During the August 2018 Mentorship Programme, the SLM team implemented new strategies and expanded resources to serve the programme participants. The following were affected:

• Communication access beyond emails; to phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp
• An online portal with all the programme resources and assignments
• Check-in sessions with mentees and mentors to ensure their progress
• Extended programme ending date to accommodate the needs of mentees
• Use of online forms compared to our previous use of Word documents
• Reminders about deadlines to essential tasks

 
All the new strategies proved successful and beneficial to the programme participants. In the final feedback form, all the programme participants agreed that the programme was well planned. The SLM team were praised for their efforts. A mentor, Lanre Oranyeli who participated in both January and August 2018 mentorship programme wrote:
I think that enough thought was put in the programme because of how it has changed from January. The new web portal, personal logins, group correspondence and so much more added a lot of professional touch and ease to the programme.
 
A mentee, Emmanuel Thompson wrote:
I feel that enough thought was put into the programme planning; from the programme itself, the management, the mentors, the swift dissemination of information, etc. SLM is unique and indescribable. Kudos to the team that brought this excellent idea into actualization. ​

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​Title: The Silence We Eat
Genre: Prose-poetry
Author: Oyindamola Shoola
Publisher: Okadabooks, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Year of Publication: October 1, 2018
Number of Pages: 145
ISBN: 978-1984248398

The Silence We Eat is a poetic-prose that is not subtle in its telling. Oyindamola Shoola has once again skillfully and effortlessly given a voice to the silent stories of many women; the story of places we have walked and our body has survived; the trajectory of silence and how it leads us home – finding our voices. She has showed us that often times silence is deafening, detaching, choking, empty and fading but then, it becomes finding, rediscovering, healing and wholeness. Oyindamola Shoola, with this one, has proved she is not about to stop being loud with her writings anytime soon. Overall, The Silence We Eat is a book I wouldn’t have had written in any other way. It’s a celebration of our body, strength, survival, and growth as women. For me, it says silence is how we learn to become loud and loud is how we become free. Silence is how we transition to becoming.

- Ebukun Gbemisola Ogunyemi (Ibukunwrites)

​The Silence We Eat is currently available for sale at N500 on Okadabooks for the month of October. The Price will increase to N1,500 in November.

Paperback copies will be available at N2,500 through Patabah Bookstore in Lagos, Nigeria on October 15, 2018.

Threats on their lips.
Bullets in their guns.
Crawling on my knees.
Referendum, my stake.
Coal, steel, cotton, latex a history.
The green land a mystery.
If I retaliate,
Will my unborn child see the light?

You came in as a friend of the family 
Everyone, even surly Billy
Thought you were a lily
 
A night became nights 
And you were always in our sights 
And shared with us all our rights 
 
We can't abide this pretext
You have become a pest.