#@iamsutra

[youngthatiam]

earth:

in your father’s tongue, you learn how to not be so many things to so many people all at once. it is a freer speech, more fluid but quietly you miss the root: the belonging to multiples the holding of several hands and the being needed. so you squat, and command and compromise. you pat the earth until it is red as your tongue, subservient. until it is as angry as the sun until it is desperate for water. until it is as complex as you. as complex, as you. -S.

[youngthatiam]

1.

Today is one of those days where I feel more frustrated by Ghana than I am on other days. #AccraFloods are the acute heartbreak, but the more chronic variation lies in the flaws in our education system, social attitude, healthcare, and so much else. (Don’t get me started on politics. Partially because it is not my interest and the other part, because it is not my forte.) 

It has played on my mind now for a while, how little I know (compared to what I should) of my ancestors and my motherland. I am ashamed that I do not know enough about my traditions and culture(s), as a Ga and Fante/Twi woman because the traditions and cultures of the West were/are given precedence. I lament that my heart, and my mind move in a way that is intrinsic to me as an African by blood and in colour and yet, in a way that is also foreign. That my tongue has not yet fully found its home. It dawned on me the other day that I have only been to one other African country, but several more outside the continent. Though, thanks to my mother, I travelled extensively (still not enough) across Ghana as a child when we lived there...I wonder why it has often been taught/believed that all that is good lay outside of us. It’s no surprise, that this readiness to see the potential in everyone but ourselves has translated eventually to this ‘Fa ma Nyame′ attitude which, in itself, is a post for another day. 

I wonder, where did this passivity start from? And why does that question even have to be rhetorical? But it is; because..of my ancestors, I know not. And it’s hugely ironic, that I might find answers to these questions were I to do some sort of African Studies degree or class in everywhere but Africa.

Where is our pride in our history? What is our history, before Nkrumah or Rawlings and before slavery? What is our ambition as a nation, besides becoming Westernised? Do our children know by heart, the names of great Ghanaian philosophers and scientists, and army men and women, teachers, pilots, authors, musicians...I, do not. I was not educated on the matter, not in the 5 years prior to moving to Ghana  nor in the 10 amazing years that I grew up there, neither in the remainder of years I have spent away from it.

So i’m educating myself. Education begins with decision. The problem is...there is so much work to do. And I haven’t a clue how to start...yet.

-S.

Post I did ages ago, sharing a similar stream of thought: The Ironic Pan-African

[youngthatiam]

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I wrote this song about 2 years ago, around a time I was at war with myself and my purpose. Tonight...in line with Made In May, I thought to get back to basics and go back to how things were before: strumming a simple tune on my guitar, alone (with a mic)...and this is what happened. ‘Hide’ is a simple song about fear, compromise, defeat and the eventual uprising, shaky as it sometimes may be. This is a story about some of the inner battles I have faced/am facing. You may find you can relate...or not. I give you the story anyway.

Best heard with earphones, i might consider making it available for download on bandcamp (had to compromise on quality to fit it on here -_-) if there’s interest. Lyrics:

hide yourself from those you’re born to lead kill yourself escape from being free love, lose yourself they say you’ll only make it that way.

i keep running from who i’m supposed to be yearn to fit in with those who’s words choke me lies threatening to swallow me whole, i’ll hide myself from me.

hide yourself from those you’re born to lead kill yourself escape from being free love, lose yourself they say you’ll only make it that way.

i keep running from who i’m supposed to be yearn to fit in with those who’s words choke me lies threatening to swallow me whole, i’ll hide myself from me.

i’ll hide no longer i’ll hide no longer i’ll hide no longer, i am stronger

- S.

[youngthatiam]

no one is great without embracing their mistakes and accepting they could do and be better. no one is powerful before first being unpowerful. no one is healed before first being diseased. no one is you. no one is you.

nightfall, Silvia Anie-Akwetey

[youngthatiam]

Hymn & I:

what is faith but the Vine which shaketh, so the branch knows to be ready for the storm? what is light but the song taught to the sunflower, so it knows when to trust to be opened? and what is freedom but the stroll found within and trusted to Him? these all are the feats of life. these all are mine. because my name is written on the hands of a mountain-maker these all are mine. because my name is engraved on the palms that formed thunder these all are mine. -S

[youngthatiam]

Crossroads & Water for the Thirsty:

You know what I discovered today? I discovered the power of God in setting me free. As I was directed to overcome my feelings/fatigue and turn to Acts 5:17-32, I felt an instant relief of my burdens. Burdens of frustration, despair, anxiety, fear and loneliness. Sound familiar to you? I want you to be encouraged that God is the same God who can deliver in an instant and He is also the same God…

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[youngthatiam]

follicle:

it’s as a song, the moment i am aware that my soul yearns for you. so still i hope, i forgive myself a tiny bit more, and i allow myself back to you, for another peace and a greater day. for a greater peace in the other day and i believe again that i am truly free. truly, free.

-S.

[youngthatiam]

arcus:

the winds are after us. i swear it. every moment that you look at yourself, i feel it. the cracks the porcelain followed for the hope of flight, faltered in the daylight. release us.

-S.