APPLY: Become a CYFI Fellow 2016

The Carrington Youth Fellowship Iniative (CYFI) is now inviting credible Nigerian youths with passion for driving community-based developmental projects to apply for CYFI 2016 Program (open to Lagos and Port Harcourt).

About CYFI:
Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative, CYFI, is a dynamic youth-based initiative launched in 2011 by the U.S. Consulate General, Lagos. CYFI brings together Nigerian youth of exceptional vision, skills and experience to design and implement projects that have a positive impact on Nigerian society. The CYFI program was named after the Former Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, who was a champion of civil liberties, democracy and closer ties between the U.S. and Nigeria.

CYFI fellows are committed to putting the ideals of Walter Carrington into practice. The CYFI Board of Directors, in conjunction with the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Consulate General, Lagos, selects fellows who demonstrate exceptional vision, skills and experience. Fellows are them grouped into teams based on interest, and teams then develop and implement their own youth engagement project over the course of the one-year fellowship duration. In addition to working with their team to bring their project into fruition, CYFI fellows have the opportunity to attend various networking events, roundtables and forums on relevant social issues, hosted by the U.S. Consulate General, Lagos. The year will conclude with an awards ceremony for fellows, where fellows will be inducted into the CYFI Alumni Program.

My Personal Experience:
As a CYFI Fellow 2012, we were the first set to be inducted and I must confess that being a part of the program remains till today as one of the best opportunities I have ever had to learn differently, network effectively and contribute wholeheartedly my quota to empowering unskilled young people with entrepreneurship skills and tools which as of now is helping them to become employers of labour. All the Fellows were fantastic and brilliant crop of young Nigerians who were so committed to making their country a better place. I might as well brag a little that my team was the best because our vocational training project in Ibadan, Youth Entrepreneurship and Creative Academy (YEC-Academy), later won the CYFI Award for Best Youth Engagement Project in 2012. :)

I, Ebenezer O. Akinrinade, is inviting you to be a part of history and make Nigeria proud! Being a CYFI Fellow might just be the perfect platform you need to step up into YALI just like Adepeju Salu (CYFI Alumni and President, YALI Alumni Nigeria).

Application Deadline:
January 11, 2016.

Eligibility:
Lagos and Port-Harcourt.

Official Website:
Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative

CYFI Application Page:
Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative 2016

** Remember to apply and share the opportunity within your professional network.
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LOVE & YOUnity

I am real.
I am unique.
I am made complete.
Nothing at all is missing.

I am just one
One among many.
Some may look just like me
But no one can really be me.

I am the message
And still the messenger.
I am the song
And still the singer.

I love me
And am proud to be.
Learn to love you
And be proud that you do.

I love you just like me
And I am happy I do.
If you love me like you love yourself
What a happy place our world will be.

Written & Authored by:
Ebenezer O. Akinrinade (CYFI Alumni Fellow)
+2348027701092
gent2poetry@gmail.com

JUNE (Journey Unto New Era)

When this road was set before me
The fear of the unknown petrified me
For I did not know where the road leads.
But the wind of faith blew and carried me…
Pushing me towards the very road I could not dare.
I yielded to the voice of faith telling me all will be well.
And when through the valley of shadows and death I walked
Where too many had met with inescapable dead-end
Faith turned on its shining light on my path
And shadows, and death, skipped off without a trace.
Today, I looked back at the very place where I begun
And realized am halfway through and still standing.
So I conclude to take a little rest,
A little catching of fresh breathe,
And large doses of faith to carry me through another half.
The journey unto new era continues from here.
Many miles still lie ahead of me;
Many troubled waters to swim across,
High mountains to climb over,
And sinking sands to walk through.
I need all the strength I can get to succeed on this quest
Because I have passed through many thick and thin
And cannot afford to fail me and The One who chose me.

Authored by:
Ebenezer O. Akinrinade (CYFI Alumni)
[Social Worker | Poet | Book Editor]
+2348027701092
gent2poetry@gmail.com
http://gent2smile.blogspot.com
Twitter: @gent2smile

CHINUA ACHEBE: A President We Never Had

The immortal soul of Iroko has only stepped outside of its mortal body, but I see mortal men taking to the streets and wailing that the Iroko has fallen apart, how myopic they are. How can Iroko, the tree of the gods, fall apart?

Achebe!, I may not be able to tell how far the journey from here to the home of our ancestors is, but I shall assume that you have finally arrrived at the place where they reside. I am happy that you are gone far away from this endangered world, yet feel very sad that your countrymen never listened to the voice of reason. You had seen so much. You knew so much. You said so much. You did so much. And, in fact, you could have done much more if only... But your people did not understand, neither were they ready to know. Even the same men with whom you fought in those youthful years for the independence of this country choose to dwell on ignoble thoughts, I mean those yesterday's and today's men who today are giving accolades and calling for the immortalization of your name.

Please Achebe, do not give your eyes to tears, for I can tell that your heart is still broken by the betrayal of these men who till today are still betraying the land they once swore to protect. How I wish you had the chance to become our president, maybe things would not have fallen apart. What then shall we do now, if not to ask that you plead with the ancestors on our behalf to join their voices with ours as we pray for the Arrow of GOD to hit hard on those who would not allow this country reach her full potential so that it would not be said of us in near future that There Was A Country once called Nigeria.Amen!
Send my greetings to Esther, my dear mother, that although Nigeria has not changed much but my hope for a better future has not dwindled. Goodbye Chinua Achebe.

Written by:
Ebenezer Akinrinade (CYFI Fellow)
08027701092
ebenezer.akinrinade@gmail.com