celebrating african philanthropy - our ubuntu spirit

Promotion image for Twitter Space c/o Giving Tuesday Africa

Morning beautiful people,

It is a few minutes to midday and I have had two amazing meetings with groups based in Africa that I would like to share.

The first meeting was a speaking engagement opportunity. I have been invited to share my journey with girls and young women from communities that practice early marriages and FGM. Though I have not gone through what some of them have gone through based on these practices, I am a SGBV survivor, and I have first hand experience of trauma and various forms of violence. My talk will be a story of encouragement and an opportunity for them to ask questions as I share some of the tools I used to get me where I am today.

After that meeting, I jumped into a Twitter Space by Giving Tuesday (I know I blogged about them yesterday). This was a last minute invite to a conversation on celebrating African Philanthropy, post Giving Tuesday.

Below are some of the things I shared;

1. We need to reframe how we define philanthropy as Africans

We also need to understand that our definition of philanthropy is not the same as the west. So our stories will be different…let us tell our stories as they are especially because they are not about Millions of Dollars #ReframePhilanthropy #MyUbuntuSpirit cc @GivingTueAfrica https://t.co/o2PC61ljhj

— sitawa | my mind my funk (@Wafula_Sitawa) November 30, 2022

#OurUbuntuSpirit Maybe we are not sharing stories, because we are using a Western definition of something that we are doing on the daily. And so feel we cannot measure up to that Western definition, but we have so many stories to share.- @Wafula_Sitawa @GivingTueAfrica

— #GivingTuesdayKe (@GivingTuesdayKe) November 30, 2022

2. One of the ways I was able to expand my definition was when I won a Philanthropy award in 2013, for running my previous blog (which later won a Google Award)

#OurUbuntuSpirit #EAPA award by @EAPhilanthropy was an opportunity for me to expand my definition of philanthropy. Because for the longest time I thought philanthropy was always about money. @Wafula_Sitawa @GivingTueAfrica #GivingTuesday2022

— #GivingTuesdayKe (@GivingTuesdayKe) November 30, 2022

Philanthropy goes beyond money. It includes time, experiences, skills and resources. @Wafula_Sitawa @nicanorsabula @GivingTueAfrica #MyUbuntuSpirit #GivingTuesday2022

— Wanyoro Beth (@bethy_benny) November 30, 2022

#OurUbuntuSpirit Yes we need money to move some of the projects and programmes that we want to do. But there is more than money, we need to give our time, resources, experiences, skills- @Wafula_Sitawa @GivingTueAfrica #GivingTuesday2022

— #GivingTuesdayKe (@GivingTuesdayKe) November 30, 2022

3. We also need to share African stories about Philanthropy on our own terms, using our own definitions and we need to share them consistently

#OurUbuntuSpirit Maybe we are not sharing stories, because we are using a Western definition of something that we are doing on the daily. And so feel we cannot measure up to that Western definition, but we have so many stories to share.- @Wafula_Sitawa @GivingTueAfrica

— #GivingTuesdayKe (@GivingTuesdayKe) November 30, 2022

Being consistent with sharing what we are doing and not wait for international days. #MyUbuntuSpirit

— sitawa | my mind my funk (@Wafula_Sitawa) November 30, 2022

You can listen to the replay here and learn additional things about African Philanthropy.

As an aside:

As mentioned in the Twitter Space, one of the ways that Africans can use to share their stories is through podcasting. Here at my mind my funk we run a Seasonal Podcast to share positive African mental health narratives. We are currently working on the 5th Season which will be dropping in Spring 2023. Subscribe to Funky Notes, our monthly newsletter, using the form at the end of this page and you will get updates about the podcast alongside other events and activities we have in store.

wishing you all a lovely afternoon (or evening).

sending love and light, sitawa