Just yesterday, I was given a rare opportunity to have a very wonderful interview with an influential person, who I believe fights for the good and welfare of every child, most especially the ones facing diverse challenges. This public figure started an initiative that has helped countless individuals, and most certainly in the area of gender.
She was able to structure a gender-based system and initiative that is not biased, which successfully broke the chain that says all guys are strong and they can handle themselves.
She believes that, not every boy gets to be as strong and all boxed up as we all think. She says that it's not only the female gender that faces oppositions but also the male gender. Lastly, she instills a note of hope to the male gender out there facing one challenge or the other, and in Nigeria to be precise. She's not just doing it for the fun of it but seeks to impact lives and make the world a better place.
So, I would like you to follow through with me, because i asked her a few questions and she gave me answers in a remarkable way. With no further ado we'll get right into how the interview went down;
The Conversation Started Smoothly...
I started the interview with her, with a very normal and typically question, because i know most people all around the world might not know her name so I asked her to do an Introduction
• Who Are You?
"My name is Sunshine Chikezie, I'm From Nigeria. I'm a radio presenter, a Red Carpet Host, a Public speaker and to crown it all, I run an Initiative for the Boy-Child."
• What Are The Things That Inspire You?
"Firstly, the most important thing that inspires me is God. Then, Family, and finally, life in general and oh, how would I forget, Hunger! It really inspires me"
• Why did you Start the Boy-Child Initiative
"Well, The Boy-child Initiative wasn't actually the plan. For as much as I can remember, I had always wanted to be a radio presenter, and do the whole public thing all. Nothing more and nothing less and of course I became one, but then somethings weren't adding up, that's when it was laid in my spirit by the God, to do it!
A short while after I got a tip from the Holy Spirit, I began to see some things that I was ignorant of. Basically, I started to observe the trends in most families, my family, the society and also in life. Taking note of all of these, it became clearer to me that the world, the government and people have ignored the fact that, sometimes its never really about the females or the ladies, and that the males do face the exact same amount of challenges and trials, that the girls face only that in the case of males, they are shut out because of the "They are strong. They can handle themselves" phrase and mentality.
I observed closely that, organizations, companies, facilities and most structures tend to overlook the guys(males) and put much more concentration, investments and opportunities on the ladies.
They work for the females, fight for them, and mostly stand for them but no one, is really doing anything for the boys,and the guys, even if there are people doing things for them, its nothing compared to the females. So I figured that it's really the major reason why we have challenges in the society because we've ignored mostly an integral part of the society and important part of life generally.
Going forward, I started to understand that we as humans, we offer counsel to the ladies that are victims of problems caused by men, so that way we ignore the real truth; that we aren't attacking the challenge from the root.
So we offer therapy to the victims of course which are ladies, but let's face it, these guys go through enough that they don't even say, they go through terrible times that even you and I do not know, and they do not say these things, not even to their parents or even friends and so when its bottled up inside it leads to several casualties, and then we start calling the society, its the society! Who then is the society?The bottom line is that the males, need attention, they really need attention, and whatever is not given attention tends to loose its value. If you overlook a flower because it looks so beautiful, it dies without without pause.
The truth is the boys, the guys, or the males both have blood and water running through their veins and they've got emotions. They feel things the same way every other person does, so making them swallow up all their emotions shows a negative impact on them and also the society because we keep thinking they are strong and of course they are.
However, I think we should just change some of these narratives and I know it might not be easy in this generation right now, but from our generation and the next one to come, we can create an impact by clearing up the air, and putting their feelings too into the equation and not ignoring their challenges, and that's basically why I started the Boy-Child Movement.
• What did you Aim to Achieve In The Process?
Directly and Indirectly, I'm attempting to fix the girl-child by fixing the boy-child. In actual context or description, I'm fixing the gender-biased mindset going on in the world and although it can't entirely disappear, I am willing to keep pushing.
I am basically creating platforms where some of these challenges can be solved, where the boy-child can utilize his challenges and transform them into strengths so that we could reduce the catastrophes caused by ignorance to the Boy-child and primarily give them back, their voice .
For instance, Worldwide we hear of diverse challenges and problems caused by guys and that the female are always the victims but also some of these same guys we term to be the initiators of these acts also face the same exact challenge and like I said they hardly even state it.
The violence, pain, and catastrophes unleashed in the society, the forced marriages, the rape, the molesting, the child abuse that the females go through, the males face them too and you will never know because you aren't looking.In the world today, we have boys who get raped, who get married even before they finish fifth grade and though there are countries and cities where this doesn't happen but as long as it happens somewhere in the world, it means that its a cause for concern.
A few days back, I was online and I saw an article, a news article from the United States. In that article, It stated that a man from the U.S had just finished from court because he was raped by one of his uncles and trust me this wasn't a boy it was a grown man. He said that in court they didn't even want to believe that he was telling the truth, so when we see things like this then it begs the question, "Are we really Humane?" I always preach Humanity before gender and not the other way round."
• What Do You Have to Say to People that do not know what to Stand for?
"Generally, If I would say anything to anyone then, it would be this; People who don't know what to stand for should look for what to stand for! That's just basically it because no one person in the world today was born to just eat, drink, sleep, walk, get married, have kids and die. There is a reason for being a member of the living and its to bring value to yourself, the people around you, and society.
Adding Value, creating value, building peoples life should be the utmost thing that anyone should stand for, if you haven't figured out why you are alive then you need to work on your self because a lot of people are pushing in the world today. So look for something and put value into it, carve a niche for yourself, Seek to add value to people's lives, and seek to make the world a better place.
Just in case you don't know how to do all of these, then take a moment, sit and ask yourself "what are the things that makes me feel sad? what gets me pissed at the society?" Do you get to see kids that starve every day? Do you get to see people, kids who don't have a voice of their own and they don't know what to do about it, and you feel sad about it? What are the things that you can do without being paid? What are the things you can do with all the money you have? Friends, if you can really answer all of these then, you'll discover who you really are."
• What's The Best Thing About Life?
"Well, for me really, I think the best thing about life is Love and not just love but Genuine Love. I love, Love and genuinely its the most important thing in life and if you have it, you will operate differently.
It helps you in life, helps you see things from a different perspective and the best thing for me is to love and to be loved genuinely. Remember its Humanity Before Gender, Thank you!"
It Ended Smoothly, With Miss Sunshine...
Shortly after we had finished the interview, after I had asked her the questions, and she filled me on the answers, she said to me that she'd love to read this article because I had it recorded and then I told her, I'd get it to her soon.
Nonetheless, Everything we wanna achieve can be achieved if only we trust the process, believe in our creator, and solely do the work and with no doubt, changes will definitely occur, leading the society into victory instead of a catastrophe. Thank you for reading.
P.S: To relate or meet up and have a chat with sunshine, you can visit her page or send her a message via this link Sunshine Chikezie.