I was tagged by Miss Sci and I tag the immortal R and Kelly from Pink Memoirs

Now typically, when someone is asked this question, the response is a poetic delight. Some might talk about Africa’s beautiful geography. Others the strength and the dark past of the continent. Others even of hope and the wonderful future that Africa has.

My reason is not as glamarous. Nor popular. Nor poetic. I started blogging about Africa because one day I looked in the mirror and realized that of all the socioeconomic, spiritual, physical, wordly or “insert way of categorizing people here” groups I belonged to, the one which was weakest was the African side.

When I walk down the street, an African face is a sign of:

* Poverty

* A race that was bullied, soiled, raped, beaten, exploited by much stronger, much smarter races.

* A sociological construct created for those in power to maintain power.

* A people who are ashamed of their features, their hair, their history, their idiosyncracies and trying desperately to fit in with the group that got them in this mess in the first place.

Now the list of things that are wrong with African people is endless. The theories are endless: we are the cursed sons of Noah meant to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. We are simply cursed for the sins of our ancestors and so on and so on.

I didn’t want to be a part of that conversation anymore. I didn’t want to get locked in the bar-room discussions that always start with a sigh and end with 3 hours of (I made this term up) intellectual incestuos masturbation where you stroke each others ego by pompously pontificating on Africa’s ills as though in between your ears rests the Holy Grail.

I wanted to be a part of the solution. All my heart and soul knew was it wanted to be a part of the solution. And so, just a little under a year ago, I put the pen to the paper and started writing.

Now do I think I am part of the solution…..not really. Sure, I have put out some positive stuff and I have helped people think about things better, but I am far from content. I want to be the seed of the next great revolutionary or the catalyst for a great social movement and know I am far from that.

As with many posts in my blogging career, I have not spell checked or edited this one. Sci, consider this a promise fulfilled.

With love,

Mwangi

Hey folks,

First of all welcome to all the new readers. I have been tickled pink by the fact that even though my writing frequency has reduced a little bit, the blog’s readership and subscribers have kept on increasing and so thanks to all of you and welcome to the new readers.

Following on from my last post about confusion and my podcast with Julia Sanna where I tried to put an african immigrant relationship manifesto together, today I thought I would go one step further and, with your help, try to carve out an African Immigrant Manifesto.

“Why What Is That My Good Man?” I hear you say

In a nutshell, its the answer to the question,

What are the characteristics of an ideal African immigrant?

After all, a man who aims for nothing is sure to get there. So what should we be aiming for? What should the end result be when you take all that Africa has created and leave it in the middle of the concrete jungles of the West?

And below I’ll list 9 characteristics (with a bonus) that I personally think are quintessential:

They Are……..

1) Goes beyond the limitations of his African community.

2) Expands the borders (whether psychologically, socially, financially etc etc) of that very same African community.

3) Takes advantage of the vast knowledge this land has to offer.

4) Materially secure and/or abundant (this one doesn’t tend to be too big of a problem for us)

5) Hard working (this one either)

6) Punctual when it counts (this one we do have a problem with)

7) Responsible parents (bringing children into secure, safe environments where they can grow up)
Able to adapt

9) Takes care of the body regardless of the plethora of temptation to do otherwise out here in the West.

What Should I Add to the List?

I have gone beyond my site and gone on the forum site, Mashada and asked the same question and you can find that thread here:

http://www.mashada.com/forums/opinions-advice/91763-what-would-perfect-african-immigrant-look-like.html

So either head on over to Mashada or leave a comment below, it can even be a one word response, and let me know (leave your first comment, you know you want to) what should an ideal African immigrant look like:

PS: As soon as I read the headline, I got a feeling that some of you want to leave the answer, “Obama”. I guess that’s alright, but if you do, state why………

No joke! You want the formula, here it is:

A Happy Life is:

Pleasant emotions (Think about that great feeling you have after great food, an awesome movies, theme parks and sex)

+

A life filled with moments of flow ( When you engage fully in what you are good at. Time and space stand still as you are one with what you are putting out into the world. Check out this interview where its briefly discussed)

+

A meaningful life (taking your unique gifts and applying them towards the achievement of something greater than yourself

A Very Important Idea to Remember

I have a running hypothesis in my head that as human beings we are naturally wired to hold on to, experience and be guided by what makes us feel pain as opposed to what makes us feel pleasure.

What I mean by this is that, we appear to more naturally remember, want to converse about, and have our actions guided by the one time an employee screwed us over as opposed to the Saturday we went out and watched a great movie.

I have a Discovery Channel derived idea on why that is but that isn’t the point of today’s discussion.

Here’s The Thing

The skills that are neccesary to eliminate negativity and negative emotions ARE NOT the same skills that make us happy.

Let me say that one more time:

The skills that we use to make us stop feeling like crap ARE NOT the same ones that will make us feel happy to be alive.

So, if you are buying into the belief that:

I will be happy when I get rid of this person/this job/retire/this weight etc etc etc you might be right, but chances are, science and literature have repeatedly shown, you are probably holding on to a fool’s gold.

Ladies and Gentlemen

In case you did not watch the video please set aside just a little bit of time today and learn how to be happy for the rest of your life:

Have a day just brimming with positive emotions where you love what you do so much that the time-space continuum does not exist and you truly are bigger than your body,

Mwangi

Who knew that cartoons could be so deep? Tell me this cartoon doesn’t get you thinking and wanting to discuss propaganda?!

The Podcast

Things Discussed

1) How did Benin and Joshua get people to write for African Path (Amazing!)

2) What was the vision behind AfricanPath.com

3) Did the initial writers get paid?

4) How to get advertisers to committ to you and your site?

5) Pamoja Media and the Vertical Advertising Network Business Model

6) The Long Tail Theory of the Internet

7) How did they get people to advertise on African Path
Was it easy to get publishers for Pamoja Media? Was it easy to get advertisers?

9) What you must understand if you are to deal with African publishers i.e. the large African newspapers and magazines?

10) How difficult it was to integrate African publishers to the Pamoja Media advertising model

11) What has separated the African online ventures that have succeeded from those that haven’t?

12) We had yet another feel good session

13) The unique strengths that Benin Mwangi Brown has brought to African Path that have helped it succeed

14) What unique strengths do African people have that they can bring to the West?

Websites and Ideas Mentioned

1)  The Long Tail

ii) Long Tail 2

2) Pamoja Media

3) African Path

4) Open X (Even I use it)

5) CPM

6) CPC

The Podcast

Things Discussed

1) Brief feel good session before call: Just because I’m corny like that

2) Who he is and what he does?

3) Why does he have the unique mix of the names “Benin”, “Mwangi” and then the surname “Brown”?

4) The relationships between Africans and African Americans: I finally hear the African American side of the story

5) His transition from an Engineering student to Entrepreneur

6) His time in real estate

7) What drew him to entrepreneurship?
The effects of his first trip to Africa: How was Ghana? How did he get there?

9) The journey from his Ghana trip to founding AfricanPath.com

Websites Mentioned:

1) African Path

2) Pamoja Media

3) Entrepreneur Magazine

4) Inc Magazine

Let me apologize for constantly interjecting with”Yup!”, “Yes!” and “Mh mh” all the time. The mindset I went into this audio with was that it was a discussion as opposed to an interview and so that’s why I kept making those interjections.

That aside, I think this interview is extremely valuable.

Repetition of Truth

It is amazing how whenever one pauses to ask questions like:

What holds people back abroad?

You get the same answers again and again and again and again. One of them is:

When people immigrate abroad, they forget that they are not just competing with their peers or learning from their countrymen but competing and learning from people from all over the world.

So listen to this audio and you may pick up something new, but at the very least, you get reminded of the fundamentals.

Some Other Quick Things

This audio is long but I will release it and leave a gap between this and the next post, so listen to the first part today then pick up where you left of tomorrow or when you can.

PS: I am aware of the problem some folks have listening to these audio, and videos, in places where high speed Internet is as real as a Unicorn/Centaur Tupperware party.

I am fully aware of that and am working on it: A solution shall be found.

Audio File

Things Discussed

1) Brief introduction of Coach Caroline

2) We break down the 4 stages of culture shock

3) We discuss our own personal experiences with culture shock (she went straight to the “shock”)

4) Coach Caroline discusses her initial peer group

5) She also tells her story as an immigrant

6) Patterns she has noticed in behavior of Africans in the States

7) “The herd mentality”

8 ) Transitioning and learning when immigrating

9) Losing your identity abroad and the blessing therein.

10) Racism in the United States

11) Cultural differences

12) The importance of having a vision and the challenges of having a vision as an immigrant

13) The power of the Internet and telecommunication

14) Getting caught up in fancy titles and ideas instead of falling in love with the process and goals.

15) Stories on taking action

16) Ideas for getting out of inertia. Echoes the same ideas I got from Kirk Nugent and for more ideas on how to put this into action check out this article from Steve Pavlina.

17) Caroline’s most important piece of advice for people who are just about to leave home and immigrate abroad.

17) Dreaming big

18) What you can tolerate you won’t change

19) Much much more…………….

This Article Was Inspired by the Fresh Prince of Belair

Far from an esoteric or secret idea, I think it’s pretty commonly accepted that the most powerful force on planet Earth, I am not including heaven or celestial or divine powers in this, is:

The human will directed towards a clear mission. In another way: someone making a decision to bring something to life and focussing and working on it minute after minute, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Being a Product of the Church

I do believe we were created in the image of our creator and one of the connotations of that statement is that:

We were created to create things. We are meant to bring something out of nothing just as the creator did with us.

Let’s Make this Tangible and Practical

Now, let’s take this powerful force and look at how its been applied and its results:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hEoc7Cr-is

Need I say more………..

Have  a great sunday and  make some powerful choices this week,

Mwangi

I am back with the final edition on the series. First of all, a quick refresher on what we have discussed so far:

1) One Thing We MUST Begin Doing NOW As African Immigrants

2) What Every African Immigrant Ought to Know About Recording and Sharing Success

3) In What Areas Do We as African Immigrants Need to Record and Share Our Successes

To be honest I am quite surprised I have this much to say on this topic, but I think if we honestly embrace these ideas and implement them we can have GINORMOUS impact on the African immigrant community.

Today I will give two very quick ideas on how we can distribute this information in the best way.

What I Recommend as the Format of Delivery?

Stories

We go into trances when we hear great stories. Using stories, especially personal stories is a great way to transmit messages, morals and tips that can be used to uplift someone.

So if you have a story of overcoming triumpth, put people into a trance with it and share with them your principles of success. Here think autobiographies and those newspaper profiles on great men.

Can your imagination craft a magnificent tale? Link it to some principle or positive idea and use the story as a metaphor for what people could do ala Who ate my Cheese and the parables by the carpenter from Nazareth.

How Tos

I think everyone is pretty clear on what a how to is (if not, please leave a comment below and we can discuss it) and so I will give some quick ideas on how to craft a great how to.

Some Quick Ideas

Here many will disagree with me (and I really don’t do this enough), but I think whenever we are crafting our communications with people, a lot of the time we should exist under the assumption that we are crafting a message for arrogant, spoiled idiots who don’t like us and won’t want to hear what we have to say.

The reason we would do that is so that we are forced to overcompensate by:

1) Making messages attractive: Looking at the process of getting your message across more like an exercise in marketing as opposed to thinking that people should listen to the idea because, “it’s the right thing to do.”

They won’t, get over that and work within that reality. People will listen to the idea that is most in their interests, especially in the short term and that which is crafted in the most seductive manner. Leave your moral indignation at the door……

2) Simplifying our ideas: More than just satirical, I really meant it when I said African people LOOOOVE big words. We love being esoteric and sounding intelligent, myself included. If we use the assumption above, then we are forced to simplift things so they are universally understandable, acceptable and most importantly, applicable.

3) Step by step by step: People don’t like to be overloaded by information that is thrown at them out of context. We tend to freeze over or glaze over or just straight up ignore it.

Instead, put the information into a simple, attractive form where people are guided along and told what to do step by step by step, one step at a time.

Do this and you have the perfect: how to. Examples would be:

a) How to get a job when you are a new arrival in a country.

b) How to renew your visa.

c) How to choose great, loyal, trustworthy friends.

d) How to set up a computer and how to use a computer.

To Finish Off, Do Me a Favour……..

As soon as you finish reading this series please do the following:

1) Sit down if you haven’t already

2) Write down all the little successes you have had along the way – getting a job, getting good friends, getting accommodation,  learning how to feel comfortable around foreigners.

3) Choose a topic area that you enjoy talking about and will be valuable to other Africans.

4) Choose a method to distribute the information.

5) Think about how to simplify the message and make it attractive and compelling.

6) Share it with other African immigrants who may not be ‘up to your level’ and help bring them up.

If enough of us do just those six things, the African race will look very very very different come New Years 2009. Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts, ideas or questions about this topic.

Godspeed,

Mwangi

Well sorta!

Last Sunday morning, I did my first regular show on SARFM radio in New York.

This show will be regular and every third Saturday of every month, me and “Pammy” will get on the show to discuss diasporian issues.

For those who want to know when to tune in, the time will be:

Third Sunday of every month at 5 a.m. (Melbourne time which GMT +10h). For those who need help converting time zones please use Time and Date’s Time Zone Converter

Before I Get into What We Covered on the Show

THE DISPLACED AFRICAN IS 200 POSTS OLD!

This is my 200th post and I may or may not do a post on this in the future. But anyway I just wanted to celebrate this milestone with y’all. Thanks to all the folks who continue to subcribe to the blog and welcome to all the new subscribers.

Thank you also to all the folks who have subscribed to the Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter. If you haven’t please do and if you are a subscriber to the newsletter: FEEDBACK! I want it to be as relevant and actionable as possible so please send me feedback.

You can join the newsletter by putting your first name and email address into the boxes below and clicking on: “Free Instant Access”

My Show with Pamela Stitch from SARFM Radio

To check out my African Loft page where I will be uploading this interview, please visit: Masmilele African Loft Page.

I will also upload this interview to the Displaced African media and press releases page.

Highlights from the Show

1) I spoke about why I wrote the article, the Empty Symbol that is Barrack Obama and go into more depth about that article.

2) We talked about why we as African people don’t record and share our successes as much as we could.

3) What is the tall poppy syndrome?

4) Are we as African people humble with our success?

5) Should we as African folks share success with each other or be humble with our successes while we are abroad?

6) I give a small example of the power of sharing successes with each other.

7) “I’ll do me and you just do you” vs “I am because we are”
Tips for recording and sharing your successes with others.

9) Tips for someone who has just arrived in the diaspora on how they can immediately get a job.

10) How to get a job when you finish college and you want a nice, solid career job instead of a minimum age job.

11) Would I recommend that people go into the welfare system?

Overall, I think it was a good show. I SPOKE SLOWER! And I also feel I gave a lot more useful information than in my previous interviews.

I still have a lot of growing to do in this area but let me send a lot of thanks and love to Pammy of SARFM, the folks at African Loft and everyone who has featured me in their media and will do so in future. As it would be said in Kiswahili:

Asanteni sana,

Mwangi