Reforming Salala
Day 2 of WinterABC festival! Today I’m writing about creatives as healers. Over the decades art and other creative activities have been used as tools for healing and wellness due to the positive impact on our minds and bodies. I’ve seen the restorative and powerful impact of creating content in my personal and work life.
For the first time ever, I’m participating in the Afrobloggers’ WinterABC festival. This is an African storytelling festival organized by Afrobloggers every year in the month of June when it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere of the continent. They’ve changed the structure this year with weekly prompts! The first week is creatives week and in this post, I share my thoughts about creatives.
“WORDS change WORLDS.”
Pam Allyn
23rd April is World Book and Copyright Day. Initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the day seeks to promote the enjoyment of reading and books.
The 2021 edition of Book and Copyright Day comes at a time where the popularity of reading books has drastically increased due to individuals limited time outside, in line with COVID-19 national lockdown measures. UNESCO states that ” books have proved to be powerful tools to combat isolation, reinforce ties between people, expand our horizons, while stimulating our minds and creativity.”
Books and reading introduce us to places, people, ideas, cultures and foods we wouldn’t ordinarily be exposed to in our day to day life’s. With each page, we’re transported to new realities.
And for that, I’ll be forever grateful.
On October 17 1961 , thousands of peaceful Algerians in Paris marched against the curfew imposed on them by the French government. These protesters were met with the brutal force of the French police. The Seine was Red is set thirty-five years after a massacre of Algerians protesters in Paris. Sebbar presents different vantage points of the demonstration through several elders of Algerian-French families. The documentary style of writing reveals the difficult and raw process of remembering and honoring slain Algerians.
Happy International Women’s Day! Today and every other day is a good opportunity to celebrate, cite, read and review books from women writers! Our stories are as diverse as we come. With each pen stroke and keyboard press, women writers are challenging gender stereotypes, biases & inequalities. Through their creative processes, they choose to challenge patriarchy! This is a dedication to them!
Memoirs from the Women’s Prison is a deeply compelling account of Nawal El Saadawi’s imprisonment in the Barrages Women’s Prison in Cairo, Egypt. Regarded as a long-term outspoken critic of the Sadat regime in Egypt, she is locked up for committing “crimes against the state”. As with the other political prisoners, she was sent to prison without trial. Saadawi unashamedly writes in her vulnerability and resilience as we relive her harrowing encounter in confinement. The powerful narrative evokes anger and sorrow as Nawal El Saadawi describes the various challenges and triumphs held by all prisoners.
La Bastarda is simple yet powerfully subversive tale about Okomo’s search for her father and herself. Okomo is an orphaned teenager living with her maternal grandparents in Aya Esang, Equatorial Guinea. Her grandparents repeatedly call her estranged father a “scoundrel” and bemoan her poor marriage prospects. Trifonia Melibea Obono seamless weaves together the themes of family , desirability and femininity, and tradition to lay bare the discrimination against lesbians , women’s agency and belonging in Equatoguinean society.
Beneath the Lion’s Gaze is a captivating yet melancholic historical novel set in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Beginning on the eve of the 1974 Ethiopian revolution, the novel unpacks the perspectives, resistance and tragedies that shaped the Ethiopian revolution and military dictatorship of the Derg regime. Through Hailu’s family, their neighbours and the last Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie ; we are given intimate and emotionally charged alternative points of views on the political and socio-economic turmoil of this period.
Documenting little details of your everyday life becomes a celebration of who you are.
Carolyn V. Hamilton
In my previous post celebrating you, I shared the etymology of celebrate. I still believe that the best definition of celebrae is ” practice often”. But what do we need to practice often? In this blog post, I share tips on how to cherish every moment and accomplishment! Let’s celebrate ourselves!
“Celebrate your life, you are your own light.”
Lailah Gifty Akita
The word celebrate comes from the word Latin celebrae, which means “assemble to honor”. Celebrae also means to “publish; sign praises of and practice often”.“Assemble to honor” and “Practice often” stick out to me. In our extremely competitive and busy world, we often rush to our near goal, forgetting to pause and honour ourselves. In this blog post, I share why assembling to honor yourself is crucial to ones joy and defiance of society’s narrow definition of success and celebration. You’ll also catch a glimpse of my latest travel in and around Harare.
