Purple Lipstick

Women Are Leading Africa

Our hearts flutter whenever we see women leading. I think Africa often gets a bit of a bad rap when it comes to the way women are treated (there are definitely things we need to work on.) However, today our team decided to put together a short list celebrating some of the great ways Women are leading in Africa! We hope that by...

Tuesday, September 27, 2016
0 Comments

"Boys Will Be Boys"

alberts thoughts

When I was younger we used to have chickens in our yard (like most Zimbabweans at one point in their lives). They weren’t the pretty white expensive Broilers that would make the yard look organized and economical. Oh no, they were those kumusha type, few feathers missing, road runner chickens; and they were as anxious as they were unattractive. They were constantly on edge and would be scared of almost anything. They would run at the sight of even the slightest disturbance and blurt out loud clucks as they did. For their security we would place them in one room at night. But that was no comfort to them. The slightest sound, even the sound of a branch landing on the roof would send them into a panic and like an orchestra the entire flock would erupt into exclamations of desperate pleas for help.
What was worse was we had dogs, and for a few days we had to drill it into them that the chickens were not food. The chickens could not have cared less about our scolding and instructions. They were horrified every time Rex and Tiger ran about.

When they would make their noise from whatever trivial thing would frighten them, my mother would ask me to go check on them and see what was going on. As you can imagine this quickly became unpleasant and frustrating and after many nights of waking up and finding nothing there I eventually confronted my mother with this question
“why are they so scared all the time!?”
My mother, who is always kind and thoughtful with her answers to my questions, smiled at me and said,
“That’s what chickens do. Chickens will be chickens””

Flash forward a few months, and the chickens have become part of our regular scene at home. My siblings and I (as children tend to do) began to find ourselves attached to these chickens and ended up giving each one a name, petting them, and treating them as if they were babies. We’d rush home from school and scramble to grab some mealie meal and feed our little squad of pets. We’d add grass to their nests, chase the dogs away if they got too close, and save the chicks from whatever mess they would find themselves tangled in.
It was while we were doing all of this that I noticed something strange. The chickens began to act very differently. They would still panic here and there but they were far less noisy at night, far less cowardly at the sight of danger or disturbances. In fact they started to become brave! Chasing little children that came too close to their nests, sitting right in my lap as I ate my lunch, and walking on top of the napping dogs as they roamed their yard. The chickens became unreasonably brave, chasing maids and gardeners who entered their territory, climbing roofs, and eating food that was not for them.
This may have been funny and often times scary to observe, but when it came time for the chickens to be slaughtered (much to the children’s dismay) , the chickens were too confident to realize the man with a knife was here to kill them, and they would only run last minute. Baffled and annoyed at their failure to flee, I approached my gardener and asked him,
“why do these chickens not run!?”
He laughed and pointed at some roosters fighting and said back to me,
“that’s what chickens do. Chickens will be chickens”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Chickens are both symbols of cowardice and fearless pride. What determines which characteristic we see, tends to depend on what the chicken’s environment promotes.

I wonder what it means when we think of boys being boys as an inescapable truth that only applies to their weakness.

I wonder if like the chickens we assume their behavior is justified and permanent.
I wonder where the line is drawn as absurd or nature. Like the chickens and the dogs versus the chickens and the branch on the roof; a cat-call versus writing an inappropriate comment on their photos or posts.

Boys will be… what we allow them to be.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016
0 Comments

Overcoming Depression

guest blogger

My Message To You, The Youth When I started to feel depressed, I didn’t even realize it. The feeling crept up on me very subtly. It started around November of last year and slowly worked itself into the New Year. Sometimes it hid itself. I would have days when I felt very low, tired and moody, and then I would have days when...

Thursday, August 25, 2016
0 Comments

Getting Over My Insecurities

power

Its been a while since I've written on here ( i'm sorry, the team and I have been prepping for some exciting changes that you'll get to know about soon!) I honestly can't believe the year is almost over :'( I saw an advert for a musical about the Grinch on T.V. the other day and nearly fell out of my chair! Prompted...

Monday, August 22, 2016
0 Comments

The Worst Kinds of Pain

guest blogger

The Worst Kinds of Pain These are some of the worst emotional pains I have ever felt. It took me a pretty long time to type this article (thank you Lower Six for the crazy number of holiday assignments you come with) and I really hope you enjoy it) 1. 1. When we find ourselves rejected by that one guy we...

Thursday, August 18, 2016
0 Comments

"You are Beautiful"

guest blogger

“You are beautiful!” “You are beautiful!” “You are beautiful!” “You are beautiful!” I hear this probably every single day from my girlfriends at the cafeteria at school, at the gym as we work out together to get this perfect bodies but I am lost, world!! I tell them how beautiful they are too knowing how compliments are very necessary in the life we live in now. You want to always know you are beautiful or at least ‘trying to look beautiful’. This is what I have learned from the society through my naïve ears and eyes. I have learned that if you do not fit a certain standard, you’re synonymous with the lesser. I have been caught up with the nonsense of it all. I am walking through a road of unreachable expectations. “God! I wish I looked like Gabrielle Union.” Statements like this have made me believe that I can never actually be good enough. I want to be like someone I will never be. These unreachable expectations break every individual striving to be like somebody. Body’s not good enough? ‘Don’t eat, you’d rather starve, you need that flat tummy.’ I look around, plastered photos on billboards, commercials, music video scenes, barbie dolls. The typical beauty queens. Oh Beauty! I have realized that beauty is having hair that falls perfectly straight. Cascading like waterfalls. Eyes so beautiful. Diamonds faltered in comparison. Skin that’s not too dark. They say “light skin is the right skin”. And a body that belongs on the cover of Cosmopolitan. Beauty. I put on that make up they tell me to, to look for perfection. Concealer, foundation, mascara. I fill in these lines till I’ve colored myself “pretty”. As if it hides my emotional scars. I am screaming to the world. “Is this what you want? What about what I want?” And then, there’s this thing called a mirror. If I look in I see my reflection. The picture so clear. I can’t help but make an assessment. I still see every flaw, every imperfection, every insecurity, every heartbreak, every time I wish I were that person on TV. But what is this beauty?

I have been racking my mind trying to find the perfect definition on what beauty really is but I just don’t seem to find a clear one. I have been trying to look for beauty by trying to fit in. My idea of beauty has been tainted and poisoned. Never do I remember my mother’s words any longer. I cling to what I have been made to believe by the boys at school and by the men with eyes that never seem to get off what they call beauty. I hold on to the societal demands of beauty and I forget that, beauty, was never meant to have a definition. Beauty was meant to be looked at with fascination. If you think beauty is more than the surface of your skin. Then you have started at a good place to begin. Beauty is not on the outside. It is not something that you can see. Beauty is something within you. Something you just have to be. Beauty is always giving, and asking for nothing in return. Beauty is that thing deep inside you. It is not something you can learn. Beauty lingers in everyone, it sleeps within the soul. But only some of us find it, and that is what makes you whole. Beauty is being a friend, a friend that is always there. Beauty is believing in someone, and letting them know you care. Never feel disheartened, a lack of beauty is never near. Beauty isn’t I love you, but giving love that’s true. Beauty isn’t sweet words, but words that inspires lives. Beauty isn’t what you say, but the way it’s said. Beauty can lighten eyes, but true beauty lives, very deep inside. Its grace can bring joy to Hundreds of hearts. It is easy to find beauty, just gaze into the mirror. And remember that the only thing that matters, really matters, is that you can meet your eyes in that mirror each day and know that you have been true to yourself and that you know that beauty is more than the skin you are covered in. Make those scars beautiful. “You are beautiful”. “You are beautiful.” And I don’t mean to sound cliché, but yes you are beautiful no matter what they say. His body was broken His blood spilled so one day you’d realize what you are in His eyes. Unexplainably Indescribably Unequivocally Beautiful In Him. You would be wondrous and made whole. Sweetheart, one day you’ll believe that beauty is more than the physical. One by one, the pieces will align until you can look at yourself, head held high, smile and say I am beautiful.

Thursday, August 11, 2016
1 Comments

A Sisterhood Dynasty

guest blogger

“blame the internet “ It took me so long to write this ....trying to appeal to my generation, ‘who shall even pay attention’ i pondered ....these days its harder than it was when we didn’t have smart phones; such simple times where the sentiments were real and the love was not limited to ‘heart eyes’ and attention spans weren’t on limited. A generation...

Thursday, August 04, 2016
0 Comments

Purple Lipstick

Women Are Leading Africa

"Boys Will Be Boys"

Overcoming Depression

Getting Over My Insecurities

The Worst Kinds of Pain

"You are Beautiful"

A Sisterhood Dynasty

Follow Us

About Us

About us

Labels

Popular Posts

Blog Archive

recent posts

Learning to Make Thoughts Actions

Different is Ok

Everything and Nothing

Meet Christina

Candidly Noni

Pages

Follow Me

Instagram

Popular Posts

Like us on Facebook