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AMASHIWI

"Culture is the heritage of us all. some may be more interested than others in the treasures of the past, but no one can fail to take a pride in his country's participation in the story of mankind, as represented in carvings, sculpture, music, paintings and the other arts. And there is a personal commitment to this, for no man can really say he is alone: we are all joined through our identity, with the cultures which are part of the mainstream of life"
- Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian Independence Freedom Fighter

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill

"Try to be the rainbow in someone else's cloud" - Maya Angelou

"Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinion drown out your inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition" - Steve Jobs








Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Lenshina and the Inauguration

So this post really isn't about the Inauguration.  Zambia decided and some of us may not have gotten what we wanted, but today incumbent President, His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, is being sworn in. What has come out of this election cycle is that Zambia is a flock of lost sheep who are so desperate for direction. For me the political arena really isn't the place to duke this out, as personally I do not see my principles and my ideals for Zambia even remotely represented by anyone who seeks to serve in that capacity.  I have no idea what is going on in that ring, so this bull is using her horns to bust out and explore the great wide world out there for answers and to create my own solutions that hopefully have an impact in some way on a larger scale.


This past weekend I went on an amazing artistic journey quite by accident.  I have been in hibernation pretty much all year, trying to put myself back together after inadvertently finding myself the protagonist in what I realised was a Humpty Dumpty phase.  Thankfully all the King's horses and all the King's men were not required, but this Queen needed a whole lot of soul searching to reemerge.  I may have ended up broken after last year's success, but I am on the mend and patched up enough to move forward.  Part of that has been reconnecting with life in Lusaka and thankfully new hope has revealed itself. I have been inspired by our tenacity, and that artists in particular are finding ways to express themselves, even though this is a fearful time in Zambia - a time in which many of us youth are fearful of things regressing so far - that there will be no path for our future, only a way for the archaic, the disconnected, the greedy and the power-grabbers.


On Friday I decided to go to a Modzi Arts event about whether we do indeed have Zambian Literature. One of my girl crushes Mulenga Kapwepwe was on the panel and she talked about how it is clear from the way we write today that we have no idea who we are. We defined only in the past tense, in writers long gone. We take on other people's voices, experiences, their landscapes without having visited and try to co-opt their lives unsuccessfully.  We would rather write in broken English, live the life we watch on TV and adopt their truths and their pain, than actually tackle the specifics of our situation.  There is nothing wrong with being inspired by others.  There is everything wrong with living in someone else's skin with no real understanding of who they are and worse who you are.  In order for Zambia to move forward, to create great works, we need to live in our dysfunction, channel that through what we do and manifest, in order to work through and come out the other side wiser, strong and defined.  There is nothing wrong with declaring your truth, however untidy it may be.  If you are discombobulated, say you are and be done with it.  If you need to look back to figure out where you are to move forward, then do so. Take it from someone who has spent their life deranged and confused.  I have blogged over and over about how I live in uncertainty - you can still find identity in the unknown...trust me ;)!


Looking back to move forward is exactly what happened the next day.  I decided to watch Lenshina, a play about the Lumpa Church Uprising after Independence, as when I got home after the literary discussion, the Internet was lit with rave reviews. And I was not disappointed.  Both the UNZA Drum Theatre Troupe skits that preceded the main event and Lenshina were amazingly Zambian and fresh.  I laughed, sighed, cringed, "cried", was challenged, affirmed and above all was moved deeply.  What I loved most was that none of the actors put on weird foreign accents which Zambians seem to think make them sound cooler, more intelligent, more attractive and unfortunately, not Zambian and therefore better when speaking English. This erroneous view, symptomatic of a deep self hatred and low esteem, a glaring manifestation of the colonised mind that we tend to ignore, brush over and worst of all reward, is disturbingly sad to witness and usually detracts from what is being communicated.  I no longer listen to radio because I just can't with most DJs, the most blatant form of rewarding this behaviour.  You are enough mwebantu!  Just speak with whatever accent you have: it's your truth, it is the audio map of your life, be proud of your journey please! I equally was tickled by the fact that vernacular was used: mostly Bemba and in Lenshina, Nyanja and Tonga were also featured. Also, so chuffed I understood pretty much everything, so could get all the jokes as the scripts deftly interwove English with our mother tongues which is the way we quintessentially communicate. I am so glad that the art respected that. Every Zambian I believe is at least bilingual. One Zambia One Nation would not be able to exist in some shape or form without at least understanding your people and the diversity in the vicinity. At this point may I apologise if you were in at the Playhouse with me on Saturday: in true African style, I cackled, hooted and hollered, gasped and talked back so loud I couldn't help myself. I blame the raucous company I keep. And no it wasn't the wine I drank, it was only one glass he he he. It's how we do on the continent, and it's one of my favourite things about the way we immerse ourselves when suspension of reality is required at the theatre or the cinema.  We engage so viscerally and profoundly with art, something that is largely lost in the West. There is theatre etiquette and a separate, more stringent set of rules for the cinema. Ehk! I have been on the receiving end of many a side-eye and tut when I forget where I am when far from home enjoying myself.  Okay maybe I'm not that sorry because clearly I have no control...


What made me proud to be Zambian after the performance was the fact that the youth who put together Lenshina, took on a very controversial subject in a time when people are retreating to their corners and are afraid to speak.  They were able to comment on today using the past. And they did it in a refreshingly modern way, not limited by the comfort Zambians feel in the familiar.  We tend to produce content that is stale, repetitive and tired.  Our complacency, which has led to the disquiet and dissatisfaction that has manifested itself in cadre violence, political clamp downs and the loss of our peace and friendliness, has in turn revealed itself in art that proves that imitation is not always the best form of flattery.  We may have found comfort in knowing what is coming but it keeps us stagnant.  It has stopped us from growing.  And knowing that forces wanting to "help" will come and bail us out has put us in a position of begging.  And this was reflected in some reactions to the play, asking for more of the story as they felt they enjoyed it so much it should have included everything about the Uprising to make it longer, which completely misses the point.

The play took a particular stand.  Unbiased yet strongly pointed.  Was Lenshina in the wrong or was Kaunda?  The rapier delivery of dialogue built on short sentences and each scene ending with the protagonists accusing each other of having "blood on their hands", perfectly articulated the struggle of defining self and moving forward after colonisation - that One Zambia One Nation was something that needed to be worked at even then.  Lives were lost in the struggle and it is up to each of us to come to our own conclusions and most importantly I feel, be inspired by our history not to fall into the same pitfalls our Founding Fathers did. Not to be afraid of different points of view.  To allow for nuance. To respect our differences and work harder to find common ground to ensure peace beyond tolerance.  I will discuss this much going forward as I launch my new endeavour the ACE Project. The play was timely, evident in the fact that religion played a huge part in the confusion and lies were disseminated on both sides to advance each others causes.  Both sides I feel were honourable and authentic in their point of view, but their truths were subjective to their experience and goals which blinded them. That ultimately led to clashes rather than compromise for a better future. To miss those parallels because you weren't given the full story is short-sighted.  To not understand that true art fills your soul yet sparks your spirit to want more is an oversight we cannot avoid. If you feel a different presentation was required, create your own chance, write your own play, give us another view.  Art is never complete, it is supposed to add to the conversation and facilitate the creation of more.  Art is meant to "comfort the uncomfortable and discomfort the comfortable".  It is not meant to necessarily answer your questions, but it can give you peace knowing that the questions are out there and that the answers are being searched for, the solutions and being worked on.  

This play used that past to give us the language today to communicate what we are feeling, to know that this is not anything new, but also to warn us that just because it has happened before, doesn't mean it should happen again.  Repeating history is not an excuse, evidence to be justified in defeat. Instead of praying from a place of hopelessness and not hope, let's help ourselves as deliverance comes to those who demand it through their actions.  Ultimately the play  was able to contribute to the conversations we are having and inspire us to respond in turn. Despite the rickety theatre, the lack of resources, the cast and crew persevered.  Their situation is a metaphor for and the reality of Zambia right now.  They were able to find and communicate a painful beauty despite the shadows trying to overcast and obscure.  They illuminated their desire to succeed in the most thoughtful and entertaining way.  They achieved what great art does, they were able to inspire.  Hence this blog post ;}!





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Thursday, 29 October 2015

Zed Love

I am currently sitting in the Emirates Business Class Lounge at Dubai International Airport, en route from San Francisco to Lusaka. Five years ago I was at in this very airport returning home from LA after my masters, excited by what was to come as I transitioned back to living on African soil. Is it coincidence that there are so many parallels to my journey when I started this blog? Methinks not.  Methinks the universe is trying to tell me something. I would be foolish not to listen. So thought I would ruminate over a coupla things on Thursday ;}.
 
I have clearly missed writing, and I am glad I have found my waxing lyrical mojo once more. I am so excited to go back home. I am so at peace with myself, and I am not worried about losing this feeling once I land.  When I left Ghana in 2014 I wanted to stay on, as I felt I would not be able to bottle that spirit I found in me there and dose myself every time I needed a pick me up.
 
What I want to say in this post is, a year on from Zambia's 50th, despite the recent woes with Zesco's crippling, schizophrenic loadshedding, the Kwacha plummeting - further adding to the debilitating situation caused by our energy crisis, and tradition/ religion being twisted to be used as a scapegoat to continue bad practices, to excuse unethical behavior/ decisions, as well as to quell the masses by passing the buck of responsibility on to a higher power/ dogma, I see a bright future.  There are still people out there finding a way to be and to do regardless of the situation.  I still firmly believe that the way to
  Being un-CEOrious during
#ZambeefInYourTown
e18hteam national tour, photobombing
a picture with Zambeef Manager
and audience members in Lusaka.
Photo Credit: PR Girl
survive and thrive is to not base your dreams, goals and route to success on who is in power, whom you have to accept as the people have chosen and respect their decision and just get on with it.  And if they haven't, well it is what it is, isn't it, so unless you can do something about it, once again you just have to find a way to live with that too.  The same goes for waiting on the perfect conditions arising, or any other fixed parameters that people can use and abuse for their own ends. If all is just right great. More often than not it isn't, so you just have to find  way to work with the cards you have been dealt. Zambia is far from stable enough to bank on things being just right and so I continue to adhere to the school of thought of just get it done.  Be aware of the current environment, the possibilities and the pitfalls present and the potential for either in the near and distant future.  Ultimately work with what you have and innovate perpetually, as being flexible and adaptable, is what is required.  If you are in constant evolution, you can ride whatever wave you encounter as you navigate the treacherous sea that is development, the state in which Zambia and much of the world is still in.  Even places in the developed world are no longer predictable, stable or giving, even when you do everything right.
 
Life is not meant to be easy, or there would be no point in living it as the highs and lows, the extremes and all that lies in between, is what makes it a great ride.  Zambia provides that in spades.  I like the challenge of it.  I now have found a way to thrive in it. I am no longer there to prove a point, that I am meant to be there.  I am now there because I choose to be, because it is the only place that affords the life that I cannot escape from, nor do I want to anymore.  I was able to reflect on this at the most beautiful sanctuary while at my 10 year Stanford Reunion on Independence Day. I am truly blessed to  be able to save to travel to my global family now because I live and work in Zambia, where I do not have to spend much to live a great life.  I don't know how I would have survived being away from the majority of the people who make my life worth living without the internet. However, the nuances of communication are largely lost and so in the end, it becomes necessary to see people in the flesh and to feel physical places and reconnect with environments and certain milieus singular to places and congregations of specific people. I have found the beauty, the humour, the work hard play hard balance and the company to make Zambia my permanent base to interact with the world.  Here are some more pictures from instagram that illustrate this:
  
The humour
 


 
Work hard play hard
 

 
 Great company
 

Can't wait to land in a coupla hours.  Hope the heat won't kill me though, it's scorching out there and the temperature differential is over 20C!


For more information about my journey this year and to keep up-to-date with everything going on with the film as well my other projects in Zambia and globally, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Sunday, 20 February 2011

Only Human (And That Is Enough)

Ever since following the seminal change happening in North Africa and watching it filter to the Middle East and even to West Africa I have had to take a bit of a hiatus.  I am also going through an interesting time in my life, trying to juggle work, prepare for an imminent transition, keep up-to-date in the goings on in the world while trying to making sure I am personally at peace.  This proved rather hard this week for various unforeseen reasons but it has been a great learning experience so in retrospect I am glad I weathered the storm.

It is really important to take that time to be introspective and to figure out what your goals are and more importantly the need to stand one's ground even if other people may not like it as ultimately your wellbeing is yours, not anyone else's.  I was recently given some very good advice by my MENTOR, whom I will write about soon as I think it is important for everyone to have people that they can go to for personal and/ or professional guidance: 


Isaiah 41: 10-13:

10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
 11 “All who rage against you
   will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
   will be as nothing and perish.
12 Though you search for your enemies,
   you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
   will be as nothing at all.
13 For I am the LORD your God
   who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
   I will help you.

I take these words metaphorically not literally.  I do not believe God to be vengeful or violent.  I read from this that if you stand your ground and present yourself honestly to the world, your deeds will be evidence enough and others will see them and you will not suffer in the long run. If you trust in yourself, you trust in the truth ultimately standing up for you when you are tested and/or questioned.  


I believe that it is okay and important to disagree. I think this is paramount for ideas to grow and so it is good not  to hang around with exact replicas of yourself or to want everyone to think, work and be like you.  And I think it is important to accept people's differences and learn to be adaptable and to try to work things out.  You can only change yourself, you can't expect other people to change and believe me there are many people who won't.  And sometimes you have to accept that things may not be resolvable or that a different strategy may be needed to be able to find a solution that involves compromise to salvage a situation.  And sometimes you just have to walk away.  That doesn't mean defeat - some things are just not meant to be. One of the biggest lessons I have learnt is that control can come from a place of strength or a place of weakness and it is important to beware of the kind that comes from weakness for it is the kind that tries to conquer and destroy for fear of being overwhelmed or sidelined.  It is also important to know when to relinquish control to someone else, or to simply walk away and know that takes strength and maturity to do so.  I am still learning how to do that effectively.  It is a very hard skill to master.  The problem isn't the doing actually, its more of dealing with the aftermath, especially when resistance is involved. 


I believe that you can find inspiration from all religions but  my defacto is Christianity as that is the faith I was brought up in.  And these words were the right words of inspiration I needed to hear and I hope that they may provide comfort when needed, no matter what you believe in.  If those words don't resonate with you, the try Aaliyah's song, which I like to play in my head when I need to get through a tough spot:







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Friday, 6 August 2010

North Africa And Women's Issues

This is not how I wanted to be able to showcase the North of the continent but today two articles came up on my homepage, which is set to BBC News Africa, to make sure I'm kept up to date while on foreign soil.  Unfortunately, two stories came up that are not happy stories, but at least one of them comes with a silver lining.

I'll start with the worst one, don't want to end the post badly ;).  19 Sudanese men were flogged for cross-dressing and breaking Sharia law.  They were too womanly, leading people to think that they were gay.  Right now I am very mad at people who make irrational conclusions about sexuality and gayness from the most random of evidence.  The average gay person does not going around dressing like a woman.  Most gay men I know are nothing like me, I have never thought that any of them are trying to be womanly or like me.  Even the ones who act effeminate don't seem womanly to me either.  These men weren't even given the chance to defend themselves either.  They could have been a drag troupe or dressing up for a fancy dress party or a play.  We will never know.  However these sentiments are not just Muslim, even Southern Sudan and other devoutly Christian areas of Africa do not tolerate what are considered overt and blatant gay actions.

The second is an encouraging development from a terrible situation.  An Eygptian woman came forward on television to speak up about her rape by policemen.  This is a very big step, albeit having to be made with her completely covered from head -to-toe in black so as not be identified.  I cannot for the life of me find the YouTube video that people have been able to watch of her appearance :(. Instead, here is a video of Eygptian women debating with a man over the way rape is treated in their country.  The issue they are talking about is very serious and polarised views clash, but I must also warn you of other clashes.  Your eyes may not be able to reconcile the rather suspect blond wig adorning one of the ladies' heads so as to hide her hair in place of a hijab.



The good news is that there is debate going on about the injustices that are being sanctioned by religion and that women are trying to take control of their lives and their bodies.
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Tuesday, 1 June 2010

What Are Our Priorities?

The recent spate of articles about gays in Malawi and Uganda make me wonder about what African priorities are.  Personally I think it is a human right for people to choose to express their sexual orientation how they will in the privacy of their own homes, without the the interference of others.  What others do is none of my business, just as what I do is none of theirs. And they should be able to walk proud in public, love is something to be celebrated not shunned. The interest in what people do behind closed doors of course is nothing new, with all eyes currently on Tiger Woods and  beforehand Clinton's behaviour while in office.  These instances have had global attention, just as the Ugandan and Malawian cases.  However, my question is: What do any of these instances of sexual practice have to do with the state and its ability to govern its people?

Of course in the case of Clinton, there were power and workplace conduct issues entangled that blurred the line between whether it was a private or public matter, but the rest of these instances are to do with celebrities or lay-people who are given more power than is warranted. However, did Clinton's behaviour alter his ability to lead?  Is being able to stand on the perceived moral pedastal a prerequisite to govern?  I now know way to much about what Tiger Woods does behind closed doors, things that really have nothing to do with his preternatural talent and golfing abilities. These stories then take up time on the news and valuable print space, bumping other stories about the state of our countries and the world, that have more far reaching ramifications.  Does President Obama really need to be commenting on what celebrities do in their spare time?

We do not need to be spending time searching out gay people as they would have us do in Uganda. Governments have got better things to do than to worry about a minority, whose actions do not have anything to do with how the state functions just as heterosexual practices do not.  It seems as if gay issues are the latest smoke screen to blind the masses from the fact that states are failing to solve inherent problems of poverty, reliance on aid and bringing countrymen together to forge a better future in African countries. We as citizens, no matter what our preferences are, have better things to do like live our lives, feed our children, pay our bills and try to make a difference in the world when we can than going out on witch-hunts!  Police have better things to do than to be arresting people for what they do behind closed door unless the couple themselves file a complaint.  Resources and time that courts cannot afford to waste are being squandered.

It makes me sad that persecution continues, especially in the name of others and that we are worrying ourselves with people's relationships when we should be concentrating on our own and those close to us.  Instead of asking others to be the morally sound (whatever that means) people we want to be, we should be doing it ourselves.  Let us not get sucked into the quagmire of moral politics, which only stagnates rather than fosters cohesion.  This is just one battle in a long cycle that has been used by politicians the world over to distract.  Let us come together despite our differences by concentrating on the similarities we share, one of which is wanting a better future for ourselves and those who will come after us.

If you are interested in a very good documentary about the Ugandan situation, here is the Vanguard Documentary from Current TV "Missionaries of Hate".  Bar the leading title, I think all sides of the story are presented well.







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