Hey hey hey,
Sorry, I have been a little bit slack over the last week in terms of blogging. A truly great lady passed away last week and I am working on an article to remember her amongst other great things so I have been kinda gone but this blog is far from forgotten.
Anyway, I am a member of the Melbourne Personal Growth Meetup Group and tomorrow they will be having a meetup that I am extraordinarily interested in but will be unable to attend due to pre-set plans with the love sickness. Anyway, I just had a quick look at a free PDF report that the man presenting put out and I thought I would share it with y’all and get your thoughts. So read through it (it is a PDF file and to read it, you need Adobe Reader) and leave some comments or email me letting me know what you think of it.
Mistakes that Migrants and Overseas Students Make(FREE PDF REPORT)
I just read an article from the White Africans on mobile phones in Africa and one idea that has absolutely struck a chord with me is paying for things with mobile credit:
This means instead of having to pay for bus rides with money you can simply transfer credit from your phone to the driver or conductor’s phone. After all, isn’t it simply transferring value you already possess to someone else who may need that value in exchange for something you want.
To me, this is absolutely brilliant innovation. According to this post, also from the White African, mobile phones have absolutely swamped Africa. Both my grandparents, even without full, constant access to electricity own mobile phones. Apparently in countries like South Africa there are more mobile phones in rotation than there are people. To say that mobile phones are quintessential in Africa at the moment is like saying that soccer is just another sport, i.e. a gross understatement. If we were to sit down and think about how we can use this knowledge to improve our local economies, I have a hunch the effects could be continent-shattering. Just a thought
I am starting to feel like my blog is redundant when I read articles such as these from M that pretty much say exactly what I want to say, exactly the way I want to say it
Finally (huh, I guess I did have something to say today, I thought this post would be way shorter), reading this poem from Mshairi got me to thinking about the education system and so this is what I had to say after reading the poem:
I think this can act as a metaphor for our entire education system not only in Kenya and Africa but throughout the world. We teach and learn logarithms, fractions and about latent heat but there are no classes on how to have ideal relationships, or in Africa courses on how to survive when you can’t earn money. Education should be a reflection of society’s necessities. What we have at the moment is a society where education is a neccesity no matter how vacuous it is.
Be blessed&bless othaz,
Mwangi
Tags: African, Immigration, Success psychology
Sasa Mwangi,
The pdf article was a good read. I’m based in the US and I can attest to what Rohith is talking about. Ive heard and felt many say the very issues he has addressed.
1.The illogical behavior of ignoring the solution, and burying head in sand (as is well illustrated by the image) and hoping the problem will go away is widespread. Many will say its the accent or not having the right documents.Its a struggle for many to find their self esteem through the accent barrier. Since language, or the way of speaking it, is a carrier of culture, many lose pride in their heritage. Many Nigerian friends in the workplace, for instance, have exhibited such confidence, accent or no accent, papers or no papers.
2. About having the right associations: Inasmuch as knowing and socializing with one’s brethren from Kenya is needful, its at times taken too far with the “Kenya Ndogo” notion. Huddling together and doing things in the same fashion, oblivious to what else they could be engaging in as immigrant or non-immigrant residents. Networking and being mentored has proved helpful to those who have thought outside that box. Associating with others outside one’s brood yielded good and long lasting networks. But I still love to be with my people from time to time.
The good thing is that there is a good bunch who have gone beyond African origin and accent, and have been assertive and needed no affirmation from others. You can tell one when you meet and speak with such by the confidence they exude. I hope the days of “flossing” are long gone (we saw many pictures of people based abroad in all manner of designer labels when back home, but that does not imply they are doing well in their life goals.)
How about Australia, are some immigrants in the same dilemma? I mean based on what Rohith talks about?
* Listened to your podcast with the lady in Amsterdam and can see how non-immigrants can fall under the tyranny such regulations. And i’m glad many make it their aim to earn an honest living, (in the words of St. Paul) albeit with their hands in moving people and cleaning homes.
@Frank: Hey Frank, welcome to tDA. So far, the only huge difference I have seen between African immigrants in the US and African immigrants here in Australia are that there are more immigrants in the US and so group habits have been deeply ingrained and group problems that could have been dealt with when the group was small e.g. creating and pushing role models who define the group culture- haven’t.
Otherwise, all the problems in Oz, including huddling up and never focusing on growing outside of your community, are the same problems here. And as such making any changes to the immigrant culture in one place will probably have effects on the immigrant culture overall.
Happy new year chief