Good photography not only tells a story but prompts a series of questions about the subject — what happened to make that woman’s face so cragged, what happened to the child after the photographer turned away, how did that landscape become so ravaged, what’s going on inside the rooms of that building reflected on the shiny surface of that skyscraper?
Picturing the past: How Uganda changed one family’s fortune
Nearly all the families who belong to the Ugandan Asian Diaspora have either a collection of photographs or a series of tired-looking but carefully-preserved albums in which their past is visually documented. Photographs were one of the few things that were not confiscated by Idi Amin’s military as the Asian community reluctantly and with heavy hearts checked out through Entebbe Airport in October 1972.
Uganda Revisited: In search of lost memories
Immigration & moral imagination: The role of fiction in asserting the facts
What does it mean to be an immigrant? How does it feel to leave your family behind in a state of crisis while you flee to a foreign land? How do you reconcile your past with your new present when integrating with a different culture? With so much talk - and misunderstanding - about immigration in the public and political spheres, these are questions that sorely warrant closer investigation.
Inequality and people power: An unfinished story
6 reasons why writing is a skill everyone should cultivate
The question of what motivates and inspires writers has enduring appeal for anyone eager to pursue the creative life. It also reveals some fascinating insights from which anyone can benefit. We all have a story to tell, as individuals, organisations, communities, societies, businesses. And just like any story, if it’s interesting enough and told well, people will listen.
Who are we and does it even matter?
How many of us really think about the different components of our being — our identity as determined by our own actions and beliefs, and who we are as perceived by others? For most of us, it isn't until we face a struggle in life — for the right to justice, equality, political representation, even the basic struggle as experienced by all of us at one time or another to belong — that our identity starts to matter in dramatic ways.
To have or to be? That is the question
Surviving rape: Life as a refugee woman
“It was the toughest moment of my life. I was pregnant against my wishes as a result of rape, going to an unknown country, with no support. But I had to face reality.” Speaking from the coffee shack she runs in Nairobi, Jenet recalls the day she stood alone on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya, aged 17. It was just one critical moment on a traumatic journey that would see her subjected to multiple sexual assaults over the next four years.
The changing face of development
High up in the majestic rolling hills of Rwanda sit some 100 men and women discussing how they intend to tackle the challenges that have beset progress in this remote village where soil erosion, poor harvests, heavy rainfall, precarious roads and lack of electricity are the norm. From improving their crop yields, to a desire for social structure, the people of Siganiro are eager for change.
Books, glorious books
Geography is history: Going back to the start
Uganda, the peal of Africa and where the Ugandan Asian Diaspora story all began. But as I go back to the start, it isn't only the tales of oppression and brutality associated with Uganda of the 1970s that I think of, but the expectation of finding answers to some long-held questions about the country as it once was, and as it is now.
Us and them: The curse of celebrity activism
The core belief at the heart of humanitarianism is indisputably a noble one, faultless even; who could argue with the principle that we ought collectively to take responsibility for improving human welfare? And yet the realisation of that ideal is often muddied by the agendas of the neediest, self-proclaimed worthiest of humanitarian ambassadors — celebrities.
In praise of paper
For anyone who’s ever harboured a perverse, semi-intellectual fetish for stationery, there is no substitute for the crisp, clean greeting that is the opening page of a new notebook. It’s easy to romanticise the humble pen and paper in an age when digital communication is taking over the world. There’s no arguing with how computers have propelled productivity - the internet is flooded with an infinite tirade of verbiage. But is this necessarily a good thing?
The pleasure of a blue sky moment
The phrase “blue sky thinking” litters conversations these days, the supposition being that it will prompt radical new ideas to flutter through. But rather than sparking the imagination, the call for forced creativity can invoke dread. And rightly so; as Orwell pointed out, this kind of inane management speak is a deliberate distortion of reality.
Love, poetry, women and war
Based on the advice of writers from Stephen King to David Foster Wallace, Susan Sontag, Henry Miller, Zadie Smith and many more, when I cannot write my designated daily quota of 500 words on one subject, I turn to reading. I scour the net, my bookshelves and every local bookshop, in search of inspiration, thirsty for facts that might ultimately furnish each of my projects with added authenticity.
The lost art of letters
Dying to get here: Blog Action Day 2013
Nearly 1,000 people die every year in the Mediterranean Sea, which is fast becoming the graveyard of Europe. Why would anyone expose themselves to this continual cycle of trauma? Often they have no choice, it’s either face death in one country or risk it to another, in the hope that life is surely better elsewhere. Isn’t this something that we all have a right to hope for – a life unfettered by violence, harassment, poverty and daily hardship?
Past matters: Writing other people's history
Documenting the past comes with a frightening number of challenges that at times beg the question, why bother? With historical writing, the challenges are even more pronounced, particularly the lack of people and sources against which to check your facts. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either the greatest investigative adventure or a guaranteed route to sleepless nights as the unknown quantities swirl around your tormented mind.
The thinking woman's narrative
Women don’t make good researchers. Feminism needs re-branding. Education will only give girls a misplaced sense of power. These are just some of the judgements pedalled in recent debates about the gender gap. The common denominator seems to be the idea that women are neither capable nor worthy of changing the social landscape which, according to those harbouring such archaic views, they should simply accept as their lot. Thankfully, the many who disagree have something far more interesting to say.