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Permalink for 'Something That Happens to A Lot of Newbie Immigrants That’s Almost Never Discussed'

23:02

Something That Happens to A Lot of Newbie Immigrants That’s Almost Never Discussed

I get the strange feeling I have written this article before: if I have, apologies but recent discussions I have had have added some greater depth to this topic area.

Growing up I have always had this sense that I was pretty alright. Even in my lowest emotional points, my self-esteem and honest belief that I had the potential to get out of it and surpass it has always been in tact.

This combined with my rather idiosyncratic personality and interests has resulted in many of my peers and superiors classifying me as shall we say, arrogant.

Now There are 3 Potential Reasons People Might Say That

1) Because people think I really shouldn’t be that confident about things so different from what they are confident about (after all, humility is not exactly a mark of the African personality so it can’t be a pure aversion to over-confidence)

2) I might actually be a little too confident and up my own posterior.

3) Reasons that I don’t know or understand

This is the story of how I realized that my self-confidence doesn’t really mean squat. Just because I think I’m worth something doesn’t mean other people are obligated to do so.

This is also the story of how this may happen to you when you immigrate overseas. Or if you are already here in the diaspora, this might be a story you have already experienced or heard about.

From Hero to Zero to Hero to Zero

I have told the story of how I came to Australia with a head big enough to fit its own Milky Way and how I went from the coolest new accessory in the country to about as desirable as a rash in the middle of the night.

But Here’s the Thing

As I was talking to people over the course of this week I realized: it has happened to other people too. Now give me a “Hell yeah!” if this has ever happened to you.

The Story

1) You arrive in a new country

2) You enter a new school, new place of worship, new sports group or any new social group within your host country.

3) That first week/month you make a bunch of new friends and you make great connections. You may even get telephone numbers and begin making plans for the future.

4) You are happy that you are in a new country and you are thankful that folks are so friendly.

When the Doody Hits the Fan

5) Might be your second week/month, third week/month or much later but it begins when you are passing one of your new friends in the hall.

You say, “Hi”

They say……………….NOTHING! They just pass you in the hall as though they never met you.

6) At this point you may get a little confused. This doesn’t happen to you. Where you’re from, when people were acquantances or friends, they at the very least acknowledge each other.

Rinse and Repeat

7) And then you get ignored again and again and again.

Before you realize it, you have lost most if not all of the new friends you made.

9) No one ever wrote the manual on how to handle the situation like this and so as much as you might try to feel otherwise you feel one, or a combination of the feelings below:

a) Worthless and not special at all.

b) Confused

c) Angry and spiteful at the people who have rejected you

d) Very very very alone.

If You Have Ever Gone Through This

Or know someone who has, feel free to leave a comment below and tell me all about it and tell me how you got over it.

If You are About to Immigrate Overseas

Especially Australia, be aware that this might happen to you. It doesn’t always happen, but from time to time this does happen. It has happened to me and this week, I met two other people who it has happened to.

So don’t be shocked, don’t be scared, don’t be confused, you are not alone, there are other folks who have gone through it two.

Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter

I have some tips for handling that situation in my free email newsletter: the Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter which you can sign up for by putting your first name and email address into the boxes below.

I Hate Spam, So I Won’t Share Your Email With Anyone.

Hope I have helped articulate some things that some of y’all have felt for a long time but have never had articulated.

For Some Added Depth

Check out the guest post that gal africana did where she added some flavour to this topic.

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

Permalink for 'Are You Interested in Podcasting?'

12:04

Are You Interested in Podcasting?

» ‎ The Displaced African

Permalink for 'My 4 Hour Work Week Journey: Niche Selection and Cash Flow Muses'

12:04

My 4 Hour Work Week Journey: Niche Selection and Cash Flow Muses

» ‎ The Displaced African

This is day 11 (well in truth much longer, probably 2-3 months now but my 10th post) of My 4 Hour Work Week Journey. Please make sure you read the rest of the articles that came before this one to understand where I am in the journey. Click here to buy a copy of the 4 hour work week and go on the journey with me.

**For English subtitles please select “Danish” from the “Choose Language….” drop down menu**

It took me more than 6 weeks to find a niche and as I type this I have known the niche I wish to target for quite a few weeks.

Nevertheless, for your benefit I would like to walk you through my niche selection process.

Stage in the Process

As those of you who have read, or are reading the book would know, as soon as Tim finishes introducing us to the concept of outsourcing your life, he immediately moves to the area which was to me the most seductive and compelling part of the book: cash flow muse creation.

What is a Cash Flow Muse?

A cash flow muse is a business/organization/system that exists for one purpose and one purpose only: to generate your target monthly income so you can live your ideal lifestyle.

This business isn’t created for the sake of growth, to sell at IPOs, for you to have a job your passionate about. Nope, it’s there so you have enough money to live your ideal lifetsyle: that’s it.

What I Love About the Idea of Cash Flow Muses?

One of the principles I am absolutely enamoured by, especially of late, is what I lovingly call:

The Principle of Specificity

The Principle of Specificity in short is an art or a science of being specific whether that means being clear and concise in thinking, in action, in language or in intention.

In short, someone gets extremely clear and extremely specific on what they want, need, have to get done etc etc go out and do it.

I love the fact that a cash flow muse has a very very very specific purpose as opposed to an abstract or an ambiguous or vague objective like:

To provide quality widgets for all your daily needs or;

To make a living or;

To become the greatest company in the world.

Nope, Tim sat down and basically asked himself what exact dollar amount he would need to live a lifestyle that would make him happy and created a business to fund that. How rare is that level of specificity and clarity of intention?

So now let’s move on to:

How I Found My Niche

So here are the steps I took to find out what demographic I want to attempt to market to:

1) Went to my local Borders book store: We have a number of book stores in Australia but I opted to go to one that is a short while away from my house- Borders -rather than stay close to home for a few reasons:

a) Borders is HUGE: In terms of pure size, Borders has the biggest stores of the bookshops down under and larger size automatically means greater selection and I wanted as large a selection as possible.

b) Borders allows you to read books for free: Ever since the days when I used to run away from school to read books at Borders (yes, I see the irony), they had me at that policy where you could sit in there as long as you want and read as many books and magazines as you want.

They even have a cafe in the store so you can feed and water yourself while doing this. Ever since then, I always take my book or DVD business to borders.

2) Went to the Magazine Rack: Tim recommends you pick a niche that is serviced by 1 or 2 small magazines. Below, I have video of the magazines that I selected.I selected magazines from the following niches:

a) Writing as a profession

b) Vegetarianism

c) Sustainable and environmentally conscious living

3) Disappointed: To be honest with you I was quite disappointed at my selections because:

a) I hardly qualify as a professional writer

b) I am not in touch with the psychological and social aspects of being a vegetarian in the West, except for going for the occasional cooking class, and;

c) I haven’t put in concentrated, consistent effort into sustainable living for quite a while now.

Therefore, while I was in the mall I decided I would:

4) Pay a Visit to the Newsstand: Here I picked up two other magazines, in the area of making money and home based businesses (check out my Youtube video above).I still wasn’t elated because I hardly qualify to be a part of that niche either but I decided I had enough selections and I went home to proceed to the next stage of muse selection.

5) Emailed and Called the Advertising Director’s and Requested Rate Cards: We wanted magazines that had the following characteristics:

Circulation of 5000+ people

Full page advertising cost less than US$5000

The greater the number of people selling to magazine readers direct via ads that had websites and 1800 numbers, the better.

Another tip I got from the legendary, Gary Halbert:

Select magazines that get sold on newsstands and do well on news stand sales in comparison to strictly subscription titles. It is too easy and cheap to get a subscription to a magazine.

You only pick up a magazine of a newsstand if you need something that day that the magazine is offering.

6) The Process of Elimination Went a Little Something Like This:Emailed and called all the magazines over the course of 3 weeks and obtained their rate cards and circulation numbers:

* Vegeterian magazine : Full page ad = approximately US $22,000

* Sustainable living magazine: Great advertising rates, great circulation. Don’t know squat about the lifestyle and not very passionate at the moment about this niche.

* Writing magazine # 1: Not enough readers + Not enough expertise on my part.

* Writing magazine # 2: Not much interest in the topic area. Never got back in touch with me with rates.

7) No Niche! That pretty much meant that I eliminated everything I had done in the previous six steps and was without a niche.

What Did I Do?

Well one of the things I had to do in establishing my target daily income was decide just what I wanted to do with my time.

Because I am a Blogging Geek

I love the world of Internet marketing and the world of commercial blogging. One of the things that I found that I thought would be very cool to attend if I had money at the time is Blog World Expo. So I went to the site and signed up to join their newsletter.

Well Wouldn’t You Know It

Just as I was sitting around in the midst of my “Can’t-find-a-muse-how-will-I-find-one” despair I received one of the Blog World Expo newsletters and wouldn’t you know it:

There is a Magazine…….Wait for It……Wait for It……Drumroll Please…..:

For Bloggers and Podcasters!!!

* I checked out the circulation: Great

* I checked out the price of advertising: Great

* I checked out some of their back issues: Average in terms of the number of people selling to readers directly; about 10 - 20 people selling directly

* Subscription vs Newstand magazine: Subscription only as far as I can tell so again average

* Passion for the topic and willingness to investigate and establish expertise: HIGGHHHH

And so ladies and gentlemen that is how I settled on my niche:

Bloggers and Podcasters

And on the next edition we talk about what I have done (actually am doing) now that I have found a niche I want to operate in.

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

Update: My preliminary testing has shown me that this product is a go….so ladies and gentlemen today on the 26th of August 2008 (you will be reading this after that date) let me announce that I shall be creating my first online information product……:D excitement

12:04

Mwangi and Coach Caroline Discuss Culture Shock and the Psychology of African Immigrants

» ‎ The Displaced African

Let me apologize for constantly interjecting with”Yup!”, “Yes!” and “Mh mh” all the time. The mindset I went into this audio with was that it was a discussion as opposed to an interview and so that’s why I kept making those interjections.

That aside, I think this interview is extremely valuable.

Repetition of Truth

It is amazing how whenever one pauses to ask questions like:

What holds people back abroad?

You get the same answers again and again and again and again. One of them is:

When people immigrate abroad, they forget that they are not just competing with their peers or learning from their countrymen but competing and learning from people from all over the world.

So listen to this audio and you may pick up something new, but at the very least, you get reminded of the fundamentals.

Some Other Quick Things

This audio is long but I will release it and leave a gap between this and the next post, so listen to the first part today then pick up where you left of tomorrow or when you can.

PS: I am aware of the problem some folks have listening to these audio, and videos, in places where high speed Internet is as real as a Unicorn/Centaur Tupperware party.

I am fully aware of that and am working on it: A solution shall be found.

Audio File

Download audio file (Coach Caroline Call with Mwangi.mp3)

Things Discussed

1) Brief introduction of Coach Caroline

2) We break down the 4 stages of culture shock

3) We discuss our own personal experiences with culture shock (she went straight to the “shock”)

4) Coach Caroline discusses her initial peer group

5) She also tells her story as an immigrant

6) Patterns she has noticed in behavior of Africans in the States

7) “The herd mentality”

8 ) Transitioning and learning when immigrating

9) Losing your identity abroad and the blessing therein.

10) Racism in the United States

11) Cultural differences

12) The importance of having a vision and the challenges of having a vision as an immigrant

13) The power of the Internet and telecommunication

14) Getting caught up in fancy titles and ideas instead of falling in love with the process and goals.

15) Stories on taking action

16) Ideas for getting out of inertia. Echoes the same ideas I got from Kirk Nugent and for more ideas on how to put this into action check out this article from Steve Pavlina.

17) Caroline’s most important piece of advice for people who are just about to leave home and immigrate abroad.

17) Dreaming big

18) What you can tolerate you won’t change

19) Much much more…………….

Permalink for 'What is the Most Powerful Force on Earth?'

17:01

What is the Most Powerful Force on Earth?

» ‎ The Displaced African

Permalink for 'How to Have Maximum Positive Impact on an African Immigrant’s Life'

8:02

How to Have Maximum Positive Impact on an African Immigrant’s Life

» ‎ The Displaced African

I am back with the final edition on the series. First of all, a quick refresher on what we have discussed so far:

1) One Thing We MUST Begin Doing NOW As African Immigrants

2) What Every African Immigrant Ought to Know About Recording and Sharing Success

3) In What Areas Do We as African Immigrants Need to Record and Share Our Successes

To be honest I am quite surprised I have this much to say on this topic, but I think if we honestly embrace these ideas and implement them we can have GINORMOUS impact on the African immigrant community.

Today I will give two very quick ideas on how we can distribute this information in the best way.

What I Recommend as the Format of Delivery?

Stories

We go into trances when we hear great stories. Using stories, especially personal stories is a great way to transmit messages, morals and tips that can be used to uplift someone.

So if you have a story of overcoming triumpth, put people into a trance with it and share with them your principles of success. Here think autobiographies and those newspaper profiles on great men.

Can your imagination craft a magnificent tale? Link it to some principle or positive idea and use the story as a metaphor for what people could do ala Who ate my Cheese and the parables by the carpenter from Nazareth.

How Tos

I think everyone is pretty clear on what a how to is (if not, please leave a comment below and we can discuss it) and so I will give some quick ideas on how to craft a great how to.

Some Quick Ideas

Here many will disagree with me (and I really don’t do this enough), but I think whenever we are crafting our communications with people, a lot of the time we should exist under the assumption that we are crafting a message for arrogant, spoiled idiots who don’t like us and won’t want to hear what we have to say.

The reason we would do that is so that we are forced to overcompensate by:

1) Making messages attractive: Looking at the process of getting your message across more like an exercise in marketing as opposed to thinking that people should listen to the idea because, “it’s the right thing to do.”

They won’t, get over that and work within that reality. People will listen to the idea that is most in their interests, especially in the short term and that which is crafted in the most seductive manner. Leave your moral indignation at the door……

2) Simplifying our ideas: More than just satirical, I really meant it when I said African people LOOOOVE big words. We love being esoteric and sounding intelligent, myself included. If we use the assumption above, then we are forced to simplift things so they are universally understandable, acceptable and most importantly, applicable.

3) Step by step by step: People don’t like to be overloaded by information that is thrown at them out of context. We tend to freeze over or glaze over or just straight up ignore it.

Instead, put the information into a simple, attractive form where people are guided along and told what to do step by step by step, one step at a time.

Do this and you have the perfect: how to. Examples would be:

a) How to get a job when you are a new arrival in a country.

b) How to renew your visa.

c) How to choose great, loyal, trustworthy friends.

d) How to set up a computer and how to use a computer.

To Finish Off, Do Me a Favour……..

As soon as you finish reading this series please do the following:

1) Sit down if you haven’t already

2) Write down all the little successes you have had along the way - getting a job, getting good friends, getting accommodation, learning how to feel comfortable around foreigners.

3) Choose a topic area that you enjoy talking about and will be valuable to other Africans.

4) Choose a method to distribute the information.

5) Think about how to simplify the message and make it attractive and compelling.

6) Share it with other African immigrants who may not be ‘up to your level’ and help bring them up.

If enough of us do just those six things, the African race will look very very very different come New Years 2009. Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts, ideas or questions about this topic.

Godspeed,

Mwangi

5:05

Listen as Mwangi Becomes a Radio Star

» ‎ The Displaced African

Well sorta!

Last Sunday morning, I did my first regular show on SARFM radio in New York.

This show will be regular and every third Saturday of every month, me and “Pammy” will get on the show to discuss diasporian issues.

For those who want to know when to tune in, the time will be:

Third Sunday of every month at 5 a.m. (Melbourne time which GMT +10h). For those who need help converting time zones please use Time and Date’s Time Zone Converter

Before I Get into What We Covered on the Show

THE DISPLACED AFRICAN IS 200 POSTS OLD!

This is my 200th post and I may or may not do a post on this in the future. But anyway I just wanted to celebrate this milestone with y’all. Thanks to all the folks who continue to subcribe to the blog and welcome to all the new subscribers.

Thank you also to all the folks who have subscribed to the Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter. If you haven’t please do and if you are a subscriber to the newsletter: FEEDBACK! I want it to be as relevant and actionable as possible so please send me feedback.

You can join the newsletter by putting your first name and email address into the boxes below and clicking on: “Free Instant Access”

My Show with Pamela Stitch from SARFM Radio

Download audio file (Mwangi on SARFM Radio 17th August 2008.mp3)

To check out my African Loft page where I will be uploading this interview, please visit: Masmilele African Loft Page.

I will also upload this interview to the Displaced African media and press releases page.

Highlights from the Show

1) I spoke about why I wrote the article, the Empty Symbol that is Barrack Obama and go into more depth about that article.

2) We talked about why we as African people don’t record and share our successes as much as we could.

3) What is the tall poppy syndrome?

4) Are we as African people humble with our success?

5) Should we as African folks share success with each other or be humble with our successes while we are abroad?

6) I give a small example of the power of sharing successes with each other.

7) “I’ll do me and you just do you” vs “I am because we are”

Tips for recording and sharing your successes with others.

9) Tips for someone who has just arrived in the diaspora on how they can immediately get a job.

10) How to get a job when you finish college and you want a nice, solid career job instead of a minimum age job.

11) Would I recommend that people go into the welfare system?

Overall, I think it was a good show. I SPOKE SLOWER! And I also feel I gave a lot more useful information than in my previous interviews.

I still have a lot of growing to do in this area but let me send a lot of thanks and love to Pammy of SARFM, the folks at African Loft and everyone who has featured me in their media and will do so in future. As it would be said in Kiswahili:

Asanteni sana,

Mwangi

Permalink for 'The Man Who Got Rejected Many Many Many Times But Still Got the Girl of His Dreams'

4:01

The Man Who Got Rejected Many Many Many Times But Still Got the Girl of His Dreams

» ‎ The Displaced African

Here’s a Little Something to Inspire You as You Begin Your Week

This story is probably 3+ years old now, but like all good stories it is still super fresh in my mind.

I know quite a few folks who read this blog are from Melbourne and probably know this story. If you do:

Ssshhhh, don’t tell who it’s about

I do hope some day to get the parties involved in this story on the phone so they can tell the story first hand. But I will do my best to tell the story as I remember it.

How You Can Use this Story

You can either use this story as a metaphor for anything you desire or want to achieve in this life or just use it as an example of how to get a member of the opposite sex to “stop being an idiot and come to you”

Engagement Party

And so it was an engagement party like any other, with food, drinks and fun buzzing up and down the room in excess.

It came time for the happy couple to stand up and tell the story of how they met.

And so, the man stood.

Brief Bio

Now this man is many things: tall, intelligent, has a great heart, but he is not a good looking cat.

By comparison the woman is short (I am talking almost Eva Longoria - Tony Parket short) and very very beautiful, so clearly it wasn’t merely that the woman looked at the man and thought he was:

“Tall, dark and handsome.”

In fact as she put it:

“I looked at him and really liked his height, but aside from that, I thought, “Your dreaming!”"

And So They Met

He had been commissioned together with a friend to help her move.

He came, he saw and he was immediately smitten and taken with her.

At the time she was going out with someone from the land of Caucasia and from what I heard she was quite happy with what was going on.

Smitten and excited from head to toe he made a choice:

I have to have her.

No Elegance, Just Persistence

This began what is probably the longest telemarketing campaign in human history. As the woman put it (I paraphrase):

“He used to call me every day. He was soooo annoying!”

But he just kept calling and calling and calling and persisting with conversation, invitations to dates and invitations to swim in the miasma of his passion for her

Thank God They Were Part of the Same Immigrant Community

Because they were invited to and some times attended the same parties.

The Brilliant Plan

During one of these parties, the heroine of the tale decided she would craft a master plan to get this guy off her back once and for all.

1) Accept his advances for the evening

2) Kiss him

3) Viciously reject him afterward thereby destroying his spirit and desire to chase.

Now any man who has been at this “chasing women” game for a while will tell you:

That’s a brilliant plan…….for me!

What the Heresay Accounts Say Happened

As he often did, he persisted and persisted and persisted. He chased her until eventually he found his window of opportunity and used it to lock lips with her.

Kiss! Kiss! Bang !

She was confused, smitten and part of a Mills and Boon novel all at the same time. She got so confused she probably left that kiss in the middle of the night to go feed ducks in the local pond. She was Rapunzel, she was Gabrielle Union to his Morris Chestnut. She fell in love.

From then on……

It was cruise control really all the way to the engagement party. And now, 3 years later, you should see their daughter, she is absolutely gorgeous.

What I Derived from this Story

Now, many of you will probably know this, but many a time, and many a situation, I am a huge coward.

Though it may seem otherwise, I always take very controlled risks and this story reminds me, though I sometimes forget the power of making a decision and going after it.

You don’t necessarily have to take the smoothest or the most elegant route. You just have to decide and go after what it is that has been placed in your heart.

As I said, this story can be used either as a metaphor for something you want in this life - fame, material success and wealth, fame, popularity.

Or maybe just maybe there is that mocha-eyed person who you need to begin chasing with the quickness

Either way Godspeed and I hope I inspired you.

Have a gr888888888 week,

Mwangi

To receive even more inspirational and useful stories like this in future subscribe to the website via either RSS or email

If you get nothing else from this article watch this vid

Permalink for 'In What Areas Do We as African Immigrants Need to Record and Share Our Successes'

12:31

In What Areas Do We as African Immigrants Need to Record and Share Our Successes

» ‎ The Displaced African

Let’s recap on what we have discussed so far:

1) One Thing We MUST Begin Doing NOW As African Immigrants

2) What Every African Immigrant Ought to Know About Recording and Sharing Success

This article has been written to give you some ideas about areas where we as African immigrants need to share useful information with each other on a mass scale. It has two parts:

1) What I personally think is more important and what I value. MORE IMPORTANTLY:

2) What I have observed we as a community need to learn

What I Have Observed We Need to Learn

Getting Started Making an Income

Here folks need all the help they can get. There are a few situations when it’s especially necessary:

a) When a young adult arrives in a foreign country never having worked or been job searching a day in their life.

b) When someone comes from a poor family who put all their financial resources to send them abroad and have left them on their own.

c) People who are transferring over to a country to pursue an occupation but have a long transition, preparation and “one-more-damn-form-to-fill” period between their overseas arrival and working in their job.

Here people need to know where they can begin making money instantly. Not necessarily a lot, though if you know how, do tell. Just enough to get by.

One of the aims of this blog is to explore “alternative and unique” ways this can be done so that this is never a problem.

Material Success

Once people do get a job and begin working, and if their visa is in order, there is a tendency to get very very comfortable and stuck in a rut. You’re not growing. You’re not making as much of a contribution as you can to your community. You are not even close to maximizing your potential.

This is where people who have succeeded materially at an extraordinary level need to begin writing autobiographies and how tos so that they reignite the passions of the comfortable and give them a new pinnacle to aim towards.

Relationships

This is the area we’ll ask for the least help in and yet know the least about. One of the worst consequences of losing our tribal societies is we lost a sense of continuity of education in this area of relationships.

This world is constantly changing so fast that the rules that governed our parents aren’t the same rules that govern us and probably won’t be the same relationship rules that govern our kids. (As a sidenote, have you ever stopped to think about how weird, or probably repulsive, a lot of our generation’s sexual habits would be to our grandparents….we have changed A LOT as a people)

As long as there is this thing called man, and there is this thing called woman, majority of us will always be sexually attracted to each other and feel kinda incomplete if we don’t at least have some relationship with members of the opposite sex.

Why something so quintessential to the human experience isn’t part of the everyday school syllabus but logarithms are is beyond me.

As an immigrant it’s even worse. Not only were there “no solid rules” to begin with, but now you are in a country where the rules are entirely different. A world where people are more and more about “private space” and “individual ambition” as opposed to “just sitting connecting and sharing”.

When I began writing this section, I thought I was just talking about romantic relationships. I have realized I am not, even platonic relationships. If you have any sort of rock solid bond with another human being abroad in spite of the circumstances, you need to share this.

What I Think We Need to Know?

Marketing Impulse Control

We need to sit down and teach future immigrants how to avoid constantly jumping on the next material trend and entering themselves into debt so that they can live like a rich man on a pauper’s salary.

This is just my personal issue though. I don’t see why you should be buying leather seats, a plasma screen TV and a sports car when you have to work 14 hour days just to pay for all of that. Shouldn’t you build your financial foundation on a life of frugality first and then once you actually HAVE an excess of capital, live like you do?

Eating Healthy

Next time you are in an African function, look to your left, then look to your right and then look to the center. Tell me how many of those people have love handles that can only come from excess junk consumption or if not how many have a very high metabolism that pretty much gets rid of any signs of junk in take.

We eat like crap more often than not. We need to eat better. We have greater access to information and are much smarter than that.

Unique Immigrant Experiences

If you have gone off the beaten path and done things that people thought were undoable abroad, record your tales and share them with your fellow immigrant and enlighten us that we constantly remember that no life is not static and human life is indeed a fluid concept.

All breakthroughs and great innovations come from outside of the boxes, mental or otherwise that we chose to live within. Share your insights from outside this box and help the people within it expand.

Can you think of any other areas we need to record success? Have any thoughts on the matter? Leave a comment below.

In the next, and me thinks, final edition of this series, I will share some quick ideas on just how to present your message to make it most compelling and useful to other African immigrants.

Ladies and gentlemen if you have not, please sign up for and give me feedback on:

The Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter

If you are a fan of this article or blog, I encourage you to join and give me feedback ( ) on my Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter by putting your first name and email address in the boxes below.

I Hate Spam, So I Won’t Share Your Email With Anyone.

In newsletter, once a week I send you short emails that give you actionable tips that you can immediately apply to make your immigrant experience better including tips on:

i) Making friends

ii) Finding employment

iii) How to stay healthy on the run

iv) Things to prepare before you immigrate

v) Staying in touch with people from your home country

vi) Tips on how to transition from a student to a permanent resident and/or citizen in Australia etc etc.

So please join, and give me feedback, by putting your first name and email in the boxes below:

I Hate Spam, So I Won’t Share Your Email With Anyone.

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

Permalink for 'What Every African Immigrant Ought to Know About Recording and Sharing Success'

4:03

What Every African Immigrant Ought to Know About Recording and Sharing Success

» ‎ The Displaced African

In the first article in this series, I made the case for African immigrants recording and sharing in mass all their successes so that future immigrants have a shorter learning curve than those who came before them.

Today we’ll expand on just how we might be able to go about this

Mwangi What’s In It For Me

I wish I could tell you that your doing this will somehow make you a millionaire or the King of the World, but it won’t.

In doing so, you give back to the community from which you came and help raise up future generations-or rather a future boat load of immigrants -”to your level” quicker so that all our boats can rise together and we can become the economic and social powerhouse that we know we can be.

I don’t know about you, but personally, I know I would not be as far along as I am in my life had people not taken the time out of their busy day to invest in me and my future.

Mwangi I Have No Expertise

That’s the wash of a hog, that is. If you are in a foreign country and you have a roof over your head, then you have a skill a future African immigrant needs to know about. If you have any form of hard earned income coming in, you have something to share.

If you have a rock-solid relationship in this Western world where everyone is a commodity, you have something to share. If you have had trials and tribulations and overcome, you have something to share. If you have been abroad and the culture shock has not driven you mad, you have something to share.

Alright, Alright, Alright, I Accept, I Have a Tip or Two to Share: How Do I Do It?

I think the primary principle we should remember is:

The information and the intention are most important. The Internet, blogs, telephone, letters, newspapers, radio etc etc are all just distribution tools.

The tools are not the ends in and of themselves.

These tools are used to disseminate information guided by a particular intention - e.g. the intention to see future immigrants do better. (Please tell me in the comments section if this idea is too abstract and I will describe it in another way that will make it clearer)

Here are a couple of ideas on how to do it:

a) Share on a blog: You knew I had to give this tip. Blogs are free to start up and if you want to host it yourself, it’s so cheap there really is no reason not to.

Speaking from personal experience, the greatest advantage that blogging provides, if you choose to follow in my footsteps or the footsteps of people like Thinkers Room, is that it strengthens and proliferates your brand and your name within a particular community both online and offline. Not a bad side effect for doing something positive.

b) Community Forums: Almost every African country, and in many places we as a continent have an online community. Whether its a forum, social bookmarking site, blog aggregator or just a blog where many people gather. Head on over there and assist anyone who might be making the move to a new country or is a newbie immigrant that needs some tips.

c) Get some penpals: If you know that someone in your community is about to immigrate over, start talking by phone, email or letter. Let him know how he can do things that you did. Give him some tips, some shortcuts, some ways to go around, under, above or through obstacles.

d) Give lectures at immigration organizations: If you are visiting your home country, go to the institution that helps people immigrate and just offer yourself up to give a talk during their lunch break about the pitfalls to avoid and the opprtunities to be seized abroad.

e) Write free reports: This is a tactic from the world of Internet marketing. You sit down and right everything you know about a particular topic that can be of use to other people and compile it into a free pdf report. Help that report circulate online.

I intend on doing this in the very near future so if you have no idea how to do this, check back in a couple of months and hopefully we’ll have a succesful model.

f) If You Know People from Mass Media Centres: Then go on the radio, tv or newspapers and just talk to the journalist about what future boat-crossers need to know.

For examples of this check out the Displaced African Press and Media Appearances page, and also check out SARFM radio every 2nd Saturday of every month where as of yesterday, I will be doing just that.

g) Youtube: It’s the 3rd most popular website on Earth, according to Alexa, and all you need to do to join in the frenzy is buy a cheap web cam. Check out the Displaced African Youtube page here. For examples of succesful African Youtube pages check out:

i) Ikahara

ii) AfricanRemix

Quick tip: If you can find a way to mix in music into your Youtube page that is a sure recipe for success. Poll after poll, article after article and simple observation will reveal that music is hands down the most popular thing on Youtube.

h) Podcasting: Again, an incredibly cheap and easy to implement endeavor. Put your podcasts on Itunes and they are accessible to millions.

Some Examples of What This Would Look Like

Not all these examples are specific to African immigrants:

1) Kelly’s article on Interview tips: Now picture this, tips for interviewing for a job in the States.

2) How to immigrate to Australia within a week guide.

3) Tips from an African Woman Who Started and Sold a Business for Six Figures.

4) Acolyte’s guide to apartment hunting.

5) Mwangi interviews Tabitha Togoi from the African Leadership Academy

6) Gal africana talks a bit about holiday visas

7) Nelson Mandela’s autobiography

Mwalimu.com

9) Dan Kennedy’s Google Videos

In the final part of this series, I will talk a bit about the areas that I feel we most need to record and share our successes so we can take this concept and talk about where we can immediately apply it.

The Newsletter

If you are a fan of this article or blog, I encourage you to join and give me feedback ( ) on my Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter by putting your first name and email address in the boxes below.

I Hate Spam, So I Won’t Share Your Email With Anyone.

In newsletter, once a week I send you short emails that give you actionable tips that you can immediately apply to make your immigrant experience better including tips on:

i) Making friends

ii) Finding employment

iii) How to stay healthy on the run

iv) Things to prepare before you immigrate

v) Staying in touch with people from your home country

vi) Tips on how to transition from a student to a permanent resident and/or citizen in Australia etc etc.

So please join, and give me feedback, by putting your first name and email in the boxes below:

I Hate Spam, So I Won’t Share Your Email With Anyone.

Permalink for 'Where Am I Going to Spend Eternity, My Favourite Website and My Favourite Movie'

1:00

Where Am I Going to Spend Eternity, My Favourite Website and My Favourite Movie

» ‎ The Displaced African

Today is all about answering questions from my namesake, Tony, who runs one of the biggest websites in Naija according to Alexa, Naija Ecash. I also answer the most interesting question I have received so far, from Mo Ma. These answers definitely don’t show me in the best light, but you asked and so I answer…..

If You Have any Questions You Would Like Me to Answer

Then please read this post, where I talked about this little question and answer session.

Tony asks:

Which is your favorite website?

My Answer:

This really depends on what I am after. I learn best by watching videos and so you can find me on Google Videos looking for videos on all sorts of topics all the time though I am currently obsessed with finding Timothy Ferriss and Jay Abraham videos. Some sites I can’t mention here

Considering my freelance work as a blogging consultant and freelance writer and all the projects I have to get done, I spend huge amounts of time on Rentacoder.

I also spend a lot of time on:

a) The Blog Mastermind website and forums.

b) Yaro Starak’s latest posts on blogging.

c) Searching for podcasts on Itunes.

d) Reading stories by a man called Jon who I met a while back.

e) Leaving comments on gal africana’s and Kelly’s blog.

f) Searching for information by Jay Abraham and Timothy Ferriss and so on and so on and so on.

Tony asks:

Which is your favorite movie?

My Answer:

I actually did a post on this some time ago on 7 Movie Classics. Add to that list:

a) Get Smart - Steve Carell is pure comedy, pure comedy, no one else can make fun of himself so well with such a serious face.

b) Pretty Woman - Go fig, I am simply drawn to this storyline.

c) Short films by Roy Ston Tan : I got a chance to catch this guy at the Melbourne International Film Festival two years ago and adored his work.

d) Great Happiness Space: Tales of an Osaka Love Thief: Any movies that explain succesful relationships or relationship tips that can help men, I like. There is a lot to be learned from this movie about “hosting clubs” in Tokyo.

e) La Vie En Rose: Not this movie specifically but movies like it that take me back in time and draw me into a world separate from my own. That having been said, La Vie En Rose was pretty powerful…….

Tony Asks:

Where are you going to spend eternity?

My Answer:

If there is indeed a hell, I think the way I live is a clear indication that I am going there. As I go, I will be thankful for all the blessings I received while alive, but I think if we are to peruse the good book on all the verses that discuss how to get into the “Book of Life” I am clearly not on that guest list.

I find it hard to believe in an eternal hell, I must say. A temporary hell, yes. But a permanent hell, when there is a God who is pure love and made us in His own image……this might be outside of my own understanding but the concept of hell just doesn’t add up. Here’s to hopping that John was just a raging schitzophrenic.

Mo Ma Asks:

What is an incubus and how exactly does the state of Woody Allen’s over-easy omelet threaten world peace as far as the Solomon Islands and Elephant Seals are concerned?

My Answer:

Permalink for 'One Thing We MUST Begin Doing NOW As African Immigrants'

0:02

One Thing We MUST Begin Doing NOW As African Immigrants

» ‎ The Displaced African

So What Must We Begin Doing NOW as an African Immigrant Community

We must make it a habit and/or a ritual to record any and all successes we have as African immigrants AND share them with our fellow African immigrants who may not be “up to our level”, no matter how small or large our successes.

Why is This Important?

Let me ask you a question: How many of you STRUGGLED when you first landed abroad?

You struggled to understand the weird words that were coming out of the foreigner’s mouth. You struggled to understand why they weren’t talking and acting like normal people would.

You struggled with public transport. You struggled getting your first job. You struggled on your first day of class. You struggled to understand all the paperwork and documentation necessary to make things happen.

Important Question

Now, how many people came before you and went through just what you went through? How many do you think took as much if not more time to get to pretty much where you are?

Reducing a Learning Curve

What if JUST ONE of those people who came before you said:

OK! I am now relatively settled in this place. Boy that adjusting and acclimatization process was rough. I don’t want other folks to have it that hard, spending 3 years just to say “they got here”. I think I will put this down into a free manual and just share it with all the new arrivals when I pick them up at the airport or see them in the church or community gatherings.

Though the Above Idea is Just an Abstract Example…….

….it’s not a ridiculous impossibility. Just think about how much quicker the learning curve would be for the incoming immigrant had JUST ONE guide from JUST ONE immigrant.

Now imagine if 5 immigrants got together,exchanged notes and did the exact same thing. So where one person was weak, or wrong or went the long way, someone shows them the alternative better or shorter way. Where there were other holes in one view of the world, someone else covered them up. How much shorter would their learning curve be?

This Happened For Real

By far, one of my least popular, “but so useful I think it should do well” series is How to Immigrate to Australia within a week (most of the hyperlinks above are from that series). That guide actually got written after I helped a new person settle into the country.

The first day she arrived in the country, she already had a job. Within a fortnight she had:

a) A bank account that was transferring money to and from her country.

b) Accomodation and all the accomodation accesories bought and paid for.

c) An understanding of how to get around by public and private transport.

d) Knew the websites and places where one could find work.

Now, when I started job hunting, it took me close to 6 months to find my first job. She managed to get a job on HER FIRST DAY.

This simple habit can save people so much on time, money and emotional energy it’s not even funny.

Don’t We Already Do This?

Now to a large extent we as an African community already do this in a very informal person-to-person way. When my family and I first arrived, there was a family that showed us around and told us things like:

People will always want to touch your hair. They love natural African hair.

But what I am talking about is:

a) Sitting down putting it into a form that can be mass distributed and mass consumed.

b) Distributing it so that one man’s insights can reduce the learning curve of many, not just immigrants.

In short, how the lessons from one man can help elevate the consciousness and decision making of other children of the soil about to make a trans-ocean migration.

On the next article in this series I will talk about HOW we can go about doing this effectively.

To become a part of my attempt at doing what I have just described check out:

The Newsletter

If you are a fan of this article or blog, I encourage you to join and give me feedback ( ) on my Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter by putting your first name and email address in the boxes below.

I Hate Spam, So I Won’t Share Your Email With Anyone.

In newsletter, once a week I send you short emails that give you actionable tips that you can immediately apply to make your immigrant experience better including tips on:

i) Making friends

ii) Finding employment

iii) How to stay healthy on the run

iv) Things to prepare before you immigrate

v) Staying in touch with people from your home country

v) Tips on how to transition from a student to a permanent resident and/or citizen in Australia etc etc.

So please join, and give me feedback, by putting your first name and email in the boxes below:

I Hate Spam, So I Won’t Share Your Email With Anyone.

Permalink for 'Will I Ever Relocate to Africa? To Do What?'

16:00

Will I Ever Relocate to Africa? To Do What?

» ‎ The Displaced African

I continue answering your questions. Today, it’s all about Kelly. So shall we begin:

kelly asks:

When do you plan to come back to kenya?
What will you come back to do, like specifically?

My Answer:

For the last 5 years, any time I was asked that question, my answer was always an unequivocal yes. I would return as soon as I was able to support myself materially to either:

a) Work on deep social change at the grassroots level or;

b) Make a positive contribution to people’s lives at the grassroots level.

Whereas one would think that starting this blog would have given me even more motivation to stick to that mission, it’s actually had the positive effect. Allow me to explain:

There is So Much to Learn

I LOVE LEARNING! If you want to bribe me, buy me tickets to a Jay Abraham seminar or Anthony Robbins seminar or tell me about the equivalent of the Alfred Deakin lectures and I will be there. Over the course of this blog, I have come to see so much that I want to learn about so many areas, relationships, health, business, music and even grassroots acitivism. Now contrast that with the fact that:

We are a Very Negative People

I hope that since you are a reader of this my most personal work, I can be very honest with you, as I always am. We, African people, to a large extent are a bunch of whiners and crybabies and if not very negative people who like to hide behind any form of material or intellectual success we have.

Now, as I have fallen deeper and deeper in love with all that I can learn in this world, I have reflected more and more and more on how much negativity I would have to put up with working back home. BUT I did make a committment to myself that I would do it and it is of course the noble thing.

So my answer is Yes, I do intend on going home eventually. Where I am currently confused is how and to do what but its definitely to work on improving the state of the country.

Some of the Ideas I Have Had

Long time readers of this blog would probably know about my plans to work in media, I dreamed for the longest time of owning African media and using it to put out positve messages. I have also thought about:

a) Buying my own constituency, as one would a business, optimizing it and then using it and presenting as a model for how to develop.

b) Going back home as a speaker to young people who are about to immigrate

c) Give talks on controlling sexuality and sublimation so as to eliminate rape as a social ill in our society.

d) Start up a church for young African men.

With many other ideas mixed in there. At the moment I am just focussing on optimizing this blog and trying to get to the point where I can support myself online. The ideas are there, not only to go back home, I’ll decide once I achieve my goal of supporting myself what to do next.

kelly asks:

You seem to like marriage a lot, at what age do you envision you will be married?

My Answer:

When I am sure I will be a good partner and husband. In short the most important part of this is how exactly I will ensure that I won’t cheat on my wife and will have the mental strength to see my commitment through. I have a number of ideas as to how to deal with this, and I intend on investigating this a lot over the coming years, but I have no date set yet.

Something Sad I Realized

Again, I speak to you as I would among friends. I like a lot of people, male or female, I lust after many women but I am mentally drawn to very few. You know that stereotype of someone who turns you on mentally……doesn’t happen to me. Now it could be that I hang around the wrong folks or I have very weird standards but either way…..just something weird I realized this week that I also must deal with.

kelly asks:

When you say men don’t feel love like women do, what exactly do you mean?

My Answer:

I must put a caveat on this and say that I definitely need to investigate this area much much deeper. Me thinks the best person to give advice in this area that I know is Julia, after all, she does this for a living.

Usually when I say that, usually half-jokingly, I am referring to the fact that I have known or heard of very few men who need romance or any complex gestures from their partners to be happy, though those would be nice.

A lot of the people I know and have heard of, as long as the woman is happy, they are fed, they have respect as a man and the sex life is good and the man is fine. No need for mink coats or dinners or weird get aways and cruises, all those are for the woman: food+sex+peace+respect= Marital bliss but as I said, Julia is the best person to talk about this one.

kelly asks:

What would make a man stay in a relationship that’s no good for him, when it’s so easy for guys to walk away?

My Answer:

There is a theory that all human behaviour is motivated by two things, a pleasurable or desired feeling/emotion or the need to get away from a negative feeling/state/emotion.

Now if we view life through that lens, then there appear many reasons that someone would stay in the situation that you have just described. I will list a few below:

Positve

1) They made a commitment and want to see it through.

2) They view any temporary moments of discomfort as a part of the game.

3) They have a solid friendship with their partner.

4) They need their partner for some emotional reason or another and their partner needs them.

5) For the children.

6) For harmony

7) The security of the institution

Negative

1) They don’t want to be alone.

2) They don’t want to stop being cooked for, picked up after and taken care of.

3) They don’t want to lose access to sex

4) They don’t want to lose their peer group

5) They don’t want to lose their trophy partner

6) They don’t want to feel rejected

7) The process of leaving would be too uncomfortable.

In short, I don’t know, the reasons are many. It depends on the person, what they are getting out of the relationship and what they are scared they will lose if they leave the relationship. Yet again, let me recommend, Julia…..she has a Masters in it too

The Newsletter

If you are a fan of this article or blog, I encourage you to join and give me feedback ( ) on my Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter by putting your first name and email address in the boxes below.

In newsletter, once a week I send you short emails that give you actionable tips that you can immediately apply to make your immigrant experience better including tips on making friends, finding employment, how to stay healthy on the run, things to prepare before you immigrate, staying in touch with people from your home country etc etc.

So please join, and give me feedback, by putting your first name and email in the boxes below:

Have a great day or night,
Mwangi

Permalink for 'Mwangi Interviews African Leadership Academy Student: Tabitha Tongoi'

22:30

Mwangi Interviews African Leadership Academy Student: Tabitha Tongoi

» ‎ The Displaced African

The Interview

Download audio file (Tabitha Tongoi interview complete.mp3)

Brief Introduction

I have known Tabitha, her family and her sister, Julie Tongoi, who I interviewed a while back, for years and years and years. So, it is with much pleasure that I learned about her being accepted to the African Leadership Academy and also share this interview with you.

Let me encourage you: let us record excellence or success and share it with our fellow Africans. Even if it is in things that may be automatic or easy to you e.g. getting a job or getting a house, there is an immigrant somewhere out there who needs to know what you know, so please, we need more versions of the Displaced African (tDA) and success magazine out there. For an example of this, check out Kelly’s articles on the interview process.

More Interviews?

By the way if you would be interested in me interviewing any more of the people accepted into the leadership academy, then leave a comment below or email me at masmilele(at)thedisplacedafrican(dot)com and let me know.

Things Discussed

1) Brief introduction to her and the leadership academy

2) How did she hear about the leadership academy?

3) Why was she chosen out of all the people interviewed ?

4) The criteria to get into the school

5) How did the school measure whether “someone has a passion for Africa”?

6) Her plans as she goes to the leadership academy and beyond

7) The pros and cons of the Kenyan 8-4-4 education system. You can click on the link to find out more about 8-4-4 or leave a comment below and ask me a question and I will tell you the little I know.

Information about Tabitha’s Project ABC (“A Book for Change”) which had the goal of providing text books to children who do not have access to them. Now tell me this isn’t what innovation is all about? Compare this with the work Fidelis Wainaina did as well.

9) What is it about her psychology and her day to day habits that separates her from her peers?

10) Who are her parents and what do they do?

11) Mental exercise:

Let’s asssume that you have a young, fresh African mind that is a blank state in your stewardship:

i) What are the principles you would use to guide this person?

ii) What would this child be doing on a day to day basis?

12) What type of support network does she have?

13) Her work process which has been described as outstanding.

14) How would she like to be remembered

If you like this interview, make sure you subscribe to the Displaced African podcast to receive the latest podcasts direct to your mp3 player. You can do this by either:

a) Subscribing to the Displaced African podcast RSS feed or;

b) Subscribing to the Podcast from Itunes

A Small Digression

Tabitha spoke about how she is able to hold off on enjoying her friends’ company from time to time, to work, because she sees the long term vision in it. For those who may not know what their long term vision is, or for those who need ideas on that let me recommend you check out the interview with Kirk Nugent where he talks about that.

Websites Mentioned

1) Find more information on the African Leadership Academy and Tabitha Tongoi’s involvement in it, read this article from the African Loft website.

2) Find more information on Kenyan education system, 8-4-4.

3) African Leadership Academy website.

4) Irene Tongoi’s, New Dawn Kenya

5) More information on her father, Dennis Tongoi

6) Karura Community Chapel

Permalink for 'What are Marriages for Papers a.k.a. Paper Marriages?'

19:06

What are Marriages for Papers a.k.a. Paper Marriages?

» ‎ The Displaced African

This blog has been around for 8+ months now and I was actually extremely surprised when I realized that not once did I talk about something so unique yet so present within the African immigrant experience.

I am of course talking about “marriages for papers” or as I shall label them for the rest of the post paper marriages or PMs.

Now I must say I am faaarrr from an expert on them, as I have not seen too many blatant paper marriages, so what I will do is define them, tell a bit of a story and request that you leave a comment below giving some more information on them.

What is a Paper Marriage?

In brief a paper marriage is when an immigrant marries a citizen of a Western nation in order to either improve their visa situation, become a permanent resident or citizen of a country or to advance themselves materially in any way.

How Did I Get the Idea to Write This?

The idea to write this actually came out of the tiny little verbal assault I took when I decided to talk about the Jungle Fever article on Kenya Imagine.

A comment by one of the few folks who chose to support me and engage in discussion on it was a story about a man who went to the UK and engaged in paper marriage. After reading that, I knew, I’d best post this up on the site with the quickness so that at the very least you are aware and talking about it.

What Nature Do PMs Take?

At their best, PMs aren’t even PMs. Two people, across cultures look deep into the windows of each other’s souls and see eternity. They lock hands in a beautiful union in which one of the positive side effects is that whoever was an immigrant of the two gets upgraded and can stay in whatever Western country they immigrated to.

To illustrate the worst, I’ll give you a fictional story that is a collection of things I have seen and heard over the years.

The Story of Billy

Once Upon a Time

Billy is a middle class kid who grows up in some African city in some African country. His parents worked hard for years and managed to build themselves a wonderful company that exploited people’s needs for fresh fruit and vegetable for a profit.

When Billy is finished with high school, his parents decide it is in Billy and his family’s best interests if he flies over to the West to study something that will get him solid office job.

The Ladies Man

Now while all this is going on, Billy is quite the Don Juan. So smooth, he skates on sand and with words so sweet, the bees go to him for tips. He has done his fair share of seed distribution and heart breaking before he meets a lovely girl called Abby.

Abby is an angel, a jewel and most of all a gift that he wants to cherish for the rest of his life. He gets down on one knee before Abs, who is pregnant with his second son, and two months later they wed.

He Departs

One month after that, his parents collect all their savings and use it to help their son fly out. Billy departs promising that he will not only repay every penny but eventually support his ma and his pa like they did him.

He has no clue what he’s going to do abroad, all he knows is he is coming back to Abby, his parents and his two sons when it’s all said and done.

Arrival

He arrives abroad with only his first semester paid off and without guides like tDA (well, that IS why I started this blog after all) Billy has no clue what on Earth he should do. His friends can advise him, but much of their advice is so disjointed and contradictory that ultimately he really doesn’t know who to trust.

The Rat Race

So he tries to make it on his own, working harder than a donkey from 9-5 in school and putting in some boring hours at the factory from 7pm - 6 a.m. every night and catching up on sleep on the commutes.

With all this stress on his back, Billy dedicates his weekends solely to escapism via alcohol and carnal delights.

The Lion Spots His Prey

One night, while stumbling around in a drunken haze looking for the next damsel he can wax lyrical to, he happens upon Fiona.

Now Fiona is a very shy introspective girl who has a wonderful rich world inside of her. Unfortunately the richness and beauty of this world is either not coming out as it should externally or is being covered up by all the layers of excess fat.

It’s Not all Roses and Butterflies

Billy has been on the hustle - weekend escape - hustle hamster wheel for 3 years. The wheel was rotating at such a fast pace all around him that he forgot to renew his Visa and is now in the country illegally.

As a result of sleeping in class and on the train one too many times, he has also failed all his classes and was forced to drop out.

So now he is doing double time in the factory trying to raise enough money to see if he can renew his visa AND pay to re-enrol in school. And through this lens he looks at Fiona yet again, and boy, all of a sudden she gives Gabrielle Union a run for her money.

The Paper Negotiation Begins

He has walked through the routine many times before so he isn’t too nervous as he approaches her with his game face on. Fiona is simply smitten.

Sure, she always gets attention from boys when the beer goggles hit at 3 a.m., but never has someone been so smooth with his game and to be honest she doesn’t know what it’s like to be hit on before 2:59 a.m.

The Plot Thickens

Floating on the wings of pure unadultered lust she ends up in bed with Bill over and over again over the next 3 weeks.

“Ooops, we forgot to use protection,” thinks Fiona

“Yes! Thinks Bill. We forgot to use protection”

How Can Something So Innocent Be Used Like This?

3 weeks later, the bump that can only be a wonderful seed of life can be seen in Fiona. Fiona is scared. She doesn’t want to raise this child alone. She is still in school. One day she wants to work as a park ranger and doesn’t want to be derailed from that.

Paper Engagement

Just like that first night in the bar, smooth-Bill is back, with a ring in one hand and an “honest” declaration to love her forever on the other. She says, “Yes,” and before you can count all the countries in Africa they are wed.

Is this Nirvana?

Billy feels like he just had the weight of the world taken off of him. He can’t believe it. No longer does he have to go to school and work in the factory every day to make ends meet. He cuts down work at the factory to part time hours and requests government benefits to help him support his seed.

With all this spare time, Billy needs something to do. He can’t call Abby because he has forgotten which lie he last told. He can’t spend time with his wife because he finds her personality about as interesting as paint watching itself dry and finds their bedroom romps beyond lacklustre.

So Where Does Our Protagonist End Up?

So this is where, Mwangi finds him, in an African night club about to impregnate the latest 19 year old girl that’s fresh off the boat.

Makes you think, doesn’t it.

My Hope

Is that this blog will help us as a community completely get over and have no need for paper marriages? I think until we can present more viable alternatives for people in dire circumstances who are here on student and visitor visas, the habit will still continue (here in Oz, there are even night clubs that women are advised to visit to snare themselves husbands for the papers). So I can’t judge or advise until then…….

Anyway that’s my quick blurb about that. Share any thoughts, tips or ideas you have on paper marriages and how we as a community can evolve beyond this form of exploitation?

The Newsletter

If you are a fan of this article or blog, I encourage you to join and give me feedback ( ) on my Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter by putting your first name and email address in the boxes below.

In newsletter, once a week I send you short emails that give you actionable tips that you can immediately apply to make your immigrant experience better including tips on making friends, finding employment, how to stay healthy on the run, things to prepare before you immigrate, staying in touch with people from your home country etc etc.

So please join, and give me feedback, by putting your first name and email in the boxes below:

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

Permalink for 'How Did I Get the Opening Music for the Displaced African Podcast and 3 Questions from Nakeel'

18:02

How Did I Get the Opening Music for the Displaced African Podcast and 3 Questions from Nakeel

» ‎ The Displaced African

Benin Mwangi from the Cheetah Index asked:

I had a technical question for you. I am going to be doing a podcast next week and wanted to ask you if you know of any simple ways to create a jingle…Otherwise, I hope all is well. Keep up the good work!

My Answer:

Hey Benin. I will walk you through how I got the sound clips for the opening section of the Displaced African podcast and give you some additional ideas about where and how to get theme music for your upcoming podcast

1) I got the opening sound clip from a website known as Sound Rangers: You go there, choose a track, pay $20 and you own the copyright to that track forever. I then downloaded the free open sources sound editing software Audacity and combined the two to create the opening and closing section of every podcast.

Any other questions. Do not hesitate to ask.

Nakeel whose from the blog Nakeel asks:

1. Does Mwangi like Children or do children like Mwangi?
2. Whats the best thing that you have ever done in your life.
3. Given an opportunity to share a meal in your house with five guests who will they be?

My Answers:

1) Children are kinda like their adult counterparts, there are some who absolutely love me and some who find me as likeable as salt in cordial/juice (which btw, not good). So it really does depend on the child.

2) Hmmm, since I am writing on this blog, I can easily make the case that this is the best thing I have ever done for so many reasons:

a) First time I have committed myself to doing something day after day after day for so long.

b) I have built up a name and brand for myself at a very young age.

c) I have committed to something in spite of the taunting and discouragement.

d) I’ve met some cool cats, have been and will continue to be on the radio.

e) I have learnt a lot of things in a lot of areas including how to start a business in Melbourne Australia, how to start an online business, how immigrants think, positive projects like Ushahidi, met Kirk Nugent and Derrick Ashong.

Just for the Sake of Contrast

On the other side of the moral spectrum, the best thing I did was the first time I took a trip to Sydney. I was broke, had no plans but I got my cousin and his girlfriend in a car and we drove to Sydney where we spent the weekend partying. I loved it because it was a truly, spontaneous, uninhibited decision and the fact that I was in “the flow” and spontaneous the whole trip.

The first time I ever got on stage and acted.

There’s a few of them………

3) The reason I have chosen these folk is not only because of my love for them, but also because of how difficult it would be for me to actually meet with them.

Anthony Robbins: This guy is a true Renaissance man. His level of understanding of how to work within and manipulate the human psychology and achieve peak state on a continuous basis among many many many other things……YES, please, I want to learn that. He is also the best speaker I have ever seen with my own 2 eyes - he not only held my attention but had me for 8 hours a day for 2 days straight……I love his speaking ability.

ii) Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson: This guy is the best performer I have ever seen perform in front of a crowd. I have never seen anyone who has such command and control of an audience. I would love to know how he does that and copy that. Don’t believe me, tell me you have ever seen better crowd control than this

Also in that list, I would love to meet Erwin Mcmanus and Barrack Obama for their speaking ability.

iii) Whoever controls the world economy: There is probably someone or some organization somewhere in the States that pretty much “holds everything together” and is in control of the world economy, I would love to meet the head of it. If its a loose knit group of organizations that work together to hold the American Century together, I would love to meet the heads of this company. I want to move in this world with full understanding of how it runs.

iv) Jay Abraham: I want to become a marketing consultant like he does. His ability to see “money connections” where other people don’t is just simply amazing. Again, I would love to pick his brain and do what he does.

v) Jesus Christ and the Guy In charge of putting together the Bible: I know for sure we are not being told the entire truth about the man called Jesus from Nazareth. I would love to know what the reality was and what realities were shall we say…..”not included” in the official text.

v) JabbaWockeez: I am a mediocre-at-best dancer, I want to learn to move like these guys move.

vi) Malcolm X: I love and respect this man so much.

Other people I would love to meet: Timothy Ferriss, Yaro Starak, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, the president of Botswana.

Update on 13th August 2008: After watching a few videos of his interviews on Youtube, I MUST add to the list: Will Smith

Permalink for 'How Should We Put an End to Poverty and Is Feedburner Utter Crap?'

18:20

How Should We Put an End to Poverty and Is Feedburner Utter Crap?

» ‎ The Displaced African

Hello Folks,

Following on from my request yesterday that you ask me questions, here we are on Day 1 of my answers to your questions. If you have any more questions or things to say, leave me a comment below or email me at masmilele(at)thedisplacedafrican(dot)com

Btw, a lot of the post isn’t spellchecked

Thomas Johnson asks:

Here’s a question - In your opinion, what is the best thing we can do to help prevent poverty in the world?

I know it’s a complex issue but I’m keen to hear your thoughts on the matter. I might put your answer on my website if thats ok.

My Answer:

Before I give my answer let me give my caveats:
1) I am far from an expert.
2) This answer is a mixture of intuition, reflection, all the various schools of thought that I have been exposed to over the course of my life as well as facts and figures (which have never been my strongest area)
3) I am just gonna vent it out uncensored

Alright, what is the best thing we can do to help prevent poverty in the world?

If I was to give a technical answer to your question, i.e. how can you and I best help prevent future poverty in the world, my answer would be:

Cyclical Culture of Consumption

If you haven’t watched it, please go and watch the Story of Stuff . In it, one of the key ideas is that the West, in particular America, post World War 2 has had policies which pretty much accelerate a linear, non-stop type of consumption. Not only that, but there is something which I believe is called planned obsolescence.

When these two things merge it results in people who strip the Earth, consume its resources, put nothing back into the source of life and then quickly run to consume the next thing.

In addition to that, I did a semester of Sustainability at college and one of the great ideas I got from that is that, in order for the whole world to live like the West does we would need 3 planets to accomodate all the linear consumption, I have since heard estimates of 5 and 7.

Don’t Know Why This Part Popped into My Head…..

We need to focus on renourishing the Earth and repairing the damage done. Far from being just something to do because it feels good, or is the right thing to do, or any airy fairy justifications, the way we are consuming is resulting in global warming which is resulting in polar ice caps melting which results in some islands being flooded, resulting in environmental refugees….where are they gonna go?

If we slow down our consumption, this prevents any more people having to live in poverty or losing their homes just so we can have the latest model fashion accessory without putting anything back into its source

The Above is a Terrible Answer, But its the First Thing that Came to My Head, Take 2

The best thing we can do is support people who are working towards a few things:
1) All the organizations standing up to the World Trade Organization to demand that trade be fair and that a world that claims to be capitalist actually lives by one of the cornerstone capitalist principles, free trade. Not free trade with subsidy and tarrif caveats.
2) All the poor people like the shack dwellers of South Africa who are fighting just for dignity and land.
3) Organizations like the World Social Forum where the poor get together to exchange ideas, recipes and map out the future.

We can also try to affect policy within Western countries and get rid of subsidies and tarrifs. Aid is a sick pathetic joke. Tell me the day that a compound interest loan, the humiliation of having people of another country be in charge of your destiny and shove their way of life and ideas down your throat is charity and I will show you the day that a shower curtain is the perfect fashion accesory for any season.

I think the key is to remember that its always been the opressed who have gotten themselves out of their mess. Let’s help them out once they get started, get out of their way when they don’t need us and try to stop people from gettting in their way.

Finally, as a species we need to raise our consciousness to a place where we can actually co-exist with each other, without always trying to dominate and control one another on the one hand and with all of us taking responsibility for the individual and collective good i.e. loving ourselves and loving our neighbour just as much and not only knowing that intellectually but making decisions daily that are guided by that principle.

If we don’t, then we’ll just continue the cycle of empires rising and falling, rising and falling, rising and falling as opposed to all our boats rising together. For the first time, almost every one in the world can watch the same thing at the same time via the Internet, TV, satellites, mobile phones etc etc, if they can’t watch it they’re probably close to someone who can. Maybe we can somehow take over these avenues and use them to raise the global consiousness otherwise it’ll just end up being:

Greece-Egypt-Rome-Britain-America-X

Also a terrible answer but it’ll do. As I said, not my forte, but I hope this served.

tracyjones asks:

I’ve read about feedburner not working and yet you use it, there are whole sites devoted to telling me it is a load of rubbish. How come it works for some and not others?

My Answer:

For those who don’t know what Feedburner is, check out this page explaining what it is, check out the Feedburner site or subscribe to the blog via RSS to see it in action (the subtly of that plug has to be seen to be believed doesn’t it )

I can only speak from my experience as I have never conducted in depth investigation into Feedburner. Personally I have never ever heard people complain about Feedburner’s ability to get the job done and in fact I have heard it recommended quite a few times BUT Feedburner definitely has a problem as far as consistency is concerned.

There are many times during the course of the week that I won’t have access to my subscriber numbers and what was once a subscriber number turns into a 0. However, in terms of showing me raw traffic numbers, with the exception of the time when I was transferring and changing themes over, which is understandable,Feedburner has been great as far as showing me how many people have visited my site over the last few hours and days.

Personally I recommend that if you people are going to ask people subscribe to your blog via email or RSS then you use Feedburner. If you want an email newsletter, Aweber.

Hope this helps. Any other questions, do not hesitate to ask.

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