Interview Thursday: The Mysterious Guest!

"Our flaws and weaknesses can be worked on and turned into strengths" so says the lady you are about to meet. You can perceive her determination and dedication, you have read of her exploits in bettering the life for females, and you may know of her love for cats. But there is much more to this great lady. Join me here on this enthralling journey of knowing Standtall - The Activist- RITA

Rita: Tell us about Standtall, who is behind” the Activist”?

Standtall: Just an ordinary female member of Nigeria that is passionate about positive changes especially in women’s rights and gender equality issues. She used to be blindly trusting well, with friends; she was highly carefree, and she is ambidextrous and extroverted. She has reached a face in life where she knows that “our flaws and weaknesses can be worked on and turned into strength”.

I am just an every day woman that faces traffic; queue to get into a bus, thinking of how to manage her finances and so on and so forth. I am just like every other average Nigerian but with a passion for change and development.

Rita: What drives you towards this passion for seeing the betterment in women and what’s in it for you?

-->

Standtall: First, I was a girl child that went through a lot of challenges of fitting in the world, avoiding being raped by a step brother, a guy trusted by my mum, wondering why my gender is going through abuse and all.

Second, I was a girl child that didn’t find answers to all maltreatment of women and girls around her when she was growing up.

Third, I was the woman that was often challenged and told she couldn’t occupy leadership position because she was just a woman.

Fourth, I am now that citizen of Nigeria that believes in equality, that believes a lot in women and girls and their latent abilities to make a lasting change in their society.

Fifth, I am now that woman and citizen of Nigeria that believes in individuality and the fact that both women and men should be left without hindrance to reach their potentials and contribute to the world.

What is in it for me is just to see a world where every individual regardless of gender is treated equally because to me any woman’s problem anywhere is every woman’s problem. I have seen that as a child.

Rita: Please share with us some key projects you have been involved with and how they impacted in you as a person:

Standtall: There have being so many online and off-line collaborations. I used to be a students’ leader and with all my leadership involvement, I was able to prove that women, like men can achieve greatness. All we need is determination, commitment and to be armed with the right information.

I was involved in a radio and TV program with the Development Information Network. The program was about Information and Communication Technologies development in Nigeria. I co-hosted the Radio program in 2006 and it was fun and educating to be a part of that project. I like the fact that a lot of emphases were laid on women and ICT development.

I am a volunteer of Baobab for Women’s Human Rights and I like the fact that I am able to contribute to women and girls training as well as rights issues.

At my new place of work, we do a lot of ICT trainings for women and girls and the fact that I am involved in mentoring, information and knowledge’s sharing is a lot of achievement for me.

I have being involved in so many other activities that I cannot list here in other not to bore my readers, But one thing is certain with all my involvements with development and leadership work, I am learning daily that this is my career, this is the path for me and I should be ready to be a better person, get focused and keep contributing my quotas.

Rita: Has your belief in feminism been a cause of concern in your marriage?

Standtall: No, it has never been. I have Poeticallytinted that is a friend of my family to testify to this. Well, Standtall Husband is a regular reader of my blog and he believes in my vision for change. We both practice what we preach. He is more or less a feminist. He doesn’t believe he has to stay at home and let me struggle through traffic to come and cook if he is at home. He does the cooking, we both share domestic chores. At times he tells me to sit and he brings me food and pampers me with massage and all.

When he sees issues of concern about women and girls rights, he discusses it with me and together we share ideas. He doesn’t see it has a big deal for both of us to add our finances to the upkeep of our family. I saw in him a gender sensitive individual before I said I do. So, there has never being a time that feminism is seeing as a threat to our marriage. We both embrace feminism principles and values.

Rita: Please share with us 5 things you like about Nigeria and 5 things you would like to change:

Standtall: The likes: our different dynamic dishes, our survival spirits, our very own attires, our sense of analysis {lol}, our fantastic indigenous music and dances.

Would like to change: Lack of respect for young people, our leaders’ lack of sincerity of purpose, incessant power failure, religion intolerance/doctrinal issues, child abuse and violence against women.

Rita: The slave trade was an important event in history. What do you think about it and how do you think this impacted African and Nigeria?

Standtall: Slave trade was horrible! I often pretended it didn’t happen. Though at the end of all the sacrifice of our slave fighters or revolutionaries, the likes of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Mahatma Gandhi , we were all free! America would have being a white country but Obama an African-American is now a president of the United States. South Africa is developed and getting stronger. But for Nigeria, it seems our leaders are now the slave traders, because they are worse than the colonial masters. At least if you feel someone has done something terrible to you, the only way to right the wrong is to do what is right! With Nigeria, we still have a long way to go to stop being slaves in our own countries, to see the benefit of our natural resources in our lives and the lives of the coming generations.

Rita: You started this Interview Thursday and it has evolved into something we al look forward to, what was your inspiration for this and how do you choose your guest?

Standtall: The idea came from not wanting to be a lone voice talking about change and development. I saw a lot of potentials on blogsphere/blogsville, when I read people blogs and the comments they drop on other peoples blogs, I do get an idea of the persons belief and personality, then I choose my guest. But I choose Thursday because I was born on a Thursday.

Rita: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Standtall: Finishing my Law degree and becoming the best female women rights lawyer ever seen in Nigeria.

Rita: What does religion mean to you?

Standtall: To me religion is about having a personal relationship with God, finding him and understanding why you are created by God. Religion to me is being liberal and open-minded.

Rita: Iist 5 bloggers you admire.

Standtall: Permit me to have this done in categories because this is a trap. I love so many bloggers but I will just list a few categories that came to mind.

1. The Witty: Temite, Afrobabe, LG, Vera, Doug, Baroque and Geebee
2. The Friends and cat lovers: Gattina, Poeticallytinted, Chari, Abbie, Graham Gracker and Ezra Olubi
3. The God’s lovers: Rita, Writefreak, No Limit, Jaycee and Aloted
4. The Thatchers: SolomonSydelle, Nigerian Drama Queen, Parakeet, Rev. Lisa and Tigeress
5. The Lovely ones: FFF, O’ Dee, Buttercup, Archiwiz, Wordmerchant and Adaeze

Rita: Can you please drop a line about your love for cats?

Standtall Husband is thinking I might wake up one day and choose my cats over him. Don’t blame him or I, we both can’t help our different feelings. I have got an admission to study MA in Gender and Development at the University of Sussex and the fear now is how on earth can I leave my cats behind for one year? Just translate the feeling.

Rita: Any other comment you will like to make?

Standtall: It’s just to appreciate this community and to thank everyone that believe in my blog and its contents. Together we can make a lasting change in the world.

Thank dear Rita for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this. Love you all.

Rita: You're welcome Standtall. You won't blame me for having a smile on my face all through this interview. Learning this much about you has been an enthralling and interesting journey of discovery.