The Displaced African

Interview with Pamoja Media & African Path Co-Founder: Benin Mwangi (Part 2)

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:06:48 +0000

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

Interview with Pamoja Media & African Path Co-Founder: Benin Mwangi (Part 1)

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:02:26 +0000

The Podcast

Part One of Interview with Benin Mwangi Brown in mp3 form

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

Interview with Political Activist, Speaker and Soulfege Band Member: Derrick Ashong (Part 2)

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:04:57 +0000

The Podcast

Things Covered

1) Some of the work that Derrick is doing in Accra

2) How did Soulfege get started?

3) Information about the evolution of the Soulfege band

4) Talks about their new album coming out July 15th 2008: Take Back the Mic

5) How the music industry has reacted to Soulfege in the age of gangsta rap?

6) Where you can get their new record?

7) How can you support Soulfege

Discussion about the famous Obama video

9) Why does Derrick Ashong support Barrack Obama?

10) Words of advice for someone who is about to immigrate to the States

Websites mentioned

1) www.facebook.com/soulfege

2) Pick up their record at the Itunes store: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/

3) The Obama video:

Interview with Political Activist, Speaker and Soulfege Band Member: Derrick Ashong (Part 1)

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:01:53 +0000

The Interview

Things Covered

1) Brief snapshot of the earlier years in Derrick Ashong’s life

2) The relationship between Africans and African Americans

3) Derrick’s relationship with African Americans and Caucasians in his final years of high school.

4) How Derrick ended up in Harvard

5) Derrick’s experience as a major in African American studies

6) Most important insight that Derrick learned about Africans and African Americans after years of study

7) How did he end up becoming a professional public speaker

Who does he speak to as a professional speaker? What does he speak about?

9) What intrinsic values does Africa have?

10) Great take on the tribal disparities in Africa

11) Why don’t more African youth participate in the development of Africa and its diaspora in a meaningful way?

12) Are we African immigrants doing enough?

Important Websites

1) Soulfege website: www.soulfege.com

2) Soulfege Facebook page: www.facebook.com/soulfege

3) Derrick Ashong’s famous Obama video:

Mwangi Interviews Rap Sensation, STL aka Stella Mwangi

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:00:24 +0000

STL’s Music

The Interview

Things covered in the interview:

1) Her first few years in Norway

2) How did she learn Kikuyu and Kiswahili though she went to Norway when she was 4 years old

3) Who IS Stella Mwangi (STL) ?

4) What were her high school years like?

5) How she got started with music at the age of 8 years old.

6) Her relationship with boys and girls in her high school years

7) How she got her stage name?

How she did at school?

9) Did she go to Uni straight after school? What did her parents think?

10) How did people relate to her post high school?

11) How she moved on to music fulltime?

12) First time she was ever on stage

13) Did she have any bad experiences as a singer?

14) How she got to open for international rap stars such as Paul Wall and Busta Rhymes.

15) How she became a star in her native country of Kenya?

16) How she created “Take it back” and met Michelle?

17) How did Kenyans react to her and her music?

18) How she got accepted by Kenyan radio stations?

19) How she won “Most Promising Artist” in the Kisima Awards?

20) The one live show she did in Kenya

21) How her full time music career works?

22) How do people treat her now?

23) Words of advice to anyone immigrating to Norway now

Websites mentioned

1) STL’s Myspace Page

2) Opinions on Melbourne from Children

The Displaced African’s Media and Press Appearances

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:00:57 +0000

Salutations. This page has been created with two purposes in mind:

1) To encourage media outlets to get in contact with the Displaced African

In a nutshell, if your media outlet is doing good work and you want to interview me or get in touch with me, I am available 24/7 as long as I receive prior notification of 24 hours or more.

So send me an email now at masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com or check out my contact page and let’s get talking.

2) To post up all the press that the Displaced African receives and all its media appearances:

I don’t want to have to stop churning out content in the intended order or interrupt the regularly scheduled programming of the blog every time I appear in the media.

And so I have created this page which I will update every time I make a media appearance that I can publicly share. Check on this place regularly as I intend on media and media appearances becoming a big part of the Displaced African blog.

Media and Press Appearances

Featured on the Homepage of the African Bulletin on September 2008

Thanks to Caroline Atieno, a writer from the African Bulletin and a comrade in arms for not only putting my press release on the homepage of the African Bulletin in September 2008 but also getting me a monthly spot on their newspaper. Asante sana!

Featured in the Pilot Episode of Real Talk (Interviewed 30th August 2008)

Susan Kariuki featured me in the first episode of her show Real Talk

Download audio file (RealTalkwithSusan.mp3)

Interviewed by Capital FM on July 9th 2008

A great 30 minute interview with Linda that was featured on Urban Nites on Capital FM. I recorded this myself by recording the live stream of Capital FM and then cutting it up in an amateur fashion: the content is still 100% intact and hearable:

My Interview with SARFM Radio in New York

As a result of my press release being featured on African Loft, I got a call from the lovely Pamela Stitch all the way in New York and we managed to record this fun interview where we cover aspects of my immigrant life, interracial relationships, Heidi Klum and Seal:

Download audio file (Mwangiwithpamsarfm.mp3)

This lead to my having:

A Regular Show on SARFM Radio

Every third Sunday at 5 a.m. (GMT+10h) as of 17th August 2008, I have my own segment, with Pamela Stich, on SARFM Radio where I would share insights and we will discuss diasporian issues:

17th August 2008 show:

Download audio file (Mwangi on SARFM Radio 17th August 2008.mp3)

My first ever appearance on Capital FM

Linda and the Urban Nites team talk about and send some love to the Displaced African. I talked about it in the article below:

Listen Now to the Displaced African’s Appearance on Capital FM in Kenya

My First Appearance as a Guest Columnist on Afrik, the English version.

Find the first article I submitted here:

Barrack Obama: A role model or simply an empty symbol

This article was adapted and based on my earlier article:

The Empty Symbol That is Barrack Obama

My Guest Post to One of the Largest Websites in Nigeria according to Alexa.com, Naija Ecash:

3 Blogging Secrets Learned from My First 5 Months of Blogging

My Appearance on the Website, Kenyan Jewels:

They featured the press release I sent them:

Kenyan Jewel: Tony Njanja (Australia)

My Press Release Featured on African Loft:

Displaced African Press Release

My media and podcast page on African Loft:

Masmilele Page on Africanloft

My press release was featured on the site African Path

The Displaced African Press Release

One of the writers of African Path, Benin Mwangi was gracious enough to say some kind things about Mwangi, the Displaced African and the Displaced African podcast.

My appearance on the Nairobi Star Newspaper:

It all started with the interview below:

Nairobi Star’s Grace Kerogo Interviews Mwangi

And ended with this article (please ensure that you have Adobe Reader to read the article), where unfortunately the name of my site was mispelled. First media appearance for me and so I was thankful and didn’t really care.

Nairobi Star Article featuring the Displaced African

The Weird Way In Which I Ended Up Mentioned on the East African Standard

Follow the trail beginning here:

M Does Not Stand for Mwangi: Mwangi Stands for Mwangi » The Displaced African

My First Guest Post on Kenya Imagine

It all started when I got contacted by Kenya Imagine:

A Cause for Celebration: Have a Great Day!

And Julia from Kenya Imagine asked me to bring my debate to Kenyan Imagine:

Why Stereotypes Can Be Good and What we are Taught about Formalized Education Sucks?

And I have since had quite an interesting, controversy, debate filled time over there:

The Case For a Formal Education

Stereotypes and Formalized Education: Good Thing or Bad Thing

So, Do African Men Only End Up with Obese Western Women?

My Feature on Kabissa

The website Kabissa featured a link to my post where I described RSS and talked about the benefits of using it.

My Interview with Yaro Starak

Here,Yaro Starak, who has more than 30,000 readers of his own on the blog Entrepreneur’s Journey, interviews me regarding my participation in his Blog Mastermind program.

As a result of this interview I got featured on my first ever sales page, the Blog Mastermind sales page

To stay a part of the Displaced African (tDA) community as it continues to grow, subscribe to the site via RSS or email.

Professional Images of the blog’s head writer,Mwangi

Download audio file (Mwangiwithpamsarfm.mp3)

Why Do Our Accents Change When We Immigrate Abroad?

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:04:24 +0000

Today let’s talk about a little something that we all see or do when we go abroad.

The Change of Accent

This “art form” goes by many different names:

a) Wenging or wanging

b) Butchering/murdering the English language

c) Pretending/ Being fake

d) Becoming “bougei like that”

But why does is it that the way in which we pronounce words all of a sudden changes when we move to a foreign nation?

Mwangi’s Theory

The reasons I think it happens, which have probably been discussed heavily in private conversation, are:

1) Marketing

2) Inferiority complex.

Inferiority Complex

Very few Africans are in doubt that many of us do have inferiority complexes when it comes to white people and Westerners.

Sure, it varies in degree, character and expression but a lot of us kinda know that its there.

However, there are those of us who still vehemently hold on to the belief that Africans do not think of themselves in any way shape or form as inferior to our Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Western and other cousins in this human race.

To prove my point, journey with me as I go through a mental exercise. Let’s call it, “Why doesn’t……”

Why Doesn’t……

Our accent change when we go to:

1) Other African countries

2) Meet with people from other tribes in Africa

Seriously, some of us can spend our time around other African people from other countries all our lives and our accent will never change.

By Comparison

I actually have a friend who the moment they landed here, immediately abandoned Kiswahili (why do people call it Swahili, it’s Kiswahili, folks, Ki-swahili) and her native tongue and until this day spends most of her time butchering the English language, check out the silly audio below for an imitation of “her linguistic skills”.

On the other side, people close to me have considered taking lessons with an expert on how to adapt their accent to the what I lovingly call, the Down Under Drawl.

I will move into the second point, marketing, by continuing with the game of

Why Doesn’t, Part two

Why doesn’t our accent change when we go to:

1) India

2) Oriental Asia

I have met quite a few people who went to study in India and none of their accents changed a lick. I have met other folks who have studied in Malaysia, and nothing.

Give me 6 years here and all of a sudden I sound like a hybrid between Patrice Lumuba, Emily from friends, Kofi Kingston, the All blacks, Steve Irwin, Mtukudzi and Wainaina.

The Marketing Stereotypes

It’s all because other groups have been marketed as cool (Acolyte, I am aware these are stereotypes, but note how these stereotypes are indeed used to push products and TV shows out there):

1) Americans market themselves as the loveable, uber-committed, individualistic cowboys and rogues

2) The Brits are posh

3) The Aussies are laid back and charming

4) The French are romantic

5) The Spanish are lovers

As to the Indian accent, I’ll let Russell Peters talk about that one (NB: There is some swearing in this video clip) :

And so on and so on and so on. Combine that with the Western entitlement syndrome, which even we buy into and it results in us believing that Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians are the superior human product that we should model in order to become better people.

My Take On It

And with that, you have my take on why our accents switch gears when we land overseas.
To hear more insights on this immigrant life, make sure you sign up to receive free regular updates via either email or RSS.

Finally: A Silly Spot of Fun

If you are not a fan of silliness as I am, skip this and leave a comment below. As I was writing the article, I got the idea to record this. Lovers of folly enjoy (Keep the volume on a mid setting because the volume fluctuates)

Question:Why do YOU think our accent changes?

Mwangi

Listen Now to the Displaced African’s Appearance on Capital FM in Kenya

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:03:07 +0000

Before I Get to the Main Attraction

1) For some reason, the sidebar of the website isn’t working as it should, i.e. on the homepage, it isn’t there, it drops all the way to the bottom of the article. I am aware of the problem and am on it and thanks for patience dealing with that.

2) I am going to be interviewed on Capital FM next week and for any of you who are fans of SARFMRADIO in New York, they called me and asked for an interview too, so look out for me on that too. Yay! Too too blessed.

Back to the Script

As I spoke about a few days ago, the Displaced African (tDA) was talked about on one of the largest radio station’s in Kenya, Capital FM, during their show, Urban Nites. Thanks to everyone who showed much love and to those of you who asked for a recording here it is:

The Displaced African on Urban Nites

There are some areas where there is brief silence and brief music, that’s just to give the track some breathing room before the talking starts, once you press play there is no need to forward for the entire duration of the track.

Some Thoughts

The folks at Capital did me a huge service not only because they put me on the air, but because they:

a) Made the website sound much bigger than even I thought it was, which now gives me super morale to keep moving and growing to expand and beat these expectations.

b) They gave me a lot of ideas for articles that need to be written.

c) They reminded me what this blog is all about, which I sometimes forget.

To stay a part of the tDA as it continues to grow, make sure you stay up to date via either free email or RSS updates. To learn just what RSS is, click here.

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwas

Conversation with the Co-founder of Ushahidi and Mashada Creator: David Kobia

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:04:54 +0000

Make Sure You Subscribe to the Podcast

I have scheduled interviews with experts and people from all over the African diaspora. To receive word as soon as i have published these interviews make sure you subscribe to the Displaced African podcast via either RSS or by searching for “Displaced African” on Itunes and getting it fresh to your Ipod whenever they come out.

Hint: The next podcast is with STL a.ka. Stella Mwangi, brilliant woman she is!

The Interview

Things Covered

1) University background before immigrating to the US
2) His experiences when he first arrived in Alabama in 1998.
3) How Mashada got started in 1999.
4) Did Mashada grow quickly or incrementally over time?
5) The origins of some of the darlings of the blogosphere including Thinkers Room.
6) Mashada was an accident?!
7) The process of monetizing Mashada.com
How has Mashada evolved over time?
9) Discusses shutting Mashada down during the post-election violence in Kenya
10) The double-edged sword that is free speech forums
11) How Ushahidi got started
12) How the blogosphere got the word out to the ground about Ushahidi
13) How are incidents verified on Ushahidi.
14)How United for Africa works as compared to Ushahidi
15) The Netsquared challenge where they won $25,000
16) How are they planning to expand Ushahidi
17) What is Kobia Interactive
18) David Talks about his time working for TIME Magazine
19) His working life within Kobia Interactive
20) How did African Tees get started
21) Things to be aware of if you decide to sell t-shirts online
22) The difference between African Tees and other t-shirt design firms
23) How David manages to balance so many projects; What takes most of his time?
24) How should Africans be spending their time on the web?
25) Words of advice for new immigrants

Websites, technology and people mentioned

1) Mashada
2) Ushahidi
3) Thinker’s Room
4) Ory of Kenyan Pundit
5) Erik from the White African
6) Google Maps
7) Google Maps API
Learn what RSS is by clicking here…..
9) United for Africa: Used during the xenophobic attacks in South Africa to assist support crews
10) Netsquared Challenge: Check out this article that discusses Ushahidi’s victory at Netsquared.
11) Kobia Interactive
12) Time Magazine
13) CNN.com
14) Time Warner
15) African Tees
16) Jamhuri Wear
17) Julianna from Afromusing
18) Google Documents
19) Check out my review of Skype here
20) Presentation by founder of Amazon on the Golden age of the Web

Have a blessed day and an even more blessed life,
Mwas

What Everybody Ought to Know About Immigration and Njeri’s Guest Post

masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:05:53 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen it’s the middle of June. A lot of wonderfully fresh, optimistic, naïve and open minds are currently making “the move” from Africa to the West. This series, is for all of y’all who are making this great trek. This is also for all the people who are already abroad and want to guide these new arrivals but don’t quite know how.

I thought I would list some of the blog’s articles that give you useful, actionable information to help you navigate the tough waters of immigrant life, especially in the early days.

Help a Brother or a Sister Out

So if you know someone is about to immigrate overseas and you want to help them out, email this article by clicking on the “Email this” link at the bottom of the article.

By the way, if you haven’t, please make sure you sign up for my free Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter which is to the right of this article because I cover a lot of the stuff below in the newsletter. Sign up by filling in your first name and your email address.

10 Resources to Get You Started as an Immigrant

For guidance on how to become an immigrant in the first place, I will recommend Mwalimu.com and Workpermit.com

1) What is it Like Saying Goodbye to African Soil ? I wrote a post which got discussion started on that a while ago. Please ensure you leave a comment and add to the body of knowledge.

2) For those of you immigrating to Melbourne Australia., listen to some opinions on Melbourne from:
a) A student who arrived in early 2008.
b) Myself
c) My younger sisters who are 14 and 11.

3) The One Thing they Never Tell You Before You Immigrate: Gal Africana from a search for sanity talks about the rarely discussed loneliness that comes with being “the only black face in sight”.

4) How to Immigrate to Australia Within a Week :I wrote a long, extremely detailed series to help you “get settled” in your first week as an immigrant .

The article helps you deal with things like accomodation, mailing arrangements, banking, employment, documentation and so on and so forth.

I wrote it with students immigrating to Australia in mind, but I think anyone immigrating can get value out of it.

Check out the checklist that summarizes the entire series here. For all you immigrant veterans out there, feel free to add information to the series by leaving comments on the various posts.

5) The Secret to Working Beyond the 20 Hours Per Week Work Limit: Things you must be aware of if you chose to go against the 20 hours work per week limit that exists in Australia and the US. Read that post in collaboration the phenomenal guest posts by:

a) Seinlife on 5 Mistakes to Avoid as a Foreign Student in the US

b) Acolyte from My Part of the World

6) A word of advice you’ll hear often that you may dismiss: It has two parts:

a) This place is full of distractions.

b) Know why you’re here and keep your eye on the prize.

Don’t dismiss this advice: it separates the winners from the losers.

7) Do you ever intend on immigrating back to Africa? Don’t leave this to chance. Be fully aware at all times of whether or not you will and your reasons why.

8 ) Coach Carol outlines 7 barriers to immigrant success.

9) My personal thing thrown in here: A lot of you will get irritated by statements like, “Wow! You speak such good English!” or questions like, “Is Africa a country?” Don’t be. Just how much did you know about the State of Iowa or the Federal States and territories of Australia before you left Africa?

10) On a lighter note, this is for those of you who wonder what interracial relationships are like.

Update on 26/6/2008: Also check out gal africana’s post on UK working-holiday visas for further guidance

Update on 6/7/2008: Something to think about: Why Do Our Accents Change When We Immigrate Abroad?

Update on 19/7/2008: Two Useful Resources for People Settling in Australia

Update on 31/8/2008: Something That Happens to A Lot of Newbie Immigrants That’s Almost Never Discussed

That’s Not All:Njeri’s Guest Post

What’s happening, I’m losing my mojo? Even I didn’t laugh at the few dry jokes I made in this introduction. This post comes from Njeri a.k.a. meek meek of intricately me. Oh well, enjoy. I’m Off to a camp to Chillax (more than relax) for the weekend. Make sure you also recharge your batteries this weekend: Mwangi

The grass is always greener on the other side…this is a statement that we often take for granted but how true it is. Everything abroad looks so inviting when your in Africa. It seems like they are eating better food, going to better schools…they even look like they have better friends. Its all perception really, its definitely not what it seems. Opportunity exists, it does, but only for the smart immigrant. Do not think you can just go to the embassy, get a visitors visa, get on a plane and figure it out when you get here. Thats what i did and it does not work trust me. If you actually really want to come and enjoy the bounty of endless opportunity, take some time to plan the whole thing. The worst thing you could do is rush into it and then realize that you didn’t plan well enough.

1. Get a work visa or a student visa depending on what exactly you want to do. If the company you work for has offices abroad, ask them to sponsor you… if not ask a company abroad to sponsor you. Please stress on the fact that your an immigrant and they will get all the necessary paperwork taken care of. Alot of companies actually want to send people abroad because they need to be ‘equal opportunity employers’ and that means that they look better if they have a few skilled immigrants in their task force. You need to be qualified though so line up those degrees, once you get to the states you can probably ask them to sponsor your school and you can go on to get your masters, if this works for you do not waste the opportunity. Its easy to get sidetracked but if you are a little patient, it all pays off in the end. If you want to get a student visa apply to a school and once you are accepted, if you can pay for your first few semesters or if you can get someone to sponsor you, schools are often happy to accommodate you [thats because your paying international fees which are much higher than regular fees] If and when you get a job, No matter how menial or degrading you may think it is, hold on to it for dear life because that is your meal ticket. Do everything to keep it and be patient eventually things always get better.

2. Make sure you have savings, and a good friend, and a fall back plan[preferably a good job] and youre family behind you because its always difficult in the beginning. You dont need one of the things i mentioned… you need all of them. I cant stress enough the importance of friends who have lived abroad for a while because not only will they help you go forward they will teach you how to navigate the system. The ’system’ is not something us Africans are actually used to and more often than not, we think that we dont need to be part of it. No you have to be part of it so you need some really intelligent people who are youre really good friends to help you. This help will prove to be more beneficial than money or anything else for that matter. Dont take that ‘intelligent’ thing for granted either because alot of people out here still havent learnt how to navigate that system, so you could get pulled in to the wrong crowd and it would take you years to figure out where you went wrong. You need to catch on quick, you need to soak everything up. Africans abroad are often heartless they will take advantage of you and tear you apart in an instant, when this happens, and i can almost bet it will, you need your family and the fallback plan.

3. Be curious….ask questions…. In school we used to say ‘kuuliza si ujinga’ (to ask is not stupidity) im not sure if this is actually slang or not but its true… be friendly and ask questions. Its a bit overwhelming in the beginning because you try talking to people and you think they think your accent is weird but you would be surprised how accustomed people are to it and anyway after a while they begin to understand you anyway so don’t be afraid to ask your question twice or thrice and don’t be scared to be laughed at. There is nothing wrong with asking a question that makes you look like your dumb, remember you are just different not stupid. The more questions you ask- the more you know- the sooner you know more- the better off you are. I have moved from state to state, different states have different ways of saying the same thing, people really dont mind it when you ask them about it. It gives them a chance to explain their loyalties. Its almost like asking a Kenyan to teach you a few words in Swahili, we are always more than eager to share. Remember this, tell people your foreign and ask questions, they will be more than willing to help.