"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men, true nobility comes from being superior to your former self." - Ernest Hemingway
Wathanga Photos is using photography to give the world a decent glimpse of the larger Africa by traveling across a few African nations and capturing a fraction of the beauty that abounds in our land; just enough to pique our curiosity and hopefully disabuse us of the notion that it's always, war, hunger and desolation in these parts of the world.
These beautiful landscapes, the food, the rich culture and music, contribute, to a small percentage, to why I'm an afro-optimist! The main reason why I'm a huge believer in Africa is the incredible potential and zeal I feel in my daily interactions with fellow African youth. This post is for all the game-changing African youth who've crossed my path since I set out on this blogging journey. For every African who believes they deserve better, has began to demand better and is slowly becoming better. For all the people who share this vision of African prosperity, that's slowly but certainly becoming a reality. Thank you for playing your part in permanently re-writing Africa's story.
Here are some images of the Africa we so fondly speak of:
These beautiful landscapes, the food, the rich culture and music, contribute, to a small percentage, to why I'm an afro-optimist! The main reason why I'm a huge believer in Africa is the incredible potential and zeal I feel in my daily interactions with fellow African youth. This post is for all the game-changing African youth who've crossed my path since I set out on this blogging journey. For every African who believes they deserve better, has began to demand better and is slowly becoming better. For all the people who share this vision of African prosperity, that's slowly but certainly becoming a reality. Thank you for playing your part in permanently re-writing Africa's story.
Here are some images of the Africa we so fondly speak of:
Elephant trail at Mosi Oa Tunya National Park in Zambia.
Can you feel Mount Meru calling out for you?
Last day of 2015. Sailing into the new year!
Kande Beach, Lake Malawi.
Sunrise at Chitimba beach, Malawi.
Doesn't this remind you of that default Windows XP background? African landscapes for the win.
Victoria Falls on the Zambian side. The more you look at it, the more you realize that God was just showing off here!
Look around you, what do you see? Will you choose to focus on the mud huts, the towering mountain, the infrastructure, the clear blue skies or the harmony with which all the wealth in this single image co-exists?
I hope these amazing shots inspire more African youth to use their gifts to share Africa's story from within. To showcase the beauty of Africa, everyday, by their words and deeds. To be fully comfortable and confident in our identity as Africans. Here's to an Africa that believes in herself, is beginning her journey to greatness and becoming the incredible land we all know she should be. And here's to all of us Africans, playing our various roles in taking her there. Here's to nobility and being better than our former selves! Welcome back to Shaping African Conversations!
NB: Many thanks to Brian Gatimu, founder of Wathanga Photos for the images and captions and to Mweru Kara for providing the title to this post!