The Bare Necessities Foundation Organ is es“The Bare Feet Drive ”2.0
In commemoration of International Women’s Day, Vanessa Obioha argues that African movies with leading Nollywood actresses deserve a spotlight on the M-Net pop-up channel
The Bare Necessities Foundation (TBNF) recently organised “The Bare Feet Drive” 2.0 at Sagbokoji Island, Apapa area of Lagos State, reaching out to the riverine community dwellers.
The event was solely aimed at distributing durable shoes to children between the ages of three years and 13years.
As its first outreach in 2021, the TBNF team set out to Sagbakoji Island and were met with excitement and a sense of hope made visible by their reception.
After casual introductions, the foundation took to the business of the day stationing at the Methodist Church in the area.
The team made up of volunteers including; Fehintoluwa Kusimo, Adetayo Talabi, Sikemi Kusimo, Oluwapelumi Jimoh, Opeyemi Omolere, Damilola Adebayo, Tolani Olaleye, Ibrahim Lanre and Hero Faleye, commenced with subtle interactions with the members of the community, after which the donations ranging from shoes, food items and beverages were gifted to over 250 children.
Inspired by an urgency to give back to the society, the founder of The Bare Necessities foundation, Tolu Omikunle explained that “The goal of the foundation is to provide basic necessities of life particularly to widows and children in impoverished communities with the hopes of alleviating some of the stress and frustrations that result from lack of funds to purchase basic daily needs.”
She added that “we also hope that our outreach encourages others who have funds and materials and are interested in giving back to those in need, to be proactive and join us.
“We can accept pre-owned or new shoes and there is transparency as to communities chosen and the distribution of the shoes”.
The Bare Necessities foundation launched its first outreach programme in 2020 at the Success club Oniru Lagos, in the same stead it seeks to support widows and children around Lagos providing basic necessities of life.
TBNF is a non-profit organisation established in 2019 with a vision of providing children with basic necessities of life ranging from food clothing etc. In 2020- the foundation launched its first outreach programme at the Success club Oniru, Lagos.
Recently, MultiChoice Nigeria announced that it will launch an M-Net Movies pop-up channel dedicated to women as they celebrate International Women’s Day coming up on Monday, March 8. Themed ‘Pretty Deadly’, the pop-up channel parades a list of Hollywood female actors like Angelina Jolie, Melissa McCarthy, Brie Larson, and a host of others and will run for more than a fortnight. For a moment, I hoped and prayed that I would see a Nollywood movie in that long list but there was none. Perhaps, my wish was too tall, I scanned through again to see if there was an African movie on the list. Yet, my sore eyes couldn’t find any. The list only paraded Hollywood female stars, whose roles swing from sheroes to con artists.
Could it be that the company which prides itself as the greatest storyteller in Africa didn’t find any African movie worthy to share the spotlight? Are the roles of Nigerian female actresses in movies so stereotyped that their creativity deserves no accolades?
To be fair, MultiChoice has and is still a critical player in the development of the film industry. Through various interventions, the company raised the standards of filmmaking and TV production in Nigeria. Last year alone when the pandemic was biting hard, the company committed N400 million to the creative industry. It churned out different local content on its platforms DStv and GOtv to keep Nigerians entertained during the lockdown period and its successful reality TV show Big Brother Naija has catapulted many to the spotlight, including recording the first female winner, Mercy Eke, in 2019.
The company considerably has boosted the careers of female actresses. For instance, Bisola Aiyeola, an actress, singer and runner-up of the second season of Big Brother Naija has made waves in her career through that spotlight and currently hosting a lifestyle show for the company. Through its Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA), actresses like Ivie Okujaye, Kemi Lala Akindoju have taken home the Trailblazer Award, which helped to validate their creativity.
Even within the organisation, women are ably represented, occupying top positions.
Therefore, to see the company, not including Nigerian movies that celebrate Nollywood actresses is disappointing. There are many actresses in Nollywood, who have done the industry and the country proud. Notable among them is Genevieve Nnaji, whose career has leapt beyond the shores of Nigeria. She produced and directed her first film ‘ Lionheart’ in 2018 and featured in the 2010 film ‘Ije’ alongside Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde. There is also the stunning Rita Dominic whose latest flick, ‘La Femme Anjola’ is due this month. She is known for her award-winning film ‘The Meeting’. What about veterans like Joke Silva, known for their outstanding artistic flair both in front of the camera and on stage. The list of exceptional Nigerian female actresses is almost inexhaustible.
Beyond Nigeria, African actresses are doing incredibly well locally and internationally. South African Nomzamo Mbatha is one of those actresses who like Lupita Nyong’o is making waves in Hollywood. She starred in Eddie Murphy’s ‘Coming 2 America’ movie launching today on Amazon Prime Video.
Of course, the M-Net Movies pop-up channel favours more Hollywood flicks but wouldn’t it be relieving to see the company add a few Nollywood/African movies celebrating African actresses ahead of the channel launch on March 19? Or better still, M-Net Africa should have a pop-up channel to celebrate these iconic women.