Afri-love

30 ways I'll be living more creatively this year

I grow increasingly excited about this year – if I had to pick a word to describe what I'm concentrating on, it would be "creating". Sure that's my line of work anyway but the word is taking on all kinds of meaning in 2012. Not only will I be making ideas happen in the workspace but I also want to spend more time injecting more creativity in my life in general.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about making room for a more creative life over on Technorati. As a creative who has not been living as creatively as I'd like, I shared ideas for how to inject more creativity in your days (whether you are a creative professional or not).

Today I'm sharing 30 (mostly) specific things I'll be doing this year. I choose the number because this year I will be happily turning the big 3-0!

1. Getting more sleep. This is the answer to making everything else possible!

2. Ruthlessly de-cluttering my space ("Without space, creation cannot take place" – Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati).

3. Taking myself on dates to cafés to write.

4. Writing in my journal regularly.

5. Paying more attention to my plants.

6. Making more of my own products (So far, I make a version of Sheena LaShay's body butter (video), Kimmaytube's leave-in hair conditioner and plant food from instructions in Design*Sponge at Home.

7. Contributing more articles and posts to Live Unchained  and Technorati.

8. Taking myself on solo movie dates (I really enjoy these!).

9. Spending more time outdoors and in nature (despite the weather which, in the part of the world where I live, is often not conducive).

10. Scheduling in time to work on my personal creative projects and treating that time as sacred.

11. Making things just because (no expectations and nobody to please but myself).

12. Customising my space more (Because I rent, I often feel restricted as to how much I can do but I think that often the limits are more in my mind anyway. My brother had great advice: it's worth doing what you need to do to make your space your own, enjoying your time there and dealing with the consequences that will come, rather than living your life on hold until that "one day" that may actually be a while coming).

13. Making wax print curtains for my office shelves (hides the messy busy shelves and adds vibrance to the room).

14. Getting my sewing machine out of storage (i.e. under the desk) so there a fewer barriers to using it (out of sight = out of …).

15. Delegating more (whether at work or otherwise. The Success Principles author Jack Canfield makes a very good point about this. If you think of your time in terms of money, which is something that I do being that I charge most clients against a day rate, it makes sense to farm out tasks that are beyond your core competencies. Rather than spending a lot of time on them, that you could instead spend doing what you do best. For example, if your time costs $1,000/day and it will take you 2 hours to clean your house (i.e. $250, assuming that a day of work is equivalent to 8 hours), paying somebody else $50 to do it is a no-brainer.). 

16. Recapturing the excitement of dressing up that I had when I was younger. Putting together more interesting (and fun) outfits as a result. 

17. Making an effort (working at home has made me super low maintenance. It's all about tracksuits and headscarves :). This year I'm using any excuse to make an effort).

18. Attending more events (I used to go to at least 2 events every week but a combination of work, weather and the comfort of home has made me very hermit-like. Yet, there's so much inspiration and excitement to be had outside my door and so many great people to meet and spend time with IRL).

19. Reading more fiction. Despite this fairly ambitious list, I found myself sidetracking last year and instead reading a whole bunch of factual books. Which were great! However, I do miss reading for reading's sake.Getting lost in a good story and being transported to another world. 

20. Painting some more portraits. 

21. Making collages (one of my absolute most favourite things to do).

22. Cooking for the love of cooking. I have to admit that lately, I've been cooking for the sake of surviving. I.e. I know I have to eat and so I cook. This despite the fact that I actually love to cook and find it very cathartic.

23. Insisting on good food. Yup – I love food. If I'm eating out, it better be good. I'm looking for experience rather than convenience.

24. Being the group organiser. This has been my role in several periods throughout my life. Primary school, high school, university and beyond. I am that person who would come up with ideas for group activities and the person people would call when they wanted to know what was going on. It can be a frustrating job when you get attached to the outcomes or place high expectations on non-committal people. So I retired. However, I'm going to try it again, with the wisdom of past experience and no expectations. The hope is that I have enough friends willing to get up off their butts. Wish me luck.

25. Doing what feels good.

26. Limiting the time I spend internetting (it's going to be hard!).

27. Acting on all my self-talk about the outfits I'm going to commission a tailor to make (perhaps even trying to make some things … gasp … myself?!).

28. Drawing upon all the resourcefulness that was instilled in me while growing up and as part of my formal education; making more of my own stuff. Repurposing and upcycling, here I come!

29. Listening to music more. I grew up in a household filled with music, my Dad having a wide eclectic collection that he'd play from daily. These days, I find myself rarely actively listening to music. It's a real travesty and when I do make an effort, it's wonderful. More wonder required.

30. Take some art/craft classes for fun (with the bonus of learning some new techniques).

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Stay tuned as I'll be sharing experiments and outcomes.
What are you doing to live more creatively this year?

(Image of  preparation I was doing for some collages.)

The Love Letter continues

As much as this blog has been a love letter to the continent I call home, it's also been an outlet for me to explore how to better (and better love) myself. 

Blogger Brigitte Lyons puts it so well when she says, "if you want to change the world, better yourself first." That was the thinking behind this whole Afri-love idea. In order for us to inspire, encourage, demand and create the changes we want to see in our continent, we have to first know, be proud of and love who we are and then, act from that position.

Overcoming the madness
Last year was the busiest year I've experienced. Getting a business off the ground is no joke and all the learning, administration, establishing of relationships, bidding for projects, servicing clients and actually doing the core work was a lot to handle. On top of all that, I attempted to blog every weekday and pursue other personal projects. At the end of the year I was exhausted and overwhelmed yet hopeful that the Christmas break would give me an opportunity to work on the things that usually get attention last.

I had a wonderful holiday with my family, who I don't get to see very often. Wonderful but, not productive in the way that I had planned. January rolled around and it wasn't exactly the fresh start I'd expected. I found this post from Miss Modish and I could relate, almost down to the word, with how she'd felt before she decided she needed to change things up, for her sanity and health.

What January has been for me: a time to reassess my routine; a time to really think about what I want this year and beyond; a time to enjoy taking care of myself again; a time to discover how to rest and relax without guilt; a time to put things in perspective in order to ease the pressure I put on myself; a time to remember and review what I want to achieve with Afri-love. That last point has taken silence (time and space) and that's why posts have been strikingly few and far between.

What happens now?
When I started this blog, it was intended to be the first step of a bigger vision. Towards the end of last year, those next steps were showing up in my mind again, though evolved from my original thinking as a result of experiences and ideas that had come to me in the year and a half since my first Afri-love post. It was encouraging but also daunting. And I haven't exactly figured it all out yet but, this I will share with you: I've always wanted this blog to be preparation for something more tangible. Inspiration for concrete action. It's all well and good talking about possibilities and opportunities but the real magic happens when you actually act on them. When you take advantage of the possibilities and make opportunities for yourself.

Along with continuing to share the amazing Africa-inspired or Africa-made things that I come across, I will be creating more resources and content that has practical use in the pursuit of what you want to materialise in your life. As with most of the posts, there will be a creative bias. After all, the arts are a central part of my original hypothesis.

I don't want to turn this blog into a magazine-style showcase– there are so many great Africa-centric blogs and websites filling that role. I want to continue to be open in sharing what inspires me but also my thoughts, my story and what has worked for me in the journey to living the life I want, and loving the person that I am. The blog will continue to draw from that personal place. However, I am one person in a much wider conversation and I want to integrate other voices and different experiences and perspectives. Thus, I will also be developing a virtual learning/discovery space in the interest of building a larger community of people who are pursuing their passions and changing the world by doing just that.

Sit back, talk back, subscribe and enjoy
I hope that you'll stay tuned and enjoy. As always, I'm really eager to hear from you with feedback and ideas of what you want to see here. Remember that you can read posts via RSS or via email and that you can also subscribe to the Afri-love mailing list for updates regarding the blog and the wider world of Afri-love (e.g. the plans I've hinted at). You'll only get occasional emails (2-4 each month) and of course, your details will never be passed on to anyone else.

One last (exciting) thing
I've started writing for Technorati! Check out my first post on making room for a more creative life.

The best of 2011: Afri-love commentary

Commentary highlights from the year spanning identity, culture, design, technology, entrepreneurship, natural hair and more …

Rise of the Afropolitan

The V&A Afropolitans Friday Late event earlier this year was a major event. The "world's greatest museum of art and design" dedicated an evening to contemporary African and African Diaspora design and culture. Over 5,000 people attended proving that there are a lot of people who either identify with the term or are at least intrigued by it. Record label exec – Yemi Alade-Lawal, journalist, poet and writer – Tolu Ogunlesi, author – Hannah Pool, blogger – Minna Salami and I participated in a great panel discussion that went by way too quickly. Some great questions arose and I took the opportunity to expand on some of my thoughts on the blog: "Is there any use for the term 'Afropolitan'".

Photo by Barbara Muriungi. View more photos from the V&A event on African Digital Art.

Design counts
As a professional designer … from and raised in Kenya … I find myself often trying to explain the value of what I do to people back home. And to people here in the UK. Earlier this year, I attended a design conference in Manchester and observed that I was the only black person in a room of hundreds and probably the only African too. It seems safe to infer that there are some cultural factors behind this striking invisibility, in the UK, and disregard for a major profession, in Kenya. This inspired "5 reasons why design matters: an argument for African parents, businesses and other skeptics".

Another perspective

My Asilia business partner and founder of Afriapps, Andrew Mugoya, wrote some insightful, thought-provoking and controversial posts for Afri-love this year. It started with "5 reasons why Ghana will be the next African app powerhouse." Check out Andrew's other posts including observations of what we can learn from the success of Nollywood and an interrogation of our continent's culture of dependency. Andrew also shared his passion and inspiration as part of the Afri-love interview series.

The natural hair saga

I said goodbye to the "creamy crack" in 2001 and in the 10 years since I have learned a lot about how to care for my hair. Keeping locs and and other natural styles may seem high maintenance to some but, from a different point of view, it's actually quite liberating. I've been sharing my natural hair journey on the blog since I chopped off my 5-year old locs last August. Some recent posts include:

• A test of strength and patience: the cycles of managing natural afro hair
• Natural hair journey: 10 months after the big chop
• Afri-love on Etsy: natural hair edition 

See Afri-love's Facebook page for pictures from throughout the 10 year journey.

Older and wiser?

One thing I've truly embraced and am loving this year is … growing older. I turned 29 in August and contemplated giving myself a "30 before 30" challenge but, I found it more compelling (and realistic) to reflect instead:  "29 lessons from 29 years". One of my favourites:

"You already know what you need to do."

What lessons are you taking with you into the new year?

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Best of 2011 posts from earlier this week:

• African and Africa-inspired fashion, interior and furniture design
• Interviews

Tune in tomorrow for:

•  Top music finds of 2011

Get almost-daily Afri-love direct via RSS or straight to your email inbox. Want less? Subscribe for juicy extra content (2-4 emails per month). You can also connect via Facebook and Twitter.

Screening Perception – Limiting Expectations for African cinema

There are certain things to be expected from African cinema. You will see exploitation by foreign forces, and poverty as a result, and you will see people afflicted by HIV/AIDS. It is Africa afterall. 

This is the impression a martian may have sitting in on a Q&A that I experienced during a film I saw that was part of the ongoing Film Africa festival.

More than 50 films shown across several London arthouse cinemas, many of them critically acclaimed, the festival aims to project a different view of the continent. One where Africans themselves determine how they will be represented. In such a liberal context, I was somewhat surprised to encounter such closed-minded views as the ones mentioned above.

This is not where I wanted to be: a reminder to stop running and be true

I came across a video clip of Oprah sharing why she admires Lady Gaga and to sum it up – watching someone who is unabashedly being who they are inspires you to also be your true self.

And that's why I am so grateful to all the fabulous folks who have shared their stories, passion and inspiration in the Afri-love interview series. Reading about how others have followed their dreams, overcome barriers and put themselves first – above other people's expectations of them – reminds me of the value in following my own dreams.

It is way TOO easy to veer off the course of doing what's in your heart. It is way too easy to find yourself being carried away by the needs of other people (and convincing yourself that they are now your needs too). Even if you know where you're going, you might not end up where you're headed. Knowing is a crucial first step but what I'm learning is that constantly reminding yourself is just as important!

Blog-love: That African Girl

If you haven't already, check out Makafui's blog about learning to live between two worlds (something I'm sure several people can relate to, in one way or another!), That African Girl.

She has a great series called "Behind the words", where she interviews bloggers. I'm very honoured to be the latest subject in the series – check out the post out here. Thanks Makafui!

Saluting the efforts to showcase another side to Africa

The following is a guest post from Andrew Mugoya of Asilia and Afriapps.

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Recent events in the UK (riots, looting, etc) have inevitably brought back the black vs white debate with some pundits implying that the disturbances were due to racial tensions. The fact that a significant number of the looters were white is being explained by some as 'The whites have become black" with the implication being that white people who act bad are merely under the influence of black culture and black people acting well are imitating white culture.

It is at times like these that we should be grateful for the many efforts to highlight and celebrate the numerous positives of African and black culture. And it is with this in mind that I salute Afri-love and the many other blogs like it. May your work continue to shine a light to a side of Africa that rarely gets the attention it deserves. 

Thank you Lulu. 

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Thanks Andrew! I would like to salute the following blogs and sites that are helping to stretch narrow perceptions when it comes to African and black culture:

Another Africa
Africa is a Country 
African Digital Art 
AfriPOP!
Afroklectic
Afrolicious
Annansi Chronicles
Dunia ni Duara
I am the Nu Black
Kate Bomz
MsAfropolitan
MyWeku
Out and About Africa
Pop'Africana
That African Girl
Timbuktu Chronicles

What other great sites do you know of?

29 lessons from 29 years

Today, I turned 21 29. I considered creating a "30 before 30" list but I fear that creating realistic goals achievable in one year would make for very boring reading! Instead, I thought I'd share 29 important things I've learned in my days. In no particular order …

1. If you surrender to your passion, it will pay – ask any of the people who I've interviewed!
2. You can live on a lot less money than you think you can
3. You already know what you need to do
4. There are many ways to get to Mombasa
5. Not making enough time for yourself is the quickest route to misery
6. Sanity is overrated
7. Talent is overrated
8. Without space, creation cannot take place
9. Compromise does not work when it comes to values
10. Being healthy (of mind, body and soul) has to be the utmost priority
11. Running is not for everyone
12. Saving at least 10% of your earnings is an excellent policy (thanks Dad)
13. Debt is a dark hole to be avoided at all costs. Steer clear. If you get a credit card, you will use it! 
14. Your complaints have roots in dissatisfaction with yourself
15. Family is home
16. Be selfish
17. Wrong and right are inadequate as universal judgements (ultimately, there's just what you do and what you don't do)
18. Every thief has 40 days
19. Bure yaumiza (Swahili saying that literally means "free things hurt" – interpret as you will)
20. Gratitude is powerful beyond measure (just ask Epic Change)
21. Writing reveals many answers and solutions
22. Do what you feel. Go with the flow. Tune in to the universe
23. Your mind has immense power over your reality
24. Don't let others make you feel bad about who you are
25. Guard your joy (unfortunately, there will be envious people who will try to take it from you)
26. Assert your standards if you want them met
27. Interrogate what is expected of you
28. Complacency is deadly
29. When the worst happens, it's never as bad as you'd imagined it would be
30. "There's a time for departure, even when there's no certain place to go" – Tennessee Williams

I know, I know – you didn't sign up for 30. I have problems sticking to the rules sometimes!

What are the most important lessons you've learned in your years?

There are many ways to get to Mombasa and so many stories to tell

Alternative stories – this has been a recurring theme for me in the past few days. After posting an interview with Ann, aka Afrolicious, whose passion lies ultimately in teaching people to listen and to be heard, I wanted to get some thoughts out in keeping with the spirit of this.

I've been ingesting Western culture all my life, despite growing up in Kenya, and starting this blog is just one reaction to that. One attempt to explore a different story. Being that I share my personal observations, experiences and thoughts – the exploration actually explores several different stories, informed by all aspects of my identity: 
Kenyan
Tanzanian
African
Female
Artist
Designer
Writer
Immigrant
Diasporan
Business owner
Blogger
Natural hair wearer
Perfectionist
Optimist
Idealist … and so on.

These aspects are the lenses through which I see things and react to them. For every different combination you create from those terms, you get a different tale. We human beings are complex and multidimensional. So why does the myth of "normal" exist?

The mainstream is a lie
The other afternoon I met with a leader from Manchester City Council's Culture Team. She'd read something I wrote that struck a chord with her work to engage more people from diverse backgrounds in the creative industries. Indeed, the communications design industry in the UK, to be specific, appears to be dominated by males from white, middle-class backgrounds. An industry that is responsible for shaping our everyday visual landscapes and experiences is informed by such a narrow demographic. It's no wonder that, when it comes to aspiration, it would appear that one size fits all!

Yet, ask any 6 year old what they want to be when they grow up and you get a totally different view …

Stories we tell our selves
For the past few years, I've been routinely doing an exercise that I find very liberating. Writing down the story of my ideal typical day. What happens, where I am, who I'm with, what I'm doing. It is an account of what I presently feel my ideal typical day would consist of. It's not the life I want to lead 5 years from now, 10 years from now, when I'm rich etc. That is, the assumption is there are no barriers, whether they be material or in terms of time. As if by magic, each time I sit down to rewrite my ideal day, I realise just how much closer I am to experiencing what I'd written before. It's as if I have written how my story will unfold. I'm a big believer of the power of agency. I believe that unless we ask (metaphorically and otherwise) for what we want, how will it know we're looking for it? We have to create our realities for ourselves rather than accept other people's, usually shoddy, constructions for us.

But how do we convince young people that all this is within their power? Especially when all evidence would imply otherwise? How do you bring up from deep inside them that 6 year old invincibility? How do you expose the world of possibilities? How do you make available examples and role models? How do you prove the power of pursuing your passion? How do you become an example and role model yourself?*

There are many ways to get to Mombasa
Just as there is no absolute when it comes to identity, neither is there an absolute with aspiration. Yet we convince ourselves daily that some dreams are not viable. The sinister part of it is that we also tell each other this very thing – crab-style! 

Perhaps we should be asking kids what they want to do instead. In this context, "be" inspires labels and often these are too restrictive. Now that I have a few decades of life experience under my belt, I know that if what I want to do is heal people, there are many ways to do that. I can be a doctor and achieve that but, I can also be a nutritionist, a yoga teacher, an art therapist, a writer, an inspirational speaker, a teacher and so much more! 

Perhaps we should be asking each other what stories we want to tell.

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* An excellent read on Racialicious about power imbalances in pop culture – when images (stories) are not controlled by the people represented in them
**A great article from Zen Habits on igniting your passion. I think that the author's message about the importance of the company you keep is such a crucial one!

The title of this post refers to one of the best lessons my primary/elementary school Maths teacher taught me: there are many ways to get to Mombasa (we were in Nairobi). You can take a train or a plane, you could drive or, if truly inspired, you could even walk. You could go via Voi or extend your journey and take a longer indirect route, say via Kisumu! Her point was that there are several approaches you can follow to successfully solve a problem. 

Illustration by Lulu Kitololo

Movements and bodies, in the spirit of living unchained

Everyone appears to want to live unchained. Whether they say they want to be rich, successful, famous, or the most seemingly  elusive of them all - free. Many consider
these things as fairly unattainable yet useful for target practice and anecdote. They are things that are relegated to someday if I'm lucky or eventually when...

When what? 

There is another story. One where we cast our eyes back to the present and realise that we are achieving wealth, success, acknowledgement and joy right now. The £20
note you find in the pocket of jeans you haven't worn for ages. The completion of that challenging and exciting project you've been working on. A thank you from
somebody who enjoyed the article we wrote or the point we made. Doing that thing we love that makes us feel on top of the world.

As simple as dancing. Existing within my body as an experience of creating and being art.

And the point of my long-winded reflection: I'm so happy to be collaborating with all the amazing women over at Live Unchained. Check out my guest post this week:
"Through my body, I live unchained."