Cultural Ties - Life of Foreign Africans

The buzzword entanglement took on a whole new level in 2020 following a open disclosure by a famous celebrity that while she was married, she had an entanglement (affair). On this episode, we openly discuss why women are more cautious in sharing how many men they may be dating and why they are more likely to be involved in an entanglement while men are usually labelled cheats. We are joined by co-host, Rennae, Femi, and Alex as they share personal stories and dive deep into the mindset of women and some of the issues that may trigger entanglements and when to avoid them if thats not a desired outcome you want for your relationship.

The euphoria of a romantic relationship is one of the best feelings known to human. However, there are more complex relationships that need to be formed with your partners family. The joys of discovering your in-laws has historically being muddled with very bad experiences and some pleasant ones too. On this episode, we are joined by Dr Mobo and Yvonne (Lammy) as they share their experiences of dealing with in-laws and we address the question if "love is enough" for the couple to survive their in-laws. We discuss dealing with all the in-laws (including, brother, sister, father, mother, and even aunty and uncles - Inlaw). The wisdom shed on this episode should be retained for generations to come.

A very uncomfortable truth and fact is that death is guaranteed for all of us. When a parent suddenly passes away, it is often very difficult to express what that loss feels like because many times we view our parents as indestructible and built to live forever. On this episode, we are joined by a special guest Praise Izinyon who is the president of the Alex & Grace Izinyon Foundation (AGIF) and Femi as they discuss their experience dealing with the loss of their parent. They share their process of grief, regrets they may have had, support for their siblings, and how they tried to support the surviving parent. They open up about the unseen aspects of dealing with this unique process of having to bury the Parent that nurtured and took care of you from birth. One key thing for us to remember is that "you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory". Love and make time for the people in your life because that is one of the best ways to enjoy everyday life especially as we don't know what the future holds.

Being a black successful woman in 2020 should be viewed as attractive and impressive. However, the reality still seems that some black men are intimidated by succesful women, which even leads to our black women having to down play their achievements for the sake of getting along and being approached for more intimate relationships by men.
In this episode, we are joined by successful ladies, Alex, Rennae, and Onyeka as we  define success and why some men are still insecure about a successful black woman.  The ladies also share their experiences dealing with stereotype concepts such as women not being submissive to their partner because of their achievements. We aim to uncover the false assumptions about these stereotypes in other to encourage men to be more confident in approaching successful women without limits and barriers.  

Falling in love is great but staying in love while living miles apart comes with its own challenges. Different circumstances in a relationship may cause us to be apart from a loved one and while some relationships flourish from the distance, we have come to learn that the distance apart may not always be a smooth process for the couple. With your other half a thousand miles away, how does one keep the fire burning? How does one show love? In this episode, we talk about the realities of being in a long distance relationship and the hosts Lammy, Alex, and JJ shed some light on some of the real issues that arise from the distance and the emotional, and physical strain it may have. We also examine some of the positives and the kind of mindset to adopt if long distance relationship is the circumstance you find yourself in.

We all aim for our deep and romantic relationships to stand the test of time and survive  happily ever after. However, we are faced with the reality that sometimes, there are cracks, which appear and some relationships eventually break down. In this episode, we speak openly about the realities of a break up, separation, or  divorce. We speak about loneliness, shame that comes with breaking up in the a Afro-carrebean community, and explaining to young children why daddy and mummy now live in different houses. We are joined by JJ, Rennae, Danny, and Alex as they share their experiences and what life gems we can learn from in nurturing our relationships and also preparing and enjoying your best life even after a difficult break up.

We all aim for our deep and romantic relationships to stand the test of time and survive  happily ever after. However, we are faced with the reality that sometimes, there are cracks, which appear and some relationships eventually break down. In this episode, we speak openly about the realities of a break up, separation, or  divorce. We speak about loneliness, shame that comes with breaking up in the a Afro-carrebean community, and explaining to young children why daddy and mummy now live in different houses. We are joined by JJ, Rennae, Danny, and Alex as they share their experiences and what life gems we can learn from in nurturing our relationships and also preparing and enjoying your best life even after a difficult break up.

Your accent is the way you sound when you speak and in reality everybody has an accent – in somebody else’s opinion. Most accents have some kind of stereotype attached to them. While European and American accents are found to be sophisticated and elegant, other non-white accents such as African, Caribbean, Asian, or Latino accents maybe perceived to be crude and lower class because those minority groups are treated lower in society and their accents are associated with something undesirable.

Although people poke fun at British or American accents, but it’s never with the intention of making it sound unrefined, as it is with other accents.The thing about mocking accents is that we often dismiss how hurtful they can be under the pretence of  “it was a joke” or “all in good fun.” But for people who have relations to accent issues, it can be hurtful and impact their confidence as there still exists in our society subtle discrimination against them to indicate they are different. 

On this episode, we discuss whether having a Non-Amercian or Non-European accent has an impact on your confidence or ability to progress economically and take up more senior leadership roles in society. We are joined by Rennae, JJ, and Kene as they share their personal experiences on how their accents have been perceived and why this shouldn’t be a barrier to achieving your goals and speaking up when any form of social injustice or discrimination is directed towards you or any of your loved ones.  

On the 25 May 2020, the world witnessed the brutal and savage killing of George Flyod ("Big George") as a police offer in Minneapolis, USA, knelt on George's neck for 8 minutes 46 seconds, while George was handcuffed and held down by 2 other police offers. The police offer had his hands in his pocket while he smothered the life out of George even when he cried for his Mamma and repeatedly pleaded "I can't breathe"...Mamma.... I can't breathe"..... 
The outrage of George's death sparked a mass protest globally in every continent of the world and some demonstarators pulled down a slave master statue and threw into a canal in Bristol, UK. George's death has led to an outcry that says "Black Lives Matter". As black Africans, we continue to suffer from the prejudice of being black and we have had enough. We are not to be treated as animals and we are not to be killed as animals. Our Lives Matter. We should not experience hatred because of the colour of our skin. 
In this episode, we are joined by the Cultural Ties Podcast family of Black Africans as we delve deep into why our lives matter. We share our experiences being on the receiving end of racism and we speak up to encourage every Black person in any part of the world to know and believe that we are specially and fearfully created by God and we are bold, beautiful, blessed, intelligent, and equal to all human beings on planet earth. No race is superior - We are all Equal and must be treated equally in love and respect. Black Lives Matter! 

The question of where you call home creates mixed emotions because at different points and stages in life, we could regard anywhere as home. However, the pull for many Foreign Africans who feel they have 2 homes often leads to a reduced quality of life, economic advancement, and identity crisis because they may live in diaspora but still dream of home in Africa or the Carribean. This impacts our community and a generations economic and physiological advancement and we must realise that while the choice of Home is a blessing, it may also come with a trap we must be aware of. We are joined by hosts Kene, Seun, and Rennae who give us a perspective on how we could consider this subject and look to light a path for generations to come.