If you were having coffee with I would welcome you to my socially distanced corner of the internet and greet you in the Zulu language: Sawubona which literally translates to I see you. I think it’s a simple yet profound greeting that encompasses our existence that we exist and someone can see us, all of us, our joy, our pain, triumphs and struggles and we matter.
Sawubona
I was thinking about this last night when I tuned into an award ceremony I had all but forgotten about. See I was nominated for the MIPAD 100 Most Influential People of African Descent 2021 while I didn’t make it to the finalists it was inspiring being among some of the notable dignitaries present from Vice Presidents to people from Warner, CNN, and even one of the fastest women on earth Elaine Thompson-Herah.
I was touched by the way the spirits of the awards is captured in the ceremony which is not referred to as awards but rather RECOGNITION CEREMONY to say that we see the work you are doing and appreciate you. While I was never expecting to make the finalists I did feel a twinge of envy that I also want to be seen and recognised, so yeah if you see me just let me know you see me ^_^.
We will be having our second African Blogging Awards this December and the nomination phase is in progress. Actually, nominations should have closed last night but the Afrobloggers site received more traffic than it could handle that for a while it was offline, the problem got rectified but for the inconvenience that happened the nomination phase has been extended till the 5th of October. So if you are reading this before then and you have African Bloggers you wish to nominate go to http://www.Afrobloggers.org.zw
Oh, yeah and you cant nominate me because well, I’m part of the Afrobloggers Team. I was pleasantly surprised to find had made the news, I haven’t bought a newspaper in like ages but I did buy a copy of this one just so I could say hey that is us, it’s a certain kinda of being seen too.
If you are having coffee with me I would tell you that the awards serve to celebrate creativity, dedication and responsible storytelling as a way of bringing recognition to the digital storytellers who are doing amazing things using online spaces. Blogging has come a long from when it was simply online journals now its evolved into so much more.
Afrobloggers got invited onto Dutch’s show Tech Thursdays on Heart and Soul TV to talk about content creator networks and of course the upcoming awards.
Anyhow I went to the show alongside fellow blogger Scotch Royalty. It was a fun experience I am more used to being behind the screen typing away and never quite the subject of focus. You can check out the interview on the Heart and Soul FaceBook Page ^_^
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell after almost a year of not shaving my beard I finally decided; why not? My going excuse was usually because lockdown …I couldn’t get to a barber and that I had lost my hair clippers. I bought a new pair of clippers and trimmed away to look respectable for TV you know ^_^
And speaking of recognition but of another kind, a restaurant chain has been caught in a media storm after they donated a fully equipped restaurant to the first lady’s Agel Of Hope Foundation where less privileged girls can be employed . The president opened the already open restaurant because well can never miss an opportunity to have an official opening.
Some people were calling for people to boycott the restaurant chain because it was perceived to be aligning itself with regime while others were celebrating that the restaurant had joined the ruling side, depending on which side of the political divide one views the world. Politics appears to be very polarized and people will lynch you for being on a side that is not. As for me, I cant boycott a place I have never been to.
There is no way a business can flourish in Zimbabwe without keeping the ruling party on its good side, donations, campaign funds and generally not showing overt support to opposition political parties, it just is what it is.
It’s like when you wake up and find the Kampala Metro Police Twitter Account is following you on Twitter you be like wow, did they like my Tweets so much? Am I a person of interest, are they watching me? They followed my account after following the President of Uganda’s account I am totally counting that as a recognition of sorts and now where is my verification badge ^_^
Hello October new month and all, what’s been happening in your corner of the world? Can you see me?
~B
Lol! You’re Ugandan! 😂
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Should just get my citizenship papers 🤣🤣🤣
~B
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Sawubona ~ I see you! 😉 Congratulations for being nominated for MIPAD, that’s so AWESOME! You rock and you look good too. Funny how long hair can get. Thanks for the coffee B, and for you being you! 😁
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Thank you Diana yebo sawubona 😉
Haha as for the hair was asking someone what my hair length is called it’s definitely longer than waist length right🤣🤣 where does a guy’s waist even begin or end😆
Thank you for the visits
~B
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Lol amazing how you can connect all things in one post..
Congrats on the nomination, beard cut tingz
Lol at being followed by other peeps lol you are special
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🤣🤣🤣 everything is connected
Beard trim looks good except I forgot one tiny thing how wearing a face mask feels irritating on new grown stubble
As for those other followers I am taking that as recognition that I should get a verification badge been on need been on TV 🤣🤣🤣
~B
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Sawubona! I’m in South Africa and I have Bar exams coming up, a bit anxious but pretty confident in my preparation this time around, still have 2 weeks of studying. Besides that, it is supposed to be the second month of spring yet it is actually freezing, yet it is also pouring rain. Climate change is really something else.
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All the best with the exams 🙏
As for the weather it’s supposed to be summer now but it’s freezing too not raining as such but the was a bit of a drizzle it’s like the weather is confused can’t make up its mind if it’s still winter or summer maybe it’s sinter 🤣🤣
~B
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It is really confused! Thank you🙏
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It is really confused! Thank you🙏
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Thank you. Lol, it is definitely sinter!
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Reblogged this on her wrights and commented:
Sanibona! I really enjoyed this blog.
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Thank you
~B
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Sawubona and congratulations on your nomination you really are doing amazing work.
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Appreciate thank you for the support 😇
~B
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Sawubona Beaton, Sawubona! I wonder if I can say the sawubona phrase more than once like I just did. Otherwise, Congs upon that milestone and also, why is Ugandan Police following you? Are you a secret agent of sorts?🤔
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I’m sure you can like how someone can say “hello hello hello” 🤣
Thank you Brenda
Could I be a secret agent and not know about it? 🤔 like a sleeper agent in the Manchurian Candidate hmmm
But really why are they following me?? 🤣
They just think I’m a very important person too 😎
~B
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Hahaha important person, until you’re in a cell for reasons you can’t explain
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Sawubona B, how does one pronounce that phonetically ? Is it Saw-woo-bone-ah ?
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I wish one could add audio to comments hmmm let’s see phonetic guide would be
sow:bɔh:nah
~B
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Sweet thanks, think I’ll start using that
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Beaton – for us from a different large land mass, you should help us with pronunciation. Is it,
Sah-woo-bone-a or
Saw-oo-boa or ???
This would be cool to know and drop into conversations to see who’s been paying attention 🤔
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Love it and congratulations
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Thank you so much for visiting
~B
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Even though you didn’t make it to the finals, CongratZ on being nominated!
And CongratZ on the TV event. You have a great presence that seems to be ever-growing, which is amazing.
People will boycott any and everything these days, no matter the purpose of the business. Sad.
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Congrats on being nominated. I think everyone should follow you cause your blogs rock.
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