Monday, 13 April 2015

MentorAfrica: WE MATTER ... WE, THE CITIZENS

MentorAfrica: WE MATTER ... WE, THE CITIZENS: Citizens have a voice and they are partners to good governance but this is only possible when they are willing to be a part. Since a lot of...

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

WE MATTER ... WE, THE CITIZENS

Citizens have a voice and they are partners to good governance but this is only possible when they are willing to be a part. Since a lot of youths in Nigeria do not have any interest in what goes on in government and have completely lost faith in their leaders. We cannot allow this to continue.



Citizens Engagement can only have the needed impact if the citizens in any given society understand the very vital role that they have to play in order to contribute the development and day to day running of a balanced society. In many societies where citizens have not been carried along by government, they have become apathetic and really do not care what happens around them as long as they can just manage to get by from one day to another. It is in order to deal with this apathy and bring citizens to the point where they can understand the power and necessity of Citizens Engagement that we started the initiative of interacting with the youths who are the future government to help them appreciate their role as citizens and future leaders.



In order to take any action of engagement with their representatives, citizens have to believe that they have something to contribute. The process of discussing with and educating the youths opens them up to coming together with others through advocacy to make their voices heard and also to prepare them to listen to others when they get into position of representation.

Saturday, 21 February 2015

MentorAfrica: FACE YOUR FEARS 2 - FAITES FACE A VOS CRAINTES 2

MentorAfrica: FACE YOUR FEARS 2 - FAITES FACE A VOS CRAINTES 2: Fear is a monster that is only as big as you imagine it to be. Your image of fear is different from your neighbour's; some people have ...

FACE YOUR FEARS 2 - FAITES FACE A VOS CRAINTES 2

Fear is a monster that is only as big as you imagine it to be. Your image of fear is different from your neighbor's; some people have so minimized the size of this monster to the point that they are in charge of what goes on in their lives to the extent that is humanly possible.
One of the questions we need to ask ourselves to determine the size of fear we have in our lives is “what if I don’t achieve my desired goals?”
We are always advised to think through our decisions before we take actions. Many have turned this noble process into a time of building an image of fear in their minds, all they do is look at all the reasons why what they want to do won’t work. They go over all the stories of those who have ventured and failed and look for extraneous reasons why those who succeeded did.
This unbalanced approach causes many people to stay in their unhappy place of comfort, rather than focus on one reason why they should step out and take action, they concentrate on all the reasons why it won’t work. The fear of failure becomes so big that it obstructs their view of the glory of their destination. We need to learn how to appreciate the fact that failure is just a stepping stone to success. When we see life from this perspective, it helps us to take calculated risks that are a most for us to succeed in any venture. It is either you fail, learn and succeed or you  live a mediocre life and wonder what would have been if you tried for the rest of your life.


photo credit : stuttering.com
La peur est un monstre qui n'est aussi grand que vous imaginez qu'il soit. Votre image de la peur est différent de celle de votre voisin; certaine ont ainsi minimisé la taille de ce monstre au point qu'ils sont en charge de ce qui se passe dans leur vie dans la mesure de ce qui est humainement possible.
Une des questions que nous devons nous poser pour déterminer la taille de la peur que nous avons dans nos vies est "que fairais- je si je n'arrive pas à atteindre mes objectifs souhaités?"
Nous sommes toujours conseillé de réfléchir à nos décisions avant de prendre des mesures. Beaucoup ont fait de ce processus noble un moment de la construction d'une image de la peur dans leur esprit, tout ce qu'ils font c'est examiner toutes les raisons pour lesquelles ce qu'ils veulent faire ne s'accomplira pas. Ils analysent toutes les histoires de ceux qui se sont lancés et échoué et ils recherchent des raisons  étrangères pour lesquelles ceux qui ont réussi l'ont pu faire.
Cette approche déséquilibrée provoque beaucoup de à rester dans leur place malheureuse de confort, plutôt que de se concentrer sur l'une des raisons pour laquelle ils devraient sortir et prendre des mesures, ils se concentrent sur toutes les raisons pour lesquelles il ne marchera pas. La peur de l'échec devient si grand qu'il obstrue leur vision de la gloire de leur destination. Nous devons apprendre à apprécier le fait que l'échec est juste un tremplin vers le succès. Lorsque nous voyons la vie dans cette perspective, il nous aide à prendre des risques calculés qui sont un fait absolu pour nous de réussir dans toute entreprise. Soit vous échouez, apprendre et réussir ou vous vivrez  une vie médiocre et on vous demandant  pour le reste de votre vie ce qui aurait été si vous avez essayé.

Thursday, 19 February 2015

MentorAfrica: FACE YOUR FEARS - FAISEZ FACE A VOS CRAINTES

MentorAfrica: FACE YOUR FEARS - FAITES FACE A VOS CRAINTES: We often hear people say we should face our fears if we ever want to make any meaningful progress. However the major challenge is the fact ...

FACE YOUR FEARS - FAITES FACE A VOS CRAINTES

We often hear people say we should face our fears if we ever want to make any meaningful progress. However the major challenge is the fact that many of us do not even admit that we have fears because we are too busy trying to show everyone that we have it all together. We pretend to the point that we actually believe we do not have any fears and we find it difficult to identify and deal with them. On the other hand, there are those who do not know that what is obstructing their view and making them lose focus, is some form of fear. The earlier we take time and examine the issues that are stopping us from making any form of progress and honestly try to understand what we are dealing with, the better for us.
To help us understand what our fears are, we should ask ourselves questions like:
·         What would I do if I do not get my desired results?
·         What would happen if people, especially those close to me, do not accept my vision?
·         What would I do if people start deriding every step I make?
·         How will I react if I become more successful than I ever dreamed of?
I believe if we give honest thoughts to these salient questions, they will help us understand what most of us are up against and think of ways to overcome so we can accomplish our desired objective in life.

We will try to examine these questions in our next blog posts, your contributions and comments are welcome.

photo credit : stutteringjack.com
Nous entendons souvent les gens disent que nous devrions faire face à nos craintes si nous voulons faire des progrès significatifs. Toutefois, le défi majeur est le fait que beaucoup d'entre nous n'admettent même pas que nous avons des craintes parce que nous sommes trop occupés en essayant de montrer à tous que nous sommes impeccable. Nous prétendons au point que nous croyons qu'en fait, nous n'avons pas de craintes et nous le trouvons difficile de les identifier et de les traiter avec importance qu'il faut. D'autre part, il ya ceux qui ne savent pas que l'obstacle qui bloque leur point de vue et leur faire perdre la concentration, est une forme de peur. Le plus tôt nous prenons le temps et examiner les questions qui nous empêchent de faire toute forme de progrès et prennons le temps de comprendre honnêtement ce dont nous avons à affaire, le mieux que ça serait pour nous.
Pour nous aider à comprendre ce que sont nos craintes, nous devons nous poser des questions comme:
• Que ferais-je si je ne reçois pas mes résultats souhaités?
• Qu'est-ce qui se passerait si les gens, en particulier ceux qui me sont proches, n'acceptent pas ma vision?
• Que ferais-je si les gens commencent toujours à se moquer de ce que je fais?
• Comment vais-je réagir si je deviens plus de succès que je n'ai jamais rêvé?
Je crois que si nous donnons de pensées honnêtes à ces questions saillantes, ils vont nous aider à comprendre ce que la plupart d'entre nous en faisons face et à réfléchir aux moyens de les surmonter afin que nous puissions accomplir notre objectif recherché dans la vie.
Nous allons essayer d'examiner ces questions dans nos prochains postes de blog, nous apprecierions vos contributions et vos commentaires.

Monday, 16 February 2015

MentorAfrica: LEAVE THE TRUTH ALONE - LAISSEZ LA VERITE TRANQUIL...

MentorAfrica: LEAVE THE TRUTH ALONE - LAISSEZ LA VERITE TRANQUIL...: If we knew the power of truth we would stick with it and allow it to defend itself. The reason why a lot of people go to all sorts of lengt...