DoweMusic & Arts: This Is Africa

This Is Africa

The writer at KUCC
Photo: Chris Bosire

A section of the participants after Design Thinking class

All is well that ends well. Week two was rather a tedious week at the Yali RLC East Africa especially for folks like me who had to tackle the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People for the whole of Saturday. Well of course, friends from the SDA either missed part or whole because of the calling to the almighty. I know this introduction sets a somewhat tiresome mood to discourage my reader from following but then, please, read on.

My week started on a high note if you may recall the Mimi naWewe tune that I had composed in the previous post. As it is whenever a track turns out to be inspiring, we want to make sure that all our friends get the message. For sure, I’m grateful to the Cohort 28 team and all others without the center for the support through compliments, watching, liking and subscribing to our YouTube Channel. You all made my otherwise packed week very smooth and educative. Much gratitude, and I should note in amazement for the facilitators Mrs. Sandra Owiti, Humphrey Anjoga and Rose Karimi for using the song as either a teaching aid or icebreakers during the sessions.

The three lessons for the week were:

Design Thinking,

In this, the overriding question was: What Problem are you solving, who are you solving for? I must admit that this is a question that has caused sleepless nights in my stay here as I reflect on why Dowe Music & Arts exists. Basically, the course challenged me to design solutions (whether education or entertainment) with the end user in mind rather than my own experiences. Nasreen Dhanji and Daniel Fang, who were the facilitators did us justice by throwing us into the deep end of more practical and less talk. Nasreen said, “Ideas are cheap, anyone can come up with them, it is what you do with them that matters.” We couldn’t agree more, of course after the last day of our understanding.

This is Africa

Day three came with unmatched enthusiasm and joy unspeakable. Never have I seen a lady so passionate about Africa’s transformation like the facilitator of THIS IS AFRICA, MRS Sandra Owiti. Her demeanor goes before her to arrest your conscience and you can do nothing but listen to her and flow in the conversations she guides. The simple rule of “Don’t be defensive…” preceded our discussion on the stereotypes we have held about various African countries. Honestly, how we laughed about the weird things we hear about other countries without fear of judgement and/or myopic insecurities was just admirable.

I can only wish that such can be the same case when people from different tribes of Kenya talk with an end goal of revolution and the fight against negative ethnicity. By the end of day two, we all had agreed that the statement ‘This is Africa’ is not a negative one as to connotate corruption, backwardness, wars and colonialism but vibrance of culture, hope, innovation, education, peace and the reverence of the almighty.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Few weeks before reporting to the center I had a glimpse into the book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People.’ Habit #5 (Seek First to Understand Then to Be Understood) stuck in my mind and was a great motivator for me to attend the program. I think, this book reshapes the mind. I just can’t quite grasp how Franklin Covey penned this down. Methinks it’s with the help of a higher hand- The Almighty. To be honest, the content therein is too rich to be covered in two days. Participants can only be fare to their budding brains if they take time after the graduation to read and meditate through. Dear reader, I’d recommend this a million times for you to get the copy. Once again thank you Mr. Anjoga and Mrs. Karimi for taking us through.

29^th Saturday, 2018. Have you watched a movie in which zombies are trying to fight to get to areas where social amenities are available? Such are the kinds of faces I’d see especially from my group as we ‘groped’ to the Restaurant for supper. One would thing that our heads had been filled up with gallons of gasoline for which we were told to carry carefully. Here we were, required to prepare for a music performance at the Deliverance Church in Kahawa Sukari, Nairobi the following day. I finished supper in my normal time and went the usual hostel balcony with my violin and guitar. Twenty minutes into our agreed time no one showed up. I kept rehearsing the song Mighty to Save by Michael W. Smith.

However, after 10 minutes, we had a quorum of about 12 tired but enthusiastic beautiful and handsome youths rehearsing. After everyone got their part (not to professional standards though) I handed the guitar to a talented friend from Rwanda- Victor Pacifique.

The presentation, according to Godfrey (YaliParticipant) and Madam Esther (PhD Student at Kenyatta University from Nigeria) our corresponded, the presentation was wonderful. One would think we were members of the same church. Just to reiterate, the photos you see below are for youths from about 13 countries in East and Central Africa, diverse spiritual backgrounds and cultures. My question to you is this, ‘When is it worship to you? Is it when you have members of your church alone? Is it when everyone is a regular church goer? Is it when everyone knows how to fast? THIS IS AFRICA!