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| Reflecting on how far I have come (in my apartment, Lancaster PA -June 2023) |
Hey beautiful souls,
Today I will be sharing the amazing work I did for more than ten years in my home country of Kenya, and across Africa, before moving to the U.S for school.
If you are new to the blog, I would like to ask you to read the previous post (A Few Things About Me) to learn a little bit about me and my blogging style.
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| Throwback to 2009 when I started curating and hosting my own poetry night - Shout out to Discovery Coffee shop for providing the space(shameless plug spot my name and poetry at discovery under Kenya) |
My journey begins with writing and doing spoken word poetry.
I cannot remember when I started piling up notebooks but I know that by my teens, journaling and poetry were the key ways I expressed myself. So when I got a dual diagnosis of epilepsy and bipolar, writing was what kept me going.
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| 3 years later, was still going strong...had moved locations from CBD to Ngong Rd, and had a lot of partners |
I started performing my pieces in what was the only regular open mic gig in Nairobi before setting up and hosting my own monthly gigs in Nairobi and later in Nakuru - I wanted to create an intimate artist centered space away from the 'sometimes rowdy bar scene'.
My open mic nights became a staple for both local and international poets - and nurtured a couple of poets who became 'hot shots' in the Kenyan spoken word scene.
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| When my writing and advocacy merged (August 2010) |
In addition to the open mic nights, I shared my work on a now archived blog. That blog and the gigs set the foundation for my work as a global mental health advocate.
Advocacy took over my life and I consolidated my blog into a mental health social enterprise that provided mental health information and support to people in Africa. My spoken word morphed from poetry nights to speaking engagements and I travelled the world to chime into global mental health conversations.
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| After working from my living room for sometime, I repurposed a hair salon into our first office space (circa early 2014, Ngong, Kenya) |
Memorable advocacy moments over the decade:
- thank you notes from everyone whose lives improved thanks to the services my blog and social enterprise provided…and, of course, all the local, continental and international awards and recognitions,
- doing a TED talk, telling a MOTH Story, and speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, and Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado,
- sitting on the National Committee that developed the Kenya Mental Health Policy (2015-2030), contributing to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission's audit of the mental health system in Kenya (read report), and serving as an assistant secretary at the National Epilepsy Coordination Committee - Kenya,
- being part of Beijing+20 at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, doing logistics for #JusticeforLiz March (you can hear me doing 'crowd control' in the background and spot me chewing gum like there is no tomorrow).
At BET Awards Red Carpet - Los Angeles, June 2022
In case you are curious about the advocacy and social innovation work I did - I spent my days running a mental health social enterprise, managing an amazing team of staff and volunteers, and creating some pretty cool projects.
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| Marking Purple Day 2014 and doing a team appreciation lunch…Forever grateful to this crew for believing in my dreams and helping execute my wild plans (Karen, Kenya) |
My top three over the decade:
- setting up my country’s first mental health support line which supported over 11,000 people in its first year,
- doing a mental health storytelling tour dubbed Akili ni Mali (Swahili for Mind is Wealth) that visited 6 counties in Kenya and 6 states in Nigeria,
- prototyping a Mental Health Academy that ended up working with 30 mental health champions from 8 African countries (read prototype highlights).
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| Excuse this 'Dug from the Archives' blurry pic: Was at a local Health Centre with Nairobi's first Women Representative, Hon. Rachel Shebesh, during an awareness drive for my support line |
After a little over a decade of awareness creation, social innovation, lobbying, constantly traveling for global mental health engagements and working with (the next generation of) mental health champions, I felt the need to slow down...so I took a Sabbatical that led to me going back to school.
I dropped out of Actuarial School in 2005 due to ill health, and getting back after 15 years was an answered prayer. In hindsight, I am grateful that the initial ‘derailment’ in my academic journey, led to unimaginable and impactful adventures that touched thousands of people living with mental health conditions, and their families. I am also grateful that my prayers were answered and I get another chance to try this school thing again. I look forward to blogging about the adventures (and potential derailments) God has in store for me.
Until the next post,
Sending love and light,
Sitawa
