New Music Video Alert! Confidential - Shadow Boxxer, Dbanj and Idriss Elba

The highly anticipated CONFIDENTIAL video is out. Check out the video below and commentary on the controversy surrounding the song and the video.

Early Last year in Sierra Leone, Confidential was the it song. I mean no party, wedding, club or chilling  was complete without playing this hit song several times.
Confidential was a hit not only because of its catchy beat and lyrics but also  unlike many of the hit songs in the country at the time, it was Sierra Leonean! Produced by a Sierra Leone producer Bonxx, for a popular Sierra Leonean artist called Shadow Boxer  who featured popular Nigerian Artist D'Banj and Hollywood Heart throb Idriss Elba who happens to be half Sierra Leonean. Well so we all thought.  Mid last year there was controversy arounf who the producer was, with Ejino coming forward as the producer of the song.  A audio version of the song on YouTube credited him as the producer of the song and Shadow Boxxer the owner of the song.

Fast forward to August 2015, the video drops after much anticipation and teasing from Shadow and DBanj. To my disappointed the song is now credited as D'Banj featuring Driss (Idriss  Elba) and Shadow Boxxer.  Compared to the original song last year, the order in which the artist sang was also switched with Shadow Boxxer moving from first to last.
I mean how did the original artsit of the song end up being the second "featuree" of the song? Whether it is because DBanj has larger global fan base or some other reason, I still think the song is dope even though I prefer the Salone 2014 version. Shadow Boxxer still remains by favorite Sierra Leonean rapper at the moment and hope this video brings him more success and global recognition.





 

Tribute to my Daddy - Dr. Andrew Kosia

Younger years of  Dr. Andrew Kosia, check out the fro!  Sierra Leone-1970's

 Four years ago, on July 28, 2011, I lost my beloved father and mentor, a family man, a dedicated doctor, a diligent public health servant, a patriotic Sierra Leonean, a proud African, a global citizen and a beautiful human. To many he was Dr. Andrew Kosia, the hardworking, well respected, kind professional but to me he was simply daddy. The gentle, loving but no nonsense dad who wanted the best for his children and worked hard to make every opportunity available to them. The dad who would crack jokes with his children, chit chat with them,  encourage  them  to express their  view points and critic his on subjects ranging from politics, football, fashion or whatever the discussion was about. Yet, when I or any of his children got out of line and slacked on our school work he didn’t hesitate to correct and discipline us followed by a nice gesture to make sure we knew it was coming from a place of love. He was one who believed in the power of education, the duty of giving back and the rewards of hard work. That was the dad I was blessed to have for 22 years of my life, one I would forever be grateful and proud to be called his daughter.

The irreplaceable father- daughter bond

Every year on this day, I write a note to my dad giving him updates about my life. This has been a therapeutic outlet that has helped with my grieving and one I hope to continue for as long time I can. I have decided to share this year’s note and previous notes on the blog.  I am dedicating this blog to the memory of my father and all my readers out there who have lost a father.  May their souls rest in peace.

July 28, 2015

Last photograph with my daddy in Sierra Leone, January 2011

Hello daddy, 

 I woke up this morning and the first thing I did was go through old pictures of you. I can still remember the last picture we took together at Augustine’s wedding in January 2011.  You were teasing me and telling me I could only red drink wine which you were sipping on and claiming was good for your health, when I turn 25 and have completed my degrees. Well guess what? I am over 25 and as of a month ago, completed my second degree. Yes, your youngest daughter now has a Master of Public Health degree just like her daddy. The graduation ceremony was a bitter, sweet event in the absence of the person who influence of my career choice, goals and aspirations, nonetheless I know you would have been proud of your ‘Mama Baindu'. So on that day, I celebrated with a bottle of red wine and toasted to us both.  I didn’t become a medical doctor like you always hoped for but I  intend on perusing a PhD and becoming the third Dr. Kosia in the family. Angela remains the family’s medical doctor for now, who knows maybe one of your grandchildren will follow in her footsteps.

I am currently looking for a public health job and intent to go back to Sierra Leone and hopefully get to work in the same area of public health as you did. I must say, you raised the bar really high, everyone I have spoken to that knew you, have nothing but good things to say about your work ethics, efficiency and tenacity. So I guess I have to live up to your  standard because if there is anything you made clear to your children especially  your three girls it was the fact that women can do anything just as good or even better than men.

I really do miss you daddy and want you to know that the family hasn’t been the same since you left. You were the glue that kept us together, yet despite the loss of your physical absence I know that God has assigned you as an angel to watch over us, which explains why things haven’t totally fallen apart and  why me, Angela, Christina and Junior are doing good despite the odds. Continue to rest in peace. Love you always.

My birthday celebration with the family in Eritrea-  October 2005

July 28, 2014

Daddy's doppleganger ( ar fiba me papa bad bad wan)  D R Congo- July 2010

Daddy it has been three years since you left us. The hardest part about losing you is dealing with the void and emptiness your departure created in my heart and life. They say time heals everything but no amount of time can erase the effects of your departure because in my heart you hold a place that can never be filled. I am reminded of you every day I look at myself in the mirror and see more of you in me with each passing day. Similar face, similar smile, similar laughter, same passion for reproductive health of females, similar demeanor and way of talking. I am proudly and undeniably my daddy’s daughter.
Love and miss you so much.

July 28, 2013

Daddy's hilarious but empowering toast to me on my 17th birthday. Eritrea 2005

Daddy, I cannot believe two years has gone by since you left us. Words cannot describe how much I miss you and wish you were here with us. Things have been tough without you and I won’t lie there are days when I wanted to give up but then I think about what you would have wanted for me and that keeps me going. Wish we had spent more time more together because now more than ever I need your advice wise counsel and that love only a father can give. Nonetheless I know you are up there looking out for me in every situation.
I am now in graduate school daddy, getting an MPH degree just like you (sorry I didn’t go to medical school like you wanted), and hopefully I will end up working for the same organization you did. You are, and will always be my role model. Can’t believe I am saying this but I really do miss our silly arguments and you scolding me about not setting my priorities right, now I fully realize the importance of it. Most of all I miss our little gossips and the laughs we had from them.

MISS YOU SO MUCH! Rest in Peace Daddy. Love you always

Cracking us up with jokes as usual, don't know where he got the walkie talkie from

Sierra Leone Independence Celebration in Vancouver

Today April 27, 2015, marks the 54th Independence anniversary of my beloved country Sierra Leone.  Happy Birthday Mama Salone! 

The Sierra Leonean Community of British Columbia Canada came together on Saturday April 25th 2015 to celebrate our country, culture and experiences. Like every Sierra Leonean event, it was a celebration that transcended political affiliations, tribal lines and religious beliefs. This was my first Salone event  since moving to BC almost three years. Boy was it fun to be around fellow Sierra Leoneans, eat delicious traditional food, and dance to good old Salone music! 

It may seem there is not much to be happy about considering  what is currently happening in the country, ( I will delve into this in another post) and all the  nation has gone through since her Independence. Nonetheless I remain hopeful that Sierra Leone will rise from the ashes. I am confident that my generation of Sierra Leoneans will bring about the change for our ascent to glory. There is a reason to celebrate because there is hope.

Check out some pictures and videos of the event below 

Getting ready and very excited  for the big event! Had to represent in my Green White and Blue.

Green white and Blue everywhere!

 Group Selfie with my Salone brothers

Posing with the gorgeous Christina

Everyone getting their cameras ready for the traditional dancers

Making my way to the stage to take pictures!

Click the link below to watch the Sierra Leone Independence Day celebration cultural young stars performance  Posted by Rachel Kay on Saturday, 25 April 2015

Yes, these young Salone girls rocked that stage 

My favorite part of the evening was the Mende Goboi performance. This bad boy came out and stole the whole show. The crowd went wild. I LOVE MY CULTURE! Check out the videos below.

Click on the link below to  watch the Cultural Dance Salone Independence Video

Posted by Rachel Kay on Sunday, 26 April 2015

Here is another YouTube video 

Goboi doing his thing

Dancing with the Goboi 

More dancing

It is wrap, yours truly is tired and sweaty after a great time!

Mourning with Kenya

 



On Tuesday April 2nd 2015, The Al Shebaab militant group  burst into Garissa University College in the Kenyan  town of Garissa and killed nearly 147 students.

Al Shebaab is a Somalian Ismlamic extremist group that is one of the most violent franchises of Al Qaeda.  With the town of Garissa is about 90 miles from the Somali border  with  high population of ethnic Somalians,making it an easy target for the group. 

Barely two years ago in 2013,   this same group held siege of one of Kenya's fanciest malls killing 63 people. They have since then killed hundreds of Kenyans on country buses, in churches and in remote coastal towns.

Yesterday's senseless attack  took the lives of  young Kenyans, who were aiming to get an education.  My heartfelt condolence and prayers to my Kenyan brothers and sisters especially   those who lost loved ones in the attack. 

The Inspire Series- Sheroes on the Ebola front Line by Hannah Foullah

Nurse Samantha Mansaray and Dr. Valrie John-Cole

                                                               

In celebration of International Women's Day/Month, today's Inspire Series  high lights and acknowledges the courage, dedication and selflessness of women on the Ebola front line in Sierra Leone. These women are   shereos in every account.
     Be inspired! 

Since the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, women have been in the front-line as healthcare workers and caregivers in their communities. This has meant that they face a greater risk of contracting the Ebola virus. The role that women have played as first responders in the fight against Ebola brings to mind the story of the Italian doctor Carlo Urbani.

International Women's Day 2015

Happy International Women's day to all the amazing women and girls out there

 As we celebrate all women around the world today, never forget you can do anything you put your mind to. You face adversity and still walk tall. You are stronger than you are credited for. You are beautiful no matter what people or  the media say. You are Phenomenal! 

The Inspire Series - HOPE IN A TIME OF EBOLA by Victor O. Forna

The Inspire series kicks off with a poem written by Victor Osman  Forna,  a young talented Sierra Leonean high school student and writer  currently residing in the country  in the mist of the Ebola out break.

Inspiration behind the poem

When Ebola came to Sierra Leone, it had a devastating effect on everybody, both home and abroad. Everybody was stressed out, no schools, a state of emergency, some people even traveled out of the country seeking safety elsewhere, but some like myself stayed. And I have seen how tensed and sad this virus made my lovely country, how horrible the news on TV were, this filled me with emotions, it made me sad, it made me fear, there was nothing I could do, the only way I could overcome these feelings was through my passion, writing. I took my pen and the words just flowed out from the bottom of my heart, I wrote "Hope in a time of Ebola." It is a piece that means a lot to me.

Enjoy and be inspired!

Watin de Apin (February 1 2015)

Hello lovely people, congratulations on making it to the second month of 2015!  I can’t believe it is February already, January practically flew by like someone or something was chasing it. I am sure a lot of you are glad February is here.

A bit of  personal update before heading diving into Watin de Apin. In my two weeks  away from the blog I was pleasantly surprised to receive emails and messages with inquires from people who were concerned and wanted to know how I was doing and why I  hadn't posted in weeks. To you all I say a heartfelt thank you, I really appreciate the love. And to answer your questions, I haven’t given up on my blogging resolution, I just had to take some time away to deal with health issues.  In my very first post I came out about my ongoing struggle with depression and anxiety and admitted to seeking help.  Though  I am handling it much better these days compared to prior to seeking help, I still experience bad days.  The past two weeks has been one of those times, during which I just want to be alone and do absolutely nothing. I can’t afford to do that right now  because I have a lot on my plate at the moment. It is my final semester of graduate school, I am juggling my course work,  writing of my (mini) thesis and my current job along with preparing for a possible relocation to Sierra Leone after graduation, job hunting and trying to stay healthy and sane. My solitude has been my space of comfort these day. I look forward to my “me time” more than anything and have I been listening to my favorite artist and girl India Arie (yup in my head we are bffs) to soothe my soul :-) This is my current jam of the week.

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Okay now that I have updated you about myself. Let’s move on to Watin de Apin. A lot has happened during my weeks of hiatus giving me numerous options for this week’s list of the good, bad and ridiculous.   

Salone Style & Story Spotlight ( with Yazmin Karim)

Salone Style & Story Spotlight (SS&SS)  features young, inspiring and driven Sierra Leoneans with a great fashion sense.  This platforms aims to show the world that there is more to Sierra Leoneans than being victims of Ebola and a civil war. 

Today's Salone Style and Story Spotlight features the gorgeous Miss Yazmin Karim, a Sierra Leonean living in the UK. She is a 23 years old God fearing, BA Human Resource Management graduate currently training to become a qualified session hairstylist.

She is also a finalist in the running for the first annual Miss Sierra Leone UK 2015 beauty pageant ( follow her pageant journey here and vote for her here). 
. 

Yazmin is a determined young lady with an awesome style. Check her out and be inspired!

Watin de Apin (January 4 -10, 2015)

 Hello Earthlings (and any Martians out there lurking our planet), congratulations on making it through the second week of 2015. With the hustling and bustling of everyday life, this may seem like a trivial accomplishment however, one just has to turn on their TVs or go on the internet to see that many people were not as fortunate.   Everyday people across the planet are faced with numerous experiences ranging from deaths, hardships, victories and so much more.  Some of these events are shown repeatedly by media outlets while many are trivialized and barely shown, thus making billions of people far removed from these events.  In light of this, “Watin de Apin” (meaning what is happening) will be a weekly post highlighting some of the good,  the bad and  the ridiculous events of the week with commentaries from me of course J. On that note, let us dive into events for the week of January 4 - 10, 2015.

The Good

Bye, Bye to Ebola in Liberia

 It was indeed great news to hear that the Ebola situation in Liberia will soon be history. Liberia has gone from having the most Ebola cases with a peak of 300 new confirmed cases per week to currently having the lowest among the three countries with eight new confirmed cases per week.  In the true West African spirit, my Liberian folks took to  the streets to dance Ebola away, to celebrate this accomplishments. Check out the video below.

Post by Africa to Dha Core.

Bye Bye to Ebola Video

Tell me what’s not to like about the unbreakable spirits of Africans.  Nothing, I repeat nothing can break our Spirits, not War, not Ebola, not Stigmatization! 

Further putting Liberia in the good book for this week, is the president’s decision to send some of its Ebola health workers to help neighboring Sierra Leone which continues to be ravaged by Ebola with 248 new confirmed cases per week. This is very selfless of Liberia considering the fact that they themselves have barely fully recovered. For this selfless act, Sierra Leoneans, myself included are grateful. In like manner Kenya and South Korea have decided to send health workers to Sierra Leone. Thank you to both countries (my question though is what took you so long? J ). I am all for other countries sending aid to nations in emergency health situations, however it seems like there continues to be a lack of aid coordination in Sierra Leone, without which no progress is likely.

Remembering January 6 1999

January 6, 1999 commonly referred to as J-6 will forever be a date entrenched in the memories of many Sierra Leoneans.  My family and I woke up to heavy  and repeated sounds of gunshot and screams at 4 am on that fateful Wednesday morning.  In no time everyone had jumped out of their beds into the hallway, our expressions identically marked by intense fear and dread. Without saying a word, my mother hurdled us together in the corridor between two concrete walls. We all knew this drill from previous experience. It was done to get us away from the windows, making it less likely to be hit by stray bullets entering through the window. As we hurdled together gripped with terror, my older brother softly uttered the first words saying “dem don cam” (they have arrived), everyone including my 10 years old self knew what this meant. Mother turned on the radio to BBC’ where focus on Africa anchor  Robin White confirmed our worst fears.  RUF rebels and AFRC soldiers (they) colloquially referred to as Sobels many of who were child soldiers hooked on drugs had indeed invaded Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. We would sit in this corridor for almost the whole day and thus began for me one of bloodiest three weeks in the history of my country. It was filled with heinous crimes including murder, amputation, rape, robbery, displacement and destruction of private and public properties during which Sierra Leone became the worst place to live.

Facebook Shenanigans - Part 1

It is the first Friday of 2015 and the last weekend of the Christmas holidays (Can someone please tell me how the holidays went by so quickly?) Come next week most people will go back to school, work and normal everyday lives. Naturally most people will be out tonight getting “turnt up”, partying, chilling or socializing with others. To my social butterflies, my party people and dope, cool peeps I say have fun responsibly.  Remember there are 51 more weekends in 2015. 

Yours truly will be home crawling the internet looking for funny pictures and videos, binge watching ancient aliens (O_0) and lurking social media websites. Yes I said it, I am a social media lurker. On most days I pop in once or twice  to see what’s happening and like a ninja I exit without leaving a foot print or evidence. Every now and then I update my profile picture, post  news or current affairs articles, “like” status updates and pictures here and there and there and most of all wish my loved ones a happy birthday.  

When I first got on facebook eight years, I was far from a facebook ninja in fact, I was an addicted facebook drill sergeant- loud, brash, in your face and constantly on your timeline like white on rice. Over the years I have moved from being a facebook drill sergeant to deactivating my account for long periods of time and to my present ninja status.   I have seen a lot of shenanigans on the streets of facebook during this time, some of which I have listed below. I am personally guilty of some of these at one point or the other.

Disclaimer: The following are the thoughts and opinions of Lady B, a professional people watcher and a semi professional facebook lurker.  They come in good faith and are not personal attacks on anyone, all the names used are fictional. Shoot not the messenger!

Facebook Diary

 In many people’s mind facebook is a digital diary where they can let out every single  personal activity, event, thought and feelings regardless of whether other people need to know this or not.     Fatu:  Eating foo and okra soup with my hands… Yum.  Yabome: will go underwear shopping for her booski tomorrow. Abu: I just shaved and showered, I am  feeling so fresh and so clean. To you all I say sometimes less is more and besides we don’t need to know your every single and personal move. An actual diary will work better. Folks who keep updating their status every 30 minutes.   We  your unsolicited facebook audience acknowledge your presence and the fact  you live an exciting life. There is no need to fill our timelines with your day's activity.  I recommend a reality TV show, that way you get paid for over sharing your awesome self with the public. On a serious note, this is not a safe habit, there are lots of bad and sketchy people out their  lurking social media sites looking for preys. You arm them with critical information when you post every minute detail about yourself  on social media ( says the criminal minds TV show buff).

New Beginnings

Appi Nu Yia we no die oh! Tell God tenki   fo we lif O¹. So it is January 1, 2015, the start of a fresh new year. There are lots of resolutions flying right, left and centre. Some of these resolutions will die by January 7^th , other’s by July 1^st and they very luck one’s will live to see December 31^st 2015. Regardless I say go for it my people, go for it!

 Hi, Kushe, Buwa, Seke ²! My name is Baindu and one of my new year’s resolution is to start blogging.  I have been making this specific resolution since 2011, but every year I make up excuses and never get to it. Actually sometime in 2012, I did start a blog that I never published (side eyes myself).  So here I am in 2015, four years later with my first blog post on the first day of the year. Better late than never, I say.

Looking back through 2014, I have to say it was one of the toughest years for me. It started off with a bang. I was off to my Mother land, Sierra Leone (proud salone titi for life) for an all-expense paid four months internship with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. It was an exciting, challenging and great learning experience for me, in a way it was one of the most fulfilling things I have yet to do (watch out for a full post about this experience).  The first quarter of 2014 was great, I got to see my family, hung out with old friends, made new friends, network with people in my field and made a lot of great memories.