Features

During South Africa’s apartheid era, having a child out of wedlock was considered a taboo. Such a child would thus face many roadblocks—particularly if she were black and female. This was what Thandeka Mazibuko had to overcome from a young age; her mother’s meager salary as a domestic worker made life even more challenging. “My village [Kwanyuswa] had not seen a medical doctor; therefore, I had no role models.

Every girl would love to live like a princess and have a life filled with adventures. It‘s almost undeniable that the melanin goddess, Lupita Nyong’o, is a legend both on screen and in everyday life.

Some may ask what drove Roy Allela—a 25-year-old man with perfect hearing, no speech impediments, and limited experience with sign language—to develop a solution to the challenges of hearing impairment. The answer? His love for his niece.

Three years down the road, as I attempt to small-talk with my Lyft driver, my unavoidable 'accent' that comes with living in the US, brings about different variations of essentially the same question: “I noticed you have an accent, where are you from?” Nigeria, is and will always be my answer, the pride and smile evident on my face. If you are foreign, do not be afraid or shy of your otherness.

January 1994, I was only 7years old. It was a cold, dry typical African morning. The tension in the hospital waiting room was almost palpable. The only sounds I could hear over the shrieking of the harmattan wind as it blew through the trees in the premises was of my mother and aunts sobbing. We had all rushed to the local hospital to visit an uncle who was reported to have collapsed at his home while preparing for work. Uncle Padosa and my father had a close friendship that even predated my parents' marriage and he was my dad's lawyer.