Tag Archives: #2018BOTY

Of Oh Stop It, I Like It #2018BOTY

Day 21 of 25 Days of The Best Of The Year #2018BOTY

If you ask me why I blog, I would probably make some joke about about how I would like to immortalise myself the best way I know how, using the medium of the internet to express myself, sharing the beauty and chaos intertwined in the country I call home and most of all celebrate the magic in my ancestry…….

I cant do magic….. so I write

Even though some people consider blogging a hobby, it is something much more than that, its a tool with possibly far reaching unimaginable consequences, that can change perceptions, raise awareness, giving one the power to document their own history while it is happening and even safeguard our memories from the ravages of time. Long after we are gone our words will live on, if thats not imortality, it should be….

The compliment that made my year was from Pamela when she asked if she could print out a blog post of mine to share with in the journalism class she teaches; on the usefulness of blogs and blogging. How they can easily provide insights on world wide events or simply gain knowledge on living in other countries from the point of view of someone who is there, experiencing the life.

And how can I leave out all the responses to the tweet below, reading them has been making my heart melt. Sometimes I think no one notices the little things I am trying to do and other times I am completely taken by surprise by the blogging community I am a part of; helping to shape and build….

Blogging means comunity

Oh stop it…..

~B

Of Fifty Shades Of Dread #2018BOTY

Day 20 of 25 Days of Blogmas celebrating the Best Of The Year #BOTY2018

What do I know fashion and style trends…….

I am Jon Snow. I know nothing

I would guess its something to do with my hair.

The natural hair trend seems to be catching on like wildfire, some say its because its cheaper to keep your hair au naturel, others are about embracing their selves with pride and no additives…….

As natural hair trends are being accepted in the corporate world as well as some education institutions people no longer have to conform to having only particular hair style and length as the acceptable.

I have heard people jokingly quip:

“MaRasta avakuwanda kudarika vanhu….”

Translation: “The are now more rasta haired persons than people”
Ras Caleb the rascal dread Ras Beaton Ras Tere

Funny thing though, it kinda carries an implication that rasta folk aren’t quite regular people, even when someone is describing a group of people they will zero in on that “yeah I saw 4 people and one rasta” instead of just saying 5 people.

Its crazy weird how random people will walk up to you and greet you like you belong to some super elite, socially conscious group and all you have to do is give a vague rasta nod and they walk away happy…….

Should people meet me walking with my fam like this:

The walking Dread
The walking dread

Its On!

People have such a fascination with dreadlocks that I am not surprised the trend is trending, especially in the circles for creatives; where its almost a signature look. Odds are very high, if you spot someone with locks, they are into some creative art…….

To read in very vague detail about how my hair is the way it is click button below:

Letting it Grow

~B

PS….. So what does your hair say about you?

Of #BlogIndabaWednesday Life is Poetry: SoulfulMiss #2018BOTY

Every Wednesday my blogging circle Blog Indaba The meeting place picks a blogger to crush on and hype them up all over the interwebs because blogging means community^_^

Introducing this week’s Creative Crush Anesu of SoulfulMiss

Sue Nyakubaya Soulfulmiss

Sue is a Poet | Blogger | Writer | Frolover She uses poetry as a way of expressing her thoughts; the soul of a young woman making her way in the world – hence the name of the blog SoulfulMiss

The last series of poetry on her blog were for the 16 Days Of GBV and some a feature posts by various poets

16 Days Activism

Her blog has several expressive pieces but one of my favourites is one of her earliest posts simplistic yet…… deep.

Butterfly

I am bolder
I am proud to be me
I own my struggles
I am beautiful
I am a better version of me!

Like a Butterfly…

Every Wednesday evening, as Afrobloggers we host a twitter poetry session; the Afrobloggers Wednesday Poetry Session #AbWPE.

Afrobloggers Wednesday Poetry Evenings #AbWPE

During the month of November, Sue helped connect and partner with Poetritis group to bring about a fused PoetritisWPE on Wednesdays

My Day 19 post is about an event people must not miss; well why not join us in an evening of Poetry this and every Wednesday on twitter simply follow the hashtag AbWPE and bring your words……. where will the muse lead you?

~B

Of Mutarazi Falls Adventures: Skywalking with Legends of Mount Nyangani #2018BOTY

Day 18 of 25 Days of Blogmas celebrating highlight moments of the year #2018BOTY

There is a Shona proverb “chitsva chiri murutsoka” which translates to; “to experience something new, travel”

Following where the road leads

Inyanga where you so high you can reach up on the tips of your toes and touch the sky, kumakomoyo.

Mount Nyangani

It could be an optical illusion but the clouds feel closer to Earth or is the Earth closer to the clouds, the highest place in Zimbabwe; where the Heavens meets Earth

Mt Nyangani Highest point in Zimbabwe

Located in eastern Zimbabwe, Mt Nyangani is in the northern part of the Eastern Highlands mountain range which comprises of three main mountain groups

  • 1. Nyanga (to the north) which contains:

Mount Nyangani (Zimbabwe’s highest mountain),

Mt Nyangani

Mutarazi Falls (Africa’s second-longest waterfall) 

Mutarazi Waterfalls

and the Honde Valley;

Honde Valley
  • 2. Bvumba Mountains (central)
  • 3. Chimanimani (to the south).

Mount Nyangani is as majestic as it is mysterious, home to myths and legends, its held in awe just as great as it is feared. Cases of people, vanishing, without a trace, in these mountains are neither legend nor myth, they are real…..

This mountain swallows people

Some say an ancient spirit calls these mountains home, others say you might see strange trees with strange human like anatomies and that the mountains are sentient, they never forget……. take a wrong step and you may never be found again.

You didnt read it here but if you have a really talkative friend and you wanted to be rid of them ……. just let them keep talking and the mountain will take care of the rest…….

Image result for warning hiker icon

Far warning to the wayward hiker before venturing into these mountains, you may want to seek permission from the local elders, never stray from the trail and should you encounter anything surreal; such as a strange colourful snake, a smouldering clay pot with no fire in sight or a brick of gold, it’s best to pretend you have not seen anything and just keep moving…..

But dont let the legends scare you away from splendour

World's View Mt Nyanga

How do you fancy a skywalk adventure on the Mutarazi Falls?

Mutarazi falls skywalk

Are you braver than a 3 year old???

If the Skywalk is too tame for you, how about the Skyline; ziplining high above the world

skyline zipline Mutarazi falls

The Mutarazi Adventures

SkyWalk – 2 suspension bridges designed to look like vines above the falls allowing panoramic view of the Mutarazi Falls and its surroundings .
Skyline is a 400 meter long Zipline across the face of the Mutarazi Falls. With the Mutarazi Falls measuring 762m high it is easily counts amongst the highest ziplines in the world

Far and wide Mutarazi Falls skywalk skyline #MutaraziAdventures

for pricing information:

FarAndWide.co.zw

~B

What myths legends and mysteries have you heard about Mount Nyangani and if you been on the Mutarazi adventures how was it?

Photocredit:

Of A Quick Guide To Pinterest #2018BOTY

Day 17 of 25 days of blog posts celebrating highlights from the year #2018BOTY

I opened a Pinterest Account and did not know what to do with it

I have seen people give raving reviews about Pinterest and decided I was doing something wrong, so I decided to learn about it and give you the low down on all things Pinterest

What is Pinterest?


Pinterest, Inc. is a social media web and mobile application company that operates a software system designed to discover information on the World Wide Web, mainly using images and, on a smaller scale, GIFs and videos. 

Wikipedia

Allow me to break it down, Pinterest is a visual search engine. Think of it like Google but for images; imagine it as a weird love child of Google and Instagram which not only gives you images but acts as bookmark to where the images can be found.

Now that you know what it is; 

How to use Pinterest:

When you save an image to Pinterest its called a Pin

You can save pins for various ideas from recipes, hairstyles, blogposts, wedding decor to practically anything you can find on the internet.

To keep your Pins organized, it is recommended that you create Boards under various themes or categories for example mine look like this.

If you want your account to look a lil extra you can create cover images for your boards that follow a particular theme or colour for that professional feel…..

Bloggers; ensure you have a Pin share button enabled at the bottom of your posts so your articles can be pinned. Pin your posts giving brief descriptions and not forgetting to utilise hashtags for maximum reach

  Pinterest is a great place to share your content to an audience who would not primarily be in your regular social media circles but might be searching for something you have written.

For example in the Pinterest search tab; searching Zambezi River God will get you the Nyami Nyami legend and a Pin that leads to a post about the Nyami Nyami Zambezi River God on my site 

For those who want to kick it up a gear and have analytics and other extra options to their account; UPGRADE your Pinterest Account to a Business Account (its free!!!!)

convert to Pinterest Business Account
upgrade pinterest account to business account
pinterest analytics

…. and then also tinker around with the other options like claiming your websites and social media sites.

claim your website on pinterest to get attribution and analytics for your content which may already appear on pinterst

I am still learning this Pinterest thing but we can learn together if you have any handy hints and tips on how to win at Pinterest do share. Feel free drop your account in the comments so I can find you and why not follow other bloggers whose Pinterest links appear in comments.

Follow my Pinterest by clicking click on the button below:

Pinterest: Beatonm05

~B

Of Free Web Hosting #2018BOTY

Day 16 of 25 Days of Blogmas celebrating The Best Of The Year #2018BOTY

If you do not know by now you must know that I am passionate about self-expression, embracing the digital media to add your voice to the world. I am builder of local blogging communities

afrobloggers

Africa has so many untold stories, some almost magical and others well not so beautiful and I watch how people are quick to complain how only a certain kind of story or people get media coverage and funding, well thats what happens when you wait for someone to tell your story they will skip over to the things they want to talk about.

The blogging scene has evolved a long way from where it started, its no longer simply a past-time hobby, its tool that can open up worlds, even change perceptions and gives you the power to write your own history while you are witnessing it…

Sometimes I feel like we are the generation, the past will die with, as we lose ourselves to the future, that is why I write.

If you Google the word marooro the first search result is my blog post on the Zimbabwean traditional marriage ceremony, and just like that even Google thinks I am the go to person, its not because I am an authority on all things culture but because not enough people wrote or tagged it.

In light of this you understand way I was quite excited at what the Free Web Hosting guys are trying to do; offer free Web Hosting services to Zimbabwean Bloggers 

Zimbabwean Bloggers free web hosting

“Our main aim as Free Web Hosting Zimbabwe is to make sure that an online presence is available to any and all who need it, beginning with our creatives and more so the bloggers”

What Is Free Hosting?

The standard 100% free web hosting package comes with:

1G Diskspace

5G Bandwidth

1 Sql Database

5 Emails

*  Domain registration of a .co.zw on our platform costs $8/yr & a .com $13.50/yr. Payments in EcoCash

** offer is available only for local Zimbabweans

I am sure the first thing you will think is there’s got to be a catch right? That whole despise free lunch because well nothing is for free…. or whats in it for them

They are able to offer this package because their holding company Nivacity offers paid hosting packages in South Africa and they had servers laying idle and thought hey why not……..

Free Web Hosting

And watch this space might soon be giving bloggers digital skills to be visible and  survive in the digital space 

~B 

Of Coffee With Stephing Out Loud #2018BOTY

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you its Day 15 of 25 days blogmas celebrating highlight moments of the year #2018BOTY

If you were coffee with me, I would tell you that earlier this year, I met someone I have been friends with, for what feels like forever….

Stephanie Kapfunde #Stephingoutloud

She used to be a radio personality at a local radio station and I would tune in to her show from 6 to 9pm and tweet about it for the radio shout outs and well just to let them know someone was out there listening

If you having coffee with me I would tell you this tweet may or may not have been a story about falling in love with a voice on the radio and falling asleep to the sound of their voice.

Almost six years later we ran into each other at FVDN’s  Creative Hack where she was one of the speakers….

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you Stephanie Kapfunde used to speak for a living and now she is a digital storyteller using New Media to help generations of young Africans to identify themselves while conceptualising Internet based ideas for brands to relate to a growing Afrollennial Market through people, places and experiences.

Thats how her profile reads !!!!! She is doing the things, with Enthuse Afrika with a K

Its strange how we never met all these years even though we seem to move in almost the same circles, maybe the universe was waiting for the world to get ready.

I hope you laced up its about to get interesting

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that I also met her again and the Enthuse team because they were working on the Connect.Hubs project by British Council Zimbabwe and Hivos Southern Africa with training led by NESTA, and support from Electric South , Enthuse Afrika and Young Blood Africa, when 22 Creatives Hubsters met and connected

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you the future looks like collaborations 

Compliments of the festive season

~B

PS have you met any interesting people you know only from the internet in the real world, maybe you are reading this thinking I should meet this guy for a real cup of coffee, yeah lets make it happen

if you have stumbled here why not say hello so I know you been here and yeah feel free to drop a link in the comments and if you see any links at click on them I like to say I roll with awesome company

Afrobloggers Comment thread

Of Awesome Impact: Coffee with Noloyiso #2018BOTY

Day 14 of 25 Days of Blogmas celebrating the best moments of the year 2018 #2018BOTY

The story @Nolo_yiso shared on her blog when she nominated me for an Awesome Impact Award (oh thank you for tagging me by the way)

Awesome Impact Award

A guest post by Noloyiso

If you were having coffee with me – well, I don’t have coffee in my matchbox. Maybe I would go out and buy coffee, you know, in the name of hospitality. Or maybe I would let you choose a tea. Tea is my preference – my matchbox, my rules! There would be a cheese cake – a recipe I recently tried. I also prefer an adventure of the tongue, you see.

If you were having tea with me, we would talk, my Muse, about our daily struggles. I’ve been struggling lately and cannot understand the human selfish nature. We would find some ways to cope with the world we find ourselves in. Over a cup of tea, I would ask you about your life, about what gets you excited. What gets you out of bed every morning.

If you were having tea with me, I would ask you what you think this life is for. What is the point of all the difficulties and all the people we cross paths with. I would want to know what your take is on this. I would want to see if you are living the first half of your life or the second.

If you were having tea with me, I would be constantly checking how your cup of tea was compared to a cup of coffee. I would also share my very easy cheese cake recipe, because of I can make it, anyone can!

Bio

Noloyiso is an English Teacher by day.

Blogger by night.

Lover of the written word. 

 1noloyiso.wordpress.com 

Twitter @nolo_yiso

Insta @nolo_yiso


PS If you wish to take part in the awesome impact award consider yourself tagged


The rules for the challenge are very simple:
1. Tag and thank the person who nominated you;
2. Post your Awesome Impact Award picture;
3. Talk about an incident that impacted your life in a positive way;
4. Nominate other awesome bloggers for the award.

Of Backing Up Data: You are not an elephant #2018BOTY

Day 13 of 25 days of blogposts celebrating The Best Of The Year 2018 #2018BOTY

2018 has been quite a year, it begun as all years do with me saying this as I say at the beginning of every year; “This is it! This my year” as I said the year before that and the year before that and the year before that……

 The year that’s mine

Sometimes life is just like that tough loving teacher who teaches you lessons you need learning and is not particularly concerned with being nice or fun about it.

Image result for strict teacher clip art

I like to think I have a good head above my shoulders and a decent brain between my ears with a fairly good memory to remember all the genius ideas I have. 

Related image

Elephants have remarkable memory

Image result for memory elephant

If I have learnt anything, its that I am not elephant. I need to start writing down my thoughts more and backing up everything.

Image result for good memory clip art

One of my lowest points of the year, coming back from my uncle’s funeral to find out that while I was away;  my laptop grew legs

The laptop thief keep your work backed up

Its so hard to say goodbye; to all the unbacked up drafts which only existed on my laptop, all the thousands and thousands of words and memories which I can never get back.

grief and loss

Keep your valuables backed up, and not just to a local backup hard drive but also sign up for a cloud backup service; in the event of disaster you can get back the important bits and it wont quite feel like the end of the world.

So remember; you are not an elephant; back up your work and Jesus saves 

~B

Photocredit:

                    Cloudwards: Cloud Backup

Of #BlogIndabaWednesday : TeeMadzika #2018BOTY

Every Wednesday my blogging circle Blog Indaba The meeting place picks a blogger to crush on and hype them up all over the interwebs because blogging means community^_^

creative crush

The creative crush for this week is Teemadzika


Pretty much everything has been said before, I just tell it differently or at least I think I do.

Tafadzwa is A fan of all things life especially oxygen |Poet among other things|Foodie and he brings all these things together into a blog with a bit of everything where its always a quarter to quirky

I have been an avid follower of his blog watching it grow just like his hair ha! He thinks he has the good hair but between you and me mine is longer.

My favourite category on his blog is the Stories From An African Childhood

which is about, no prices for guessing the childhood shenanigans he got upto, some of it is relateable, in the way all most parents seem to be the same person and some of it will have you angling your head at an angle thinking to yourself are you for real?

Stories From An African Childhood

Today is also day 12 of 12 days of festivities issa blogmas challenge; one blog post a day celebrating the best of 2018 hashtagged #2018BOTY

One of the things I am super pleased about this year is how people have found inspiration or been mused to explore their creative side and embrace the medium of writing as a means of self-expression 

Its little things like that, finding out someone has also started their own blog because they read yours, or how a comment you make can sway’s someone’s decision; seeing how even the things you thought no one noticed can open up whole new worlds of possibilities….

I am a muse and a brand

Tafadzwa has a fiction series he is working on which can be found in the RANDOM PIECES OF WRITING category:

Chapter 1: A corrupted mind

While we were discussing this story, he mentioned he wanted to do a sequel but didnt want to ruin it, cause well it was some darn fine story, I told him to go for it, and he did.  Its a remarkable feeling when someone who is good at what they do value your opinion like that.

Chapter 2: A corrupted mind
Chapter 3: A corrupted mind
Chapter 4: A corrupted mind

You can find posts by the other members of the BlogIndaba community under the hashtag #BlogIndabaWednesday

Makupsy – 5 Tips On How To Write Attention Grabbing Blog Titles

Dante – Does Poetry Ever Dribble?

EthneticMe – How beautiful is right now? Creative Crush

 

~B