Sitawa Ignited

My name is Sitawa and I am a blogger who got into online journaling (blogging) in the early 2000s (on now archived blog) to document my dual diagnosis of epilepsy and bipolar. This ushered me to the world of advocacy, and then social innovation where I set up and ran my country's first free mental health support line (which supported over 11,000 people in its first year).

After more than a decade of doing advocacy work, traveling to speak and leading various initiatives, I took a Sabbatical, and ended up restarting my academic journey thousands of miles away from home in my mid-thirties. 

Initially all I wanted was time out to rest and reconnect with myself, but the slower pace, unfamiliar space, new routines, which were all annoying at first, opened me up to finding out what I really wanted, not just at the time, but beyond the uncomfortable transition season. 

Overwhelmingly, I was reminded how I love teaching, reading and writing - and if I had to spend the rest of my life doing one thing, it would be teaching, reading and writing (in my books, these 3 are one thing). 

So my quest, as I approach my forties, is to get tenure (but not die trying).

On this blog (journal), I share that journey - which of course starts off with student life ups and downs, the mundane everyday life, my love for the arts, and of course everything mental health. 

I pray that my journal entries remind you that it is never too late to do that which you have always wanted to do/born to do.