FAMILY MATTERS FEBRUARY 7 - 13, 2013
Yinka Sunmonu Consultant | Email: ys@cherishcommunications.com | SUPPLEMENT › page 21, 22, 27, 28.
EMBRACING HERITAGE
INSIDE: › BELLEODUN
The new fashion trend for 2013
Photographer Segun Olotu
› MODELS
OF CALEBER
Search for adoption and fostering heroes and sheroes › DANCE,
EAT, RELAX
Things to do for February
Family Matters
22 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 7 - 13, 2013
Are you a model of caleber? Searching for models of Caleber By Yinka Sunmonu
A
doption Noire launches Models of Caleber as part of a 2013 initiative to increase awareness of the number of black and mixed race children needing permanent homes. Models of Caleber focus on anyone who is promoting and talking about adoption and fostering be it hairdressers and barbers who make it a Saturday conversation to shopkeepers who display awareness campaign posters in their stores, fundraisers, researchers, social workers, prolific tweeters, teachers, and folks who just talk about it. Research shows that black children in the UK wait three times longer than white children to be adopted, boys wait longer than girls as do sibling groups. You don’t have to be an expert to be a Model of Caleber, just someone who cares. Tweet: @adoptionnoire
THE CHILDREN ARE OURS: A VIEW FROM ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
Joyce James, Associate Deputy Executive Commissioner, Texas, is a children’s champion in every sense of the word. A social worker and advanced practitioner with over thirty years of experience, James started as a front line case worker and became the Associate Deputy Executive Commissioner, Center for the Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities in Texas. She says, “My very first job is what has inspired me today. My caseload was primarily made up of African American teenagers. My
A person of caleber
job was to find placements and we often placed them outside their communities. I can still remember those children vividly. I placed a lot of children in places where I would never have placed my own children but they were licensed by the state and, coming in, I thought, who am I to question these issues and I started to really struggle. I struggled for a long time with the fact that those kids were not connected to family, they were not connected to community and to the idea that we would never find a permanent home for them.”
converses, is attentive,
will listen, empathises, believes, is effective and responds
When events cover
your senses, you pull
PLAUDITS Her willingness to speak up and raise issues of institutionalised racism in adoption and fostering and challenge the values of the system, while looking at ways to solve them, has won her plaudits especially in her work with poor and black and minority ethnic communities. “We tend to look for the weaknesses rather than the strengths”, she says. Moving up the career ladder, James felt the need to start “difficult conversations” across racial and cultural lines. It resulted in an exploration of the issues including the perceptions staff had of the groups they needed to help and the positive ways in which they raised their children. “At a regional level, I started examining data by race to answer some of the questions I had been struggling with for a long time.” She developed a model to share data with the community that included race in a way that was not about blame or pointing fingers. She enabled her staff to see children and black families through what she called “a new lens”. Meanwhile, public perception
them back through a
word, thought or act. I treasure you.
¢ Artist
Text: Nat Disu
Voice adoption ad.qxd:Layout 1
23/11/12
Tonderai has designed an exclusive set of e-cards for Models of Calebar 12:39
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of James’s department has changed due to a willingness to involve the communities who are then asked to critique them. “It’s about making ourselves transparent and telling the community that we are all involved.” James says.
¢ NEXT MONTH We launch ‘Real Lives’, an exciting column from Islington Council that invites you into the adoption world gives an insight into the process, stories from people involved and a peek into one of the greatest gifts one could give children waiting for their forever family.
Black children need families
PACT Fostering £335 weekly allowance for one child (£604 for two)
Foster with a charity PACT is recruiting people to foster or be dual approved (fostering with a view to adopt). PACT’s professional, therapeutically trained carers have access to therapy services and receive full support. Call Lorraine to request a PACT Guide to Fostering, or come to a PACT fostering information event.
Mon 18th Feb, 6.30pm, Brixton Recreation Centre, SW9 8QQ Sat 27th Apr, 1—5pm, Croydon Fairfield Halls, CR9 1DG
020 7592 3927
www.pactcharity.org/info Lorraine.white@pactcharity.org
“Attending one of the Southwark information meetings made us realise we were ready to complete our family” Maria and Jack, from Peckham
Adopt in Southwark
If you are considering adoption, why not contact Southwark Council? You’ll benefit from outstanding support and dedicated social workers who will help you as you take your first steps towards completing your family. Your age, ethnicity, marital status or sexuality are not important, but being patient, caring and committed is. For more information about adopting in Southwark and for future dates of adoption meetings visit www.southwark.gov.uk/adoption or talk to us by calling 0800 952 0707 or emailing adoption@southwark.gov.uk www.southwark.gov.uk/adoption
Family Matters
FEBRUARY 7 - 13, 2013 THE VOICE | 27
Exclusive
Belleodun Belleodun (a beautiful celebration), is the latest fashion trend in London, inspired by the drama Feast. The Belleodun woman is proud of her roots, confident and unafraid to mix traditional pieces with western attire. Belleodun celebrates heritage.
B
elleodun is a movement that is symbolic of Africa and the diaspora and inspired by the music, song and dance in Feast, writes originator Gele Tea. With the look, the emphasis is on glowing natural skin like our foremothers and bare lips with a hint of shine. It is about acquiring an inner glow and radiating pride. Make-up and hair artist Juliet Onyeka Osodi, who created the make-up says, “The Spring 2013 catwalks are awash with a mixture of strong colours on the eyes balanced with the subtlety of neutral lips and glowing skins, injected with moments
Get the new look
of bold and beautiful brows and striking red lips. From the brilliant shades of blue and green on the eyes at Stella McCartney and Versus to the neutral lips and glowing skins at Dolce & Gabbana, these key trends have inspired the Belleodun makeup and are bang on trend.” The addition of dots and symbols around the eyes show confidence and some designs incorporate delicate symbols of affirmation. JEWELLRY Abeni Princess Ajani of Dapri Jewels, pays homage to coral beads with the jewellry. They consist of chokers that can be
clipped together to create depth and chains strung around the neck using a variety of length and sizes. Some chains are knotted at the back. Emphasis is always on adornment and volume. The aim is to create sound and rhythm on movement. STYLE Bousjie D’code is part of the styling team responsible for this style, which shows that the distinction between African and western fashion is blurring as the trend moves towards mixing and matching. Over the years we’ve seen pride in the way we wear our hair from plaits with thread to low natural styles. Now it’s time for the clothes we wear. Belleodun. Ase. (So shall it be.)
CREDITS Photograpy: Segun Olotu Make up artist and hair design: Juliet Onyeka Osodi Jewellry: Dapri Jewels Stylist: Bousjie D’code Models: Lauren Sweeney-Fenton (main picture, left) Olayinka Soname (main picture, right) Location: Assorti, London Production: Gele Tea
Family Matters
28 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 7 - 13, 2013
Dance Eat Relax
that I’ve developed this love of drumming. People say that I have a natural affinity towards the drums but I believe you have to develop it. Everybody has a natural inclination towards some things but if you don’t develop them, they fall by the wayside and you do something else. I run drumming lessons and sessions in schools when I’m not on tour. “The wonderful thing about drumming is it gives you this multiple level of concentration.
Things to do this month
PLAYING Richard Hubert Smith
Toyin Taniyum Massage Consider the gift of aromatherapy massage oils. “Many of the essential oils have aphrodisaic properties so when combined with a relaxing treatment, it makes people feel special”, says Jane Tilton of Bellenden Therapies. Chocolate Make a three course choccie meal with recipes from the Gü Chocolate Cookbook (Collins, £18.99). Kids will love making chocolate bubble wrap or lollipops. Eat Assorti is friendly neighbourhood style restaurant serving Russian and Central Asian cuisine in Canary
Wharf. Ideal for an intimate Valentine’s meal. www.assortidelivery.co.uk Dance Tango Fire’s Flames of Desire, Peacock Theatre, London, is exhilarating, rhythmic, acrobatic and impressive. If you thought you had moves … watch this. Booking until 24th February. Listen Red Dust Road – an autobiographical journey, Jackie Kay, Whole Story Audiobooks Jackie Kay’s wonderful memoir about tracing and meeting her birth parents. It’s poignant,
thought provoking and hilarious, in parts. Listen Red Dust Road – an autobiographical journey, Jackie Kay, Whole Story Audiobooks Jackie Kay’s memoir about tracing and meeting her birth parents. Itous, in parts. Plant Discover the joys of “Gifts from the Garden” with the kids using ‘American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Gardens’ by Michelle Obama, published by Ebury, as a starting point. A great resource with recipes and tips.
SOLA AKINGBOLA
Drumming it home
D
rummer Sola Akingbola of the multi award winning band Jamiroquai, talks to Toyin Taniyum about his love of drums and the positive impact they can have on children. “I’ve made my own journey with the drums. Coming from an African background, I know how they are supposed to sound and the rhythms they can make but I wanted to develop technical expertise.
I used the opportunity with Jamiroquai to study the technical aspects of drumming and music in general. Even now, I’m doing my grades (music) and studying harmonies. Technical knowledge is important.” FASCINATING “When I have conversations with my dad these days, he reveals our family history on his mother’s side. who were masqueraders from Oyo. He thinks it’s fascinating
You have to focus, use all four limbs, and sing simultaneously and that’s a serious level of concentration that transfers into many other levels of our PLAYING “What I’ve found with the kids is that they respond well to drumming . When you get them to work in pairs or groups, it works – especially with the girl boy dynamics. Boys tend to say that girls can’t do it but I tell them to listen to what the girls are playing and respond. At first, the boys aren’t listening. But, once they do, they get into the language of drumming. It’s a collective thing and you get so much joy playing with others.” Catch Sola at the Young Vic, London, where he is co- musical arranger of ‘Feast’, which is impressing audiences. It runs until 23 February. www.youngvic.org
* name has been changed
We’d like you to meet Luke; he’s 12 months old. Luke is a very happy and giggly little boy. He has a big smile and loves his foster carer singing to him. Luke loves going to the park where he can sit on the swing and watch everything that is going on around him. He particularly likes animals and will get very excited when he sees a squirrel or a duck. Luke is sociable and loves being around other people. Luke enjoys being active and loves the outdoors, he is easy-going and would fit nicely into any family. We’d like that new adoptive family to be you. We’ll help you all the way, the adoption team in Islington can provide valuable support and guidance. There are financial allowances available if you need it and lots of our adoptive parents are there to give advice too. You can be single or a couple, with or without your own children.
We welcome your experience of life. We all have areas of our lives when things haven’t gone to plan, but we’ve survived. Your experiences in life could be valuable to Luke as he grows up - he’ll need your love and support to help him reach his potential. As well as being fun and rewarding, being an adoptive parent means you’ll make a real difference to Luke’s life - AND YOURS TOO! For more details about Luke and adoption in general, please contact the team.
Call 0800 073 3344, email us on adoption@islington.gov.uk or text LUKE and your email address to 07786 202195.