Stories

My name is Precious Joseph. I am 27 years old. I am an orphan, but I have four older brothers. I became orphaned in 2004 at age nine. My education stopped after secondary school. There was no means to further. It actually started like a…

Al-Husseina Amadou never forgets the day she was sold. Like her parents, she was born into slavery in southern Niger. Forty-five years ago, when she was 15, a wealthy businessman from across the border in Nigeria arrived and bought her…

A gold-crowned tooth is all that remains of assassinated Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba. Shot dead by a firing squad in 1961 with the tacit backing of former colonial power Belgium, his body was then buried in a shallow…

"I do notice that I'm not being myself in the workplace," says Hilda Kwoffie. "I try to tone it down a little bit. You find yourself having to always slick your hair down just to fit in." The 24-year-old from Ghana says she's changed…

As a young, black entrepreneur with few industry contacts, Timothy Armoo, 27 has more than beaten the odds to raise investment, scale and then sell his start-up. He grew up on a council estate in south London and puts some of his…

Forty-two-year-old Edmund Tetteh Akrofi lost his wife almost a year ago after giving birth to twins. She left him a widower to take care of his twins Edwin and Edwina. According to him, the babies were triplets but they lost one at…

My father stands out as a very unique and consistent character in my life story for several reasons. He has always had a mysterious air about him which has only been enhanced by his being a man of few words (most of the time). To…

Facial scarification was once popular across Nigeria. Deep cuts, usually on both cheeks or the forehead, were carved on children by families and communities, mostly as a mark of identity. The marks also held stories of pain,…

Australian footballer, Awer Mabil has said he owes Australia his very existence after scoring his crucial sudden-death penalty for the country, to qualify for the World Cup. According to the 26-year old, that goal was a thank you to the…

I personally feel like the democratic nature of the internet has meant that the opinions and ideologies of the so-called gatekeepers - who are mainly white - are null and void. It’s made it a lot easier for people like me, who are of…