I thank God so much for having given me the talent to write and recite poetry. During my second year in high school 1993, I was a very active student and participated in many of the school organization, and events. I joined the journalism club, our first assignment as freshmen to the club was to write a poem, and ever since that day I have never looked back.

Poems have been my antidote, my companion, my therapy, and my vision for the future and my best friend. Poems have been a channel for me to release my stress, frustration, fear, hate, pain, happiness, peace and love, all the emotions that one undergoes. One goes through a lot of adjustments and conditioning, when they arrive at a new place or country, in this case an immigrant, writing poems helped me a lot during my hard times and I survived through a lot because I was able to write poems and express what I feel, I inspired myself and would always encourage myself and believe there is hope for a better tomorrow, indeed I can say that poems also termed as spoken word, has been one of my main surviving tool, my armor, my shield and my love.

I got my first debut of performing my own poems or as a spoken word artist through the Soul in Motion Players, of which I am a member of the company, and then I gracefully entered the open-mike arena and wow! I never realized how many poets are out there and how words are the most powerful thing in the world. I like to perform and do open-mikes because I pass a message to relate to, whether man or woman young or old, I touch peoples hearts and challenge them in the various aspects of their life and in the end we all learn and are positively impacted.

Last but not least, spoken word, puts into use the meaning of freedom of speech, if you do not speak how can you communicate, learn or get help, who will know how you feel, where it hurts or what it takes, thus I write on behalf of those who cannot express themselves and for myself and because the positive response I get from the audience acknowledge the fact that not only are poems important but that poems or spoken word are indeed stories and realities of our life.

WOMEN OF THE WORLD

As the flower of Africa blooms
So does a new day for the women of Africa unfold
From the time of her delivery
The African woman was known to be a liability not a profit
A loss not a gain
She was to be seen and not to be heard
To be abused, accused, humiliated and despised

Yet women of Africa and women of the world
Have evolved and transcended despite their hardships
They have survived inequalities, disintegration, physical, verbal and emotional abuse
Women of Africa have survived carrying firewood on their heads
Bags of food on their backs, a child on their breast all at the same time
While walking to the market talking to them selves
For their voices were not to be heard
And still we rise

We rise because of women who have paved way for equality and justice
Women like Wangari Maathai the first African woman to win a noble peace prize
President Ellen Johnson the first woman to be elected president in an African country,
Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks and of course you and I
And still we rise
We rise because we wear many hats
We are mothers, teachers, doctors, managers, politician’s even soldiers
And still humble enough to be ideal wives
We rise because our struggles have made us stronger
Thus our backbones have not weakened but hardened
To be strong as those of camels

And so as we salute each other today
I urge all the women to rally with one another
As we face new challenges of HIV and AIDS,
Poverty, breast cancer and other underlying problems while still
Fighting for proper equality and respect

Let us empower one another with knowledge
So we can help eradicate some of this problem
For knowledge is power and lack of it is death

Let empower one another through education
So we can teach both the boys and the girls the value of the girl child
And her need to be respected

Let us empower and economically enrich one another
So we can become financially independent
For we are the foundation of the home without us the house cannot stand

Let us partner and work with one another
For united we stand and divided we fall
And we all need each other

For to educate a woman is to educate the whole nation
Because it takes home to build a nation
And even though our struggles still continue
Let us not forget that we the women have already won the battle!




© 2005 Anna Mwalagho.

I HAVE A DREAM

They say that I come from the dark continent, AFRICA!
The last time I checked the word dark in the dictionary, it meant
Evil or wickedness, without knowledge or enlightenment
A state of ignorance difficult to understand
The absence of light!

But I still believe in Africa
And I am proud to be an African
Because even though my continent has been marred by
Civil wars, ethnic wars, tribal wars
And HIV and AIDS is killing my people in masses
While the world watches
And the media shows with no remorse
Please do not let the media fool you
Because to them news is
“Only when it bleeds it reads”

But am not going to abandon my people
I am not going to disown my ancestors
And no matter what they say
I am not going to deny my race
Instead I have chosen to stand up for Africa
I have chosen to defend my history, protect my land
Eliminate the perpetrators and their wickedness
And declare peace in the name of justice

Let us not forget that Africa is the richest continent in natural resources
From gold to diamonds, rubber to copper, timber to oil
Africa is worldly known for its tourism industry
Africa exports tea, coffee just to name a few
Africa is beautifully endowed with the Great Rift Valley, Victoria Falls,
The pyramids, the oceans, the seas and even its people
And now 80% of the world supply of Coltan
A mineral that is used to manufacture cell phones and computers in the whole world
Is found in Africa
Tell me what darkness comes from all this light!

Yet some of our people want to turn our blessings to curses
Letting their flesh control their spirit
Making a brother, kill his own brother, kill his own father
Rape his sister, and his mother
In the name of money, power, riches and fame

Why are we failing to see the big picture?
That if we stand up together
Rid ourselves of all corrupt leaders
We can attain riches beyond our imagination
For we are all ready rich!
And if we have to trade
Let us not exchange our minerals for cheap change
While the western world reaps all the benefits
Let us not exchange our minerals for arms
To kill our own people
Who then will stand for us?
If we can not stand together for ourselves
Instead let us exchange our minerals
For better machineries and technology
So that we can become self sufficient
And instead of depending on the west
We can work together

For if we let our selfish interests control us
Some of our leaders putting our lives on the line
Just to fatten their big fat bellies
We are saying that we did not learn from colonization and slavery
And it will be sad to say that history repeats itself
Why are we helping to build other nations and continents?
With our own resources while we watch mother Africa crumble and fall!

I am crying for a revolution
I am looking for followers
And I am searching for peace makers
And until the world says, there shall be
No more blood, no more rape, no more poverty on my cell phone
No more blood, no more rape, no more poverty on my diamonds
No more blood, no more rape, no more poverty on my gold
No more blood, no more rape, no more poverty in my oil
We as a people need to stand up together
And defend what is ours, own what is ours, fight for what is ours
In peace and not in wars

And just like Martin Luther King Junior, had a dream
I too have a dream
I have a dream that one day Africa shall lend and give aid to the world
I have a dream that one day
We shall find the cure to HIV and AIDS
And rid our continent of these dreaded disease
I have a dream that one day
Our children will teach the western children our culture
Instead of it being vice versa
I have a dream that one day
All the Africans heads of state will come together, Speak in one voice
And together, form and create one country one continent

The United States of Africa

And just like Martin Luther King Junior dream became a reality
Ours too can become a reality
If we all stand up together for peace and not for war
For economic development and not individual satisfaction
Listen! To our mothers calling
For when mama Africa calls we must answer
And I know that we shall get to the mountain top!


© 2005 Anna Mwalagho.