Archive for April, 2011
The decision to cut my hair was agonising. Racked with nerves, I asked every question under the sun: What will my face look like without long, flowing hair and my trademark Afros? I happen to have a thing for Afros though it was all extensions/weaves. On the other hand, my natural hair, fried by relaxer [...]
Bruktawit Tigabu is described by Isha Sesay of CNN, as a young Ethiopian with a deep affection for children. Today, Tigabu has turned her passion and affection for kids into a creative force that is fast becoming a phenomenal in her home country and a source of fascination around the globe. With the international recognition, [...]
Yesterday, I posted the article – Power to The Kink! It generated some very interesting response. So, I decided to search the web for some of the stories, I used as part of my research while writing that piece, especially, that of Patrick Richardson. Below are a selection of videos with diverse views and perspectives [...]
Black women’s hair is a subject that arouses strong emotions and controversy. In Hair Power Skin Revolution, a collection of personal essays and stories, and poems by black and mixed-race women, Nicole Moore ignites a new dialogue on the subject, poignant and powerful, she chronicles why black women need to develop an eternal love affair [...]
News about DR Congo and the atrocities against women has all but disappeared from the news in recent times. We cannot blame the news media for not saying much lately, there has been a lot going on in the world, from Japan to Egypt to Libya. It has been an overwhelming four months. Nevertheless, some [...]
The attacks are sadistic. The brutality with which they are carried out, defy comprehension. Impunity has replaced law and order and it appears the international community has lost its mandate to stem the continuous and gruesome use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hence, I wonder, who will [...]
Abimbola Junaid is a social change practitioner with over 10 years experience as a community development officer, working with women, disenfranchised and marginalised youths, asylum seekers, drug addicts and alcoholics to regain their rightful position in society. Junaid is the founder of Arise! Nigerian Woman Foundation, an organisation that campaigns for gender equality, the political [...]
It is not everyday you get a writer whose heritage spans three continents but that is what you have with Shailja Patel, a Kenyan-Indian-American. Her words are dark, deep and hypnotic on all levels of human sensibility and reasoning. Patel’s words are so potent, they transpose you intellectually, mentally and emotionally to a different place [...]
Part prose, part poetry, A Fine Madness is a befitting title to this evocative offering about war from Mashingaidze Gomo. A forward written by Ngugi wa Thiongo, sets the scene for what’s to come; a narrative that tells the story of war in the Congo through the verbatim account by a soldier who lived through [...]
Land ownership in Zimbabwe has long been a point of contention between the Zimbabwean and UK governments. This is the point of focus in Nyaradzo Mtizira, historically inspired, factual novel, The Chimurenga Protocol. Mtizira sets out to make a case for the present day land redistribution by outlining the injustice to indigenous Zimbabweans, whose ancestors [...]
To understand South Africa’s political repositioning in recent history, its racial tensions, social and economic divides and its ever evolving nature, you have to understand the country’s past. This is the mammoth task Dominic Lapierre has taken on with his epic historical account of the rainbow nation. Divided into four sections, ‘In Search of a [...]
South Africa is a nation with many life cycles as it keeps evolving. Allow me to declare my love for the nation, its people and their culture but when that is said and done, what does South Africa stand for today? What are its policies, at home, regionally and internationally? On Libya, I disagree with [...]
Cote d’Ivoire and the troubles, which beleaguer this once promising and prosperous nation has been on and off, our screen for months. It is a dance of wolves, vultures and chickens, who don’t know when to give up and call it a day. Laurent Gbagbo’s action have been costly and in my opinion, unforgivable. He [...]
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