Dream African Child

Most African parents are big on their children excelling academically.  Show me a parent who doesn’t want their child to be the best student in each class and I’ll show you a liar. It’s not a bad thing at all; we want the best for our children.  However, the creative child seems to suffer if their strong point isn’t academics.  How many of us have heard our parents say, “Why can’t you be like Chido, she’s always first in class?”.  It seems they do a great job of comparing us to the child from several house holds away but never take time to find out what it is we’re actually good at.  Trying to get a child to conform to societal standards, telling them that their dream to be the best tennis player in the world or continuously highlighting their mistakes is the order of the day in most homes.  You could be the next big musician that ever came out of your country but will African parents hear any of that?  All you’re supposed to be focused on is being first in class, nothing else matters.

Unfortunately we can’t keep “beating” our parents especially now that we are parents ourselves.  Those scars take a while to go away and that’s why our generation will do things differently.  We have experienced and observed how limiting your child can work against them and we’ve also seen how nurturing their calling can do wonders for them.  You can read about how I’m faring where parenting is concerned over here.

Nobuhle

Today my creative crush is Nobuhle.  I love her blog because just like me it’s her space to express herself.  My earlier thoughts were inspired from one of her blog posts titled A Boy Can Dream.  That post got me so fired up I realised if I was to write anymore I’d end up forgetting that today is all about her space.

Her blog was birthed after her father’s death.  She was searching for a way to heal or just something that would help “ease her pain” and when she couldn’t find anything she decided to just write it down and release it into the world.  The first person she told about her blog was her brother and he was excited about the idea and encouraged her to give the idea a go.

She has 4 categories on her blog.  My Heart, Dear Diary, Short Stories and Wanderlust.  I had to check with Google for the definition of Wanderlust, it’s one of those words you see but never bother to actually find out what they mean.  Turns out Wanderlust; the word comes from German, in which wandern means “to wander,” and Lust means “desire.  I learn everyday 🙂

What I love about her blog is that her writing is simple.  It feels like she’s speaking to you, I like that, a lot.  Her page is clean and crisp and her visuals are eye catching.  The best part of all is her blog posts are short and to the point.  I’m not a fan of never ending reads and if you’re like me you’ll enjoy reading her pieces.  However, I feel that though I love her work Nobuhle needs churn out new content regularly to get her readers coming back for more.

I asked her what she would like to accomplish from her blogging experience and she told me that “I would like to write a book eventually, like Maya Angelou typa books like letters to my daughter.”  I wish her well on her journey and who knows, some day I’ll be telling people I once featured her on my blog and no one will even believe me…sigh.

Her number 1 tip for anyone who wants to start blogging is; Have a plan and know WHY you writing that why will always push you.

You can find Nobuhle on www.ethneticme.com you will also find all her social media links from her page, she’s everywhere.

Blog Indaba The Meeting Place Community will be doing a creative crush this and every Wednesday.  You will never run out of a good read from here on.

Beaton: Blog Indaba Wednesdays : Ethnetic Me

Ubu:Then My Heart Heard A Voice

TeeMadzika: Wednesday Share A Creative

What are your thoughts on parenting.  What did your parents feed your mind and what will you do differently when you become a parent?  

©MaKupsy 2018