We’re two months into 2023 and change is still in the hazardous Nairobi air. We want to be better. And stronger, physically and mentally. We want to lead more interesting lives. To belong somewhere, find community, and be cared for while caring in return. We want to evolve.

But change is harder than a teenage boy at a strip club.

I have no concrete solutions (I haven’t even read Atomic Habits). However, I do have this list of things that could potentially help you improve yourself. Think of the list as a snapshot of my life with some input from friends and the media I consume. It’s ever-changing. My goal in sharing this piece of my life is to encourage you to share your list. Perhaps, by shattering the confines of our own small worlds, we can draw each other nearer to the people we aspire to be and forge deeper connections with one another.

Here we go! Click on your main area of interest to skip to that section.

FOR INSIGHT AND CONTEXT INTO THE DISCOURSE

• How to write about Africa
• Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others
• Akwaeke Emezi on being ogbanje, gender affirming surgery and living your truth
• Meja Mwangi
• The Weapon of Theory, Amilcar Cabral

FOR RE-IGNITING YOUR SENSE OF WONDER (and dominating trivia night)

• Ologies with Alie Ward
• Yatreda Art Collective
• The Anthropocene Reviewed with John Green
• To Scale
• Bob Marley: Explore the life of a legend

FOR THE NEWS, EVENTS, TRENDS AND CULTURE

• The Native
• The Continent
• Radio Jambo News
• Current Affairs

FOR SUPPORT KE

• Fake Woke With Justine
• Affordable Art Show Ke

FOR FINDING A CAREER YOU LOVE

FOR INSIGHT AND CONTEXT INTO THE DISCOURSE

 

How to write about Africa

I wish I’d met Binyavanga. Really, I wish I’d known him. Because of the masterful writing and his way of reaching down into dark places and showing you that it was ok to turn the light on. That, in fact, there was nothing so bad or shameful there. It was more than courage, his declaring of the things we refuse to even whisper about.

This essay should be required reading for anyone planning to tell any stories about the continent. It’s tragic that we still need it but let’s all be thankful that Binyavanga remains with us in this way.

Sometimes I swear I can feel his unamused eyebrow lifted from the other side.

 

Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others

This is a short book that focuses on war photography but poses larger questions about narratives in media, objectivity and the creator’s intention.

Do devastating images of war, destitution or suffering of any kind have the impact on the viewer/audience that is intended? And when we participate in the spread of these images what role are we assuming?

 

Akwaeke Emezi on being ogbanje, gender affirming surgery and living your truth

One of my favourite African authors wrote this article for The Cut. They offer a perspective on the gender discourse that hardly gets any attention – that of a person transition away from assigned womanhood. They also dig into how Igbo beliefs inform their understanding of gender and ways of being.

“I’ve never heard of anyone like this,” the surgeon told me. He was an old white man who had performed many surgeries on trans patients, from breast augmentations to double mastectomies. “Male to female, female to male, fine. But this in-between thing?”

 

Meja Mwangi

I was thirteen years old when I read Striving for the Wind. There were a lot of firsts for me in the book.

My first encounter with the idea that the Mau Mau resistance had been betrayed from the start.

First representation of poverty as a human invention, sustained by greed.

My first reckoning with the fact that having  intelligence, political agency and privilege do not herald one’s ability to create meaningful impact.

Meja Mwangi is a criminally underrated writer and I need you to help me change that in his lifetime.

 

The Weapon of Theory, Amilcar Cabral

Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was a revolutionary, pan-africanist, anti-imperialist who authored books and poems geared towards the causes he fought for. It does him a disservice to compare him to anyone else but if ever there were a black Che Guevara, it would be him.

“Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children. . .”

He delivered this address to the first Tricontinental Conference of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America held in Havana in January, 1966. It’s worth a read if only because it serves as a call back to a time when the nations of the Global South were united against imperialist forces and oppressive regimes.

Today, the histories of liberation movements are told in isolation, separated from the threads that connected them. Those threads were what won them their victories and inspired those in the struggle.

FOR RE-IGNITING YOUR SENSE OF WONDER (and dominating trivia night)

 

Ologies with Alie Ward

A podcast where specialists talk about what they know, why it matters and how science is just so cool. It’s kid friendly and the host is hilarious. Start with the one about mushrooms (Mycology).

 

Yatreda Art Collective

A family of artists from Ethiopia that I will never shut up about.

The Anthropocene Reviewed with John Green

I don’t know man…you ever just think about life and it makes you want to cry but in a good way but also a sad way – a sadgood way?

 

To Scale

4 videos that combined make up less than 20 minutes. It probably won’t give you a much better idea of how big the universe is but it might make your current problems a little smaller.

 

Bob Marley: Explore the life of a legend

Do not stop looking until you find the part about the president’s daughter and the concert that almost turned into a riot.

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Related Reading: 2023 Trends to Take Note of

FOR THE NEWS, EVENTS, TRENDS AND CULTURE

 

The Native

Their twitter bio says “The reliable pulse for the young African. Documenting the music, culture and style of tomorrow: today.”

If you’re into that sort of thing, go see.

 

The Continent

Keeping up with the news feels like a catch 22. This is especially true with major events on the continent and beyond. Reporting about Africa is plagued with biases, stereotypes and lazy journalism.

The Continent does not offer news that will make you feel better about the world but they do have coverage that is rigorous, bold and easy to read. Big changes are happening (check out the special issue on the Nigerian election!!) and we should have the information we need to take action.

It’s free and they deliver it right to your WhatsApp. You know you’ll be on your phone anyway.

 

Radio Jambo News

After living at the end of the 46 route for years and taking a KBS home every weekday, I caught hundreds of news bulletins on Radio Jambo. It’s the most comprehensive hour of news in the country. The reporting is thorough, authoritative and delivered from angles that take their audience into account. The types of stories that do not make it onto national TV stations make up the bulk of the headlines.

I am chronically plugged into the digital news cycle and often find myself worrying about events far away that I can do nothing about. This is why I listen to the Radio Jambo news hour at 9 whenever I can. I don’t care about the mashemeji derby but I don’t care about fraud in the European leagues either. If they’re both on my radar, one should rank higher than the other.

 

Current Affairs

Political and cultural analysis that sets out to bring wit, color, and verve back to print media. I find that the magazine helps me gain some insight into issues in-and-out of the news like this story about Mckinsey or this one about the blockbuster author of Sapiens and why some of his claims are dubious at best.

The writing is reliably good and I really love spending time on their website.

FOR SUPPORT KE

 

Fake Woke With Justine

Breaking down the headlines with humour, heart and facts. If you gave up on watching the local news, Justine Wanda is just the compromise you’re looking for.

 

Affordable Art Show Ke

I may be wrong but I think the general feeling is that Kenyans are not creating any good things. That KE creatives produce work that is unoriginal and derivative.

It is impossible to overstate how wrong this is.

Go to one of their shows and see for yourself.