Stepping Stones Nigeria Autumn/ Winter Newsletter 2011

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Administrator

Autumn/ Winter Newsletter 2011 is now available – Issue 10!

Please click here to read about all our exciting news and latest updates.

http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org/newsletters.html

HAPPY READING!!

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Stepping Stones Nigeria Prize Draw Winners!

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Administrator

We are delighted to announce the winners of the SSN Prize Draw.

£100 cash – Jan Barnes

Afternoon tea for two – Mr and Mrs Essien

£20 cinema voucher – Mary Davies

£20 Debenhams voucher – Naomi Foxcroft

£20 London theatre voucher – Stefan

£10 Boots voucher – Alison Chapple

L’objet et le vin corkscrew – Phil Dunster

Beginners Calligraphy set – Tara Rothwell

Bottle of wine – John Lee

Box of Thorntons chocolates – Liz Willis

Thank you to everyone who took part and helped to raise over £500!

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Short Story Competition – only 4 weeks to go!

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Administrator

The deadline for the short story competion is fast approaching! If you haven’t yet put pen to paper, please see the details below on how to enter:

‘In the distance stood Mount Kilimanjaro’.

A panel of judges including award winning novelist Goretti Kyomuhendo will select the three winning short stories.

1st Prize: Publication of your short story and an Anne Aylor Creative Writing Course voucher

2nd Prize: £20 book voucher

3rd Prize: £10 book voucher

Please submit your handwritten or word processed entry with a cheque or postal order for £5 made payable to ‘Stepping Stones Nigeria’ to:

Stepping Stones Nigeria

Short Story Competition

24 St Leonard’s House

St Leonard’s Gate
Lancaster
LA1 1NN

Please attach a cover sheet to your entry clearly marking your name and address clearly. The closing date is Monday 1 August 2011. Entries postmarked after this date cannot be accepted.

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SSN Stalls at Summer Festivals

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Administrator

Stepping Stones Nigeria will be promoting the Prevent Abuse of Children Today (PACT) campaign at various UK festivals and events over the next few months.  We’ll be talking to festival-goers about the issues affecting children in the Niger Delta – such as poverty, abandonment, trafficking, and witchcraft accusations – and how they can get involved in empowering and defending the rights of Nigerian children.  If you’re at any of the events listed below look out for our stall, we’d love for you to come and say hello.  The stall will have plenty of information materials about the work we do, pens, stickers and a ‘post box’ so people can sign the PACT and stand with us to Prevent Abuse of Children Today.

We have a children’s book called ‘Eno’s Story’, which is about a young girl in Nigeria who is accused of being a witch, and CDs by the Nigerian musicians Faith Bluez and Jobazz singing about the PACT campaign which will be available for sale at selected events. 

We’re keeping it local with mainly North West events, although we may venture down to South Wales and further afield.  We’re grateful to all festival organisers who have offered us space for a stall and are especially excited to be attending Africa Oyé, which is the largest celebration of African music and culture in the UK.  It’s also free, so if you can make it to Liverpool on 18th and 19th June we’ll see you there!

So far, you’ll find a PACT stall at the following events:

Saturday 4th June 2011   -   Peace in the Park, Sheffield       

Saturday 18th June 2011   -   Africa Oyé, Liverpool                     

Sunday 26th June 2011   -   Oldham Carnival                              

Fri 22nd – Sun 24th July 2011   -   CockRock, Cockermouth

Friday 29th – Sunday 31st July 2011   -   The Magic Loungeabout, Yorkshire

Saturday 30th July 2011   -   Hulme Festival, Manchester      

Friday 26th – Sunday 28th Aug 2011   -   Solfest, Cumbria                              

We’ll be adding more as and when they are confirmed.  Here’s to a *hopefully* mud-free and sunny summer!

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SSN Short Story Competition

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Administrator

Do you enjoy writing? Are you looking for a challenge?

Would you like to support a charity in the process?

Short stories of no more than 1000 words are invited with the opening or closing line:

‘In the distance stood Mount Kilimanjaro’.

A panel of judges including award winning novelist Goretti Kyomuhendo will select the three winning short stories.

1st Prize: Publication of your short story and an Anne Aylor Creative Writing Course voucher

2nd Prize: £20 book voucher

3rd Prize: £10 book voucher

Please submit your handwritten or word processed entry with a cheque or postal order for £5 made payable to ‘Stepping Stones Nigeria’ to:

Stepping Stones Nigeria

Short Story Competition

24 St Leonard’s House

St Leonard’s Gate
Lancaster
LA1 1NN

Please mark your name and address clearly on your entry. The closing date is Monday 1 August 2011. Entries postmarked after this date cannot be accepted.

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PACT Launch Event – 18th May 2011

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Administrator

This is a reminder about our official Prevent Abuse of Children Today (PACT)campaign launch.  This free event is a chance to find out more about the campaign, hear from experts about issues facing vulnerable children in the Niger Delta, and to meet a wide variety of campaigners, child rights NGOs, church leaders and other like-minded individuals.

The event takes place at 6pm-9.30pm on Wednesday 18th May 2011 at the

Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre in London.  For more information and a location map, please visit: http://www.makeapact.org/index.phpoption=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=138

You’re welcome to just turn up on the night, but if you can email us before-hand (campaigns@steppingstonesnigeria.org) that will help us to prepare for the amount of people we’ll be expecting.

For more information about the campaign and to add your name to the PACT, please visit

www.makeapact.org

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Campaigning against ‘Witch’ Hunts in Africa

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Administrator

Our campaign to Prevent Abuse of Children Today (PACT) aims to build a vibrant coalition of organisations, church leaders, NGOs and individuals who are prepared to stand up against violations of child rights in Nigeria.  Together, we are fighting to transform the lives of vulnerable children, especially those at risk of witchcraft accusations, trafficking and other abuses.

Witchcraft is often seen as the source of problems within Nigerian society with vulnerable children being the group most at risk of accusations of witchcraft. Such accusations greatly stigmatise children and adults in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, leading to grave human rights violations.  Many of those who ‘confess’ to witchcraft do so under duress or torture and face abandonment, public humiliation, disgrace and even murder.  However, we are encouraged by the variety of ways in which individuals and organisations are campaigning against such abuse.

One such campaign named ’30 Days of Advocacy Against Witch-Hunts’ is currently running until 27th April by the South African Pagan Rights Alliance (SAPRA).  The campaign aims to spread awareness of witch-hunts in Africa and elsewhere and asks the international community to send letters of protest to the South African Human Rights Commission (letter is available for download from their website.

SAPRA have also requested that campaigners light a candle every day for the duration of the campaign in remembrance of the victims of witch-hunts both past and present.

Stepping Stones Nigeria would like to encourage campaigners who are passionate about these issues to also add their names to the PACT.  Simply visit the PACT website to add your name and to find out more about the different ways you can campaign to transform the lives of children in the Niger Delta.

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International Day for Street Children

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Administrator

Tuesday 12th April was the first ever International Day for Street Children, which was celebrated by numerous people around the world, including some of our partners in Nigeria.  Stepping Stones Nigeria joined in the fun by organising the ‘Louder Together – Raise Your Voice for Street Children’ gig for young people in Lancaster, featuring some of the city’s best young bands, in order to raise awareness about this historic event.

The night saw performances from Fay, Breathless, V3nom, Tazor, Katy Pickles and Promise 44, who all provided a fantastic show featuring rapping, rock and solo singer-songwriters. We were also delighted to see so many local young people at the gig, many of whom signed up to our PACT campaign.

This event was part of a global campaign to raise awareness about street children in order to give them a louder voice so their rights cannot be ignored. The International Day was celebrated across the world by street children in Morocco, Uganda, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India and Nigeria, by children and students in the UK and Ireland and by politicians and child rights organisations.

We would like to say a big THANK YOU to the Stages team from More Music who kindly gave up their time and provided their expertise to help make this gig happen. We would also like to thank Fiona and Guy from DT3 and the lovely Dom who hosted the evening and really helped to make it such a success. THANK YOU!

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Taking Nollywood to New York

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Administrator

Picture of New York premiere flyerSaturday the 12th of March 2011 saw the first premiere of a Nollywood film in the centre of New York. The Fake Prophet a film made by the internationally acclaimed director Teco Benson and produced by the child rights organisation Stepping Stones Nigeria (SSN), was screened in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Theatre on Broadway.

The Fake Prophet is a ground-breaking Nollywood film that examines many major child rights issues that Nigerian children face today, including child witchcraft accusations, child trafficking and child abandonment.  It is an action-packed tale of drama suspense and intrigue, which aims to counterbalance other Nollywood films that have intensified the belief in child witches and the subsequent abuse and abandonment of innocent children.

The event was hosted by the US distribution company Creative Artist Management (CAM) and African American Women in Cinema (AAWIC) in association with Stepping Stones Nigeria, and marks the first of the ‘Best of Nollywood Screening’ series in New York.

SSN Advocacy and Campaigns Intern Justine Atkinson who was in attendance stated that,

‘This premiere provided the opportunity to bring Nigerian cinema to an international audience, and with over 150 people in attendance, performances from the renowned comedian Michael Blackson, local theatrical groups, and musicians, the night was a great success.’

This event follows a number of different screenings which are gradually taking Nollywood films into mainstream cinema, including the London premiere of Mirror Boy which took place in the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square held earlier this month.

The Fake Prophet marks a new wave of African film making and distribution. It is the first time a Nollywood director has collaborated with a child rights NGO to produce a film to generate lasting social change. The film is due to be screened at the Odeon cinema in Greenwich, London in May.  There are already future plans for cinema screenings in the many other countries around the world and following this it will be available for sale.

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Official PACT Launch Event

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Administrator

Stepping Stones Nigeria would like to invite you to our official Prevent Abuse of Children Today Campaign (PACT) launch:

When: Wednesday May 18th, 2011

Time: 6.00-9.30 pm (6.00-7.00-drinks reception; 7.00-8.30-main event; 8.30-9.30-networking)

Where: Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London

Cost: Free

This exciting event is an opportunity to learn more about our Prevent Abuse of Children Today (PACT) Campaign as well as a chance to hear experts speaking on issues relating to PACT including: child rights from a Nigerian perspective, child witchcraft-related abuse, child trafficking. SSN will be talking about how the PACT campaign is progressing and what you can do to help.

There will be an opportunity for attendees to meet other like-minded individuals, sign up to the PACT Campaign and collect PACT materials for use in churches, schools and communities. The event will be a fantastic evening for all but is particularly aimed at churches, the Nigerian Diaspora, schools and child rights NGO’s.

The event is free but we would love to know in advance if you are able to attend. If this is not possible, do feel free to turn up on the evening. If you can’t make the whole evening, please do pop in for part of it.For more information or to confirm that you’d like to come please email: campaigns@steppingstonesnigeria.org

We look forward to seeing you there!

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