BIOGRAPHIES

Host - Sista Zai, Afrofuturistic Storyteller

Featured Letter Writer - Natalya Moosa, The Organic Afro

Featured Guest  -  Tiffanie Anderson, Away To Africa 

About Today's Episode

Founder of Away to Africa, Tiffanie Anderson, is a licensed Attorney and Professor who spends the majority of her time on the continent of Africa and in Jamaica. 

Within the past few years, Tiffanie travelled and explored 15 African countries and her goal is to travel to all 55 African nations. The idea behind Away to Africa was born after Tiffanie was given the wonderful opportunity of studying abroad at the University Of Western Cape Law School in Cape Town, South Africa. Upon her return to the states, Tiffanie could not stop talking about her engaging experiences in the Motherland; encouraging her friends to also take part in discovering the true beauty that wasn’t being highlighted elsewhere. She had several friends who decided to go and see for themselves and who also fell in love, found jobs and relocated. Ten years after her first trip to Africa, Tiffanie launched Away to Africa, a platform dedicated to providing an affordable, safe way for individuals to visit Africa and experience the many different countries that make up the rich land that many of us consider home.

Away to Africa is a destination management company dedicated to providing safe travel experiences and tours throughout selected countries in Africa. 

Away to Africa offers personalised small group travel packages for a flat fee which includes lodging, gourmet traditional food, cultural tours and an Away to Africa representative who travels on the road with the group 24/7 to ensure a safe, enjoyable experience for all of our travellers. 

Additionally, Away to Africa teams with non-profit organisations and SME’s on the continent to offer unique Community Outreach experiences for each client. 

Away to Africa embraces three primary pillars of services, 

Leisure, 

Entertainment and 

Business;

and it is currently the only Black, woman owned business providing experiences throughout 14 countries on the continent including; 

At Away to Africa, we guarantee an unparalleled experience highlighting the 'insiders' route to discover the beauty, culture, people and natural spirit of Africa. 

This is part two of a two part conversation. You can listen to part one here.

Got questions? Want to leave a comment? You can contact me here.

What's the role of African spirituality in decolonising and decolonisation? Join Sista Zai in conversation with the team from Ancestral Voices as we as discuss the meaning of "Success" and "What Does It Mean To Be Afrikan In The 21st Century?"

About Ancestral Voices

Dalian Adofo is a freelance creative artist who works across a range of media; from graphic design to film and video. He has also been in the teaching profession for over 10 years and also works on a range of youth work initiatives, both locally in the UK and abroad. He has also written and directed personal shorts and exhibited his artwork.

Culture is a fundamental element which bonds communities together, without it we lose identity and self awareness. The importance of preserving such knowledge is key to retelling the story of Africa and its contribution to world history, in a manner that is free from colonial imposition.

Verona Spence-Adofo has 10 years experience working in a variety of media roles including on-air promotions, corporate productions and TV distribution amongst others. She has also written, produced and directed personal shorts and documentaries. Her work has also been exhibited in international film festivals.

The denigration of African spiritual teachings has been prevalent for centuries. Once I came into knowledge that contradicted the negativity that I had previously been taught, I was compelled to share this insight with others. My aim for the work of Ancestral Voices is for African spiritual teachings to be given the same acknowledgement and respect as any other spiritual philosophy.

Ancestral Voices is an Educational Initiative documenting and disseminating research-based knowledge about African cosmologies & spiritual philosophies for over a decade, producing a wide range of educational materials including documentaries, books and courses. The primary purpose is to redress the negative depictions and inaccurate historical representations of it due to religious and colonial propaganda.

What's the role of African spirituality in decolonising? Join Sista Zai in conversation with the team from Ancestral Voices as we as discuss the meaning of "Success" and "What Does It Mean To Be Afrikan In The 21st Century?"

About Ancestral Voices

Dalian Adofo is a freelance creative artist who works across a range of media; from graphic design to film and video. He has also been in the teaching profession for over 10 years and also works on a range of youth work initiatives, both locally in the UK and abroad. He has also written and directed personal shorts and exhibited his artwork.

Culture is a fundamental element which bonds communities together, without it we lose identity and self awareness. The importance of preserving such knowledge is key to retelling the story of Africa and its contribution to world history, in a manner that is free from colonial imposition.

Verona Spence-Adofo has 10 years experience working in a variety of media roles including on-air promotions, corporate productions and TV distribution amongst others. She has also written, produced and directed personal shorts and documentaries. Her work has also been exhibited in international film festivals.

The denigration of African spiritual teachings has been prevalent for centuries. Once I came into knowledge that contradicted the negativity that I had previously been taught, I was compelled to share this insight with others. My aim for the work of Ancestral Voices is for African spiritual teachings to be given the same acknowledgement and respect as any other spiritual philosophy.

Ancestral Voices is an Educational Initiative documenting and disseminating research-based knowledge about African cosmologies & spiritual philosophies for over a decade, producing a wide range of educational materials including documentaries, books and courses. The primary purpose is to redress the negative depictions and inaccurate historical representations of it due to religious and colonial propaganda.

ABOUT SISTA ZAI

An Afrofuturistic Storyteller and Community Builder, Sista Zai loves big ideas. She has built literary platforms to celebrate the rich legacy and diversity of Africa's storytelling traditions, showcasing the traditional, the contemporary and the cutting edge. She's a Round 4 Recipient of the Neilma Sydney Literary Travel Fund and these interviews, #AfrikaSpeaksBack202 are an extension of the work she undertook during her 2019 self-directed residency in South Africa.

For the next three episodes, we're diving deep into African design and its connection to our two questions - what it means to be African in the 21st century and our definitions of success.

Mwalimu Saki Mafundikwa is a visual communicator, Design educator, author, filmmaker, and farmer.

He dedicates his life to sharing Zimbabwean culture through design, film, and education. Afrika has to find Afrikan solutions to our problems otherwise we will always be colonized by others.

He graduated with an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University in 1985. A TED2013 speaker, he currently leads workshops and lectures in universities throughout the world, helping designers create a new visual language by understanding their own culture. It’s his personal goal to transform global awareness of typography, symbolism, and design culture.

https://www.ted.com/speakers/saki_mafundikwa

Would you like to contact me to book in a paid 90 minute 1:1 session about your exploration into your definitions of "success" and what it means to be "African" in the 21st century?

It was March 2020. The world had just entered the global lockdown. I reached out to award winning songwriter, MediSun for an interview about the role African spirituality plays in his creative process. We agreed to use WhatsApp to communicate. This was before ZOOM took over. Over three days, we took our time listening and responding. It was one of the loveliest interview processes I've ever had. Let's hop into the time capsule and travel back in time to listen in to this timeless wisdom.

Instagram: @medisunmusic

YouTube: @medisunmusicofficial6285

Website: medisunmusic.online

In part two of our conversation with archivist, writer and publicist, Tinashe Mushakavanhu, we go deeper into the challenges of accessing the archive of books written by Zimbabweans, artist development in the wake of racialised exclusion under colonialism, creativity, the politics of refusal when engaging with power relationships in the publishing industry.

Today's show is a very insightful chat with writer, publisher and archivist, Tinashe Mushakavanhu whose PhD thesis dealt with Zimbabwe's Dambudzo Marechera and England's Shelley. We continue the conversation about definitions of success and what it means to be African in the twenty-first century. Our focus is on Marechera whose refusal to conform to standard definitions of "a successful" writer conferred on him (without his asking) the role of a public intellectual. We also discuss who Marechera wrote to in his work; and the challenges around accessing his archives.

In this second and last part of "Randy Valentine Reasons With Sista Zai", our thoughts and ideas wander from topic to topic, including responsibility and accountability, nation building, self-check as the revolution and the place of love in the revolution.

You can consent to receive monthly updates on Sista Zai's latest news, including fresh podcast episodes here.

Please click ⁠here⁠ for Randy Valentine's music and an earlier version of this interview.

You can access the award-winning documentary, "The Story Of Lovers Rock" by Menelik Shabazz here.

What is your definition of success; and does that definition tie into what you think it means to be African in the 21st century? In this episode, a relaunch of season one following a two year sabbatical, Sista Zai presents the first of many guests whose thought partnership supported her inner journey as she worked out the answers to this season's burning questions about success and group identity.