GRIOTS REPUBLIC - An Urban Black Travel Mag - Jan 2016
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W H E R E T H E R E ' S T R A V E L , T H E R E ' S A S T O R Y<br />
IDENTITY<br />
RACE<br />
<strong>Travel</strong>ers discuss<br />
identity politics<br />
27<br />
Scavenger Hunt Participants,<br />
9 Teams, but only 1 Winner<br />
FIND OUT HERE<br />
EXCLUSIVE!<br />
THE<br />
GALAPAGOS<br />
ISLANDS<br />
A family<br />
adventure in<br />
Equador<br />
JAN <strong>2016</strong> | ISSUE 01
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Archivists Note<br />
From Brazilian Favelas to the streets of Brooklyn and over to the<br />
front lines of conflict, this issue celebrates identity and community<br />
and the many ways they and we interconnect.<br />
What are we? Who are we? What do we stand for? These are all<br />
questions we've had to ask ourselves over the last year while creating<br />
Griots Republic. Take issues surrounding race, ethnicity, gender,<br />
nationality and whole host of other identifying markers and layer on a<br />
rabid case of wanderlust and you easily begin to realize that things are<br />
never just black and white. So let's dive into the grey.<br />
We gathered urban travelers from different walks of life and asked them<br />
for their stories. What we received was a gift. <strong>An</strong> idea that no matter how<br />
far we travel or how complicated our Identity is, there is single thread<br />
that connects us all... The need for community.<br />
So in the spirit of community we bring you Griots Republic, the digital<br />
magazine for urban travelers. We look forward to exploring more of our<br />
world together, rooting out travelers you want to know and capturing<br />
stories you want to hear. In the interim, welcome to our inaugural issue.<br />
T H E A R C H I V I S T S<br />
Immigration and the<br />
<strong>Black</strong> British experience,<br />
Jendella Benson's view<br />
should not be missed.<br />
Foodies should love Kelis'<br />
book... Rodney did. Check<br />
out his review in this<br />
issue as well.<br />
We have been stalking<br />
photographer Matika<br />
Wilbur for a minute. We<br />
finally got her to sit long<br />
enough to learn more<br />
about her project.<br />
#Amazing
CONTRIBUTORS<br />
For full bios and social media links to all of the writers, photographers,<br />
and editors from this issue. Please visit www.GriotsRepublic.com.
IG photographer<br />
R E A D I N G L I S T of insight into the psyche of this<br />
creative force of nature. At some<br />
points, this professed introverts<br />
shedding light on her life almost makes<br />
the reader feel like they are intruding<br />
SAY 'YES' TO<br />
A NEW YEAR<br />
Is this the next book to add you your reading list?<br />
"YES!"<br />
By Rodney Goode<br />
and that makes the reader respect<br />
(even treasure) the gift she is giving<br />
you within its covers.<br />
Without revealing too much, The Year<br />
of Yes begins when her sister mutters<br />
six words under breath:<br />
You never say yes to anything.<br />
From that point, Rhimes walks the<br />
reader through the impact of those<br />
words and all she must overcome to<br />
begin to say 'yes.' She tells the tale of a<br />
lying introvert (this will make more<br />
sense after reading) who says 'yes' to<br />
meeting the President of the United<br />
States, to appearing on Jimmy Kimmel,<br />
and 'yes' in some more personal and<br />
private ways. In many ways the tale is<br />
honest, sobering and sometime<br />
humorous. Rhimes simply wants to do<br />
better, be better.<br />
THE CONCLUSION<br />
THE GIST<br />
There is something intriguing<br />
about the close of an old year and<br />
the onset of the new. For some it<br />
signifies the end of twelve<br />
months of successes and the<br />
mystery of newer and greater<br />
things ahead while for others, it<br />
means putting 365 days of<br />
arduous challenges behind and<br />
the hope of better things to come.<br />
Regardless of how you look at it,<br />
the New Year means just that, a<br />
new year to try again. That’s<br />
what makes the first book, “The<br />
Year of Yes” is perfectly timed.<br />
Reading this book with no<br />
knowledge of who Rhimes is will<br />
be a challenge because without<br />
understanding her celebrity, the<br />
journey outlined in this book may<br />
not have the same impact.<br />
However, if you are a fan of Grey’s<br />
<strong>An</strong>atomy, Scandal, or How to Get<br />
Away With Murder, this book<br />
provides the reader with both<br />
fascinating and interesting tidbits<br />
The Year of Yes will probably be<br />
heralded as a “Self-Help” book, but<br />
arguably it’s just an opportunity for<br />
Rhimes to publicly purge, declare her<br />
victory, and celebrate her success.<br />
The best part is it’s not preachy like so<br />
many books of this type where the<br />
author, because of their success,<br />
proclaims to be a guru of sorts and<br />
gives the reader a sense that if they do<br />
not learn from the writers errors, the<br />
reader will never be successful, nor is<br />
it a guidebook that gives the reader a<br />
step-by-step process for<br />
improvement. The Year of Yes is simply<br />
an account of an incident that sends<br />
the writer on a different avenue in her<br />
life’s journey.<br />
Rhimes’ openness is the reader’s gain.
TYPES OF TRAVEL SUNGLASSES<br />
5By Cabral M’rithi Miller<br />
©Peter McConnochie<br />
Very few statement accessories are<br />
as universal as sunglasses. Since<br />
travel, especially amongst today’s<br />
urban millennials, is on the rise,<br />
people are looking to accessories<br />
as the perfect travel companions.<br />
Considered the “AMEX of <strong>Travel</strong>,”<br />
because one should not leave home<br />
without them, sunglasses can<br />
make or break your experience and<br />
elevate your selfie game!<br />
Here we break down the five types<br />
of sunglasses that are perfect for<br />
your next vacation, whether you<br />
visit The Caribbean, Europe or<br />
choose to luxuriate right here in<br />
The States.
Wayfarer<br />
Perfect with any other outfit or occasion,<br />
the Wayfarer is the travel companion you<br />
cannot afford to leave home without.<br />
Tip: Perfect for those avoiding trends and<br />
complimentary for people with small,<br />
oval faces.<br />
Oversized<br />
By Dwayne July<br />
Offering more protection from sunburn<br />
and perhaps the paparazzi, this pair of<br />
ostentatious sunnies are usually round<br />
with a strong feminine brow line and<br />
used to minimize the arch of your noses.<br />
Tip: Works with almost every face type<br />
and great for hiding from your fans or<br />
frenemies.<br />
Aviator<br />
Versatile, with a military vibe, these<br />
pieces are outfitted with bayonet<br />
earpieces and are designed to prevent<br />
light from entering the eye from almost<br />
any angle. Tip: Round or smaller faces<br />
are ideal.<br />
<strong>An</strong>imal Print<br />
A departure from the basic black these<br />
sunnies are perfect for frolicking on<br />
beaches, perusing down city streets, and<br />
hanging out in fashionable spots around<br />
the world. Tip: Oval faces are benefit and<br />
the pattern brings out the ultrafeminine<br />
side of every woman.<br />
Embellished<br />
Considered works of art, embellishments<br />
are a fast trend that everyone is adopting<br />
especially the accessories and apparel<br />
worlds. Tip: For those who dare to wear<br />
this risky trend these tend be more on<br />
the larger side so try on before<br />
purchasing.<br />
20 20 squats<br />
20 push-ups<br />
1 minute plank<br />
30 secs of rest<br />
Repeat<br />
circuit 4x
I G P H O T O O F T H E M O N T H<br />
It was one of the least visited places I have ever<br />
traveled to, but I consider myself a true traveler and<br />
really thrive off the intrigue of undiscovered places.<br />
I've been living in Brunei Darussalam which is on the<br />
large island of Borneo for 4 months and have been<br />
taking advantage of the opportunity by exploring<br />
everything I can in the area. I've traveled to Indonesia<br />
a few times before and realized there's so much more<br />
out there than just the popular destinations like Bali,<br />
Jakarta, and Yogyakarta.<br />
I was in the province of West Papua which is also<br />
known as Irian Jaya for close to a week trekking<br />
through different villages without a guide. There are<br />
about three different tribes who inhabit the villages<br />
around the highlands of The Baliem Valley. In this<br />
photo I was visiting the Dani Tribe.<br />
On the last day of my visit I hired a guide to take me to<br />
a specific village where they perform traditional<br />
war dances. My guide was a local Papuan who<br />
spoke the language and broken English so he was<br />
able to translate. At the end of their dance he told<br />
me that they would allow me to take a picture with<br />
them.<br />
There is only one way to get here which involves a<br />
series of flights and a special travel permit called a<br />
Surat Jalan. There is always a sense of<br />
accomplishment and gratification I get when<br />
arriving to such a remote location that can’t be<br />
matched. From staying the night in the local straw<br />
huts which are called “Honais”, to shaking every<br />
locals hand I encountered along the path during<br />
the trek, to handing out candies to all the children<br />
of the villages, to the incredible views of the<br />
surrounding mountains of the highlands, this was<br />
one of the most memorable and picturesque trips I<br />
have ever had and am incredibly fortunate to have<br />
had this experience.
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New Year,<br />
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WOMEN'S CONFERENCE<br />
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Phenomenal Speakers<br />
Excellent Discussions<br />
Great Food<br />
Live Music<br />
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Saturday, <strong>Jan</strong>uary 9, <strong>2016</strong><br />
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© David Loftus.
FROM STAGE TO STOVE:<br />
A CULINARY JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD<br />
A weekend of cooking and reading and here's a review of my<br />
favorite recipes from Kelis Rogers' "My Life on A Plate."<br />
Besides her career in<br />
music, Kelis is a Le<br />
Cordon Bleu trained<br />
chef with multiple<br />
television cooking<br />
specials, and a<br />
burgeoning<br />
entrepreneurial streak<br />
with her Bounty & Full<br />
organic sauce line.<br />
© David Loftus.<br />
It is no surprise in this<br />
entrepreneurial age we live in, that<br />
Rappers and Singers want to be<br />
Actors and Actors want to be singers<br />
(and sometimes Rappers). On<br />
occasion these endeavors are<br />
successful but rarely do you see any<br />
of the above leaving the glam and the<br />
glitz of celebrity to become an<br />
accomplished chef or cookbook<br />
author. Kelis Rogers is the exception.<br />
The ex-wife of superstar rapper,<br />
Nasir Jones a.k.a Nas, Kelis is quite<br />
the accomplished musician herself.<br />
She plays several instruments and is<br />
probably best known for her hit,<br />
“Milkshake.” Her recent labor of love,<br />
however is far removed from that lifestyle.<br />
“My Life On a Plate,” heralds her successful<br />
ascendency into the ranks of the culinary<br />
royalty.<br />
My Life On a Plate is a global culinary<br />
journey that tells the stories of a world<br />
traveler who enjoys good food. Her<br />
fondness of hole-in-the-wall eateries<br />
combined with her Le Cordon Bleu<br />
education is evident throughout the book<br />
and clearly serves as her inspiration. She<br />
adeptly captures the sights and sound of<br />
exotic locales and provides the reader with<br />
easy to follow instructions that allow you to<br />
taste her journeys via her refined palate.<br />
Foodies who travel will certainly<br />
appreciate her cookbook and the recipes<br />
will transport you there. This is a recipe<br />
source that is sure to be used over and<br />
over again. Two recipes of note that are<br />
certain to be favorites of traveling<br />
foodies, due to their taste and ease of<br />
preparation, are Kelis’ Beef Sliders and<br />
Shrimp Alcapurias.
Fans of Kelis may be surprised to know that during a<br />
musical hiatus, she worked on a food truck (yes, a food<br />
truck)! In the book she share this story, as well as her<br />
delicious recipe for Beef Sliders. Sliders can be found on<br />
menus in practically any modern eatery, but what makes<br />
Kelis’ sliders a new standard for home cooks is not in the<br />
preparation of the beef. Kelis stays true to her roots and<br />
utilizes a traditional Caribbean method of preparation in<br />
need of little improvement. The recipe calls for the<br />
braising of shredded flank steak seasoned in spices<br />
endemic to the region. So what’s the game changer you<br />
ask? It is the sauce.<br />
Kelis, a culinary entrepreneur in her own right, has a<br />
unique line of sauces and provides her recipe for a Root<br />
Beer Espresso BBQ sauce that can only be described as<br />
simply delectable. Kelis’ Beef Sliders are perfect for a quick<br />
hand-held meal in front of the television or can be easily<br />
used for either a hors d’oeuvre or snack platter.<br />
The second recipe noted is for Shrimp Alcapurias. As an<br />
introduction to the recipe, Kelis shares glimpses of her time<br />
in Puerto Rico and anyone who has been there is certain to<br />
be whisked away again to sand and sun to reminisce of this<br />
beach food favorite. Alcapurias or fritters are a handheld<br />
delicacy from Puerto Rico and while they are quite common<br />
throughout the Caribbean, this version is made with a<br />
batter of taro and/or green bananas. They are usually<br />
stuffed with meat or seafood and the latter, shrimp to be<br />
exact, and are what Kelis utilize in her recipe. Prepared to<br />
her specifics these fritters make a perfect snack or side.<br />
Leftover, they are a welcome addition to any lunchbox.<br />
My Life On A Plate is a cookbook that will make you want to<br />
see, feel, and taste the places Kelis has been for yourself<br />
and if you have been to any one of her destinations<br />
already, be prepared for a wonderful (and tasty) trip back.<br />
Bon Voyage and Bon Appétit.<br />
© David Loftus.
Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Kelis<br />
Rogers, better known by just her first name,<br />
first came to prominence singing the hook of<br />
Ol' Dirty Bastard's hit Got Your Money. Years<br />
of chart dominating songs and thrilling,<br />
boundary-pushing music followed resulting<br />
in millions of albums sold and numerous top<br />
10 hits.<br />
She has released six albums, won Brit, Q, and<br />
NME Awards, and been nominated for two<br />
Grammy Awards. Her latest album Food,<br />
made with a live band and horn section,<br />
mints a sound that is rootsy, raw, and soulful<br />
without ever being retro. Upon release the<br />
album was praised as one of her most<br />
adventurous works yet.<br />
Kelis has toured every corner of the world,<br />
performed at every major festival, and<br />
shared the stage with the world's top artists.<br />
A fashion icon and designer muse since the<br />
early days of her career, she is celebrated for<br />
a personal style which is often as creative<br />
and forward-thinking as the music she<br />
makes.<br />
© David Loftus.<br />
Besides her career in music, Kelis is a Le<br />
Cordon Bleu trained chef with multiple<br />
television cooking specials, and a burgeoning<br />
entrepreneurial streak with her Bounty & Full<br />
organic sauce line.<br />
“My Life on a Plate” by Kelis copyright 2015 Kyle Books
PROFILES<br />
01<br />
‘16
RE:UNION Music Fest is a global music<br />
festival aimed to assemble the music of the<br />
African Diaspora into one unforgettable,<br />
unique experience. Hip-hop,<br />
R&B, Reggae, Kompa,<br />
Cuban, Salsa, Afrobeat,<br />
South African House,<br />
and more will be<br />
brought together<br />
on ONE stage to<br />
celebrate our<br />
narrative.<br />
EACH MONTH<br />
RE:UNION<br />
MUSIC FEST<br />
WILL INTRODUCE<br />
GLOBAL MUSIC<br />
ARTISTS TO THE<br />
<strong>GRIOTS</strong> <strong>REPUBLIC</strong><br />
AUDIENCE.
Written by Jeremiah Myers<br />
Since I was a child,<br />
I’ve been taught<br />
that“<strong>Black</strong> people<br />
everywhere are<br />
one in my family<br />
would impart, “The<br />
only difference between<br />
<strong>Black</strong> Americans and others of<br />
the Diaspora is that they got off<br />
the boat one stop before us,”<br />
(referring to the route of the<br />
Atlantic Slave Trade). This<br />
message stayed with me<br />
throughout my youth, and now<br />
as an adult fully resonates with<br />
my spirit.<br />
This greater understanding is a<br />
result of two characteristics: I’m<br />
a <strong>Black</strong> Man and a World<br />
<strong>Travel</strong>er. As a <strong>Black</strong> Man I’ve<br />
learned that resilience and<br />
creativity are my best assets in<br />
the face of struggle. Moreover,<br />
as a World <strong>Travel</strong>er I’ve met<br />
countless people from the<br />
African Diaspora that share this<br />
same view. The Rastafarians I<br />
met at “Rebel Salute” in<br />
Jamaica, the South African tour<br />
guide (now friend) who<br />
discussed Apartheid with me in<br />
Johannesburg, and the women<br />
of color living as expats in<br />
Colombia all viewed the world<br />
and our place in it similarly.<br />
That’s when I realized something<br />
very simple, yet powerful…<br />
We have a shared story.<br />
That’s the reason I decided to<br />
create RE:UNION Music Fest.<br />
We have used music to tell our<br />
shared story for generations.<br />
Hip-hop was born out of the<br />
impoverished housing projects<br />
of underserved black youth in<br />
the Bronx, New York. Bachata’s<br />
origins are rooted in the daily<br />
realities of the rural Afro-<br />
Dominican population of the<br />
early 20th century. Kwaito<br />
came to rise during the struggle<br />
of Apartheid in the black<br />
townships of Johannesburg,<br />
South Africa. All of these<br />
sounds are unique<br />
autobiographies telling the<br />
African Diaspora’s story of<br />
resilience and creativity. They<br />
are a living (and oftentimes<br />
lively) testament of our<br />
collective experience.<br />
Music has the power to bridge<br />
our worlds – and our people. It<br />
has the power to RE:UNITE. It<br />
is in this vein, RE:UNION Music<br />
Fest finds its inception. By<br />
blending various international<br />
music genres into one amazing<br />
experience, “The World’s<br />
Greatest Family Reunion” will<br />
reconnect the African Diaspora.<br />
We’re more than music,<br />
we’re FAMILY.<br />
This powerful statement<br />
represents RE:UNION Music<br />
Fest. It signifies that while<br />
music will always be a vital<br />
element to the storied culture<br />
and strength of the African<br />
Diaspora, we must never forget<br />
that Family Hood will be what<br />
sustains us. I’m looking forward<br />
to meeting you, my family.
On<br />
Familiarity<br />
& Otherness<br />
<strong>An</strong> insight into Immigrants and Expats:<br />
<strong>Black</strong> Brits at “Home” and Abroad<br />
Written by Jendella Benson
To be <strong>Black</strong> and British is to have a<br />
strange relationship with<br />
immigration. Not too long ago we<br />
were stoically soldiering on in the<br />
face of cries of “go back to where you<br />
came from!”,” spat at us by red-faced<br />
yobs. But now, in light of recent<br />
waves of immigration lapping against<br />
the shores of this small, entitled<br />
island, our otherness is somewhat<br />
more familiar. Our former harassers<br />
have fresher targets for their thinlyveiled<br />
violent and racist rhetoric.<br />
These new immigrants absorb the<br />
frustrations of a beleaguered<br />
working class, whose communities<br />
have been undermined by successive<br />
governments, but have instead been<br />
sold a convenient scapegoat in the<br />
form of immigrants.<br />
While faceless mobs scream about<br />
immigrants stealing jobs, living off<br />
the state, and taking up all the<br />
housing, government ministers<br />
quietly pass legislation to cut state<br />
benefits, sell off affordable housing<br />
to the private sector, and increase<br />
the amount of low-paid, insecure jobs<br />
to add a superficial boost to<br />
employment figures.<br />
If we’re honest, some of us <strong>Black</strong><br />
Brits are just glad that the heat is no<br />
longer on us and our families. There<br />
are those who try to cement the limp<br />
embrace offered by White Britain by<br />
naively parroting nationalist<br />
sentiment to ward off the asylum<br />
seekers and migrants. It surprises me<br />
how easy it is for some to regurgitate<br />
IDENTITY<br />
ˌīˈden(t)ədē/<br />
noun<br />
the fact of being who<br />
or what a person or<br />
thing is.<br />
“No,<br />
where are<br />
you from,<br />
really?"
G R I O T S R E P U B L I C | P
the weak justifications once offered in<br />
order to keep our own parents out of<br />
the country. However, there are also<br />
many of us making our own plans to<br />
leave out of choice.<br />
One of the advantages of being in<br />
Europe is the Schengen Agreement.<br />
Back in 1995, an agreement came into<br />
full effect that created an essentially<br />
borderless state within mainland<br />
Europe. People within the Schengen<br />
Area became free to travel between<br />
countries without border controls or<br />
passport checks. While unsurprisingly<br />
the United Kingdom has opted out,<br />
travelling between here and the rest of<br />
Europe is more or less painless anyway,<br />
and once you’re over there further<br />
travel is seamless. For many of us, once<br />
we get over the fear of being racially<br />
abused in foreign languages, our<br />
globetrotting dreams begin with<br />
Europe. We refresh our high school<br />
level French, German, or Spanish,<br />
book our budget flights and set off.<br />
Most of our parents never travelled<br />
anywhere but “back home”, so for<br />
once we are not the children or<br />
grandchildren of immigrants trying to<br />
carve out an identity from a tangle of<br />
cultures, nor are we the awkward<br />
Westerners temporarily lodged in our<br />
ancestral land for a Christmas or<br />
summer. In these previously<br />
uncharted territories, we are tourists!<br />
Real tourists with cameras, and maps,<br />
and hotel bookings instead of<br />
mattresses on the floors of extended<br />
relatives. What an upgrade!<br />
While the privilege that comes with a<br />
burgundy passport will take you<br />
anywhere, many of us still have our<br />
failsafe tucked away in a drawer<br />
somewhere else. The fact is that<br />
while you may be British, you are not<br />
white and you will never be allowed<br />
to forget that.<br />
“So where are you from?”<br />
“London.”<br />
“No, where are you from, really?"<br />
This exchange is so common that<br />
many of us run through it on autopilot.<br />
With our “real” heritage never<br />
far from anyone’s mind, it makes<br />
sense that as soon as we were old
enough, we gathered the necessary<br />
proof and got ourselves a passport in<br />
new colours for our respective “home”<br />
countries. We often joke amongst<br />
ourselves that when the inevitable<br />
happens and Britain bombs its way into<br />
World War 3, we will avoid the<br />
compulsory military draft by hot-footing<br />
it back to Nigeria, or Kenya, or Jamaica.<br />
You’ll find us tweeting armchair<br />
commentary on dispatches from BBC<br />
World Service. “Rah, Big Ben got<br />
bombed? #MadTingSadTing :(”<br />
Once upon a time, being “shipped back”<br />
was a threat ominously wielded in the<br />
face of bad behaviour or poor grades,<br />
but such homecomings are now<br />
voluntary. I have friends who have<br />
already beaten the crowds and have<br />
relocated back to the motherland,<br />
reacquainting themselves with their<br />
heritage and culture. I follow their blog<br />
posts and Instagram feeds out of<br />
curiosity and mild envy.<br />
Globalisation means that the motherland
19<br />
is not the same motherland from<br />
claustrophobic trips back as a child.<br />
There are marble-floored shopping<br />
centres, red carpet events, socialites<br />
snapping for social media at gallery<br />
openings, and cocktails at sunset. It's<br />
hard not to mentally convert currency<br />
and realise that for what you make here<br />
to scrape by you can go and live the<br />
high life “back home”. Forget that half<br />
of your kinfolk still live in abject<br />
poverty, “believe me, there's money to<br />
be made here!” a once-forgotten cousin<br />
tells you.<br />
<strong>An</strong>d even still, we have other options.<br />
Studies, work and play have some<br />
venturing even further afield, outside<br />
the circles of familiarity in Europe,<br />
Africa or the Caribbean, and to<br />
countries where wide-eyed children<br />
stroke brown arms in the street. Those<br />
whose previous experience<br />
of blackness has been limited to the<br />
distant but omnipresent force of hip<br />
hop, or Beyonce, are often astounded at<br />
an actual black person standing before<br />
them.<br />
While the term “expat” was clearly<br />
coined by white people trying to avoid<br />
the stigma they spent years burdening<br />
the word “immigrant” with, young <strong>Black</strong><br />
Brits have hijacked the term and ran<br />
with it, setting themselves up in the<br />
Middle East, Australia, Asia and<br />
everywhere else in between.<br />
To b e black and abroad is to inhabit a<br />
very particular space, people will often<br />
assume you’re either a poor African or a<br />
rich American, so to be <strong>Black</strong> and British<br />
is something else entirely. While the<br />
innocent and not-so-innocent ignorance<br />
of strangers may initially be enough to<br />
make your mouse cursor hesitate while<br />
After all, our parents were<br />
the original “expats” – we<br />
learned from the best.<br />
booking your flights, the average <strong>Black</strong><br />
Brit will take this all in stride. I mean, we<br />
are from Britain. If we can survive the<br />
passive-aggressive, gas-lighting of the<br />
British stiff upper lip at home, I believe<br />
that we can survive anywhere. We can’t<br />
pretend that the international arrogance<br />
that had Britain raping and pillaging its<br />
way across the world hasn’t rubbed off on<br />
us. Wherever we land, just give us a bit of<br />
time and we’ll have worked out where<br />
to buy our plantain and hair products<br />
from. We do this relocation and adaption<br />
thing very well, and why would we not?<br />
After all, our parents were the original<br />
“expats” – we learned from the best.
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TRAVEL NOTES<br />
GALAPAGOS<br />
ISLANDS
The Galapagos Islands are an<br />
archipelago of volcanic islands<br />
straddling the equator in the Pacific<br />
Ocean. They were declared a<br />
province of Ecuador in 1973. About<br />
25,000 people live on 18 primary<br />
islands and 3 smaller ones.
The natural beauty, serenity and<br />
mystery of Galapagos juxtaposed<br />
against the sometimes comical and<br />
occasionally frustrating obstacles we<br />
faced during our tour of two of the<br />
islands quickly became the major theme<br />
of our trip, a trip we all agreed was well<br />
worth the inconveniences.<br />
The members of my international crew<br />
included my Ukrainian-American<br />
mother, Christina, who had retired to a<br />
seaside village in Ecuador a few years<br />
ago. Her Ecuadorian friend, Maria,<br />
came up with the idea to make the trip<br />
to the islands (which sit roughly 600<br />
miles off the Ecuadorian coast). It turns<br />
out Maria’s parents had actually lived<br />
on one of the islands, Floriana, some 70<br />
years ago when her father worked for<br />
the government. Yet neither Maria nor<br />
my mother had ever been.<br />
Maria’s husband, Washington, knew<br />
the Galapagos. He’d been stationed<br />
there while serving in the Ecuadorian<br />
military in the 1970s. Our trip would be<br />
his first time back. Maria and<br />
Washington’s adult children, Cristina<br />
and Santiago, were the fourth and fifth<br />
members of the entourage. Cristina<br />
attends university in Germany;<br />
Santiago works in Quito and had visited<br />
the Galapagos as a boy. I flew in from<br />
Washington D.C. and Cristina’s friend,<br />
Louis, traveled from the United<br />
Kingdom to make it a lucky seven.<br />
The plan was to spend ten August days<br />
island-hopping, with the goal of seeing<br />
as many of the famously unique species<br />
as we could. According to the<br />
Galapagos Conservancy, about 80<br />
percent of the land birds, 97 percent of<br />
the reptiles and land mammals, and<br />
more than 30 percent of the plants<br />
are endemic. One of our guides,<br />
Dario, said our timing was superb as<br />
the best months to visit are August<br />
through November. “Galapagos is<br />
very beautiful,” he told us. “It is one of<br />
the natural marbles of the world and<br />
a wonderful experience to live here<br />
and watch nature.”<br />
While the weather in August can be<br />
slightly rainy and the temperature a<br />
tad less tropical than one might<br />
expect (mid- to low-70s), according<br />
to Dario the migratory patterns of<br />
just about all the animals, birds,<br />
reptiles and fish bring them into view<br />
on the islands during this window.<br />
We began our journey in Puerto<br />
Ayora, the most populous town on<br />
Santa Cruz. There we began our love
18<br />
affair with Galapagos snorkeling. The<br />
biodiversity was astounding, though<br />
not always what I’d expected. I’ve<br />
done a lot of snorkeling in warm<br />
water, including the Red Sea, where<br />
colorful fish and plants live among<br />
stunning coral formations. In the<br />
frigid waters off Santa Cruz, the<br />
colors were muted and the sea floor<br />
crowded with starfish, sea cucumbers<br />
and various non-tropical fish species.<br />
In the deep water areas, sharks swam<br />
stealthily below us.<br />
Las Grietas, off Santa Cruz, translates<br />
to The Crevices. It was unforgettable.<br />
After a water taxi ride to Finch Bay<br />
and a 20-or-so-minute hike past a<br />
swanky hotel and idyllic lagoons, we<br />
swam between tall cliffs with rock<br />
walls that plunged deep into water so<br />
crystal-clear you could see right<br />
down to the bottom.<br />
The plan was to spend ten<br />
August days islandhopping,<br />
with the goal of<br />
seeing as many of the<br />
famously unique species<br />
as we could.<br />
affair with Galapagos snorkeling. The<br />
biodiversity was astounding, though<br />
not always what I’d expected. I’ve<br />
done a lot of snorkeling in warm<br />
water, including the Red Sea, where<br />
colorful fish and plants live among<br />
stunning coral formations. In the<br />
frigid waters off Santa Cruz, the<br />
colors were muted and the sea floor<br />
crowded with starfish, sea cucumbers<br />
and various non-tropical fish species.<br />
In the deep water areas, sharks swam<br />
stealthily below us.<br />
Las Grietas, off Santa Cruz, translates<br />
to The Crevices. It was unforgettable.<br />
After a water taxi ride to Finch Bay<br />
and a 20-or-so-minute hike past a<br />
swanky hotel and idyllic lagoons, we<br />
swam between tall cliffs with rock<br />
walls that plunged deep into water so<br />
crystal-clear you could see right<br />
down to the bottom.
A few days later, on Isabela, we<br />
visited the shallower waters of the<br />
Tintoreras inlets situated just off the<br />
island. On the short Panga ride there,<br />
we saw penguins posted up on<br />
volcanic-rock islands and bright red<br />
crabs basking in the sun. Once in the<br />
water, we spotted decades-old sea<br />
turtles floating gracefully near the<br />
sea floor, and sea lions swimming<br />
close enough to grab. “I wasn’t<br />
expecting to see the animals so<br />
close,” Louis marveled. Louis (who<br />
was half-French) turned out to be our<br />
Jacques Cousteau Jr. His Go-Pro<br />
camera was always pointed at<br />
something and with Cristina’s help,<br />
he documented everything we saw<br />
above the water and below. Though<br />
we could get very close to the<br />
wildlife, we respected the admonition<br />
not to touch any animals. Human<br />
scent can cause an animal to be<br />
alienated from its group. That being<br />
said, while snorkeling one day,<br />
Cristina was practically assaulted by<br />
a sea lion determined to play.<br />
“I wasn’t touching him…he was<br />
touching me!” she laughed, as we<br />
peeled off our wetsuits.<br />
While on Isabela, we stayed in Puerto<br />
Villamil. It is a sleepy town compared<br />
to Puerta Ayora. On the Sunday we<br />
arrived, all the shops were closed and<br />
it felt nearly uninhabited. We were<br />
lucky to find cold beer and a local<br />
woman under a walkway bridge to<br />
the beach frying up and selling the<br />
most delicious homemade meat or<br />
cheese empanadas. She made them<br />
using cassava dough, which is gluten<br />
free, instead of the flour dough I am<br />
used to in the United States.<br />
We gorged on empanadas as we took<br />
in the spectacular Malecon Cuna del<br />
Sol, a long white-sand beach<br />
surrounded by palm trees and<br />
brackish water lagoons. As I strolled<br />
along the shore later, the black lava<br />
rock barrier between the sand and<br />
surf appeared to move. As I got closer<br />
I saw hundreds of land iguanas<br />
blending right in and sunning<br />
themselves.<br />
Day after day, we ticked off items on<br />
our Galapagos bucket list. We visited
Rancho Primicias, a private farm and<br />
tortoise sanctuary where the giant<br />
reptiles have free range. We strolled<br />
barefoot along the beach at<br />
Garrapaterro, where flamingos nest in<br />
the surrounding lagoons. We hiked<br />
nearly 45 minute to Tortuga Bay’s<br />
beaches to kayak and watch birds and<br />
iguanas. <strong>An</strong> 8 mile round-trip walk<br />
brought us to the Wall of Tears, a 20-<br />
foot stone wall stretching more than<br />
300 feet that was built by prisoners at<br />
a penal colony that once existed on<br />
Isabela Island.<br />
We walked nearly everywhere. It<br />
reminded Washington of his days as a<br />
solider on the Galapagos. Weighted<br />
down by a backpack full of gear and a<br />
gun, he recalled using his machete to<br />
hack his way through raw vegetation<br />
to get from shore to shore on just<br />
about all of the islands. Today, long<br />
trails leading to many of the beaches<br />
are laid with paver stones. Other<br />
paths are made of packed earth with<br />
wooden bridges across lagoon<br />
marshes. Though traversing the land<br />
is much easier than when Maria’s<br />
parents lived there, or when<br />
Washington was in uniform, one of<br />
the takeaways was that a Galapagos<br />
vacation is an active one. My<br />
mother, who is nearly 70, is in pretty<br />
good health and full of energy. She<br />
observed that many of the activities<br />
may be too challenging for families<br />
with small children or people with a<br />
physical infirmity, even a slight one,<br />
due to some of the terrain like steep<br />
steps, long walks and the need to<br />
constantly climb in and out of small<br />
boats.<br />
While tourism may be the one and<br />
only industry on the islands, the<br />
attitude toward actual tourists can be<br />
uneven. The owner of our hotel on<br />
Santa Cruz barely apologized for<br />
canceling one of our three reserved<br />
rooms, forcing me, my mother,<br />
Washington and Maria to be<br />
roommates for a night.<br />
“The main income for Galapagos is<br />
tourism,” Santiago explained, “but<br />
they are not focused on the service<br />
aspect of tourism. Many of the guides<br />
try to trick you in order for you to<br />
hire them for everything, and they<br />
charge you whatever they want.”<br />
Unanticipated costs were an
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ISLAM IN<br />
THE SLUMS<br />
©Sarah.Ahearn
At approximately 9 pm in a favela, an urban<br />
slum south of Sao Paulo, I was walking with few<br />
of my hosts to buy meat from the butcher. I was<br />
filled with that sense of adventure one gets in a<br />
new environment.<br />
“Hey – this looks safe. Isn’t it funny, everyone scared<br />
me of coming to the favelas?,” I asked confidently yet<br />
looking at my hosts for confirmation. “You are safe<br />
because you are Kaab’s guest. People know that. Just<br />
stay close to us,” they said without breaking their<br />
smile.<br />
Back in the summer of 2011, my wanderlust brought<br />
me to Kyrgyzstan. While there, I witnessed a Muslim<br />
family asking God to bless their vodka shots. This<br />
paradox struck a very personal chord- how to define<br />
my own identity in light of conflicting expectations<br />
between my faith and the many cultures that define<br />
me.<br />
So, in the summer of 2015, I decided to travel around<br />
the world visiting lesser-known Muslim communities<br />
to answer my questions about faith,culture, and<br />
personal identity. Brazil was the first stop of 6<br />
countries: Brazil, Senegal, Bosnia, China, Malaysia, and<br />
Japan. I had many plans for Brazil, but at the top of my<br />
list was visiting Kaab Abdul.<br />
Kaab’s story had recently taken the Brazilian media by<br />
storm. Major news outlets visited his musalla a prayer<br />
room, at least once a week. He was a former hip-hop<br />
musician and rapper turned Muslim community<br />
leader. I had to meet him, despite the many logistical<br />
challenges. He lives in a favela, generally not known to<br />
be safe for visitors. It is at least an hour bus ride from<br />
Sao Paulo. <strong>An</strong>d most challenging, I don’t speak<br />
Portuguese. Kaab does not speak English.<br />
Luckily, I connected with a Portuguese-speaking<br />
Muslim-American PhD student on a field study trip in<br />
Brazil. I asked him to accompany me for the trip.<br />
Getting to Embu das Artes, the favela that Kaab calls
ammar asfour<br />
©Ammar Asfour<br />
home, was a challenge. We arrived at the bus station where<br />
we were supposed to meet him after a lengthy bus ride.<br />
After waiting for approximately an hour at the bus station<br />
during which we visited a nearby grocery store to buy some<br />
delicious Brazilian persimmon fruit, Kaab finally met us with<br />
big hugs and genuine warmth that immediately eased any<br />
worries we had.<br />
We just wanted to talk to Kaab, and we were ready to head<br />
back to Sao Paulo a couple of hours later. But Kaab had<br />
other plans.<br />
He first took us to the musalla. He was wearing a black shirt<br />
with a Malcom X picture on it and a journalist vest that had<br />
patches of Middle Eastern countries’ flags. The musalla was<br />
a single room at the ground floor of the building Kaab lives<br />
in. It was a humble place, yet it is taken care of meticulously.<br />
A red carpet covers the ground with many individual prayer<br />
rugs around the place. The front wall had a large electronic<br />
clock that keeps track of prayer times and the back wall had<br />
a large flag of Saudi Arabia. “Have you been to Mecca?”<br />
he asked pointing at the Saudi flag. “Yes, I have been!” I<br />
said.<br />
“I have been to hajj. Allhamdulillah,” he told me. We<br />
prayed the second daily prayer of the day together, and<br />
then he walked us upstairs to his home.<br />
Kaab was humorous, animated, and energetic. He told us<br />
how his curiosity about Islam was triggered when he<br />
heard the athan, the Muslim call to prayer. In 2008, he<br />
became Muslim after learning more about Islam through<br />
talking online to someone from Egypt. He continued to<br />
rap. He even tried to infuse Islam into his music.<br />
However, he found it conflicting to mix hip-hop and his<br />
newly found faith. He now only performs poetry with no<br />
instrumentals under the name Fragmentos de um<br />
Muçulmano (Fragments of a Muslim).<br />
We sat at the patio of his house overlooking the favela.<br />
Kaab was engaging and captivating. When he was not<br />
sharing deep thoughts about his faith and passion for the
ammar asfour<br />
©Ammar Asfour
community, he was making us laugh. When it got<br />
dark, we went downstairs and we prayed maghrib,<br />
the first evening prayer, together. We went back<br />
upstairs after that and continued talking. Meanwhile,<br />
many of Kaab’s friends began trickling in. Almost<br />
every 30 minutes, my friend and I looked at each<br />
other contemplating leaving, but we were so<br />
entrenched in the conversation that we didn’t want<br />
to leave.<br />
Positiv ity, hope, and faith in a better future were<br />
generally the emotions I felt from Kaab, except when<br />
he discussed the challenges he faced learning his<br />
faith. It was clear to me how difficult he found it. He<br />
points to the tattoos on his arms as an example. He<br />
didn’t know that tattoos are not permissible in Islam.<br />
For at least a year after he became Muslim, all the<br />
resources he had about Islam were three book s that<br />
his Egyptian friend sent to him. “I don’t want others to<br />
face the same struggles,” he said with a sense of<br />
responsibility.<br />
“Ammar, we will have churrascaria tonight. You have<br />
to stay the night.” Kaab told me.<br />
“Oh. Brazilian bbq?” I asked.<br />
“Yes!” Kaab and his friends replied.<br />
“I love BBQ,” I said probably too enthusiastically. I<br />
was sold. We were staying the night at Kaab’s.<br />
Honestly though, I enjo yed being there and the food<br />
was a mere excuse. The community was preparing to<br />
celebrate the wedding of a couple of their own the<br />
next day. So many friends and family were gathered.<br />
They tried to teach me Portuguese with very little<br />
luck. They practiced their American accents with<br />
extremely entertaining results. My lack of knowledge<br />
of American hip-hop music heavily disappointed<br />
them. <strong>An</strong>d most of all, the y made fun of my obsession<br />
with taking pictures. All while Kaab was taking charge<br />
of the BBQ pit, producing mouthwatering grilled<br />
beef.<br />
©Ammar Asfour<br />
ammar asfour<br />
These friends made up a tight community of about 20<br />
Muslims- most new to Islam. Some live in the favela. Some<br />
were visiting him from over 3 hours away, because they felt<br />
more welcome in his community. At night, 5 or 6 of us were<br />
to sleep downstairs in the musalla. Kaab stayed up with us<br />
joking, laughing, and stealing our pillows or blankets for<br />
whatever reason. It was clear to me that Kaab was the<br />
anchor of this community. But, how could he do it?<br />
It was then that I understood why. It is because not once<br />
did he assume the role of a religious teacher. In fact, he<br />
made it a point to not lead the prayer every time we prayed<br />
together. He acted only as a humble community servant<br />
leader.<br />
Earlier in the day, I was puzzled by Kaab’s emphasis on<br />
helping his community at large. I had asked him if at any<br />
point in his career he thought of leaving the favela. He<br />
responded with an emphatic no. This is his home. “But how<br />
would Kaab heal this community?” I thought to myself. I<br />
knew he<br />
©Ammar Assfour
©Ammar Asfour<br />
cared. He genuinely wanted to help not only the<br />
Muslim community, but the larger community of the<br />
favela. But was that enough to make a strong<br />
community?<br />
So, I asked him about his vision. He told me it was to<br />
build a school for the youth in the community. I was<br />
surprised. “Why a school?” I asked. “Most Muslim<br />
community leaders would seek a mosque first!”<br />
He laughed and smiled. But his eyes were serious. He<br />
held my arm and walked me to the edge of the porch,<br />
pointing out at the favela …<br />
“Their way out of here is education not a worship<br />
place,” Kaab Abdul pointed at the sprawling houses in<br />
the urban slum. At that moment, a light bulb turned on.<br />
“Their way<br />
out of here is<br />
education not a<br />
worship place.”<br />
I’ve traveled to over 40 countries, and I hope to travel<br />
to more. I will never forget Kaab nor will I forget that<br />
particular moment. It taught me that future<br />
gener ations will struggle with their identities unless<br />
they are empowered through learning. That moment<br />
and that thought shaped the remainder of my trip and<br />
my current curiosity.
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ammar asfour<br />
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military
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L I F E<br />
L I M B<br />
L E N S<br />
It usually occurs at the oddest<br />
hour of the day. You’ve spent<br />
the last eight hours of your<br />
life waiting to board a plane<br />
intended for a foreign country<br />
you cannot pronounce<br />
correctly. You are hungry,<br />
uncomfortable, tired, and<br />
anxious to start out on this<br />
journey. You have trained for<br />
months for this mission, left<br />
family members behind,<br />
missed a few birthdays,<br />
anniversaries, and other<br />
important events.<br />
Nevertheless, this is what you<br />
signed up for, an adventure<br />
like no other to see the world,<br />
interacting with people with<br />
diverse values and cultures.<br />
The adventure you are about<br />
to embark on, even though<br />
exciting, may cost you life or<br />
limb; but despite it all, you<br />
gather your courage because<br />
you are an American Soldier.<br />
For Soldiers across the world,<br />
traveling to distant lands<br />
becomes a modus vivendi.<br />
We can visit countries or<br />
places closed off to the<br />
worldwide public. Since<br />
we frequently operate off<br />
of the beaten path, we see<br />
things that the average<br />
traveler does not. Our<br />
view of the world may be<br />
different from most; after<br />
all, we see humanity at its<br />
extremes, both good and<br />
bad.<br />
I joined the military over<br />
twenty years ago for<br />
patriotic reasons and to<br />
witness history. I picked<br />
up a camera with the goal<br />
of narrating Soldier's<br />
stories through the lens.<br />
It was, also, my way of<br />
safely bringing family and<br />
friends with me on these<br />
risky ventures.<br />
Despite the hostile<br />
environment, I tried to<br />
capture its beauty, the<br />
inwardness of the people<br />
and their culture. I
©CamaraClayton<br />
Our view of the world<br />
may be different from<br />
most; after all, we see<br />
humanity at its<br />
extremes, both good<br />
and bad.<br />
attempted to get the viewers to put<br />
themselves, not solely in my shoes but in the<br />
shoes of the subject. I’d hoped that they’d<br />
empathize and relate to a culture and a<br />
lifestyle that is different from theirs.<br />
Despite the social, economic, and religious<br />
differences, I hope my lens is the conduit in<br />
which people can discover that we are<br />
uniquely similar and allow the bond of<br />
humanity to bring us closer together. When<br />
the aforementioned occurs, it allows the<br />
Soldier a way of escaping the hardships of war<br />
and brings them to a place of familiarity.
14
The morning<br />
after my marriage<br />
was consummated<br />
I didn't feel like it<br />
was something<br />
to celebrate.<br />
A shy smile sneaked from the side<br />
of the clay brick structure. A round<br />
and flawless deep brown face with<br />
mischievous eyes that squinted<br />
whenever she laughed at my<br />
broken attempts at Nyanja. She<br />
held hands with a little boy,<br />
barefoot and eager to run with the<br />
other little children in the distance.<br />
He tugged on her arm and she<br />
finally let him go. She told me his<br />
name was Jacob.<br />
“Is that your brother?” I asked.<br />
Her eyes squinted and she laughed<br />
again. “No, he is mine.”<br />
<strong>An</strong>d then it was over. When she<br />
turned, I saw the baby- a lump<br />
beneath red, orange and yellow<br />
printed chitenge material. It was<br />
asleep and all that peeked from the<br />
cloth was a tuft of kinky hair. The<br />
girl I took for an older sister,<br />
somebody’s daughter, dutifully<br />
caring for her siblings was in fact a<br />
wife and second time mother, at 16.<br />
This was my introduction to child<br />
marriage, 568 kilometers from<br />
Zambia’s capital city of Lusaka. I<br />
was at the end of a seemingly<br />
endless stretch of dry, brown road<br />
that took me to Luangeni village in<br />
Eastern Province’s Chipata District.<br />
It is rural, with clusters of mud<br />
brick, thatch-roof homes spread<br />
out between kilometers of miombo<br />
and acacia trees..
18<br />
On the drive back, I passed<br />
more villages and the<br />
landscape gradually changed<br />
from rural to town back to the<br />
highway home. I thought<br />
about my childhood dreams of<br />
marriage, a Cinderella-esque<br />
fairy tale long since dissipated<br />
with age. Every young face<br />
and baby-laden frame I<br />
passed now made me wonder.<br />
How old are you? How did you<br />
get here? How has this<br />
changed your dreams?<br />
This was my<br />
introduction to child<br />
marriage, 568<br />
kilometers from<br />
Zambia’s capital city of<br />
Lusaka. I was at the end<br />
of a seemingly endless<br />
stretch of dry, brown<br />
road that took me to<br />
Luangeni village in<br />
Eastern Province’s<br />
Chipata District.<br />
Three months later, I met Musu<br />
and she told me everything.<br />
Musu Bakoto Sawo stood<br />
amidst a crowd of dignitaries<br />
and delegates from over 40<br />
African nations telling her story<br />
at the first African Girls’<br />
Summit held in Lusaka, Zambia<br />
in late November. She pleaded<br />
for the
<strong>GRIOTS</strong> <strong>REPUBLIC</strong> | JANUARY <strong>2016</strong> 19<br />
end of the tradition and when she<br />
finished and took her seat, she tucked<br />
into her friend’s shoulder and cried.<br />
"Let us not call it child marriage<br />
because it's not marriage,” said African<br />
Union Goodwill Ambassador and<br />
secretary general of the Young<br />
Women’s Christian Association<br />
(YWCA) Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda<br />
from the stage. “It is abduction, rape<br />
and a criminal act."<br />
Musu was 10 when she developed a<br />
love for activism, joining the child-led<br />
advocacy group “Voice of the Young” in<br />
her native Gambia.<br />
At 14 years old, her family told her she<br />
was to be married to a man of 27. A<br />
patriarchal society, Gambian fathers<br />
and uncles make these decisions while<br />
most mothers remain quiet- bound by<br />
tradition and often, internal conflict.<br />
Musu was in junior high and thought<br />
her world had come to an end. She<br />
didn’t eat for weeks.<br />
"The morning after my marriage was<br />
consummated I didn't feel like it was<br />
something to celebrate. I was hurting,”<br />
she said. “I felt like all my activism<br />
didn’t matter since I became a part of<br />
what I was advocating against."<br />
By the age of 22, she was a widowed<br />
mother and a student- a law graduate of<br />
the University of Gambia and then LLM<br />
graduate student at the University of<br />
Pretoria. Her husband died in her third<br />
year of renal failure. This tragedy and<br />
her mandated time of mourning made<br />
her degree completion seem<br />
impossible.<br />
“Never in a million years would I have<br />
It is a double-edged sword of<br />
young advocates opposing<br />
the customs and the older<br />
community seeking a space<br />
for long-entrenched<br />
tradition.<br />
thought I’d come this far,” said Musu.<br />
“At 14, I was forced to grow up; I<br />
became someone’s wife, but education<br />
was always the main priority of my life.”<br />
The social activist and lawyer has now<br />
made it her life’s mission to show girls and<br />
women in Gambia that they too can<br />
succeed no matter their circumstances.<br />
Currently the program manager at Think<br />
Young Women, she speaks and works<br />
throughout the country advocating for<br />
women.
CONNECT<br />
Think Young Women<br />
It is in her country, Gambia, that 36<br />
percent of women are married by age<br />
18 and 76 percent of women are cut, or<br />
victims of female genital mutilation.<br />
During the conference, the country<br />
made headlines after President Yahya<br />
Jammeh banned female genital<br />
mutilation (FGM) saying it is not<br />
required in Islam. The ban is not a law<br />
and many advocacy organizations hope<br />
the proclamation will lead to a domino<br />
effect amongst other countries on the<br />
continent.<br />
Besides governmental law, the law of<br />
the land makes fighting the issues a<br />
sensitive matter. It is a double-edged<br />
sword of young advocates opposing<br />
the customs and the older community<br />
seeking a space for long-entrenched<br />
tradition. When Musu returned from<br />
Zambia, her mother-in-law was not<br />
interested in discussing child marriage<br />
and specifically FGM.<br />
“You have succeeded in bringing an<br />
end to a culture that we so value,<br />
something that we are religiously<br />
obligated to perform,” said her motherin-law.<br />
At Think Young Women (TYW), Musu<br />
and her board advocate for ending<br />
child marriage and FGM in addition to<br />
working women leadership through<br />
outreach and mentoring. It is when<br />
venturing into Gambia’s provinces that<br />
they are met with the opinions of older<br />
women.<br />
They are reluctant to talk, seeing TYW<br />
and advocates like them as harbingers of<br />
change and immorality. To these women,<br />
child marriage is tradition and customs<br />
like FGM reduce female promiscuity.<br />
Despite the dispelling of the myth that<br />
FGM is a religious custom, these women<br />
still believe it is an obligation- the<br />
distinction between culture and religion<br />
long ago blurred.<br />
The negative effects of the customs are<br />
undeniable and visible from The Gambia<br />
to Zambia. Girls who marry before age<br />
18 are more likely to experience<br />
unwanted pregnancies and less likely to<br />
complete primary and secondary school.<br />
Musu threatened suicide if her husband<br />
and his family, whom she moved in with<br />
after marriage, didn’t allow her to<br />
continue her studies.<br />
The health consequences of early and<br />
forced marriage range from a high<br />
percentage of physical, mental,<br />
emotional and sexual abuse within the<br />
union to obstetric fistulas- a common<br />
condition in young mothers where a<br />
hole between the vagina and rectum or<br />
bladder caused by prolonged<br />
obstructed labor leaves a woman<br />
incontinent of urine or feces or both.<br />
The four types of female genital<br />
mutilation further complicate sex and<br />
delivery.<br />
Practiced in at least 28 countries in sub-<br />
Saharan Africa, the Middle East and<br />
parts of Asia. The circumcisers are<br />
often community women and relatives,<br />
who have themselves been cut in youth.<br />
Although FGM also occurs among
“Never in a<br />
million years<br />
would I have<br />
thought I’d<br />
come this far.”<br />
Christians, animists and Jews, the<br />
prevalence amongst Muslim-majority<br />
countries had led to the false belief that<br />
it is tied to Islam. FGM actually predates<br />
Islam and the majority of Muslims do not<br />
practice the tradition.<br />
“The Quran preaches peace, not bringing<br />
harm to another person,” said lawyer<br />
and author of “Delinking FGM from<br />
Islam” Sheik Ib rahim Lethome. “I cannot<br />
keep quiet when Islam is being misused.”<br />
Every time she has a platform, Musu<br />
speaks. She speaks for the 14-year-old<br />
child bride she was and for the young<br />
girls listening who think their marriage<br />
equals the demise of their futures.<br />
E D I T O R I A L<br />
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PROFILES<br />
01<br />
‘16
DOCUMENTING<br />
NATIVE IDENTITY<br />
captures through her lens and every story that is<br />
shared with her has a sense of beauty but also<br />
urgency. Beauty in that there are people working<br />
to keep the culture thriving, and urgency in that<br />
there are many obstacles in preserving the culture<br />
and educating others about its true history.<br />
When Matika Wilbur set out on her journey across the<br />
country in an RV, her mission was to visit places not<br />
marked on the typical American sightseeing map, to<br />
chart the places filled with just as many artifacts,<br />
culture, and stories waiting to be heard. These are the<br />
stories of a people that make up the 562 Native<br />
American Tribes federally recognized throughout the<br />
United States. Over the course of three years, Wilbur<br />
tasked herself with capturing images of Native people<br />
living in Western Society and exhibiting them in the<br />
aptly named, Project 562.<br />
Throughout her travels the old adage, “There are two<br />
sides to every story” rings true. Every picture she<br />
As cultures are fighting to be heard, to matter, and<br />
for their history not be washed over with stories of<br />
peaceful exchanges rather than the first steps of<br />
erasure, acknowledgements like the recent push to<br />
rename Christopher Columbus Day as Indigenous<br />
People’s Day is a step in a different direction.<br />
Wilbur’s art makes the Indigenous voice even more<br />
public.<br />
When it comes to the mission of her photography,<br />
Wilbur “always believed that it would be necessary<br />
for our voices to be heard in massive media.” Her<br />
work has garnered attention but she insists on the<br />
spotlight being on the work and the issues<br />
effecting Native communities such as student
Juanita Toledo (Pueblo of Jemez), 2015<br />
dropouts and the disproportionally<br />
higher rates in which Native women are<br />
sexually assaulted.<br />
“I’m just this girl from the Res exposing<br />
truths from the Res,” she said. “I think<br />
that it [the exhibition] has gotten a lot<br />
of exposure because the people need<br />
that.”<br />
In an upcoming exhibit, debuting at<br />
Harvard on April 28, <strong>2016</strong>, Wilbur will<br />
honor Native women and “give life to<br />
some of the beautiful, powerful, and<br />
profound women in the community<br />
working hard to maintain our<br />
connection to the mother earth.” There<br />
will also be a small book that will be<br />
published to coincide with the exhibit to<br />
honor Native women. Other projects<br />
include documenting the work of<br />
the Sierra Seeds Company; a Native<br />
company cultivating Native seed<br />
“Our identity is primarily in the land<br />
and when we respect the mother we<br />
also honor and respect our women,” she<br />
said. “What I found all over the country<br />
are stories of people raping and<br />
pillaging the mothers. Lack of access to<br />
clean water, and all of the ways that we<br />
are exploiting the mother earth, I think<br />
is directly connected to the way we<br />
exploit our native women.”<br />
Through her art, Wilbur also aims to<br />
expand the education of Native and<br />
non- Native people. It’s crucial to not<br />
only to reverse negative images, but<br />
alleviate the pressure of most Native<br />
people who find themselves being the<br />
only representative of their culture in<br />
most educational settings. “A lot of<br />
native people don’t go to school<br />
prepared to be an ambassador or<br />
educator to those who are supposed<br />
to be educating them,” she said.<br />
Though her mission is selfless, she did<br />
note the physical effects the project<br />
has taken on her. “It’s really hard<br />
what I’m doing; the toll that it has<br />
taken on my body to live on people’s<br />
couches and in an RV for three<br />
years,” she said. “I developed<br />
allergies, I’ve aged, I don’t get to work<br />
out as much as I would like to, but I<br />
see it as there isn’t any other option.<br />
We need it. People’s minds have to<br />
change about Native America in<br />
order to affect public policy, and<br />
that’s something I can do.”
“What I found all over the country<br />
are stories of people raping and<br />
pillaging the mothers. Lack of<br />
access to clean water, and all of the<br />
ways that we are exploiting the<br />
mother earth, I think is directly<br />
connected to the way we exploit<br />
our native women.”<br />
Matika Wilbur<br />
Darkfeather, Bibiana and Eckos <strong>An</strong>cheta (Tulalip), 2014.
Dr. Mary Evelyn Belgarde (Pueblo of Isleta and Ohkay Owingeh), 2014.<br />
Wilbur also points out that paying for<br />
her trip was no small task. She turned<br />
to crowdfunding to make it possible.<br />
Her project was not only fully funded,<br />
she exceeded her goal, yet it was still<br />
a humbling experience, according to<br />
Wilbur. “You’re asking people to<br />
believe in your dreams,” she said.<br />
Crowd funding allowed her to<br />
continue working to capture and<br />
highlight the identities of Nat ive<br />
people. In regards to her own identity,<br />
Wilbur describes it as “complex.” She<br />
represents her mother’s tribe<br />
Swinomish and her father’s tribe<br />
Tulalip but is enrolled as a Tulalip due<br />
to a federal policy that allows only<br />
one tribal enrollment.<br />
Despite the hardships associated with<br />
her project, she insists that the people<br />
she has encountered on her journey<br />
have strengthened her resolve, in the<br />
fact, that th ere are many more steps<br />
to be taken in order to educate others<br />
about Indigenous peoples. She<br />
contends that Indigenous people<br />
must also be able to accurately<br />
identify with their own culture in<br />
safe spaces, on and off the<br />
designated areas sanctioned by the<br />
United States.<br />
A long term goal for Wilbur includes<br />
more traveling to discover tribes<br />
around the world and also bringing<br />
her art directly to the public. With<br />
funding, she is looking forward to<br />
the creation of a traveling long<br />
house exhibition, a “nomadic<br />
exhibition that would look like it<br />
belongs in a space of sacredness.”<br />
She wants the exhibition to feel<br />
authentic, complete with a “dirt<br />
floor and fire, and stories that are<br />
going to stay with us in a setting<br />
that feels really safe to Indigenous<br />
people."<br />
She dreams of an exhibition space,<br />
"where we can invite kids to see<br />
She wants the<br />
exhibition to feel<br />
authentic, complete<br />
with a “dirt floor and<br />
fire, and stories that<br />
are going to stay with<br />
us in a setting that<br />
feels really safe to<br />
Indigenous people."<br />
it and they are not going to feel like they<br />
are being pushed by white-walled<br />
institutions with track lighting.”<br />
To find out more about Matika's art or<br />
to help her create her exhibition by<br />
donating to her project, please visit<br />
MatikaWilbur.com or Project562.com.<br />
You can also follow her journey on<br />
Instagram @MatikaWilbur.<br />
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