Have yourself, a VERy, merry christmas!!!

Random

A member of the THESE GENES team has been ill for a bit. It really was sad but we believe that he will get out of it and be healed completely in Jesus name.

When people living with sickle cell fall ill or die, people seem reluctant to tell me, or when they do tell me, they look at me to see my reaction
My reaction hardly varied though.

It is very sad to hear that someone is ill, or that someone has died. But ever since i realised that it is not how long one lives that counts but how well, i learnt to celebrate the hours one has, and stay connected to GOD.
Death is promised to all, so that has never been a fear of mine.
My biggest fear is being alive but not breathing.

I salute Subi who is one of the most 'alive' people i know who lives his life to the max!
It is well with him

I had a party EVERY birthday when i was growing up. Now i understand why!

Falling in love with a sickler

So what happens if you fall in love with someone living with sickle cell

Thats what i got asked yesterday!

Maybe someone shd ask my exes cos they never seemed to mind

Ill say this tho...

Be prepared and realistic

Love does conquer a lot as families of people living with sickle cell can attest, and love helps us thrive better. Knowing we are wanted

1. Dont be afraid to speak about it and learn what being a sickler means to that person!

2. Find your own special way of dealing with it. My family and i, we use humour. What is your thing

3. Always be there, always be in love, never make them feel like a liability

Ill write on my own personal experiences in terms of love, next!

Check out the interview on www.bellanaija.com

I wont lie, sometimes i read interviews where i speak about living with sickle cell and i cringe

Am i the only one?

Then i realise

Its also part of the work i do...

GOD please help me

Sometimes it is really hard to differentiate between normal back ache, and crisis pain

THESE GENES DAY

Allo people!

And i am back!
This time, to talk about one thing only-
THESE GENES; the Sickle Cell Project

Just in case you do not know yet, These Genes is a Project that seeks to create awareness about sickle-cell, and basically, get people talking about the disorder!!!
We like for people living with sickle cell to be able to talk about the disorder, and what living with it means for them, and we love for those with family members, friends or loved ones living with the disorder to also talk about what that entails, and to understand the physical and psychological implications of the disorder, a little more!

Apart from TEENAGE GENES which is our monthly workshop with teenagers on the disorder, we also have a website, and of course, a book in the works!
But, what we also love to do best at THESE GENES, is just get people talking in their usual, and natural environs!!!
So...
We like the month of October, and we zeroed in on a date- OCTOBER 31ST
We then cornered this day and decided to make it ours, and so OCT 31ST is now THESE GENES DAY!
This year, it is the RED AND BLUE DAY!!!

What happens on october 31st?
What happens on These Genes Day?
What happens on Red and Blue Day?
SIMPLE!!!

EVERYONE (we mean everyone that cares about us, that supports us, that lives with sickle-cell, or that knows someone who lives with sicklecell), has to wear RED and / or BLUE to work, school or play, on OCTOBER 31st!
It could be your shirt, or your shoes, or your hat, or your pants, or your hair!!! But you have to wear something red and / or something blue!

If you have a THESE GENES tshirt, wristband, or other merchandise, then you have to wear that as well!!!

And the last thing you need to do?
You need to talk to at least FIVE people, about THESE GENES, or SICKLE-CELL.
Be as brief or detailed as you please, research on the internet if you like, send it as a message if you so desire. But whatever you do, let five other people become more aware of sickle-cell, cos of YOU!!!

So that is three simple things to do with These Genes, on OCTOBER 31ST

Remember,
- Wear Red and / or Blue on Friday OCTOBER 31st.
You can wear it to work or school, and also if you are going out partying or just for drinks!
- Wear a THESE GENES wristband or tshirt if you have one
- Talk to FIVE people about sickle-cell!!!

It is going to be a lot of fun guys, and i can't wait!
Take pictures, blog about it, put it up on facebook, write about it in the papers or magazines, talk about it on your show, post a video on youtube....

Let's keep the awareness going cos we might only live once, but if we live well, then once is enough!!!

tosynCONTRADICTION sent you a video!

YouTube  Broadcast Yourself™

tosynCONTRADICTION wants to share a video with you watch video Video Description more explosive Afro-Soul with Brother Bucknor, the Revolution and those sweet Sweet Things Personal Message ifewiofh To accept my friend request, click here. To respond to tosynCONTRADICTION, click here. Thanks, tosynCONTRADICTION

Using YouTube YouTube Help Check the Help Center for answers to common questions. Your Account Settings To change your preferences, settings, or personal info, go to the 'My Account' section. Email Notifications To change or cancel email notifications from YouTube, go to the Email Options section of your Profile. Report Spam Email If this is a spam email, please report it.

jeansfor genes

Pictures from the event

JEANS FOR GENES!

I have to admit, February and March might have been the busiest two months of my life.

I have been working on the Apprentice Africa, and it turned out to be a pretty intensive day-to-day kind of job so planning a Fashion Exhibition, even for charity, was not an easy job oh!

First it started with an idea; let's have a fashion show!

People like fashion, and would love the opportunity to buy clothes. If we made it a fashion show where the designers worked with denim as a medium, then it would be beautifully tied to the cause!

JEANS FOR GENES Fashion Exhibition was born!

Date?

We wanted it to be around Easter, and i also selfishly thought of a date with a personal attachment - my dad's birthday.

We had no venue, no money and no media.

But hey, we had God so it would all be fine wouldn't it?

The first thing i did was to make it my status update for a week - TOSYN NEEDS SUPPORT FOR HER FASHION EXHIBITION COMING UP IN MARCH.

The responses were quiet and slow at first, and then they started pouring in!

People offered to model, some asked to show their designs, and others still asked if they could volunteer on the day!

But without a venue, all that planning is gist oh, so imagine how blessed we felt when SWE BAR came on board!

SWE BAR is a lovely, intimate and beautiful looking bar at City Mall which appeals to guys, girls, people looking for a quiet lunch, or people looking to let their hair down and DANCE!

But a Fashion show in a bar?

Err... why not change it to an EXHIBITION then?

The pressure is reduced, and you still get that intimate feeling we wanted to acheive with the fashion show.

Venue

Check.

The first designer approached was BEAMPEH, who creates wearable art. Then BYGE (run by Obijie), and MY Q run by the beautiful Yeside Mohammed. Their mission? Create a line using denim as a medium!

But we wanted to be able to sell other things so we got in touch with the very talented TONI PAYNE to make specially designed tshirts for THESE GENES. It was enough to see the lovely line she created for 'Gongon Aso'.

She worked out a design, we gave her the inscription and we shook hands on facebook.

We also ordered Wristbands, and tshirts by a design outfit known as ENERGY. We had seen their stuff exhibited at WAPi at the British Council and we simply fell in love.

Fashion

Check

But what about entertainment?

And this is where we were blown away!

All it took to be honest was to ask politely. Once it was seen that this was for a charitable course, artistes confirmed their attendance and soon, we had a program!

As the weeks wound down and the date got closer, we began to panic a bit. You know how it goes.

Labelle's Touch and Face Factor came on board to help with the models' make up on the day, and the lovely Jibola Olubiyi of AYANA also came on board to help out with accessories.

OUCH! ties then got on board so that there would be more things for the boys as well. But little did he know that the ladies had a plan!

290308 was the passcode and it was strictly by invitation, the invites to be delivered on request.

For the last week leading to the event, the media went to town with the story and this led to more interest.

With that came pressure

You do not invite people to a show, and not have something to show!!! So everything had to be on point!

290308 status updates read

Everyone spoke about the event, and people changed their profile pictures to reflect what was happening on the day.

People began ordering their TONI PAYNE tshirts which were absolutely fabulous, and the stage was set..almost literally!

For more on how the show went, then please read

http://www.speechgirlbucknor.blogspot.com/

In the meantime, what can we say?

We need to say THANK YOU to every single person who thought about us, prayed for us, cared about us, or even yapped us.

yes oh, we turn every stumbling block into stepping stones!

But we need to thank some people and so, please bear with us.

- Toyin Adesola has been living with Sickle-Cell for 40 years and she came to share her amazing story with us. Author of 'STILL STANDING', she kicked the show of with a reading from her book.

- Lanre the Comedian

- Toks D Don

- Chiedu Ifeozo (for his simple but poignant poetry)

- Li'l Flow (he is only 11, but if i were a rapper, i would be watching my back at this moment!)

- Bez Idakula

- M.I (we were delighted to have the winner of the Hip Hop World Award for Rap Single of the Year with us)

- Jesse Jags (all the way from JTown!)

- Sage Has.son (the wonderful spoken word maestro blessed our stage with more words that became pictures)

- Jedi ( even though he had a wedding on that day, Jedidiah took time out to come share his unique brand of humour with us)

- Etcetera ( Not only did Etcetera perform and turn the house quiet with his specially delivered slow rock, but he also donated c.d's to the cause so buy Etcetera c.ds people!)

- Aysia (also all the way from JTown!)

- Divine Brothers (acappella baby!)

Our lovely Designers were

- BEAMPEH

- BYGE (08076870383)

- MY Q

- OUCH! ties and a unique female line ( 08023102110)

Accessories by

- AYANA

and our models, hosts and err... some random people who snuck backstage (lol) were glammed up by

- LABELLE'S TOUCH (08027664062)

- FACE FACTOR (08027352560)

We had some professional (read as 'we had to pay' models in the house and we thank them for coming on short notice, but we need to thank those who modelled for us JUST BECAUSE!)

- Jasmine Kofo-Adebayo (she is a nominee for VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR). She came for all meetings, and took time out from work and play, to make the event a success!

- Seun Oyeleye(also a super trooper)

- Akin Michael (a stand up guy totally!)

- Joke Ladoja (pretty and intelligent!)

- Segun (came on board on short notice but all for the cause!)

We also want to say thank you to all the wonderful support we received from kind individuals and companies

- SWE BAR (we feel totally happy to have worked with them)

- Victoria Ola Adigun

- Chocolate City

- Sage

- Gbagychild Entertainment

- X3M Music

- Events Aloud

- Divine Brothers

- BYGE

- Beampeh

- Labelle's Touch

- MY Q

- Face Factor

- Toni Payne

- Energy

- QuikLinx

- Ayana

- UNRULY INC

- and ZAPPHAIRE EVENTS / ZAPPHAIRE PR

We also need to give Special Recognition to individuals and who have contributed immensely to this project

- 'Subi Mabogunje (for all our designs and branding, from the invites, to the logo, to the backdrop and programme)

- Bolaji Salami ( for single-handedly coordinating the models and the designers; not an easy feat oh!)

- Osagie Osarenkhoe (she had to coordinate all the performances and direct the program basically. And all this at short notice! Excellent work Osagy!)

- Jibola Olubiyi (for being Jibola)

- Ebuka Obi-Uchendu (a fantastic host. All the girls were swooning, and all the guys were in awe.)

- Shade Ladipo (beautiful hostess, and enjoyed she changed outfits! LOL)

- Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi (for strutting her stuff on the runway)

- Lola Talabi ( for also strutting her stuff on the runway)

- Yele and Kunle Balogun (for becoming impromptu models and also bouncers. Lol!)

- Jokotade (she volunteered to be my P.A for the day. Not easy seeing as i jump up and down A LOT)

- Debola Lewis ( for the stage, back stage, and for being a general good guy!)

- Moments with Mo ( for giving us something invaluable)

- TEE-A (for his presence and support)

- Toni Payne (for the lovely tshirts. All proceeds go into the project and there are still male tshirts on sale!)

- QuikLinx (for the volunteer tshirts, and bulk sms')

- Steve Babaeko (just because we can!)

- UNRULY INC (they should know our p)

and we would of course like to get on our knees and say a special thank you to:

: ALL MEDIA HOUSES FOR GIVING JEANS FOR GENES EXTENSIVE MEDIA COVERAGE PRE- AND POST-EVENT