Sikiliza

@Sikilizaspeaks, Dakar 2022 This is me recently exploring the sensory delights of Marché soumbédioune in Dakar. Over 15 years ago I visited Senegal for the first time and spent more than four months backpacking and in a mission to discover self and my creative energies.  Sikilizaspeaks in 2007 I was weaning off a very difficult phase in my life my pilgrimage trip was a pathway to find parts of myself I lost along the way. It was also the time I began the journey of this blog. There are no regrets. It is a bittersweet memory as my biggest cheerleader while on this solo trip was my late brother…he encouraged me to photograph, write and be intentional about expressing myself. He bought me my first camera and gave me my first hand-me-down laptop.   I called him Swes but others knew him as Binya He joined me briefly and together we took a memorable road trip to the Gambia, and visited some traditional wrestling events and did some sightseeing, where I got to know and connect w...

Story matters… words matter… pictures matter.  I take pictures. I share stories in this way… And being a snail mail fan taking pictures of places printing them and sending postcards is one of my love languages. That said over the years we seem to have lost the interest and art of sending loved ones postcards. While I know that the world has gone digital and no longer sees value of handwritten letters and cards, I still cling to it. I place a lot of value in making time and effort in handmade and hand written gestures. However, I have often struggled with postcards that paint Africa with very problematic imagery. The  term “Big Five” is thrown around in Kenyan game drives despite its problematic roots.  The phrase coined by western trophy hunters (read as those who kill wildlife for pleasure) who considered the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo as dangerous but a challenge to hunt and kill. It is not unusual to see bookstores, curio shops and stores displayin...

  Photo by Sikiliza follow on instagram @msikiliza It may sound very cliché to say that this moment feels very poignant, but alas it is true.  I find myself more and more taking a new route to unknown destinations …while this unfolding feels right, it is still rather unsettling. A new form of adulting sets in that offers more room to part ways from attachments I have grown accustomed to over time…things, ideas, people…so many ways in which I clung was so unquestionably entrenched in my psyche, it was hard to pry them apart and separate them from my sense of self … I have been internally busy as I reclaim me once more… and with that has come a necessary major surgery of sorts… In my personal life I am quieter, a lot less inclined to respond to everything, every time or be available all the time.  I say no much more and that has been so liberating! I am much more open to surprises that spontaneity offers… I grit my teeth much less as I endure ceding control,    em...

Early morning in Makuyu It is always a honour to stumble upon precious lessons as we experience life. One such lesson that stood out for me is in recognising and honouring the cyclical nature of life.  That there are times of illumination and times of darkness. The rise and the fall, the high and the low, the passive and the active, the receptive and the giving….all these shifts offer spaciousness for expending and when it is time, resting, restoring and regenerating.   I appreciate now more than ever the times of retreat, when we go dark in order to make room and prepare for the new things ahead. Much like the rise of dawn, darkness must preface the light for us to witness the magic that sunrise brings. Perhaps this explains why I am drawn to witnessing the miracle of sunrise… Gazing at the same mundane spots at home that come to light each day; familiar yet different each time. It is unfortunate that somewhere along the way, many of us have lost the art of living in the...

The concept of time fascinates me…a core part of humanity, history, how we live and organise society… yet when asked, time is a difficult thing to define. We construct time as the progression of events from past, present into the future yet to come. While its nature is not tactile, it  measures palpably in transit or passage. My relationship  with time crystallised at an early age…growing up telling time was a necessary skill. School and home life emphasised the importance to read time and we wrapped our lives around it…my clock of choice was analogue.  Digital watches were flashy, fancy machines but never for me. I love the mental and cognitive jog experienced reading the patterns of hands on a dial.  As school kids we carried the old ten cent coin to school and drew countless dials on our workbooks. Our teacher would drill lessons on reading and illustrating time in so many scenarios that those who had an interest mastered the skill.  My father did this as wel...

May we be reminded  We neither relinquished  Nor gave away our power.  We have been powerful all along. Turn toward the looking glass And see reflections stare back  Some memorialised   Our ancestors in the making. In these transitions we witnessed Death and decay cycles  In the dark moon phase. Paving way for new beginnings. Fresh manifestations emerged  Signs that renewal is imminent  We are only now learning  To recognise her new face. She comes full. Wisdom knowledge regenerated, Returned and restored.  Poured generously into our lives. And so when the moment is right,  Energies revitalised, activated, claimed.  To enable you and I wield and harvest at will And contribute harmony to the outer world.

That night - 2.29 - mood inner and outer smile…. There is a tightness in my heart, yet freedom is slowly emerging in the casing of my chest.  It is past the new moon and, for the first time in so long, I am feeling free. Who am I kidding? Those compartments in my heart that come up to haunt me steal my joy, happiness, and inner peace… I cannot keep hosting the kidnapper of my happiness and peace. I cannot keep hiding and slinking in fear, trepidation, and living half-lives.  I will fight for my right to live and be in harmony with myself. I will remember and capture just how this freedom feels like to rid myself of the familiarities of bondage.  I am free of the needless ruminating and chasing of clouds and being at the edge and tense and unable to breathe… I long to experience a moment where I do not worry whether my breathing will come or go…. I look forward to the joy of being.  And no tightness control and force I have to wield endlessly….I ...