Lifestyle, Arts & Culture: Splendour in Candour
The Bantu proverb that “a redeemer of people is a walker with people” chimes with us in this month as our conversations with writers, thinkers, travellers and content creators have impressed upon us the importance of authenticity, for the benefit of connectivity. Let’s get real. Enjoy the read.
Reality Check
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been so delighted to have started Grace, Songhai’s “safe space” for African women to come together to share and learn about the things which resonate. We’ve had a tete a tete with author and Grace member, Grace Ecklu, to talk about her journey as a writer, sharing with us the source of her inspiration. Powerfully, Ecklu described how she’s not striving to do anything that doesn’t come to her naturally but rather, her ability to story- tell comes from an authentic place, which makes her craft easier. We were also privileged to hear from Naa Dedei Botchwey, winner of Ghana’s Most Beautiful 2020, who shared that authenticity is so freeing because “we’re all not perfect”. She spoke of how she draws inspiration from Barack Obama because he “reminded me that even when it seemed like I was doing all the wrong things, it’s what I have in my head and heart that still matters”.
Telling our stories can at times be painful but often, when you’ve made it back from the brink, there’s a realisation that there’s little left to hide. This seems to be true for the motivation behind Neo’s Diary 2020, a transmedia campaign to bring awareness to hypertension-related illnesses, such as stroke. London born South African model, Hannah Mathers, has teamed up with Cape-Town- based content creator, social entrepreneur and advocate of indigenous grains for health and wellness, Yolanda Busbee Muthvin, to place a spotlight on “real women’s stories. We’ve learned no two strokes, nor survivors’ stories are the same”, Yolanda reveals. Indeed, Neo X, the heroine stroke survivor, who expresses “the composite view of many women’s experiences” Yolanda tells us, sobers us with her truth: “I survived a stroke at 33 years old. Like you, never thought it’d happen to me, I’m sharing what I learnt here. ‘Diary of an African stroke survivor’’’.
Travel and See
Another painful narrative, this time, one of migration, necessitated by socio-economic distress, is captured in this moving piece about the Lebanese diaspora community in Africa. Sadly, the plummeting economy and political instability in Lebanon continue to inspire the exodus, particularly to places like Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. In these countries, you find communities from southern Lebanon going back four or five generations. The cultural and socio-economic ties between the homeland and the diaspora are so strong, as exemplified by the naming of the main street in Zrarieh, a town south of the capital Beirut, “Abidjan Avenue”.
Ghana, meanwhile, may have attracted fewer Lebanese nationals than its francophone neighbours, but the advantage is that the community in Ghana is ‘close-knit’ according to a Lebanese-Ghanaian friend. Like other first settlers in Ghana, she narrates how her grandfather left northern Lebanon for Ghana, as people fled war and famine from places such as Tripoli and Bayt Shabab, a village in the mountains north of the capital. But out of the heartache of leaving one’s homeland has emerged a powerful story of resilience and collaboration, where communities really pull together to help friends or relatives find work and better opportunities abroad. “The Lebanese have always had this tribal feeling of helping those from their village. So you literally find entire villages in one neighbourhood in the diaspora around the world”.
In this era of COVID where travel is more restricted, authors Linda Arthur and Ailisha Ogunmefun are encouraging travel in the imagination of young minds through their debut children’s book, “Where in the World Next? Embracing and celebrating identity from a young age is critical for empowering future generations, which is precisely what the writers have sought to achieve through this beautiful, customisable book. Designed to take “little princesses” on a voyage of discovery where they learn about different cultures, Linda explains that: “For us, it is just as important for young black girls to see themselves in books as it is for non-black people to see black lead characters in books. In our personalised book any girl of any race is the main character. There’s another star in the book, the rainbow hair fairy who takes the child (whatever their race) around the world. And she is black. We think this is very important”.
For the Love of Literature
Nurturing our young people to be the best versions of themselves is rooted in what we pour into them and for many of us, a firm foundation through education is the safest route to self-actualisation. Elaine Cunningham-Walker, a UK-based Ghanaian and award-winning educationist, is committed to sharing nuggets of wisdom with ethnic minorities in the UK, US and in Ghana about how best they can understand and navigate the schooling system and gain access to some of the best schools in the UK. Her webinar over the weekend brought together some of the leading thinkers in education in the UK and Ghana- if you missed it, you can still take notes here!
Being planted or rooted in one’s purpose has much to do with confidence in one’s identity. Falling in love with heritage is the inspiration behind “For the Love of Literature”, where poetry, plays & prose are poured over at Theia’s Café, Accra. Bringing together budding thespians – whether very little or very large - these fortnightly creative sessions are a fun way to explore identity, build confidence and make new friends, while picnicking in the enchanting gardens of the café. The eatery will also be holding a range of Christmassy events in December, from yule-log making to carol singing and wine-tasting – we can’t wait!
Political (in)Correctness
Nana Adu has been drawing all kinds of parallels between political systems, geographies, communities and eras, while “reading and re-reading the below comments from JE Casely-Hayford, a Ghanaian or rather Gold Coast thinker, writing around 1903 I believe. He said: ‘since however, the world is as we know it to be; since the weak must go to the wall, and the fittest survive, irrespective of what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, it is I confess, but practical philosophy that the weak should side with the strong’.
“Not to say that he was right or that he was wrong, just that it's interesting that the questions haven't changed all that much”, Nana Adu muses. “Also, Casely-Hayford's words occurred to me, a Ghanaian-British person, when listening to a member of the UK's conservative party ruminate about whether the UK will have to pivot toward China after Brexit if it is shunned by the United States. [In fact], these kinds of calculations feel new to some parts of the British polity but they really aren't for members of the Diaspora”.
Meanwhile, Adedayo has been leafing through the pages of The Mask of Anarchy by Stephen Ellis, which "describes civil war events that happened in Liberia about 30 years ago”. Scrutinising the intersection between ideology, culture and religion, Ellis gives his perspective on the origins of the civil conflict and “helps us to trace the country's journey toward recovery”, Adedayo ponders.
Keeping it real when it’s time for some light relief, Adedayo turns to Mr. Macaroni, “a Nigerian comedian who's popular not only for his skits but also for his activism during the #EndSARS movement. Here's one skit featuring him and Nas Boi. The title is a trendy saying in Nigerian pidgin, and it roughly means it's easy to get into trouble. Wahala (trouble) be like bicycle. E no dey hard to start”.
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