YAMBUKA || YMBK OVERCOME

Thursday, January 3, 2013

I am an African

On 8 May 1996, then deputy president Thabo Mbeki made a speech to the people of Africa and the world. The speech tells of President Mbeki’s belief in the capacity of all people from Africa.

“Friends, on an occasion such as this, we should, perhaps, start from the beginning. So, let me begin.

I am an African!

I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land. My body has frozen in our frosts and in our latter day snows. It has thawed in the warmth of our sunshine and melted in the heat of the midday sun. The crack and the rumble of the summer thunders, lashed by startling lightening, have been a cause both of trembling and of hope… The dramatic shapes of the [landscape] have… been panels of the set on the natural stage on which we act out the foolish deeds of the theatre of our day.

At times, and in fear, I have wondered whether I should concede equal citizenship of our country to the leopard and the lion, the elephant and the springbok, the hyena, the black mamba and the pestilential mosquito. A human presence among all these, a feature on the face of our native land thus defined, I know that none dare challenge me when I say – I am an African! …

Today, as a country, we keep an audible silence about these ancestors of the generations that live, fearful to admit the horror of a former deed, seeking to obliterate from our memories a cruel occurrence which, in its remembering, should teach us not and never to be inhuman again. I am formed of the migrants who left Europe to find a new home on our native land. Whatever their own actions, they remain still, part of me. In my veins courses the blood of the Malay slaves who came from the East. Their proud dignity informs my bearing, their culture a part of my essence. The stripes they bore on their bodies from the lash of the slave master are a reminder embossed on my consciousness of what should not be done… My mind and my knowledge of myself is formed by the victories that are the jewels in our African crown, the victories we earned from Isandhlwana to Khartoum, as Ethiopians and as the Ashanti of Ghana, as the Berbers of the desert….

I have seen our country torn asunder as … my people, engaged one another in a titanic battle, the one redress a wrong that had been caused by one to another and the other, to defend the indefensible. I have seen what happens when one person has superiority of force over another, when the stronger appropriate to themselves the prerogative even to annul the injunction that God created all men and women in His image.

I know what it signifies when race and colour are used to determine who is human and who, sub-human. I have seen the destruction of all sense of self-esteem, the consequent striving to be what one is not, simply to acquire some of the benefits which those who had improved themselves as masters had ensured that they enjoy. I have experience of the situation in which race and colour is used to enrich some and impoverish the rest.

I have seen the corruption of minds and souls [in] the pursuit of an ignoble effort to perpetrate a veritable crime against humanity. I have seen concrete expression of the denial of the dignity of a human being emanating from the conscious, systemic and systematic oppressive and repressive activities of other human beings. There the victims parade with no mask to hide the brutish reality – the beggars, the prostitutes, the street children, those who seek solace in substance abuse, those who have to steal to assuage hunger, those who have to lose their sanity because to be sane is to invite pain. Perhaps the worst among these, who are my people, are those who have learnt to kill for a wage. To these the extent of death is directly proportional to their personal welfare…

All this I know and know to be true because I am an African!

Because of that, I am also able to state this fundamental truth that I am born of a people who are heroes and heroines. I am born of a people who would not tolerate oppression. I am of a nation that would not allow that fear of death, torture, imprisonment, exile or persecution should result in the perpetuation of injustice. The great masses who are our mother and father will not permit that the behaviour of the few results in the description of our country and people as barbaric. Patient because history is on their side, these masses do not despair because today the weather is bad. Nor do they turn triumphalist when, tomorrow, the sun shines.

Whatever the circumstances they have lived through and because of that experience, they are determined to define for themselves who they are and who they should be… As an African, this is an achievement of which I am proud, proud without reservation and proud without any feeling of conceit…
But it seems to have happened that we looked at ourselves and said the time had come that we make a super-human effort to be other than human, to respond to the call to create for ourselves a glorious future, to remind ourselves of the Latin saying: Gloria est consequenda – Glory must be sought after!
Today it feels good to be an African…

I am born of the peoples of the continent of Africa. The pain of the violent conflict that the peoples of Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, Burundi and Algeria is a pain I also bear. The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share. The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of despair. This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned. This thing that we have done today, in this small corner of a great continent that has contributed so decisively to the evolution of humanity says that Africa reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes…
Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace!

However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper!

Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and say – nothing can stop us now! “

Onwards. Upwards. Always !

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Enlightened

2012... met a lot of people; and was even fortunate enough to encounter myself. Cruising through LIFE whilst dieting on art , culture and creativity on a crunchy flour business shell, I met myself accidentally, twice - at the corner of adversity and integrity, and once on reality boulavard.

farai Nigel

My epiphany was ; to the question of your life, you are the only answer. To the problems of your life, you are the only solution. But this alone is not true.

In order to be happy, we require all kinds of supports to our self-esteem. We are human beings, with both egos' and self's, therefore the purpose of Gods creation, lies in finding love for both.

There is no unmoving mover behind the YAMBUKA movement.

It is only movement. It is not correct to say that life is moving, but life is movement itself. Life and movement are not two different things. In other words, there is no thinker behind the thought. Thought itself is the thinker. If you remove the thought, there is no thinker to be found.”

Its true, the man who views the world at thirty-five the same as he did at twenty has wasted fifteen years of his life.

This elementary wonder; Existentialism, the philosophical and cultural movement which holds that the starting point of philosophical thinking must be the experiences of the individual.

It holds, learning how to operate a soul figures to take time.

The thing that I believe most, the thing that I believe the most now, is that existentialism is the answer.

Success, happiness, wealth and peace of mind are merely bi-products of deep thoughts and the surgical execution of said thoughts.

with Brent Crampton and Self Xpression; OMH, NE

Moral and scientific thinking together do not suffice to understand human existence, so a further set of categories, governed by authenticity, is necessary to understand human existence.

Entrepreneurship has taught me that to be rich one has to experience humbling, red bottom-lines.

In order to be a leader one has to face fears far worse than a bruised ego can handle. Its necessary to have those with great faith to lean on.

Tawanda Tinarwo- hre, Zim

To be too conscious is an illness - a real thoroughgoing illness. A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. Its necessary to have those who enlighten you to see the road.

Chace Brisby- OMH, NE

'They' say the journey is the goal, that if you find everything as soon as you look for it, you find it in vain, you look for it in vain. You cannot fully understand your own life without knowing and thinking beyond your life, thus other people are mirrors.

In them, you see the reflection of your own self. Sometimes the reflections are distorted, but they are still helpful in coming to terms with yourself.

Doc

Often it so happens that you express at length your deepest passion, what you value, only to be ridiculed and ignored in the end. It has not come across to the listener.

Your eloquent expressions have fallen on deaf ears. At those moments, you feel as if you have been betrayed by the world, and you start secretly licking your wounds.

with Dan & Chapi

And yet, what is actually happening then is a beautiful self-recognition. You have come to your true self by stumbling on the rocky surface of miscommunication.

Man is however, least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

Mark, Sky & Jack

Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality- yambuka ?

My first and last philosophy, that which I believe in with unbroken certainty, is that YAMBUKA is ALIVE!

Onwards. Upwards. Always !

fa

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Holiday Sale

Its the HOLIDAY season and we are offering our fans a treat with discounted merchandise.

YMBK t-shirts make for awesome Christmas presents; and since we all have a brother, sister, cousin, friend etc that we love, my hope is that we will all take advantage of the SALE to get our loved once's some YMBK gear.

You are always free to call me on +1-402-312-6967, email me nigel@yambuka.com, and if you are in Omaha, stop by and see me at the YMBK store on the corner of 84th & F ( next to the UPS store on the east side of the road).

I appreciate your support and hope we continue to work together to promote, art, culture & creativity.

YAMBUKA is ALIVE!

Ras Fero

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Thursday, September 29, 2011

YMBK AFFILIATES (5)

RAS FERO

1997

What’s your project called?

YAMBUKA

What’s the purpose?

YAMBUKA is the OVERCOME movement, YMBK the OVERCOME brand.

What do you do ?

I own the YMBK BRAND, I coordinate the YAMBUKA OVERCOME MOVEMENT.

What are you?

Existentialist first, entrepreneur second.

2004

What does YAMBUKA mean to you?

YAMBUKA means a sense of Purpose- without purpose, I would not exist.

It is purpose that created us. Purpose that connects us. Purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that

drive us. It is purpose that defines, purpose that binds us.

2006

Favorites…

a. Quote: Tora gidi uzvitonge (shona language). Translated- its a call to fight for freedom; a realization that to own ones' destiny, one has to fight to the death for it.

b. Musicians: Bob Marley, NaS.

c. Album: ...of all time, Kaya released by Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1978.

d. TV shows: The office, Robot Chicken

e. Authors: Malcolm Gladwell, Deepak Chopra

2007

What are your goals for 2012?

Self actualization from mining for wealth.

2008

Who are your personal influences?

My biggest fan, my young brother Tawanda Tinarwo. I yearn to exceed his expectations of me, in everything i do.

How do you feel about the current state of the economy?

Low, slow growth for the foreseeable future. The downside – low and slow. The upside – growth.

2012 is an election year so there definitely will be stronger efforts to lower unemployment, lower interest rates, decrease inflation and a focus on GDP growth.