

Question; your advice to the young generation?

I will advice young people not think too much about their peers; admiring your age mates is good, but measuring yourself with what people within your age bracket have achieved at a particular time makes you forget where you are coming from.

As you look up to some other people, remember the millions of people who want to be where you are today. There is never a time too late to be successful and there are no magical routes to success in life that it why it is important to set goals remain focused and be committed to hard work. If you are fortunate to be successful, do not think it is by your intelligence or ability for it is only by God that man obtains the power to get wealth. Latecomers are not apprehended in the race to prosperity; as far as you remain focused and believe in your goals, you are on course.

Question; how you like will to be remembered when your time is up?

Hmmmm! I want my epitaph to read, “Here lays the remains of a woman who gave all she had for the good of the world”.

Question; who is Princess Bukola?

Bukola Fasuyi is young Nigerian lady with deep interest in Social Welfare and justice.

I was born into the Fasuyi family of Okitipupa, Ondo state some years ago and had my Primary School and Secondary School Education in Lagos South-West Nigeria before studying Mass Communication.

From my very first contact with journalism, I have always had a keen interest in human development and that’s why I have always done human angle stories.

Question; since your foray into journalism, how many human angle stories have you have done and can you recount the most touching of the stories?

I will say over 200 heart rending human angle stories that has drawn the sympathy of well meaning Nigerians and brought succor to the lives of some of the subjects.

The most touching story………hmmmm(sighs), well I can’t pick one, cause I have had so many including the story of a mother and child bathed with acid on suspicion of dating someone’s husband, a six year old child who suffers from a hole in the heart and have a cancerous infection on her hand, the woman who suffered vaginal cancer and was abandoned by her family and friends; they are countless and each has its sympathy point that will bring tears to any humane person.

Question; Time and time again it has been said that it is not enough to just pity this people without actually doing something to bring them succor, how have you contributed your own quota?

I quite agree with you that it is not just enough to tear for these people and that is why I and some friends put together our resources to establish the LADY OF AFRICA EMPOWERMENT AND ADVOCACY FOUNDATION which caters for the less privileged, physically challenged and indigent people, most especially women.

It is worthy to mention that the foundation has resettled a number of indigent and afflicted people, ranging from terminal ailments to victims of mundane jealousy and others too numerous to mention here. And some of them have been operated on to remove the affliction where possible.

Question; what else is the Foundation doing in other areas of life?

Yes, the Foundation has other areas of interest like I earlier said; the women folk have our greatest sympathy for the malicious treatment meted to them by some cultural and social practices.

In order to be able to mobilize women from all walks of life into a very big movement to further strengthen the campaign for women empowerment, we have created the WOMEN’S GOLD CLUB as a wing of the foundation. This is a pivot group working through the Role Model/Protégé concept, Women Empowerment Programmes, Mentoring and Youth Capacity Building in order to create a new league of female leaders.

Our mission is to create a platform through which African Women can exchange ideas and network in order to synergize the peculiar challenges facing women all over Africa into one big movement with the aim of aiding the rapid progression of African women to the mainstream of the society.

 

Question; how have your organisation been doing this?

We work on the Provision of human capital development training and other forms of support for unemployed young people, provide assistance to women with health issues; most especially cancer victims,

We also have the Lady of Africa Annual Conference. This is aimed at examining the human development indices of African women, create avenues for network with women in successful careers, and assist vulnerable women; especially indigent women, young girls, single mothers, widows and physically challenged women towards achieving their life goals.

We generally Enlighten, empower and inspire women on in issues relating to women development.

Further we have the Lady of Africa Monthly Dialogue, which creates an avenue for members to meet with women in successful careers and gain from their wealth of experience.  There is also the Lady of Africa Quarterly Dialogue, where we create avenues for women to network and exchange ideas. However, the quarterly dialogue is exclusive to only gold members.

Question: in your personal assessments, how will you say your Foundation has performed?

Well from our own target set at the very beginning, I will say, we have only tried our best as there is still so much for us to be done. At the very beginning our major aim was to simply and nobly address the basic problems facing our societies especially the women as the bedrock of any society.

The Foundation has consequently mapped out strategies to meet this target, but honestly we are behind schedule; you know that every strategic plan has its timelines and when we consider our timelines, we are very far behind schedule.

Despite the challenges, we have been able to put smiles on the faces of over three hundred Nigerians in various ways, including empowerment through human capital training, financial assistance and many more. But I think our greatest attainment has been in our health programme and advocacy.

Question: what has been your biggest challenge?

Like in every human endeavor, finances have been our major challenge. This is closely followed by lack human capital while general apathy comes-in in a close third place.

We however will like to thank those Nigerians who have responded to our pleas for assistance each time we have called for assistance to our constituency; indigent people challenged by their health conditions.

Question: so what have you been doing to surmount the challenge?

The Foundation has been getting some of its funding from my little purse, but mainly from benevolent Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, especially my friends and some Nigerians who time and time again have stopped me from mentioning their names in any medium. But I bless God for their assistance which has taken us this far.

So to assuage these challenges, we have been doing a lot of interpersonal advocacies, governmental lobbying, media enlightenment and advocacies to generate interest and subsequently empathy.

We also have the Street Couture which is our fashion business wing, Pure Soul Cosmetics and Domestic Items Company; and a burgeoning food and beverage company

I am happy to also inform you that as part of these efforts, we will be part of the 2014 Association of Ogun State Indigenes in Ireland’s celebration; with the Adire Street Culture Carnival as part of our own contributions to the celebration of our culture, values and norms; and as a means of raising funds for our task of making life better for the indigent and the needy.

Question: why street culture?

You and I know that most of the indigent and the destitute are found on the streets. So fundamentally, what we are saying is that life is hard on the street, so we need to address the street culture and that is by reducing the number of the people on the street.

So the name is a kind of reminder to those of us who have the comfort of our homes that there are others on the street who require our effort, our time and our money to get off the street.

Question: in Nigeria where people don’t seem to recognize people who do this kind of work, what has been your major motivation?

Well! In this field, you must not expect any reward or else you will miss the point altogether.

I was brought by a loving and dotting but firm mother, and inspired by the likes of Mother Theresa, Oprah Winfrey, Late Pastor Bimbo Odukoya and Mahatma Gandhi amongst others.

More so, I wasn’t expecting any profit at the start-off of my sojourn, so it’s not been about recognition. However, we have been encouraged by so many individuals and organisation that have rewarded us with Awards, including the Black Culture Outstanding Achievers Award, Classic Africa Merit Awards for our Humanitarian Services, and a host of others.

Question; what has life thought you?

Life is not definable; life is not a game of chess, where you checkmate, win and rejoice and then see yourself as a success. I believe life is much of a mirage, where we continue chasing without knowing what we are running after and we are never satisfied even after getting what we think we want.

This is why I try as much as possible to touch lives rather than amass wealth, thus I believe that everybody has their own vision but different missions.

Question; the current generation of youth is living on the fast lane…….?

This generation of young people should not think about age, admiring your age mates is good, but measuring yourself with what people within your age bracket have achieved at a particular time makes you forget where you are coming from.

As you look up to some other people, remember the millions of people who want to be where you are today.

There is never a time too late to be successful and there are no magical routes to success in life that is why it is important to set goals remain focused and be committed to hard work.

If you are fortunate to be successful, do not think it is by your intelligence or ability for it is only by God that man obtains the power to get wealth. Latecomers are not apprehended in the race to prosperity; as far as you remain focused and believe in your goals, you are on course.

More importantly, stick to the rules. Life is not about wealth and riches, but about people and places.

Question: and you are sure these will get the needed results?

Of course when you set out on a walk in life, you must not be pessimistic or else, you would have failed at the very beginning of the journey. We are assured of a little change of attitude, if not wholesale. But in the long run, we expect something positive to happen. So we are very positive.

Question: now to something more personal, how will you like to be remembered?

I want my epitaph to read, “Here lays the remains of a woman who gave all she had for the good of the world”.