About the black and white photo challenge, and why you shouldn’t break the #ChallengeAccepted trend

The black and white photo challenge has taken up significant attention on social media. It’s a prompt amongst friends to post a personal photo, albeit in black and white, on Instagram and other social sites, with the caption #challengeaccepted.

Did you know it has evolved globally as a sign of women’s empowerment and is a part of a campaign called “women supporting women”?

Have you been “challenged” yet?

Michelle Ntalami in the Challenge
Michelle Ntalami in the Challenge

If you are a lady haven’t yet been challenged, there are chances that you will be. All it requires is to post a black and white photo with the caption “challenge accepted” and then passing the baton to the next woman. You have participated in the women empowerment campaign.

While many social media enthusiasts may do it for fun, it’s an inconsequential and valuable addition to the cause.

The origin of the challenge remains fluid, with many cites sources. The most authentic and realistic source has been tagged to women in Turkey protesting against femicide and gender-based violence. Other sources may be unrelated but have fuelled the movement, and prominent women personalities with huge following have participated.

On an abstract level, black and white colors have often been used as truth meters and morality gauges in the society. That is easily explained by the phrase “tell it to me in black and white”.

In photography, making the choice to use black and white instead has communicated an introspective seriousness, a kind of clarity of moral and artistic intent.  This is partly due to the idea that facts are black and white and color is some kind of wild, luxurious distraction.

Is there any truth in that?

Sussie Kirea and Ann Njambi on Facebook
Sussie Kirea and Ann Njambi on Facebook

Kenyan celebrities on Instagram haven’t been left behind in the empowerment drive.

Instagram tags the challenge as “meant to celebrate strength, spread love, and remind all women that supporting each other is everything.”

Just to name a few: Yvonne Okwara. Jacquie Maribe. Michelle Ntalami. Avril. Sage. Mayonde.

Wherever the origin of the challenge, it’s a big motivation for the women and a reason to support each other. It’s a ‘feel-good’, power-to-the-women feeling that sheds light to atrocities meted upon the gender mostly for being female. It also sends a precedent for future generation to fight against gender abuse.

What you waiting for?

Accept the challenge, and pass it on!

#ChallengeAccepted.

Sage: King Kaka doesn’t pay school fees for our daughter. I do it alone 

Singer Sage has come out to share her journey so far as a single mother. The popular singer, who got a daughter after a secret affair with King Kaka, said that she’s handling it well though being a single parent isn’t a joke.

“Raising a child as a single mum is the most challenging things I have faced so far. I had a constant fear of wondering how I’m gonna deal with when she goes to school, and she will be asking herself, ‘How comes I am not living with my dad?’ And that was the biggest worry. I have learnt that God is in control of everything,” she said in an interview with Word Is.

Alone

King Kaka was in a relationship with wife Nana when she fathered Sage’s daughter and has always been there for her. Sage, however, said that she does most of the heavy lifting.

“You know I am alone, other parents are paying fees together, they can handle that together. In the beginning, I was freaking out, but after her first term in school, I was able to pay her school fees and even to ensure she goes to school on time, and get everything she needed, including her snacks. It is learning how to let go and leaving God.” she said.