African man makes history after winning Mr. Deaf International 2016 Title (photos)

Calvin Vogefu Musalia from Kenya has made history after he won the 2016 Mr Deaf International title.

Calvin, the second born in a family of four, won the pageant held in Las Vegas, USA, between June 30 and July 9, becoming the first Kenyan and African to hold the crown.

In a way, he is a man of many firsts. He and other deaf youths in Nairobi formed a basketball team in 2007 and in 2013 they were invited for the Deaf Olympics in Bulgaria. This was a milestone, as no
deaf team from Africa had ever participated in the Deaf Olympics. The team, however, did not perform well, largely due to inexperience.

When they returned home later the same year, he saw an advert for Mr Deaf Kenya, which was to be held in Embu County. Contestants were invited from all the 47 counties.

Calvin decided to give it a shot and, as luck would have it, he was declared the winner.

As the title holder, he was selected to represent the country in Bulgaria in 2013 but lack of funds would work against him. The same fate befell him in 2014 when he was to represent Kenya for the same competition in London. However, he never lost hope of ever representing his country.

Third time proved a charm, this year, as he managed to solicit funds through the help of his parents and other well-wishers who saw his unwavering determination.

He had won a Kepsa-organised pageant and in the process, applied for 2016 competition. The rest is history.

Now, he has gone into the record books as the first African to win the world title and in the process also become Mr Deaf Africa.
"As an ambassador, I will travel around the world meeting world leaders, participating in official charities and social events, make appearances on television to speak about a variety of topics in order to promote education and awareness of our deaf rights and also our sign language," he said through his mentor and sign language interpreter, Mr Samuel Njau.

Calvin was born in the late 1980s in Utawala, Nairobi, to Meshack and Anne Musalia from Sabatia, Vihiga County.

He started school at the Aga Khan Special School for the Deaf, where he spent four years. While in Standard Two, he left and enrolled at Tumu Tumu School for the Deaf in Nyeri, where he sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in 2000.

For the next four years, Calvin was at Reverend Muhoro Secondary School for the Deaf where he rose to become a head boy and also played football as a striker. His favourite subjects were Christian religious education and home science.

In 2005, he started playing basketball with other youths in Utawala just for fun.

Little did he know that this would one day launch him onto the international stage as an athlete and pageant contestant.

Source - http://www.nation.co.ke/

How Nsukka residents stoned policeman to death for killing okada rider (photo)

It was tit for tat at Nsukka in Enugu State last week, when a policeman, Corporal Robert Ugwanyi, was stoned to death for killing a commercial motorcyclist, Mr Festus Onah, shortly after he had come out from a restaurant, where he had gone to eat.

Onah, whose skull was blown open by the policemen's bullet, had his brains splashed all over the area, prompting a spontaneous attack on the policemen by passers-by and other onlookers.

Before the incident, residents of Nsukka had been grumbling over the activities of policemen and thugs attached to the state Ministry of Transport, who stop motorists for their "MOT particulars" only to end up extorting between N10,000 and N30,000 from them.

The police killing occurred when some policemen attached to a task force set up by the Nsukka Local
Government Council, were trying to compel or force traders to relocate to the newly completed Building Materials Market on the outskirts of the Nsukka metropolis.

South East Voice gathered that when the task force members were sealing building materials shops at the Beach Area, some members resisted, insisting that they had no reason to move to the new site as they were not affected by the local government by-law.

One of the traders was reportedly said to have told the task force members that he dealt on animal feeds, hence he was not affected by the directive. However, as argument raged, other traders from a near-by small food materials market and other passers-by gathered to watch the development. It was further said that as the argument was degenerating, Ugwuanyi, who was said to have recently come to Nsukka on transfer, reportedly fired a shot from his assault rifle.

The bullet hit the late commercial motorcycle (okada) rider, Onah, who was oblivious of what was going on and he died instantly. Late Onah, who was married and had six children, hailed from Ibagwa-Aka community in Igboeze South Local Government Area, and was alleged to have relocated from the North-East in the heat of the Boko Haram menace, to his home town, from where he travelled to Nsukka daily for his okada business.

However, as soon as the crowd noticed that the okada man was stone dead, they descended on the armed policeman and began to stone him until he became unconscious. His colleagues were said to have managed to collect his gun as he was being stoned before running back to the Nsukka Divisional Police Headquarters for reinforcement, before returning to the scene to rescue him.

However, it was already too late as doctors at the near-by Bishop Shanahan Hospital could not revive him and promptly referred the patient to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Ituku-Ozalla on the outskirts of Enugu metropolis, but doctors could not attend to him there.

Ugwuanyi was again rushed to the Park Lane Hospital, Enugu, where the policemen carrying him were told that there was no bed space before he finally gave up the ghost.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the deaths, saying that the Police were investigating the matter.