Tag: Shimbwe village

baraka's art - Detail from a hand made bag by Baraka.
Big little stories

Baraka’s art

Around East Africa, I’ve met many young people who make their living by creating for the souvenir industry, out of them, I occasionally meet artists. Baraka is just that, an artist in his soul.

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My Kweme earrings. On the left from the hard inner shell, and on the left from the outer inner shell.
Healing plants & trees

My Kweme earrings

A new and wonderful project started when one day I walked into the kitchen just as the chef finished cracking the unique Kilimanjaro oyster nuts for his famous sauce. I looked at the empty shells with their rich texture and immediately knew what I was going to create from them…

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Chagga tribe grandmother holding the nuts she harvested in her farm
Healing plants & trees

Oyster nuts – super food of the Kilimanjaro

Oyster nuts are a tasty and highly nutritious super food, and everything about them fascinates me. Kweme in Swahili, it’s definitely another one of Mother Earth’s wonders and a special gift to the mountain dwellers. The nuts, that grow inside a kind of a giant green gourd, have a unique connection to the heritage of the Chagga tribe among which I live…

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girl with rag ball
African inspiration

Childhood games

The village kids in my Kilimanjaro home, Shimbwe village, as many other African kids, are very creative with their games. Without excess of store-bought toys that are imposed on Western kids, nature is their play ground. Childhood games in the safe embrace of the community are a vital and integrated way of learning and maturing into healthy adult life. Hope you’ll get inspired by this…

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Online talks & workshops

Here you’ll find information on my online workshops and lectures straight from the Black Continent to your living room. Excited to meet online and share with you the deep tribal wisdom I’ve been collecting here for the last two years!

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Africa black gold
Travel tips

Black gold of Africa

Read about the people behind the amazing Arabica coffee grown in East Africa- the black gold of Africa. Here you’ll also find great coffee tours for your own visit to East Africa!

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Rosemary Ludovick Kinyaiya
Rites of passage

Rosemary’s coming of age story

This is the story of a woman from a far away tribe and her coming of age ceremony.
A woman who’s still carrying fragrances of a heritage that has long been forgotten in many parts of Africa, just as it has been forgotten by us. Now is time for remembering …

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Travel tips

Kumbu kumbu

Kumbu kumbu means memories in Swahili. Whenever I get the chance, I make copies of my pictures and give them as gifts to the people I’ve met along the way.
Nothing could have prepared me for the joy and heart felt gratitude I received in return. It brought me to tears…

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African inspiration

About a boy

The walk down the Kanga river and all that happened on the way. A story about people and community on the slopes of the Kilimanjaro.

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