The myth of being exotic

I once watched a YouTube video of these two female teenage American poets/ musicians. They were dealing with the issue of race because they were brown skinned.. well unless you knew them, you could easily mistake them for various ethnic backgrounds.... they could be Hispanic or mixed race or of black origin.
I listened to part of their music and poetry, it was really moving because they are what they are. People kept asking them, where are you from? What is your origin? That is because we as humans like to have a grasp of everything. We love to have knowledge of all our surroundings, even if it means to make others uneasy or even make ourselves uncomfortable. That is why people travel thousands of miles to other lands to make discoveries. We are just too curious for our own good.

So back to the teenagers. I sort of felt sorry for them because they had to defend themselves because to be sincere, they also do not know where they come from. America has a long history of immigration and when you are born in the last century, your origin is America. But then again, America was originally for the native Indians who currently almost do not exist. The country is made up of immigrants who went there or were taken there for different reasons.

I feel privilleged and almost lucky to say that I am from Uganda. I am born in Uganda, my parents are Ugandan. When I look at my son, it is not that easy for him either because he can not really say he is completely Ugandan or completely Dutch because he is half half. And almost does not count as they say. Just because he is born in the Netherlands, does not mean he is Dutch. And to be honest, there are more black people with his complexion than white people.
If I was born in China, would I be Chinese?...of course not! I do not look Chinese. Even when I would speak the language fluently, eat the food, live the lifestyle and so on, I would still be black and people would still be referring to me as black or African.Just that I would probably have Chinese nationality.

When I started my company; Biri Biri that teaches East African culture, it was also a critic on myself because I had a child in Europe and it is extra effort to teach him the values of my native land. It does not come as easy as it does back home even if the child is surrounded by people from your native land. The child has to balance two very different cultures. At school he is taught something different, at home he/she gets different ideas from mummy and daddy and the cycle goes on.

The ways of my motherland or most African countries are very contrary to the lifestyle in Europe.
Where I come from, I am a product of my parents so I have to be completely loyal and almost subordinate. I almost have no say whatsoever in most of the decision making made as long as I am in the house / hands of my parents. If you are not so conversant with this type of upbringing, you can say it is child abuse or extremely unfair.

Even at this very point, if my mother was to slap me or say something extremely hurtful, I have no right to say something back or retaliate. On the contrary, in my current location, you have the right to stand up for yourself even if it means against family or people older than yourself.

Even still, we as African parents, let us not rob our children of what is rightfully theirs. A couple of weeks holidays to Africa does not do it. We have to practice on a daily because charity begins at home. It will be so sad if at one point your child does not feel connected to your origins and you will entirely be to blame.

It is such a beautiful thing to raise a biracial child because he gets to see both worlds. Two very different worlds, and that does not necessarily have to be negative. Like I said in my previous blog titled "Children"...... If we teach children about other people's cultures, we teach them tolerance. And the biggest problem we have in the world right now is that we do not want to tolerate each other. Once someone does not understand someone else, then it is interpreted as "He who is not for me, is against me".

When I was still living and studying in England, many people made fun of my accent because it was a bit too African... whatever that meant. Is Africa one unit? Someone from Lesotho surely does not sound like someone from Ghana. Even if both spoke English. And sometimes I did feel embarrassed by it, not that I hated my origin but that people made all sorts of bad associations. Africa is full of disease, hunger, war, dangerous wild animals and all sorts of stereotypical connotations.

But on the other hand, when I moved to the Netherlands, I received a much different reception. People thought I was special that I had traveled all the way from Uganda to come and study in Amsterdam. They were very curious and sometimes it was a bit overwhelming.
Also the fact that there are so many foreigners in Amsterdam, you as an individual do not stand out anymore. So in this way you are part of the crowd which I so longed for while I was in London.

But it is 2012 and more people have traveled to Africa, and they know that it is a place you have to visit before you die. And now it is cool to be African. Just like when I was younger it was cool to be Jamaican or American. Somehow now different people have discovered their African roots. Fashion designers are using African fabric and more dark skinned models and so on.
There is more coming still... we are not done yet!!

Mama Africa

I started traveling away from home at an early age of 19. I moved to London for study and enrolled into a college in the East and there my journey to self-reliance, motivation and knowledge started.

I have been exposed to several cultures in my travels and this is something I am so used to even when I was back home. In my native country Uganda, it is also very mixed due to the fact that it is the U.N Base for the turmoil going around the East African region. There is war in Sudan that is north, Congo that is in the west, Somalia that is further northeast and currently some unrest from Rwanda in the South.

The Netherlands is the only European country that I have lived for a long period together with England. One thing I noticed in England was the fact that, all people of all races were involved in all aspects of the economy. It seemed usual until I came to the Netherlands where a small part of immigrants was actually quite involved in prestigious parts of the economy.

Most African people I see in the Netherlands are manual labourers. Very few are really contributing to the economic sector in terms of white-collar jobs or higher education based work. Many Africans I know came here as asylum seekers or were born to parents who were asylum seekers.

But even these children born to asylum seekers who speak Dutch and went to Dutch school, I do not see many of them in big posts. Where are all the Dutch-speaking Africans? I came to the Netherlands in 2006 to study, I had a child during the course in 2008 and completed in 2011. I went to art school so I somehow knew that when I am done with school; the chances of a real job were as slim as ones of an actor or a ballet dancer.

The economy these days is looking for more job creators rather than job seekers. It took me a while before I came up with the concept of teaching East African culture in Holland. I too looked for a job at some point until it dawned on me that if I can start up something especially about my culture, it would be inspirational enough to maybe open doors for other Africans. Teaching my own culture to other people is something many Africans can do in different ways, as I know one Ugandan gentleman that has a dance school. Several food shops and supermarkets sell African food and products.

It is never too late to do something inspirational or developmental. This mentality is in many Africans I know. They feel they are too old to go back to school or to start from scratch. We Africans are driven with making money and looking after our families that we forget to make ourselves happy. Therefore, instead of someone going back to school, they would rather start making money straight away as a cleaner or waitress as it does not need much or any training.

There is nothing wrong with waiting tables or cleaning because I did it, I had to make ends meet especially when I was still at university. However, for someone with more potential or has been highly educated, it is not supposed to be on going or long-term. At one point, one has to work towards getting out of that situation and go for greener pastures.

I will not say that this being a foreign country, people do not feel comfortable planning long term because in English speaking countries, Africans are doing big things. I have several Ugandan friends in England working in the Pharmaceutical industry, Law firms and other big sectors of the economy.

In my opinion, the language also matters. Much as we might learn Dutch here, as long as you are not born in the Netherlands or did not come here at an early age, it will always be a struggle to speak it fluently. In addition, the moment you cannot speak the language well, many things are a struggle.

But in countries like England, also the fact that many African countries are former English colonies, the opportunities are immense. That means in educational facilities, job opportunities and also health care. On the other hand, in the Netherlands, as long as you are a foreigner, you have to pay a lot more than residents in terms of education and in job selection, you are not priority.

The first selection that is made for job opportunities is the Dutch, then the Dutch speaking foreign community (with permanent residence), then the EU members. After all these are exhausted, then the rest can follow. My heart bleeds when I see a foreigner who was once a university professor reduced to cleaning or another form of manual labour.

Nevertheless, if we put more gas on that paddle and try to be our own entrepreneurs, things can move more smoothly. When you start up something, you encourage other people in your position to do something too. In addition, the government loves self-made entrepreneurs. People are more willing to sponsor something that is self made than just sitting back and waiting for things to start and then you follow.

The economy is quite strict right now with the spread out recession but that does not mean we sit back and feel sorry for ourselves.  Start a course of 6 months or a year in Child Care and be an independent gastouder/ official babysitter that takes care of children in his/ her house. From there, you can move up and develop your career and yourself step by step.

We have the tool and power to make things happen for ourselves and those in a similar position. Time is of the essence, if we do not set an example for the coming generation, we will be reduced to nothing but manual labour. Yet we are much more than that! Habits and mentalities are easily passed on generation to generation and before you know it, it defines who people are because that is all you have to offer. This is what people see in you, that is what they will expect of you.

Once there is  a certain mentality in people, that is much harder to change than behaviour. You can correct someone in the way they speak or eat as an individual, though it might take a while and so much effort. It is a different story if his/ her great grand parents did the same, his grand parents and parents too. This is like erasing something written in ink.... You will just tear the paper.

But humankind is not completely helpless, I have immense faith in man. I have even greater hope in mama Africa and her children. She will rise again but only if we are willing to rise with her. We may complain about this and that, about how the West exploits us but if we are just paying lip service, nothing will happen.

We are our own heroes and heroines, let us not give up on each other!!

Children

Children are the future of tomorrow.

Let us teach them about other people's cultures and ways of living... Give them an open mind about their surrounding and things outside their environment.
When you educate a child, you are improving the quality of his/her future.

Biri Biri works with children of all ages. I am a mother myself and there is no greater joy than that of raising your child. I teach my child about my roots in Uganda and try to incorporate this in his day to day life. This includes teaching him politeness, greeting before being greeted, always be grateful and complain less, always respect anybody older than you. It is a step by step activity but it works out successfully.

Children are very curious about themselves and also what surrounds them. They are willing to learn new things and can grasp much faster than adults.
When a child learns about other people's cultures, they learn tolerance. Because to be tolerated, you have to learn tolerance.

There are several advantages of teaching a child with Biri Biri.

1) They learn about the different ways other people live (i.e the people of East Africa). They also learn about how kids in the East African region live and interact with each other.

2) They get to know that as human beings, we are not any different. Just like flowers in a garden, they are of different colours, origin, formations and sizes but are still flowers. They are all special and the many colours make the garden more beautiful.

3)They learn to tolerate the different. Just because something is not exactly what you are used to, does not mean it is wrong or negative. You might think your neighbour is "different" but maybe your neighbour also looks at you as strange. If we do not have tolerance, we are stuck in the same areas and may not move forward.

4)Not only are the children teachings at Biri Biri educative, they are also very enjoyable. The children workshops are very interactive for instance there are painting/drawing lessons, story telling, crafts making, short films, dancing sessions, dressing up and so many more.


This was at a book reading session at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam on 14th October 2012 at the Kinderboekenweek. The museum hired me to do some research on children folk stories in Uganda. I worked in the "Verhalen uit Afrika" section and read several stories to different children.  The challenge was to find stories that were suitable for children and had a universal moral message. In a way that any child from any country would not only understand the message behind the story but also enjoy it.

Hello World

Biri Biri is a business that wants different people of different ages and types to enjoy and experience Uganda and East Africa in both educational and enjoyable way.

I teach people in Netherlands/Europe who are interested in East African culture, this can be tourists, children, travel agencies, companies within Europe or the Netherlands that want to expand their market in Africa, people planning to work in East African region or just individuals that are interested in the culture and the way the natives live.

Biri Biri means "two by two" in my native language; Luganda. It is a one man business that was started by myself in June 2012.

I have traveled a lot during my study period in Europe and have experienced different cultures. I thought with my knowledge of my own culture and also Netherlands being the only European country where I have stayed long enough to study the culture thoroughly. I decided to do something with this knowledge. I wrote a book about my experience of both Ugandan and Dutch culture for my graduation at the Rietveld Academie titled, “Short Stories and No Letters”.

Inspired by the book, I decided that this subject, building a bridge between the Netherlands and East Africa, should be the core of my business. I love to teach people about East African culture in different ways. For instance about the do's and don'ts, what is expected of a man/ woman in society, the celebration of the first born child, initiation ceremonies, weddings, games children play, cooking, dressing up for different occasions and so much more.

Realising that the Netherlands is very involved with East Africa in terms of fundraising, aid and also agriculture wise (fish, coffee, cacao and flowers). So there is already a connection, but it came to me that not many people actually knew much about East Africa even though they were involved with it. So it came to me that there’s a business opportunity!

In order for someone's business to thrive, you have to know your market or the people you are dealing with. In my culture, it is very easy to offend people with the slightest gesture or facial expression. But to many that have not grown up there or do not know the culture, this may not be the case. This is where my input is very useful because I can bring the two parties together together.

Also when you are going for holiday in Africa or the tropics, there can be many things you might know but not in detail or precisely. Even if you are planning on a short visit, you will interact with locals. For instance it is internationally known that we greet with the right hand but in some cultures in Africa, shaking an elder's can be interpreted as disrespectful by the natives.

Learning another culture is always very interesting, you get to know the similarities we have as human beings but also the differences that make us special. I believe that much as people may love to learn about East African culture, it is also very important that we teach our children too. Children are the future of tomorrow and if we teach them to appreciate others just like they do to themselves, we will educate a nation. And by nature children are very curious to know what is outside their environment.