Just over 5 years ago, I needed a black doll for my play that was to show at the Kenya National Theatre. I thought I could walk into any toy store and find one. I was in Africa after all. The Motherland with over 1 billion black humans. Let me tell you! I walk the…
A student once shared an interesting anecdote about his travel to Rwanda where he noted that the word “genocide” existed only in French translation and none in Kinyarwanda. By this, he surmised that genocide was not an African concept. Once again, here’s a fallacy of assuming that just because something has no definitive word in…
I’m parked out at Aldi about to go in and buy lemon-pepper. I open the door but I’m arrested by the story on NPR. About a man in India trying to save his father whose dry cough suddenly turned into to a fever. He rushed him to hospital after hospital – says the storyteller –…
… on the way to the doctor’s office. Western medicine treats the human body more mechanically than it treats a car. Every body part is treated as if its connection to the rest of the body is coincidental. You’ve got the ear, nose & throat guy, the ophthalmologist, the foot doc, the ladies’ parts doc,…
When talk about AIDS first broke out, no one really knew anyone with it. I was in high school, and for us, it was a distant story about Americans. In fact, we were told black people didn’t get it. We joked about it as if it would never ever become a reality in Kenya. I…
I finally watched the film, Rafiki (2018), on Kanopy, thanks to my Howard County library membership. Then I wondered why on earth Kenyan authorities had banned it. It is an excellently told story, simple and true. Yet is sent men in charge of a country’s storytelling business frothing in terror. There was a time in…
Is it a brain illness, a person disorder or consciousness misunderstood? This morning I heard a doctor say that if you call it brain illness people will not stigmatize mental illness as much. I thought she had a point. But I started to think about my observation of mental illness up-close and personal, growing up…
Let me tell you something you all missed while catching your breath in shock at the loss of an accomplished actor. You really didn’t think about what it takes to go to work as an actor, did you? I need you to understand this part. Because then you might look at your child who’s trying…
I’m not sure how to feel about our African ultra-evangelical friends– the ones who sound like they are from deep bible-belt Mississippi. Their social media timelines are both entertaining and disturbing in times of political heat even about events unfolding thousands of miles. How American politics affects them emotionally is a thing of wonder. Entertaining…
7 meditations for 2021. “This” will bring you extraordinary experiences and lasting legacies. “That” will give you short-lived thrills and leave you feeling hollow. 1. Chase knowledge, not money. The road to prosperity is not paved with payouts but with smarts and skills. 2. Chase courage, not approval. The road to happiness is not paved…
