Easy Saturday at the Nairobi Fashion Market

Easy Saturday at the Nairobi Fashion Market

Check out this awesome blog post on the Nairobi Fashion Market held at the Impala Grounds on 5 March 2011.

This is for my followers

I can't believe it. Two? Two? Happy 2011! March has not yet hit so I'm still within the 'Happy New Year' window yes?

I apologise, I have done you (my lovely followers) a great disservice! The truth is, the plans I had for this blog became a bit too heavy for me to see through. Not to say I am a quitter more like a re-strategist (if such a word exists).

I am still passionate about this beautiful continent and boy how charged it has been this year! Egypt .. Libya ... Uganda ... Kenya ... to say turning point is to glaze over the issues.

More of my observations later ... ciao bellas.

When We Were Kings

Wow, have you watched the documentary? Sprinkled with snippets from Spike Lee, Don King, The King (no, not Michael) but B.B. King and a host of other greats, this was truly a moving piece for me.

Now, I have been going through major transformations in my mindset, my way of thinking and my way of perceiving things. Seeing Muhammad Ali through my new eyes has truly been a 'scales falling' event, let me explain why.

I have always known Muhammad as a great fighter, a great activist and philanthropist. I also admired his strange unapologetic arrogance, but never before had I seem him as I did when I watched this documentary. For the first time, I saw him as a man who had really truly discovered the secret to success, the secret to effecting real change, the secret to life. In my opinion, this man had achieved the greatest feat of all, greater even than his defeat of George Foreman - in no other place but our beautiful land Africa - he is a man who had mastered his mind!

I know, I know, to some this may seem abstract but, take one minute to think about it. What were the only words you ever heard come out of his mouth? Every televised appearance, every interview, every press conference? "I am the greatest", "I am the best", "I'm pretty and I'm fast", "No one can beat me". Now, you could try to peg this down to a fighter simply psyching himself before a fight, but here's why I believe it was much more than that.

No one thought this man could beat George Foreman and at his old age (by boxing standards) reclaim his place as Heavyweight Champion of the World! But then he did. How you ask? It wasn't necessarily because he had a strong right hook (though that did help secure him a K.O.), it was not that he had seniority in the game, but it was because he understood where his true power lay ... in his mind, he also knew that is where the ultimate weakness of his opponent was.

Throughout the fight, you watch as Muhammad whispers into George's ear, each time he does, George goes frantic and rains terrible blows on him. Muhammad does not relent, he sticks to his strategy. In the end, he wore George down, George who allowed himself to lose focus on the game, George, who allowed Muhammad's words to sink in, confuse and anger him, so much so, when crunch time came, he could muster no more energy to defend himself, and he went down.

My whole point is, our ultimate power is in our mind, what we choose to think about, how we choose to perceive what is around us and how we choose to react to situations. How on earth does this apply to Africa and Africans you ask?

Well, we are a people who have been marginalised, a people who have been made to feel like less, a people who have so long seen the world from the vantage point of our knees, as opposed to from a proud stance, a people who have carried the historical blight of self doubt and self loathing; a blight that has been passed down from generation to generation, and indeed exported to foreign lands, a blight that arguably has been imposed upon us through decades of exploitation.

But enough of what is wrong, enough of what we already know. In our quest to reclaim our destiny, to redefine ourselves or at least revert back to what we were before this 'great interference', I believe all we have to do is change our minds.

Stop speaking words that portray your pity for Africa, stop speaking words that enforce the unfair oppression that we have been subjected to long enough. Change your mind and start seeing US for the great beings we are, change your mind and start seeing the potential instead of the issues.

Start acting on this new point of view, to positively influence those around you. Master your mind and instead of thinking and articulating things like 'why are we so poor' say 'look how rich we are, look at our fertile land, look at our boundless natural resources, look at our beautiful men, women and children, so intelligent, so innovative'. Be disgustingly proud and arrogant about it, and believe me, the changes will happen and yes, they will start looking at US for different reasons reminiscent of the times 'When We Were Kings ...and Queens' and we still are.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the gist. In closing South Africa did us proud, holding such a flawless World Cup ... if you were looking for tangible evidence, there it is ... consider this backed up. Over to you...

This time for Africa - For real though!

In my recent browsing of ... FACEBOOK ... I came across a link shared by a very good friend of mine - http://whiteafrican.com/2010/07/05/being-in-africa-makes-you-untrustworthy/.

It in summary spoke about the seemingly unfair checks and balances imposed on Africans trying to purchase stuff online or perform online transactions in general.

Now, we could go the usual route (whine whine whine about it) but I propose a different approach.

I propose looking within to develop our own content our own applications to fit our needs as African states and Africans as a whole. Let's flip the script and make them come to US. It is very possible.

Some African governments have recognised this opportunity and are beginning to support digital innovation and content creation. One such programme I have come across is the Local Digital Content Grants in Kenya. No doubt they are looking to support amazing innovations such as the recent headliner katiba.mobi, promoting civic education by allowing Kenyans to read the proposed constitution, in both English and Kiswahili, on their mobile phones. Katiba.mobi boasts very user-friendly features such as searches, which, no doubt makes it easier to weave through the otherwise heavy document!

Education and training is definitely necessary to see this through. Initiatives such as the 'Web 2.0 Learning Opportunity' is an example. This training demonstrates how simple tools can be used to enhance web experience and indeed to generate content. Would be great to see more out there from OUR (African's) point of view.

Can you imagine the power of our collective minds. Take charge today. One small step for you, one GIANT leap for...you! Borrowing from this year's World Cup theme song ... This time for Africa!

And now for some entertainment from one of my favourite "alternative" Kenyan bands J.A.B. ;-). This fantastic music band has shown the world a thing or two about going viral and taken their place as bona-fide content creators a l'Afrique! Check out the Makmende Buzz!