Feeds
8708 items (0 unread) in 54 feeds
Welcome to Mashada Blogs! Read all your favourite blogs in one place.
«
Expand/Collapse
The Displaced African
-
-
13:17
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
“So where’s home?” Continued from yesterday’s conversation about “What recharges you?”
We recently had a visit from an English woman who had grown up in Kenya. The part of the conversation that resonated with me the most was when she asked:
“You have been here six years. Do you feel like this is your home yet? My boys (she had sons who had grown up in Kenya) have been here quite a long while but still consider Kenya home.”
Interesting, I thought. Home! Home! Home! Let’s talk about that place, where whether you go East or West is best.
What Do I Mean By Home?
Now for the sake of clarity let me be clear on what I mean by the word home. By home, I am not referring to the physical structure that protects you from wind, hail and stalkers. Rather I am referring to that place that makes you feel one of or a combination of the following:
a) Safe
b) Comfortable
c) Well protected
d) Loved
e) Free to be yourself.
After all, aren’t the above what most of us feel when we remember home. After a long, hard, scary day at work, we trudge home through the wind and rain so that we can get to that warm place where we can take off our shoes, unwind and just be. This place may not even be your residential address. It may be your local church or bible study group. It may be your local bar or hangout. It may even be your spouses home. Wherever that place is, where your troubles melt away and you feel most at peace, least on edge: THAT’S HOME!
Home Away From Home
So maybe, you flew out ‘because everyone else is doing it’. Maybe you flew out because you could no longer stay home. Maybe you flew out pursuing a job. Maybe your parents surprised you with some money, some air tickets and a letter from a University that has a weird sounding name. However, you left Mama Africa and you are now abroad ( by the way, if you are, welcome, from a diaspora veteran). You have now been ripped away from that place you call home and are now all alone in this foreign land with foreign places, foreign languages and foreign ideas about where home is. How exactly can you get back home in the middle of this land far far away. Simple: Recreate your home.
What Makes Your Home a Home
I have two types of home. My first home is my house. Here I feel safe in the solitude that is provided to me by quiet nights. It is in this home that I do all my heavy mental work. It is here that I write this blog, study, learn and plan how I will become a better human being every single night.
My second home is anything that has to do with making people feel something. You need someone to speak in public, I’m there as long as I can make the audience feel something. You need someone to have a breezy conversation with, am there as long as you laugh.
My first home is home because I feel safe and protected within it and undisturbed and free to explore under the cover of night. My second home is home because I feed off energy from people. Believe it or not, when someone likes me, the high I get from that can keep me going for days on end. I feel safe in the fact that I can actually connect with my fellow human being because the way I see it, if you can connect with people, regardless of where you are and how poor you are, you will be better than you would be otherwise.
This Knowledge is Critical
Basically the reason I told that story is so that you have a frame of reference when I ask you, what make your home feel like home? What type of environment do you need in order for you to feel safe, protected and/or loved? Do you need a place where you feel connected to another person? Do you need a place where you can have deep, intimate conversation? Do you need a place where you can just think? Do you need a place where you can let your aggression lose? Do you need some quiet time? Do you need a place where you feel in control?
When you know what type of place feels like home, you are now equipped to begin seeking it out. The diaspora may be lacking in a lot of things, but not in places to go and things to do. Armed with the knowledge of what your home should be like, you can begin to go exploring different places all searching for that home.
As I have said in previous posts, once you find your home, once you find that place where you can just be, there is nothing quite like it.
What’s Your Perception of the Diaspora
A second element to this discussion is how do you perceive your country of immigration as a whole. In general, there are three ways you can look at your new country.
1) Home
2) Transition point between two homes
3) A Place that Just Isn’t Home
Though I have been here close to six years, this place feels like a transition point between two homes. It feels as though I was put here to learn and grow so that I could go back to my place of birth, aka sweet Mama Africa. If you feel like I do, then it brings greater purpose into everyday existence abroad. After all, you must get ready, prepare and learn so that you can seek out and/or build and then maintain your home once you have left the transition point you are currently in. So, look at yourself like one of those samurais in a Jet Li movie that has been banished from home and needs to train for years before returning home to as the greatest samurai ever who will save the kingdom from attack (I know Jet Li is Chinese and the Samurai tradition is Japanese but you get my point………)
If you feel like the diaspora is home, then share with your fellow immigrants how you managed to fit into a place that at times can feel like a vast wasteland. There are a lot of people who need help figuring out just what to make of this place. Hell, even I would love to hear it. You are already way ahead of the curve. Please drag the rest of us along.
Finally, if this place doesn’t feel like home at all, then read the preceding sections of this post and go about creating semi-homes here in the diaspora. As soon as possible work on finding or creating that place of quiet strength, comfort and stability. Maybe start hanging around solid, stable family people who shy away from drama. Maybe find a job in your local place of worship. Maybe find work with the elderly or the youth, where there is little threat to you. Whatever you need, seek it out and once you have found it embrace it.
We All Need Homes
After all, we all need homes. We all get tired and we all need to recharge. So please don’t take this gift from yourself. Leave a comment or get in touch with me to let me know what’s happening.
Now go home,
Mwangi
-
-
12:38
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Ladies, I love you, I adore you and God made you more beautiful than the roof of Sistine Chapel. In addition to that, some of you have genuine reasons to complain, after all, a lot of the time, men are well (no offence fellas) useless really. Just selfish users who don’t bring much to your life. HOWEVER, for the love of all that is peaceful and pure: please stop complaining so much.
Aah Stories from Puppy Love
I remember when I was a wee tyke I once met this girl and we began talking on the phone. Now at the time I had the smoothness and the subtlety of a wrecking ball so I barreled along until eventually she rejected me with, “You are so immature.” I was a teenager, so…….anyway……Years later, I began to reflect on what we talked about whenever we were on the phone and it went a little something like this:
Cue the Narcissism
I love chocolate. One time I was walking and eating some caramel, with some nuts and mint, Cadbury oh-my-goodness-it-was-just-melting-in-my-mouth-chocolate and this boy came to talk to me. I told him psssshhhh, I don’t talk to boys when I’m eating chocolate.
One time I was talking to my friend and this boy interrupted us to talk to me and I was like (three guesses) pssshhh, you can’t interrupt me when I am talking to my friends.
And Then These Delightful Creatures Grow Up to Become Women
Just to be clear, I did not make the above dialogue up. Now that I am older, I realized that a lot of the conversations I have with women are opportunities for women to complain:
You will never guess the stressful day I had, the people at work/ the lecturers did/this tramp did……..(30 minute complaint session)
X person is such a (insert expletive here), they did………..(30 minute monologue).
You will never believe the (expletive) that tried to hit on me today, he actually tried (latest technique that playas and pick up artists are trying), the loser he…..(30 minute soliloquy)
It’s Just Me!
I don’t know if I am alone on this one, but I honestly don’t want to take 30 minutes to learn what you don’t like about the world and it’s current state. Instead I would love to take those 30 minutes and:
a) Find out what you like. What turns you on about this life so I can give you more of it.
b) What you like that I like: We will definitely do more and have more of that.
c) Solving your problems. You know what happens when you have a problem?A solution
 
But That’s How Women Are…..
I know that a lot of you are saying…….
“But that’s how women are. We work through our problems by ranting and raving about them, meditating on them and having a cry about them. We start the venting on you, not for your benefit, but for ours because we know once the vent is over, whether or not a solution has been reached, we will feel better.”
Here’s Where I am Coming From
Well that’s fair enough. I know there will be those times when you just need a friend/lover/brother/cousin/basically a man to just listen to you and try to understand and empathize with where you are coming from.
Please understand, there will be days when it will be too much and your unleashing of stress will have the melodic timbre of nails being drawn across a chalk board. At times, empathize with me and I will empathize with you.
Understand that:
-
I never burden you with a problem unless I am thinking through the solution with you at the same time.
-
I exist and do my best to make you the happiest and best person I think you can be.
So understand that many a time I will look at it as nothing but needless whining that can be solved. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the fact that you trust me enough to share your inner most turmoil. I’m just sharing some of my turmoil with you.
As a Great Western Poet Once Said say xoxoxo,
Let’s make love and not complain today,
Mwangi
NB: To see the levels of exasperation that this can lead to -from someone who is a much better listener than I (and is a woman) please check out Shiroh’s post on people who ask for advice but don’t act on it.
-
-
11:39
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
The Art of Never Getting Tired: What Recharges You?
I just got home-I wrote this on 25th March 2008- and I am feeling REFRESHED. I just came from visiting people that I had not seen in almost a year and I must say that it was exactly what I needed. I pretty much work every single day, or if I’m not working, I am thinking about work. Therefore today I decided I would take a break from working, blogging and studying and go and try to connect with my fellow man.
Just the Medicine I Needed
I landed smack down in the home of S&G (by the way, thanks S and thanks G for being fantastic hosts) and it’s amazing: When I arrived I felt tired, worn out, vacuous and bored. A few hours of having very silly, crude conversation and my cylinders are firing again.
So what is my point with all this?
I am glad you asked: Well, the question is what recharges you? Actually, let me rephrase the question, what has any of the following effects on you:
a) Relaxes you and gives you feelings of peace and relaxation
b) Makes you feel safe and at home.
c) Makes you energetic and gives you boosts of energy I.e. What action gives you more energy than it takes to perform.
To be clear, when I talk about activities that recharge you, I am talking about activities that achieve any of or a combination of the above emotional states.
Remember What Recharges You
Once you arrive in the diaspora, you are away from familiar surroundings and so may forget or lose track of what you used to do back home to recharge. However, I am yet to meet anyone who does not have activities that do not fulfill the above criteria.
The Trick Is…..
The only thing is that a lot of the things that give us these feelings tend to be odd and we may feel odd doing them in such a foreign environment. Today, I have realized yet again (for some reason I always forget then remember, forget then remember…) that three things absolutely ignite me:
a) Novelty/something new and something fresh that I haven’t experienced before or in a long time (I hadn’t visited their home or seen them in a year plus there were other people there that I had never met)
b) Entertaining and Amusing (there is no high quite like making another person laugh)
c) Being significant (actually mattering and being missed by your fellow man. Missed you guys too….:) )
d) Connecting and having conversations with people that are mutually enjoyable: It doesn’t matter if it is deep, introspective conversation or silly, crude, useless conversation. As long as it’s interesting, real and I feel we connect: I’m good.
e) Women (goes without saying really……)
Some Ways People Recharge;Some Odd
Therefore I challenge you to remember what recharges you. Any time this place wears you down: you miss home, you look around and are distressed that you don’t connect with anyone, work and responsibilities are getting you down: break away and recharge. Don’t worry if it is idiosyncratic or unique or odd. I have heard or known people who relax by:
a) Sleeping, waking up, sleeping waking up and doing that for extended periods of time.
b) Going to a park and feeding pigeons and/or fish and/or ducks
c) People who enjoy sleeping under a tree in an open field.
d) People who pray and meditate.
e) People who play board games such as Scrabble, Rummy King, checkers etc
f) Rowing boats on lakes and/or ponds
What If I Can’t Do It?
What if it is something that it is physically impossible to do, such as visit a monument that is only in your country or walk around your old neighbourhood. In that case, investigate, why x activity recharges you. What are the elements of that situation that take you from lifeless to filled with energy. It took me five years of living here to realize that without connection or significance to other people, my energy slowly declines. Once I realized that, I had power. I knew any time I was getting low, all I needed to do was go visit someone I hadn’t seen in a while and try to make them laugh or just connect.
Practical Application
So, why did you like visiting that monument back home…..was it getting away from everyone, was it the majesty or the history of the monument. Perhaps you can find places in the diaspora where you can explore another culture’s rich history and a majesty and go and recharge there. Did you enjoy walking through your neighbourhood because you enjoyed walking amongst people who were like you: find the nearest African neighbourhood or go to an Africa-infested area and walk around there. If that’s not available, find the closest nationality or ethnicity (Maoris, Greeks and Italians all share similar cultural traits for example) and walk amongst them. Keep experimenting and checking in with yourself until you know what recharges you and you can recreate the conditions necessary to recharge. Because you will need to do so on a regular basis.
What If I Never Had Recharging Activities?
There is the off chance that you have no idea what recharges you and have never had any activities that recharge you. If that’s the case, then I suggest that you read my articles on discovering your passions and use the tips to find your recharge activity. The greatest tip of them all: experiment, until you find what works. You are in the most prosperous society in human history, not only financial terms, but in terms of the abundance (over-abundance really) of knowledge, information and experiences. Step out there and try things until you find what recharges you.
Small Side-note
The only thing I would add is: choose activities that nourish you mind, body and soul. I think you can see where I am going with this. Don’t kill brain cells or dehydrate your body with alcohol or drugs so that it needs time to recharge AFTER your alleged recharge session. Don’t go to gossip sessions where you prop up your ego by speaking ill of others but end up no better than when you came in. Do something that will make every part of your person better-rest, relax, energize!
Finally
Your home needs you, you need you, we need you, to be as healthy, clear and strong as you can possibly be. So do something for you today. Leave me a comment , switch off this computer and go out there and recharge your batteries.
See you tomorrow, fresh and ready to go,
Mwangi
PS: Who knew the Google tool bar had spell checking. Expect spelling that resembles educated folk in the near future.
-
-
11:39
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Thanks to Grace Kerongo from Nairobi Star for giving this up and coming blog some exposure, I really appreciate that. The email interview is pasted below. Grace’s questions are in plain text and my responses are in bold.
First up, huge thanks for interviewing me. My first interview ever and I am very excited. Hope it is of interest and benefit to you.
So it it true what they say? That bloggers are constantly on the net?
I sleep and then I am online. I think I am probably a novelty but I spend three quarters of my waking time on line.
1. What do you mostly blog about?
I am still not sure what I blog about. It started out as a general resource guide for Africans in the diaspora but as of just a few hours ago I thought I would tighten my focus and begin writing a resource guide for young Africans living in Australia. So, in short, I am still testing things out to see what fits best.
2. When did you decide to change the flow of your blog to political issues? If not, why stay away from politics?
I try to completely stay away from blogging about political issues for a couple of reasons:
1) I am relatively ignorant: I am not one of those people who is on the daily nation and standard daily and never have been all my life. Therefore I don’t think I can bring much to the discussion, especially when compared to people who are on the ground and knowledgeable like Kumekucha, Kenyan Pundit, What an African Woman Thinks and M of Thinker’s Room.
2) I am not interested in it: I am just not naturally drawn to discussions about politics and political strategies and backstabbing. I much prefer to hear and learn about psychology and how people think and feel react based on underlying psychological triggers.
3) Pretty much anything I had to say had already been said: Log on to Mashada or check out the blogs above and the superficial knowledge and conclusions I came to regarding the political situation had already been expressed and expounded on.
3. Most blogs broke news and ran scoops on news that newspapers did not have till later on. Did you have any scoops on your blog?
No! No scoops from me. I got all my information from newspapers, the blogosphere and my family back in Kenya.
4. Bloggers were accused of being propagandist, for using blogs as hate machine. This was from the onset of Post Election to the current period. Any thoughts?
I think this was not restricted to the blogosphere. Here in Melbourne, Australia there were smses circulated by Kikuyus declaring that an uncircumcised man can never be president and I know What an African woman thinks ([wherehermadnessresides.blogspot.com]) wrote a little bit about that. The blogopshere definitely spread some hate and I avoided any blogs that I felt were spreading hate like a plague. The place where hate was simply unavoidable was Mashada.com and Kumekucha and I fully understand why Kobia had to shut the place down for a while, it all got a bit too much.
5. Blogs were segmented into two, Pro-government and Opposition, which side were you on?
One of the benefits of being ignorant and not participating in the typical political debates is that I can honestly say, neither. As far as I can tell all the big parties in the general election are cut from the same cloth with minor variations between them.
6. Did you receive threats from the readers who visited your blog or anyone else for what you wrote on your blog?
No! I don’t think my blog mattered enough yet. The only abuse I have gotten so far is for writing an article critiquing the African view of Obama as far as politics are concerned.
7. How do you control the comments posted on your blog?
So far there has been no great need, almost everyone has been pretty civil and I have had no need to block out anything other than commercial spam.
8. How is your blog helping the current situation in the country, after the post election crisis?
I think if there is one thing we cannot overlook it is the absolutely beautiful outpouring of love and support that came out of the blogopshere and the Kenyan web community in general. Initiatives such as Ushahidi, that can really help give power to the marginalized and change societies if properly used and operations such as Mama Mikes, Operation Saving Brian, I have no tribe amongst others all came out of this tragedy. In addition to that, a lot of bloggers were willing to step up and talk about things like tribalism, class, wealth disparity and other issues that are really at the core of all this. I have just realized that this wasn’t the question but I think it is worth saying.
I don’t know what my blog’s role will be in the coming months considering how far I am from home, other than to promote any initiatives and people I find doing good work who need to get the word out there.
9. Who are your biggest posters or blog visitors. Are they Kenyan here or those abroad?
Abroad. Interestingly, at present most of my readers are from the States. As I tighten my focus to talk more about Australia and Australian immigration I expect my demographics to change.
10. Did you experience the post election violence in any way?
Not directly, I was 1000s of miles away. My aunty and grandmother are Kikuyu women deep in the heart of the Rift Valley and we were on the phone with them every single day because for a while they could not sleep and there was a very real threat that the neighbouring Kalenjins would kill and displace them.
11. Is there an association of bloggers that looks into the conduct of bloggers that out step the line?
I don’t think so. I think this would take away from the spirit of blogging. Even though a lot of hatred was spewed online during the crisis, I don’t think that censoring blog content is the way to go….my opinion may change, but at the moment, that’s how I feel.
12. Where are you based?
Melbourne Australia and sometimes Sydney Australia.
13. Did your hits increase, immediately after the the election in December?
My blog started up during the post election violence. Some of my first articles were about the violence, so I guess technically the answer is yes.
14. And finally, what are your real names and what do you do…beside blogging?
My name is Mwangi and I blog. When I am not blogging, I sometimes work as a disabled or aged care nurse and have a small business online.
Mwangi, please feel free ask for clarification on any questions you don’t understand.
Cheers!
If you need any more information, don’t hesitate to ask!
-
-
11:37
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
I once heard a very simple definition of unhappiness, and I paraphrase: Unhappiness is when your life conditions do not match your expectations. In other words, unhappiness occurs when you have certain expectations of the circumstances that will create happiness and the world around you does not reflect that.
Today let’s talk about just one element of that: Today let’s talk about expectations.
Expectations
According to Answers.com, expectation is The act of looking forward to something.
When you look at your life, your future, what do you expect to happen. Sure, the future is never guaranteed but I am willing to bet that in spite of that you still have certain things that you expect to happen in future. You expect the sun to rise and fall. You expect that the world air supply won’t run out and you expect that after what will hopefully be a long and fruitful life, you will die.
Now, if these expectations affect our level of happiness and satisfaction and there are few areas in life that are truly important and will truly affect the quality of life, then I think it would be fair for us to examine our expectations in a few of these areas.
Your Health
Now I know a lot of y’all have pretty substandard diets and there are many of you to whom exercise is a fairy tale told to children so they won’t disturb you. My question is, what do you expect will happen if you keep living this way? Time only moves forward and you are only getting older and older.
So what do you expect to happen if you keep putting junk into your body and not sweating it out? Look, if you want to eat that way, I can yap on for hours about how we need to eat healthy and all of that and thank God you can ignore me and call me full of it. You can put whatever you want into your body. All I am asking is, what do you expect to happen?
Relationships
A lot of us have fantasies about what our ideal partner looks like, sounds like, smells like (or doesn’t smell like) amongst other things. The question I have for you is, if you stay the type of person you are, what type of people should you expect to continue attracting into your life?
Low Self Esteem and Drama Queen Puller
I have a very good friend who basically keeps attracting the same type of woman into his life: women with very low self esteem.
The first woman I saw him with, had such a low opinion of herself that he could regularly call her the foulest of names and without any apology on his part still take her home for a romp in the sack.
The second woman was one who had tried suicide on numerous occasions and could turn just a lazy Sunday afternoon into a drama filled day full of LOUD shouting, crying, MASC posturing and believe it or not a make up romp in the sack.
The third woman became clingy after only knowing him for a couple of weeks. She hated everyone who came near him and took his attention and in addition to that had such high grade anxiety that it lead to all sorts of diseases and disorders and ailments.
Whenever anyone asks me about him, they ask, “Is he still playing around with crazy women?”
Make no mistake about it, a lot of the time, we are replaying the same script over and over again, especially in this area of relationships. We tend to get drawn to people who have the same characteristics and people with particular characteristics tend to be drawn to us.
So let me ask you again, being the type of person that you are, what type of person, would you expect to draw into your life? If you don’t like the type of people you draw in, perhaps change who you are and you can expect something a little different.
Your Identity
Where do you see yourself in this world and in this fabric of reality. Are you a blessed son of an Almighty God? Are you a victim who is always being brought down by the world around them? (btw please click here for a great article on victimhood) Are you a conqueror who will create a beautiful, magnificent empire while here on Earth? Are you a hustler who is struggling to get by? Are you simply a parent and a good citizen?
With this view of your place on this Earth, what type of life should you expect. Do you want a different type of life? Maybe change the way you define yourself and your expectations will change to.
Your Life Abroad
Let me just dispel one very big myth right now. This place, WILL NOT mean an end to your problems in life. Once you come abroad you will just have a different quality of problems. Instead of dealing with insecurity and bad roads you will be dealing with trying to find work and pay your bills. Instead of worrying about your neighbors meddling in your business you may have to deal with the loneliness of your neighbors not giving a damn about who you are.
If I am to give you one great expectation to live by while you live abroad, especially here in Australia: life here will be what you make it and nothing will happen until you make it happen.
I know people who have been here for eons and still work the minimum wage factory jobs that most Africans get when they first show up here.
On the flip side, I also know someone who completely, and I do mean completely, embraced the African American lifestyle from the way he walks, talks, thinks, acts and who he hangs around and upon first glance you would never guess that he isn’t from D.C. This guy though had to work at it, he had to watch the tapes, find people to hang out with etc etc etc
So, don’t come here expecting the red carpet to success, unless you are going to sew it and lay it out yourself…..unless of course you come from a wealthy family, in which case, you can live it up as much as you want. But please, do it within the rules and the law and try not to get deported. And remember: nothing feels quite as good as the sweet fruit of your labor.
Be blessed and bless others,
Mwangi
-
-
10:38
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Before you read this, make sure you have read: Part one, Part two, Part three and Part four of my African immigrant story.
PART FIVE
Late 2006
The film school that I was my first choice University accepts me and I jump straight in to the course in the middle of the school year.
My focus is still all on the party and I fail every single subject including documetary film making where I try to make a film on African drinking habits while drunk.
Still have delusions of grandeur. Obsess over them almost every waking minute but doing nothing to move closer to them. They’re slowly fading away.
Discover that with male-female relationships once a certain level of emotional comfort and physical intimacy has been reached, you are no longer “just friends or acquantances.” It’s as though you own a piece of each other. I discover this when I try to get intimate with two women at the same time and remain “just friends”. Messy and immature. To both of them: I’m sorry.
When my family returns from visiting Kenya they find bottles of alcohol, condoms, pregnancy kits, holes in the walls and morning after pills. Gives you an idea of the type of Christmas I had.
Party lifestyle for me hits its peak probably around June, slow decline has already begun.
Early 2007
The life of hedonism becomes less and less exciting for me.
Rejoin film school and actually try to do well this semester. Make a short film, which you can check out on Youtube.
Learn the basics of film such as editing, using a camera and writing a script. Idea of building a Pan-African movie production company continues to grow.
Attend PUA workshops(Google it!). Fascinating. Become obsessed with their literature and their way of thinking and viewing the world.Eventually become jaded by their general lack of fulfillment in life and an underlying misogyny and fear of women that I detect.
Meet three women who I genuinely like because of their kind hearts and genuine spirits-and they are pretty hot too: One of them hardly remembers me and the other two hate me.
Second Half 2007
I am completely disillusioned and bored with my party lifestyle. In my quiet moments, my delusions of grandeur thrust themselves in my face.
After watching a T Robbins interview with Larry King I decide to take drastic action. I disconnect my phone number and in no time flat, with a little money take off for Sydney to make my production house come true.
Sign up to join a film school that is also a production company. They charge $10,000 for a year of study. Knowing that I can’t get parental support for it and with no way of paying the entire amount upfront, I do not enter the school.
Btw should you ever do what I did, it is only corteous to tell the people around you, you are leaving. I left a lot of good people without saying bye or anything. To all of them. I’m sorry.
I remember to always be mindful to thank God for all he has blessed me with.
Around the time I settle into Sydney I get robbed and most of my official documentation is stolen.
I end up homeless and jobless and searching for a job while listening endlessly to personal development tapes in my car.
Eventually, after 5 years, PUA workshops and a lot of experience, I realize that there are simply people in this world that I cannot get along with, hard as I might try and I have to tolerate and respect them.
Drinking begins to become pathetic: I never intended to drink on my own but I end up doing that. One day I go to a girl’s home and abuse the living hell out of her (insecurities, oh insecurities). Shortly after my drinking makes me miss a flight I was supposed to take back to Melbourne to visit the family. Lying alone and hungover in my car the next morning I vow that I will never touch another drop of alcohol and I must learn to live a life where I don’t use it as a crutch: Defining moment!
Attend a Tony Robbins seminar where I get fire shot into my soul and learn a lot of valuable mental skills.
Decide to experiment with eating no animal products. Health benefits abound, I lose 5 kilograms in two days! Lose some puss pimples, stop feeling bloated and feel a slightly higher level of energy Decide to keep going. Still going!
Come back to Melbourne to start up an Internet business because:
a) People making money from Adsense.
b) I control my working life and can work at night (as I am now)
c) I can use it as an excuse to interview people I admire and want to learn from and model.
d) I can use it as a launching pad for my movie production house (stay tuned).
e) I can use it to help people who are just like me: immigrants who showed up here without a roadmap of what to do.
Try to start blogs on Google. Run them for about 3 months.
Register the Displaced African domain name on Wordpress.Sign up for a membership site to learn how to blog as a business and begin working and thinking about the blog night and day.
Become a ferrocious student of the Internet, blogging, Internet marketing and technology. Still a student to this day!
First Half 2008
This chapter is still in the making. All I intend on doing is building a life that will matter long after I have left this Earth. I am not content with simply saying, I came, I lived, I loved and I died. I want to die with pictures of me deeply embedded onto the walls and in the hearts of people throughout Mama Africa, not because I am a great guy-I am not too bad, if you want to know-but because I brought something special to my home that didn’t exist before I brought it. Because I served and lived in some unique way and now Africa is better as a result.
There is so much I have not put into this story that it’s not funny. However I hope this “brief” timeline of my time here in Australia will put a lot of the stuff I say into perpective. Now you know me and now you know my blog. Enjoy your stay and I hope it’s of benefit to you.
Be blessed and bless others,
Mwangi
If you haven’t, please read: Part one / Part two/ Part three/ Part four /
-
-
10:33
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Before reading this, please make sure you have read: Part one, Part two and Part three of my story as an African immigrant
PART FOUR
First Half 2005
- Get rejected by film school, and too lethargic and lazy to show up for acting school auditions. Get chosen by my third choice University where I am to get a Bachelor of Business (Entrepreneurship).Selected course because my mother has a Masters in it. Follow in parents’ (father had a more general Bachelor of Business) footsteps. Mother asks me if I’m sure I don’t want to pursue acting. I say, “I’ll be alright.”
- Among the caliber of people I am with in business school:
a) CEO of Nissan is mentor
b) Young, high flying Entrepreneur is one of the lecturers
c) Have regular successful speakers coming in such as hundred-millionaire Andrew Giles who founded Hitwise.
d) Young people who have been in business successfully for years
- Feel I am with good group to learn business. Feel like everyone, including myself, is very tactical about who they associate with.
- Make good friends with some Greek guys and help one of them start up a business, which runs to this day.
- The other Greek guy introduces me to CDs of Malcolm X. Have began reading leftist literature including Noam Chomsky and he is also a fan so we connect on that.
- Join the local Uni Socialist group and begin to learn about the history of grassroot struggle. Only attend one meeting of the group because I still feel lonely.
- Become obsessed with reading leftist literature and listening to leftist thinkers such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Parenti
 .
- Silmultaneously begin reading business books such as Richard Richard Branson’s autobiography (If you like business stories, BUY THIS BOOK! Reality is stranger than fiction) and the E-myth by Michael Gerber.
- Try reading Karl Marx book, the Communist Manifesto: great ideas in it but kinda boring.
- Discover one of my favorite thinkers, theologians and speakers of all time who reaffirms my faith in the church, Erwin Mcmanus.
- Decide I eventually want to own my own African production company which I’ll use to push forward a positive Pan-African identity: Defining idea!
- Realize I am not too bad at the whole busines thing: Don’t mind writing up marketing and business plans and do it competently. Don’t mind doing the research and the work neccesary to get a business going. Idea of working on a business if I see the sense in it doesn’t scare me: Cool!
- Sign up to do play with theatre group where I did the Wizard of Oz.Play the Puppetmaster in Pinnochio. Do a good job. Get nominated for the same award that I lost last year and win!
- I finish the semester but not before the loneliness and isolation hits me again (It took me 5 years to discover this is why I kept dropping out and leaving things so cut me some slack. I didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing) and I defer the course.
Second Half 2005
- Drop out of school and stay home.
- Listen to leftist professors and study the diplomatic history of the US, a bit of UK and a moderate level on Africa.
- Discover people such as Biko, Lumumba (Patrice of DRC not the Kenyan lawyer), Nkrumah, MLK, the Black Panthers, Che Guevara, Malcolm X among others who were important to Civil and human rights in the world. Inspired and fascinated by them.
- Daily routine for a while: Wake up, listen to leftist thinkers, watch some dvds, cook and sleep.
- Begin listening to more and more self help tapes.
- I keep on obsessing over plans for my future but have little idea how I will get there. Just feel tired and worn out.
- Do my first adult play, where I actually have to kiss a girl (blush, guffaw and draw map of Africa with my feet). Perform it at two short play festivals in country towns. At one of them, get deep connection with audience and can do no wrong on stage. Win award as Best New Actor and get $50 (I’m rolling in it now, lol!).
- Try out amateur wrestling and Olympic weightlifting because still obsessed with looking like an Adonis. Don’t feel any human connection at the training institutions.In spite of that, discover two sports I will pursue in future to develop strength and coordination.
- In an effort to make money I try to become a door to door salesman of car servicing vouchers. The job isn’t scary at all really. Regardless, I make less than 10 sales over 4 weeks and decide it’s not for me.
- Go and get trained as an aged care nurse and begin working immediately. I don’t like the monotony of the job but like talking to old people, they keep it real!
- Only friends are my few fantastic Kenyan friends: things about to get a bit shaky though.
- Early 2006
- My cousins come over from Kenya to study and we have a house full of young people: Chaos ensues.
- Almost immediately me and one of my cousins (Big up, K) hit the club scene hard in spite of the fact that we are not that wealthy.
- Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Go to the Village and hang out with the athletes-a lot of them are great guys who are way too obsessed with carnal pursuits. My obsession with drinking and sex begins to hit an exponential upward trijectory. Become an overactive social creature who gatecrashes as many parties as I can.
- Rejoin University but end up dropping all of my subjects except an elective subject: Creative writing for which I attend one three hour class every Thursday. Means I only go to school one day a week, spend the rest of the time working as little as possible and partying as hard as possible.
- Lose my virgnity when I, and am not even bragging here, have the most fluid flirtation session I will ever have in my life. I am one of six people she is juggling at the time. (Sweet girl, but at this stage of life I want my virginity back!)
- Try to become a conniving, manipulative playa type but it really doesn’t suit me too well, and I am too broke to live it up anyway. Though I fool around a few times, I set the record, as far as I know for the man who can “sleep (like with eyes closed and dreams) in the same bed with the most women,” without any physical connection. Expression begins to be formed: “Mwangi boils the water for others to bathe!”
- Attend quite a few business seminars where I have the double honour of being the only African and the only person under 30. Learn a lot from some of the finest business thinkers.
- Also attend free lectures and talks from a wide variety of thinkers including neuroscience and technology. Learn the expression: “As human beings we all feel as though we are Angels trapped in the bodies of beasts!” Metaphor still resonates with me today.
- As a result of being a bad friend and lying to cover for someone else, I lose my best friend. He was a good man, and what I did was wrong (if you are reading this, again, sorry A)
If you haven’t please make sure you read: Part one / Part two/
Continued on: Part four /Part five
-
-
10:28
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Before you read this make sure you have read: Part one and Part two of my story as an African immigrant
PART THREE
Second Half 2003
At times I am a very dramatic, loud,flamboyant and entertaining person. Did a few plays back home. Decide to try out for the school production. Get the lead part because the only other person who tried out is in the final year of high school and they don’t want to give him heavy workload. Great vote of confidence there.
My life, without friends and energy of people to feed of, is an empty void. I decide to fill this void by studying and actually trying to pass at school. Begin developing study habits such as reading a paragraph of a book, closing the book, rewriting the paragraph as I understand it and seeing if the two ideas correspond. Some of these habits stay with me to this day: Defining moment.
Studying isn’t enough though I am doing a lot better at school. The loneliness and isloation makes me feel like dropping out again. Drama teacher tells me, “If I want to drop out and live like an adult, then I must be man enough to see the production through.” Decide to stay.
Put myself mind, body and soul into the rehearsal. Hide behind the characters and the music and the play hoping I never have to come out. Begin to shape up into a very focussed actor who can assume a character and ‘become him’.
Write out a business plan for a school cafeteria that I will run and profit from. The school principal quickly shoots the idea down.Darn it!
We perform the play: Some of the best days of my life. I do a much better job than I ever expected. People actually admire and respect me. The audience likes what I am doing. I matter!  I discover one of my greatest passions in life: Defining moment
Begin watching ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ and begin to love understanding how actor’s work.
Buy my first self-help book by Tony Robbins. The book has great ideas. I am looking for a quick fix and so don’t put any of the ideas in the book to practical application for many years.
Buy more meditation books, this time from the hippie days. Fail to meditate and achieve Nirvana, again.
Still working out obsessively and getting no results.
Still trying to live a life of significance and feel like I’m getting nowhere physically though I mature tremendously psychologically.
Go through a phase where I am ashamed of my race. Visit the dermatologist and he tells me it is in my genes: Accept it and decide to make the best of my race from then on.
Steal money and pay to be taken through a private meditation session. Relax for about an hour and feel pretty chilled afterwards. Use the rest of the of the stolen money to watch Charlie’s Angels in the cinema’s gold section.
Try working in the church audiovisual department. Great job, but loneliness and isolation gets to me and I leave.
Begin to dream big about being one of the greatest creative minds and servant to my home of Africa: Defining idea.
Drop out of school a couple of months before the end of the year. Run away every school day to the local bookstore where I read books and magazines all day long until my parents and principal discover I have been running away.
Parents don’t put too much of a fight. My father visits Africa and I decide to follow him.
Kenya is fantastic. Missed the feeling of actually being able to talk to someone and form a connection. Talk to everyone I meet and have a fantastically, simple, agenda-less holiday in Kenya. Return to Australia fresh as a battery.
2004
Transfer high schools and end up in a mid-performing high school where on first day we find people smoking outside the school office.
In my first week (again!) get voted in as captain of a sport’s house for the entire school. Don’t show up for meetings! Play sports like I’m paid to be bad! Don’t really care! Hand over my captain badge to a friend of mine who wants to be captain real bad!
Take up five subjects for my final year of high school: Drama, Psychology (only boy in the class), Further Maths, English as a Second Language (it’s my first language but as an immigrant I can take the subject and it’s easier so……) and Dance (only boy in the class)
Quickly realize that by Dance they don’t mean the rhythmic movements of Papa Wemba and Awilo Longomba but instead mean ballet, jazz and contemporary (you ned a tutu for all three).
Take dance lessons in hip hop to see if I can catch up and maybe even get an A+ in the dance exam. Realize that short of a dancing-queen-John-Travoltaesque (you see girl africana, -esque it’s catching on) miracle, passing Dance is never happening. Drop out of dance class and end up doing the minimum subjects allowed in Melbourne schools: 4.
So energetic from coming home that skate right through this year with a nice, steady, comfortable work/study routine.
Begin hanging around other Kenyan immigrants my age: Feels good!
Discover that there is a professional wrestling school – WWE style- right next to my home and I’m in the same class with one of the referees. Referee promises to set me up with training to become a wrestler. One of my Kenyan friends disuades me telling me that one day I will meet an angry man who will knock me upside the head with a chair and make my mind slower than a tranquilized snail…decide to put my WWE plans on hold.
Do well in high school but worse than expected especially in Drama where I expected a pefect score for my one man performance of a South African Freedom figher that moves people to tears. Content but not elated I accept my mark and best student award in Further Maths.
Join a theatre group where I take on the role of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. I take playing the melodramatic character seriously. Nominated for a theatre award ( I lost) and sign up with a casting agency. They give me extra work on a TV show and an ad and I get to do a modelling gig on the ourtskirts of the city- the picture at the top of the blog is from that modelling shoot.
Join the Young Australia Broadway Chorus at the semi-advanced level. The Chorus is meant to train musical theatre performers. The training is fantastic. Just like in my first high school production I learn to my dismay, “ I was blessed with a good voice but no skill on how to use it.” The loneliness gets to me and I don’t enjoy the dances we are learning so I drop out after one term.
Realize yet again that I get a lot of admiration and female attention when I perform. Crave that feeling even more.
Try out for the church choir. Again….got’s the talent but no skill. Tell me to come back when I have the talent thing worked out.
Spend my weekends with my Kenyan friends just bumming around and talking. Feel very safe and very comfortable with my friends. In spite of that deal with some minor issues such as mutal friends who decide to slit their wrists when they are in a bit of a bad mood and drunk Maori who gate crashes our party to show us a tattoo where he remembers all the people he has killed.
Watch a friend of mine have more women throw themselves at him than a trampolene. Disgusting to watch as some of us have to work hard in the corner singing, “Can I be your tennis ball,”, to every white girl we see.
If you haven’t make sure you read: Part one / Part two/
Continued on: Part four /Part five
-
-
10:19
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Before reading this, make sure you read:Part one of my story as an African immigrant.
PART TWO
Second Half of 2002
- Land in Australia during 2002 World Cup Finals ( missed the game
 ). The place is cold though I arrived in shorts and a t-shirt. Excited to be here.
- Parents have already selected a high school for me. The school has two Africans, both Kenyans amazingly, in it: one is an absolutely gorgeous girl and the other, a boy, ended up being one of my best friends later on. When we try to take the train from the city to the school, they deem a 2 hours, 40 kilometer train ride as “too far out” ( less than 15 minutes from where the family lives now). Instead chose to leave me in a boarding school more than 100 kilometres outside of the city.
- Over the moon that it is a mixed boarding school and proceed to act as though the women in the school are my birthright and making friends is automatic: NOT!
- In six months go from the coolest new accessory in the school to social pariah. Christmas season I am alone in a room listening to Neville brothers (that guy’s voice is high!!) sing “These Foolish Things”. Vow to never feel this useless and expendable and unwanted ever again. I will mean something to this world: Defining moment!
- As part of work experience at school I get to work at a radio station. First morning I am on air with the host for a short while. Second day I am hosting my own three hour show with two ladies and by the third day I am offered my own youth show every Saturday. Too lonely and distraught to stay: I move back to Melbourne to be with the family.
- While home, I begin to try and become a valuable human being by bulking up and losing fat (not knowing it’s quite difficult to do both at the same time). I try working out four hours every day and going on starvation diets. After a couple of days of doing this, I am on the floor crawling because I binge ate so much damn-sweet-it-practically-melted-in-my-mouth-cake.
- Become a bodybuilding and health website fanatic and read them everyday. Information very contradictory. Keep pushing weights using diagrams that come with the bench press equipment we bought. Overtrain until I develop stretch marks on both my still-puny arms. Lonely and alone, thank God I have my family!
First Half 2003
- Transfer over to a Christian college run by the local church. Everybody knows everybody and almost everyone in the school attends the local church. In retrospect absolutely fantastic people. However, didn’t think so at the time. Follow the events through with me……
- Still shaken from the events of 2002, I try to run away from the country in my first week in the school: I intend on stealing my mother’s credit card and flying back to Africa. I tell my mother my plans and she quickly squashes them.
- All the kids in my class bully a kid called T who knows he is a loser and acts the part (sadly he ended up going to prison for trying to rob a sex store many years later). I like the guy and become friends with him. Develop disdain for people who bully losers or people who are already down. Don’t think highly of my clasmates at this point.
- Begin to learn why some Western men fear women: After answering, “Yes” to the question, “Am I mean?” to a girl who I shall cull, Lulu, assembles all the women in the class to start abusing me. At first, I can handle abuse but fear grips me and I feel I must do something about it. Go into a rage blackout when I see the girl and call her every obscenity this side of the milky way.
- One of the things I say to Lulu, “ You don’t know who I am and you don’t know where I came from,” between calling her a female canine many times ( very apologetic in hindsight. If you are reading this,”Lulu”-you know yourslef- I am sorry and I forgive you-she asked me to forgive her 5 years ago).
- Get called into the principal’s office: She took the “You don’t know who I am and where I am going.” statement to mean that, like 50 cent, I will bring gangs upon her to beat her. Ideas that will form the Jungle Fever article begin to take root.
- After my rage blackout no one wants to be my friend and I lose my only good friend, a girl called N. Alone, lonely, expendable, useless and worthless yet again. I go to work.
- I begin to study meditation. Try it and fail one of many times- I was trying to force relaxation (oxymoron if I ever I saw one).
- Though I am going to a Christian school, and was raised in the church, I obsessively read a site which explains all the problems with Christianity (apparently the Catholic Church has a book full of bibilical inaccuracies…..scary). Begin studying Eastern religions and philosophies and spend a lot of time feeling like a self-important, self-indulgent philisopher.
- After long periods of philisophizing, I come to a conclusion: I don’t know beyond a 100% shadow of a doubt why I was put here. None of us do. I am here. I am blessed. One day my life will matter, because I will make sure it will. May as well make the best of this life. Defining moment!
If you haven’t, make sure you read:Part one.
Continued on: Part three/ Part four/Part five
-
0:26
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
I interrupt the regularly scheduled programing, (believe it or not, the blog runs on a program now…who woulda thought) to bring you a quick inspirational story from the Diaspora. Whereas material wealth isn’t everything (I’m serious), I still love stories like these because they force us to raise our standards and our beliefs about what is possible. Anyway enjoy and I hope it sparks some thought (and more importantly) some action that will get you on a headline somewhere. Taken verbatim from this Daily Nation article:
US-based Kenyan businessman joins the big league Story by ENOCK WAMBUA in Lowell, Massachusetts
Publication Date: 3/22/2008 |
A Kenyan made history this week by taking his privately owned business to the mainstream of America’s commerce.
 |
| The building which houses the Holden Group of Colleges and right, Mr Wilfred ole Saroni in his office |
Mr Wilfred ole Saroni, the proprietor of Holden group of colleges, has merged with Premier Educational Group.
The group is an empire of private sector middle-level training institutions boasting 47 colleges in states within the American eastern seaboard.
According to the merger, the Kenyan businessman brings to the Premier group the much sought-after private nursing programme which he has successfully run for more than five years at his three colleges in Lowell, Worcester and Nashua.
The Nashua college has been rated the second best in New Hampshire by the New Hampshire Board of Nursing for two years running.
The new development directs focus on a man who has become accustomed to scoring firsts.
Three years ago (in 2005), Mr Saroni hit newspaper headlines in the US when he became the first Kenyan to be awarded the Ronald Reagan Republican Gold Medal. In the same year, he scored another first by bagging the New Hampshire Businessman of the Year award.
By joining the board of directors at the Premier Educational Group, Mr Saroni has embarked on a journey of a transition from a business owner to an investor.
Talking to the Saturday Nation in his office in Lowell, Mr Saroni said he has had to endure great challenges to get where he is today.
Last year, he said, was particularly difficult for his businesses. He cited two investments that he said pushed him to the edge.
The first one, he said, was the acquisition of a multi-million-dollar building (Holden Center) at the heart of Lowell City.
The building, sitting on 3,000 square feet, is a former health facility that Mr Saroni planned to convert into a dormitory to take advantage of accommodation needs for students at the neighbouring University of Massachusetts, Lowell campus.
He is in the process of liquidating part of his shareholding in the building.
The second misadventure, he said, was a co-investment in the Holden Home Care company which, he said, had grown to a 300-employee service firm with a $100,000 weekly wage bill at its peak.
Owing to what he referred to as “billing differentials”, he withdrew his interests from the firm last year.
Exit strategy
Asked if he had any regrets over the two deals, Mr Saroni said: “It does not make business sense to hang on to an investment whose fundamentals are shaky. After realising my business miscalculations, I worked out on an exit strategy to concentrate on more rewarding ventures. I am very comfortable with the direction I am taking,” he said.
Following the merger, Premier Educational Group projects to grow its operating revenue with an additional $100 million from its current $270 million in the next five years.
While he will sit on the board, Mr Saroni will oversee the implementation and running of the nursing programme at all the 50 institutions.
Commenting on the fate of his employees, he said there was no risk of redundancy, adding that the creation of a nursing department at Premier will open more employment opportunities.
He said the new deal was a blessing for his employees who will move into a larger institution with better terms of service including retirement and health insurance packages.
Mr Saroni’s story is one of the success of a self-made man who has worked his way up from very humble beginnings. He attended Kimana primary and secondary schools in Kenya.
Mr Saroni arrived in the United States of America in 1996 and lived with his aunt whom he helped with household chores.
In 1997, he enrolled for a course in Microsoft Certified System Engineering and bagged the certificate in the same year before enrolling for an online Masters in Business Administration in 1998.
From the humble beginnings at Holden Quality Staffing, a nursing staffing agency he started in 1999, Mr Saroni has built an empire in health care provision. |
|
Now go out and make it happen,
Mwangi
-
-
10:17
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Why Write Out My History in Australia?
Hello! Hello ! Hello! I once heard the expression:
It’s impossible to hate a person when you know where they have come from.
I think that’s because when you see where someone has come from, things that they do that seem illogical all of a sudden make sense.All of a sudden you realize that people have gone through what you go through and that when you break it all down, there are a lot of similarities between all of us, us human beings.
So, I am writing my timeline out here in Australia, not for egotistical reasons- though those are always nice- but more so that you can understand where I’m coming from. Whereas this blog is semi-personal, it isn’t a personal diary like most blogs which I know and love. This is because I honestly wanted to bring something different to this great medium known as the blogosphere. And as I continue to write less and less about myself and more and more about the type of stuff that will hopefully be useful to you, I want you to know where I am coming from. A lot of the things I have done are kinda cooky (just mildly though, don’t expect any serial killer stories here) , but in context, they all make sense.
Style
This is my third attempt at writing this. The first one was six pages long and the second was 10 pages long. In spite of that, they both were telling entirely different stories. I didn’t believe it at first but my emotional and mental story is way too complex and convoluted for me to hope to explain it in a couple of posts so instead I thought I would walk you through the events themselves and just give you a bit of side commentary ala Twitter (btw if you and you’re friends are not on twitter, it is the coolest thing, make sure you get on it. You can be my twitter friend too, my name is masmilele).
Btw, that’s me sitting in the top right corner of the blog with a wistful, melancholic look on my face, for those who are wondering whether God hit me with the ugly stick. Without any further explanation and ado:
PART ONE
2000
- In December, my family travels to Australia. At the time I have just finished primary school and am awaiting my KCPE results-for the unitiated KCPE is the exam done at the end of primary school in Kenya that determines what high school I will go to.
- I do much worse than I expected to in KCPE.I strongly suspect that I was marked down (Marking down is the system where people from middle and higher income schools get their marks reduced so that they can compete with people from poorer schools that don’t have the same access to facilities. Fantastic system! In retrospect, I didn’t mind being marked down too much). Fortunately, I have a relationship with a principal of one of the best schools in the country.In the back of my mind, I know I can always fall back on that.
- My family decides they love Australia and especially Melbourne. When we arrive home, my family decide that we are all shipping over to Australia. I am over the moon with joy.
2001
- I get into a great high school in spite of my only-slightly-better-than-average mark in KCPE.
- My loud mouth gives me a seat as sport’s captain in my first day and voted in as Vice Captain in my first week: I have the sports ability of a modified antenna though.
- I become relatively well known around the school and have at the very least acquantance relationships with everyone in my class and most people in the school.
- I don’t care about academics at all. Only thing that excites me is arguing with my Italian RE teacher (gives you a clue where I went to high school if you’re Kenyan) who thinks I have half a brain Aside from that only thing I see when I look at the board are things to make snide remarks at, alcohol bottles& satchets and the female form.
- I party at every chance though I am almost always broke, can’t afford fancy clothes and have no ability to talk to the ladies. Enjoy going out with my older cousin(big up V and friends from school)
- Start a band while in school. Write about 20 songs, assemble about six members but never manage have rehearsals or do anything though we have connections with one of the best production houses – the best at the time – in the country.
- Get caught shoplifting alcohol with my best friend at the time. That beating convinces me to never shoplift ever again. Precursor to my quiting drinking many years later. Guilt unfortunately melts away when me and my friend happen upon a couple of women while taking the bus home………..
First Half 2002
- Learn that we are immigrating to Australia. Proceed to drop out of school like the place was on fire.
- Mother is absolutely furious that I stay in the house and won’t do housework to the point that she kicks me out of the house in the middle of the night. With money I stole from her I go to the city where my cousin is staying thinking this is the beginning of a great partying lifestyle: I am home waiting to immigrate by the next day.
- On the last week in Kenya a friend of mine informs me that apparently foreigners love African men and I should expect female rewards only comparable to a suicide bomber when I land in Australia. My hormones and general excitement threaten to overwhelm me.
Continued in: Part two/ Part three/ Part four /Part five
-
-
13:00
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
I am growing up. I am actually growing up. Over the past couple of weeks, ever since I got hit by the lovebug, one thought has loomed deep in my mind: what type of husband/wife and father/mother do I want to be? (more…)
-
-
12:56
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Ladies and gentlemen, here I am yet again with my two cents on an issue that we as Africans run into when we are in foreign countries A LOT. I have realized that my writing style is a very disjointed incomplete one and so forgive me but I will say this often, I know that this article doesn’t capture the whole complexity of the situation, but hopefully it will stir your thought in the right direction.
Have you ever heard or known someone who has heard the following: (more…)
-
-
12:38
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Today I want to write a real quick one on something that has been marinating in the nether regions of my brain for a while now and absolutely fascinates me. Apologies if it’s too abstract!
Keeping It Real Is Synonymous With the Worst of Us (more…)
-
-
14:08
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Hello hello hello!
Racism in Australia
I work with the disabled about once or twice a week. A couple of days ago I was helping a disabled man with his morning routine. Over the course of the past couple of weeks we have become pretty good buds. By this I mean, we speak to each other on a very personal ‘man to man’ basis as opposed to a professional or superficial level of conversation.
It was at this level of familiarity and kinship that I got an insight into the Australian Caucasian that I never would have got otherwise.
 (more…)
-
| |
