WAG Animal Rescue

Last week, I spent a day at WAG animal shelter in Kigali. This is what life is like for rescued street dogs in Rwanda.

I've been blogging a lot less recently, simply because I've been making more videos. You can check out my channel here for interesting excursions into what I eat in Rwanda, a girlie weekend in Gisenyi and my favourite Kinyarwanda words. 

Also, if you like the song on the moto at the beginning of the WAG video, check out my cousin, Sali.

SoA Open Letter to Ukrainian Authors

The UK Society of Authors have issued an open letter to the writers, illustrators and translators of Ukraine.

To the writers, illustrators and translators of Ukraine,

The members, directors and staff of the UK Society of Authors stand with you.

As the illegal invasion of your country continues, we cannot imagine what you and your families are experiencing.

Beyond the horrors of the humanitarian crisis endured by your people, this war is an assault on the rights that underpin your lives and livelihoods: the right to think, speak, write and create freely. It is an assault on a people’s right to self-determination.

Yet Ukraine is more than its borders and land. Ukraine is its people, its rich culture – its history, its present and its future. You, as the country’s thinkers and creators and makers are at the heart of that – whether you report what is happening today, write what must happen tomorrow, or create moments of reprieve to inspire those around you through impossible times.

Create freely. Write fiercely. Share your story. The authoritarian mind is right to fear you. You have the power to counter it.

We look forward to meeting you and your work in better times. Until then, if we can help or if you want us to share your thoughts and writing, email ukraine@societyofauthors.org.

Wherever the weeks and months ahead take you, you are in our hearts.

In solidarity.

You can sign it here. 

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija

Disturbing developments in Uganda.

Ugandan satirical novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who was named International Writer of Courage by PEN last year, has been illegally detained and tortured for criticising the president and his son, his lawyer said.

Gunmen came to the writer’s house on 28 December after a series of tweets about the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, including one calling him a thief and his son and presumed successor “an incompetent pig-headed curmudgeon”.

In his last tweet Rukirabashaija said he was under house arrest and the men were entering by force. He has not been able to contact his lawyers since then, and no charges have been brought.

Read full Guardian article and open letter by PEN International.

Very disturbing but not unusual for Museveni, who has previously detained children as political prisoners. How thin-skinned do you need to be to torture someone for calling you a curmudgeon? Let's hope for a speedy release. 

WAG Appeal

Just to mention a little fundraising campaign for the local animal shelter here in Kigali. WAG do the most amazing job of caring for feral and abandoned animals in Rwanda. They helped rescue one of my cats from an awful situation a few years ago and saved her life. Anything you can give is hugely appreciated. 

Find out more about WAG on their website, on Facebook, and more about the funding appeal here.

Nyiragongo Erupts

 

 

Yesterday, Nyiragongo erupted. It's about six miles from the northern border of Rwanda, in Goma, DRC. It is an utterly magnificent and amazing natural landmark, but it's also ferociously dangerous for the people living in its shadow. The above was my reaction to the news of the eruption, plus a little information about the volcano and the last time it erupted in 2002. We've been experiencing a few tremors down here in Kigali today.

Seismic activity in the past 24-hours.

Levenshulme Little Free Library

 

 

 

When COVID took over the world, my lovely friends Paul and Jeremy decided to set up a free library in their garden, in the  Mancunian suburb of Levenshulme. Paul is a writer and artist, who you might remember from booQfest, where Percy met Art Critic Panda.

In his own words (and art) this is how the library came about. Click on each image to enlarge:

 

We started it because we feel that books need to keep moving, in circulation, passed from hand to hand. I say this even as the world's worst hoarder and from inside a house heaving with books. But... in the summer last year we visited a new, local Free Library in Burnage - and just a few moments browsing some shelves that weren't mine - so deep into the pandemic and lockdown - well, it felt like bliss. I knew we had to help out creating a string of these LFL's across South Manchester. People need to be given books and they need to spend time with books. Just the act of rummaging and browsing and deciding what to read next feels very restorative and cheering, I think. And we love having the bookcase and the boxes outside our house. People stop by and they talk. Real people. I really do think books bring people together. - Paul Magrs

 
It's such a lovely idea and I would encourage anyone reading to consider starting a little local library of their own.

Kamalizareads

   

Just hanging out at my local writing spot and bumped into these guys. They help to run Kamiliza Reads, which is a community library of African and African American women writers. They're based at CasaKeza restaurant in Kacyiru, Kigali. 

You can rent out any book for two weeks at 1,500 francs for students and 2,500 for regular members, then extend your subscription for 500 per week after that.

Excellent service. If you have any books by African or African American women authors to donate, please do. If you're outside Rwanda, you can help by purchasing an item for them from their Amazon wishlist. They are part of a wider organisation called Sistah Circle (Instagram/Twitter).

[UPDATE: they have moved from CasaKeza. Check their social media for new location.]

Appeal for Jean

 

Hi everybody. A little appeal for my friend Jean Claude Muhire, who is a very talented writer and human rights activist. One of his tales appeared in Versus, the collection of stories by Rwandan authors. 

Unfortunately, he suffered kidney failure and has had to go to Cairo for a transplant. It took a long time for him to get permission to go and the delay meant that some of the money for his time there was used keeping him alive in Rwanda. Thankfully, he's now had the operation and it has been a success, but he's looking for a little help to cover the rest of his medical bills and care before flying home. Anything you can spare would be very much appreciated.

 

Donation Page Here 

 

 

 Me & Jean in 2015

 

UPDATE

Thank you to everyone who donated. Jean is recovering and doing well, as is his girlfriend, Marie, who donated her kidney. You can read all about it on his Twitter feed.

[UPDATE 2022: Jean is fully recovered and he and Marie are now married and doing great.] 

Mikron Appeal

I know everyone is having a tough time under C19 restrictions, but I just wanted to mention this unique theatre company called Mikron. They've been touring for almost fifty years, travelling British waterways to bring theatre to pub gardens and rural communities that might not otherwise have access to theatre. They really are an incredible group. However, due to the pandemic, they have been unable to tour this year, which means no tickets sold. They've started a fundraiser to support themselves through to next year, and they've almost reached their goal. If you would like to help out, you can learn more here. You can also read an interview with their artistic director, Marianne McNamara, on this blog.

Relentless Minds

Jeanne Celestine Lakin

Shout out to this podcast. I work with survivors' organisations in Rwanda and this was in our monthly newsletter. If you'd like to receive more news, you can sign up here.

Relentless Minds is a podcast, produced in the United States, which has recently released several interviews with survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi that occurred in Rwanda in 1994.

The following episodes address the unspeakable tragedies that these survivors experienced along with their own personal message to the world. Their messages highlight the human spirit and its ability to overcome tragedy:
 

Jacqueline Murekatete - An attorney, a human rights activist and the founder of Genocide Survivors Foundation, a partner organisation of Survivors Fund (SURF).

Liliane Pari Umuhoza - Founder of the Women Genocide Survivor’s Retreat which serves to provide psychological support to women survivors of genocide in Rwanda, and trustee of Survivors Fund (SURF).

Jeanne Celestine Lakin - Founder of One Million Orphans, a non-profit with the mission to help orphans around the world to receive resources they lack, and a shot at a better future.

Consolee Nishimwe -  A committed speaker on the genocide, a defender of women rights and an advocate for other genocide survivors.

Placide Magambo - A journalist seeking to help his community through the power of journalism.

The Relentless Minds podcast was created in 2019 in an effort to inspire people to fight for the change they desire to see in their lives and in the world. Through this platform the aim is to spread awareness of social and global issues, create a sense of community, and move people into action, with the ultimate goal to inspire a united movement for change all around the world.

Helping Genocide Survivors During Lockdown

I'm making a little appear on behalf of AVEGA-Agahozo, an organisation representing genocide widows in Rwanda. I do some work with them. Please spare what you can:

Hello friends. Times are particularly difficult at the moment as we enter the memorial period for the 26th anniversary of the genocide. Due to COVID-19, memorial sites have been closed and communal events are on hold. This also means that our group counselling support sessions are unable to meet. AVEGA has many vulnerable members and we are trying to assist them in two key ways:

1) Delivering food and basic supplies to those who are particularly vulnerable, which include elderly and disabled widows with no surviving family and those who already have compromised immunity, such as those living with HIV/AIDS. It's particularly important that these groups do not leave their homes and risk infection.

2) Providing airtime packages to community counsellors in each district of the country so that they can regularly call up counselling clients to make sure they're okay during this time. We're also hoping to expand our national helpline, but it's important that those in counselling for trauma and depression are not alone at this time of year.

I know that there have already been a lot of appeals for help around the world, so I'm not going to push it. Everyone in the AVEGA office has already given what they can. If you would like to make a donation you can do so directly to our MTN mobile money (momo) account: Agahozo Avega 0788 520 122. You can also donate to that number using PayPal or a credit card through HeptaPay or WorldRemit or you can donate to Survivors Fund (SURF) in the UK who will pass on the funds.

All money will go either to airtime for counsellors or to food packages for vulnerable survivors.

Murakoze cyane/Thank you very much.

Pretty Lights

I've been spending Sundays over at Kigali Heights lately, researching ancient Sumer whilst watching the lights of the Convention Centre swirl. Taking lots of notes for my next novel. It's going to be a while until I start writing, but I'm looking forward to it.

The only thing that could make this better would be...

Nomnomnom.

Talking of pretty lights, my dad posted these pictures the other day. It's a beautiful display at Gloucester Cathedral in support of asylum seekers. Really pretty. Wish I could have seen it.

 

And, in other news, the gloomy start to the year seems to be resolved. Health is back to normal and patched things up with my fella, who is hopefully returning from India in a month. So, light at the end of the tunnel - and hopefully not an oncoming train. Feel I've got my bounce back.

Fulu Miziki

Shout out to a fantastic band, Fulu Miziki, who completely rocked Kigali last night. Kinshasa's answer to glam rock. They were so much fun to watch. Incredible energy.

Most of their costumes, and some of their instruments, are made from recycled materials. If you ever get the chance to see them, get right on it.

Goma Plane Crash

News Photograph

Writing with some sad news. 

I'm part of a piano-building project in Kigali. A couple of weeks back, a plane crashed in a residential area of Goma, which is a city just over the border in DRC. 

Unfortunately, one of the houses it landed on belonged to the brother of our chief piano carpenter, Paulin. His brother was at church at the time, but the crash wiped out his brother's wife and their children. He has just returned from DRC and we are holding a collection for his family.

If you would like to contribute, you can do so through our website. Put the name Paulin in the PayPal note and we'll make sure he gets it, or contact me for mobile money details.

Paulin, left, last year.

#FolkloreThursday Video

Just a reminder that every Thursday is #FolkloreThursday over on Twitter. If you love myths and legends, get on over there. You can find out more on their website, and find out how it all began in my interview with them.

Why UBI is so Important

Saw this on YouTube and it made me smile. Reminded me a of a cartoon I saw once where a kid turns up at his parents' door after graduation with a massive sack of debt on his back. His dad greets him with no sympathy, saying "I left school with nothing!", and the kid replies, "I wish I'd left with nothing."

I mentioned Universal Basic Income briefly in my TEDx talk. For those who don't know what it is, here's the lowdown.

Finland joined the list of countries to trial a UBI payment. The experiment recently finished and I was a bit annoyed by the coverage. One of the key complaints was that it didn't lead to significantly more people starting businesses.

Well, would you, if you knew UBI was an experiment lasting for two years, and after that the money would stop? You're hardly going to behave in the same way as you might if you knew the money was guaranteed for life. One woman gave a heartfelt panic as the year drew to an end, because she wasn't sure how she'd make up for the loss of UBI. There were also strongly influential restrictions to the study, which you can read about here, that discouraged people from taking employment. Many people involved in the study had been living with financial insecurity for a long time, you can't just ask someone to trust in a stable income and behave with confidence.That takes time.

All that considered though, I think the emphasis is on the wrong thing. Leading opinion compellingly suggests that we're facing a fourth industrial revolution and that 9-5 jobs are not the way of the future. The other thing we're seeing is a global mental health crisis brought about by financial stress and a growing lack of purpose. As the video above shows, you can have someone physically in the office eight hours a day, but that doesn't mean they're productive.

One thing that has come out of UBI studies is their positive effect on mental health and boosting self-worth. This is absolutely what we need to focus on. We need to stop talking about work and the simple act of living in terms of how much money it equates to. The crux of it should always be quality of life. Whatever that means for each individual.

Happy people are also more productive people. When you care about what you do, and enjoy doing it, you usually do it well. When you don't give a crap and see no point to it, why bother?

For me, as a writer, it's of particular interest. Recent research shows that the average writer in the UK earns around £10,000 a year. I'd suggest that's optimistic for many. Most writers work several other jobs to get by and financial tension, as shown above, leads to increased mental stress. This is true for other arts too, from circus performers and dancers through to musicians and painters. Art takes time to develop and mental space to conceptualise. Yet the pay off is significant, with a recent report showing the arts industry contributes more to the UK economy than agriculture.

Not that farming escapes the ravages of austerity either, with Brexit and climate uncertainty leading to a spike in suicides among farmers. These are people who love the land. Who want to raise animals, grow crops and put food on people's tables. Often farms that have been in families for generations, or a person's life-long dream of escaping the city, now rendered unsustainable because of our obsession with financial worth. Although I'm viewing this from an artistic perspective, because it's my perspective, nobody in any profession is unaffected by the times. For a developed country, we're backwards when it comes to income inequality.

Here's an excerpt from the above report which sums things up well.

Another popular assumption about employment is that all employment is better than no employment. Finland’s experiment did not break employment down to the granularity of the nature of the work itself. If they had done so, and the results showed that 50 basic income recipients quit their jobs as telemarketers to pursue their doctoral degrees in biotechnology and quantum computing, would that loss of employment reveal a failure of basic income, or its success? Existing research also shows that going from unemployment into a bad job is worse for your mental health than staying unemployed.

We need to start asking some important questions about employment. How much employment actively hurts society? How many people have jobs that are the opposite of contributing to society, and instead drag society down? How many people have entirely unnecessary jobs that don’t need to exist at all? How many people have jobs that could already be done more cheaply and with higher quality and dependability by existing technologies? How many hours are we clocking that could be reduced without accomplishing less?

None of the above questions were investigated in this experiment, because for the most part, these questions aren’t being asked by society in general because of a mass delusion that all employment is good. That assumption is not only wrong, but dangerously wrong with exponential technological advancement. - Understanding Finland's Universal Basic Income Experiment

Capitalism is a financial feudal system. Money only travels in one direction unless we're willing to redistribute it. UBI is a way to redistribute it. Whereas I'd love to think governments would do this out of the goodness of their heart, to benefit the mental health and well-being of their populations, you know that's never going to be the reason.

The reason it is most likely to happen is to save economies. If people have no money, they don't spend anything. If they don't spend anything, you don't have an economy. You need to give just a little back to the people, so that the people can give it back to businesses - and the wheel keeps turning.

And you know things are getting bad, because the UK are mooting this point right now. It's been suggested that every adult in the UK gets £48 in UBI each week. Whereas this does sound like a ridiculously small amount given the current cost of living, the horrific thing is that almost four million people rely on food banks in the UK and that money would actually make a significant difference to their lives. 

That is why I predict UBI will come into effect. Not for our well-being, but because the government need it as a way to placate growing civil unrest. You can only control people for as long as they feel they have something to lose. Take everything from them, as is happening now: homes, pensions, health care, self-worth, dignity and financial security, and, well, this beautiful individual right here explains what happens:

An Essay in Pictures

Some more really beautiful quotes under this article: Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell on why we need libraries – an essay in pictures.

Giles Paley-Phillips Q&A

Giles Paley-Phillips is the British author of nine books, including The Fearsome Beastie, which sold over 70,000 copies. He is the winner of The People's Book Prize 2012 and The Heart Of Hawick Children's Book Award 2013, and has been shortlisted for The Rotherham Children's Awards 2012 and People's Book Prize 2016. He has played at Glastonbury with his band and made several TV appearances including Good Morning Britain and an author special of BBC2's Eggheads, and is a judge on ITV’s Share a Story. He currently co-hosts the podcast Blank with comedian Jim Daly. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

   

Hi Giles, thanks for stopping by to talk about your new book, One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days, which you are launching through a campaign on Unbound.

The story draws on your own memories of losing a parent. Do you find it easier to write about such and intimate experience than talk about it? Do you ever worry that giving book talks might bring up emotions or questions from readers that might feel uncomfortable, or do you welcome that connection? 

I really welcome the connection, I have had so many messages from people empathising with me and telling me about their own experiences. I'm generally happy to talk about my experiences, but it has been made easier by writing this book.

Being such a personal subject, why did you choose to go with a semi-autobiographical novel rather than a biography? 

I was a lot younger than the protagonist when my mum died, so I didn't have the memories of that time, but I did have a period in my life when I was trying to fathom the loss. That was during my teens and that's why I decided to base the character at that age. 

In writing down the story, did your feelings towards those events, and towards death, change at all?

It certainly helped me to explore those moments and memories, and how I've dealt with my grief more than I had ever done before, and it was pretty bruising. 

This book is written from the perspective of a teenager. Would you class it as YA or is there something in there for adults to take away, too?

It is something I've discussed both with my agent and with editors and now the publisher. It definitely has a crossover feel to it, so I think it will appeal to both YA and adult readers.

You co-host the podcast Blank, exploring those blank moments we face in art and life. You've written this book in free verse, and I was wondering whether you get as many blank moments writing in that style? Does free verse help you to free flow around those stumbling blocks? 

I feel very at home writing in free verse. I've found less blank moments like this than I ever did writing in straight prose.

On the writing process, do your family read what you’re writing and offer suggestions, or do you wait until you have a finished piece to show them? 

I usually wait till it's done before I let anyone look at it, just so they have the whole picture. Even if some of the colours are missing, they can still see the entire sketch.

What advice do you have for writers who want to write about personal experiences but worry about how family or close friends will perceive themselves in that writing? In this story, you talk about a distant father and a scatty grandmother. Do you worry about them reading that, or is it a story you could only tell after they passed? 

I hadn't thought it before, but perhaps this book was easier to write after their passing. I think it's so important to be honest in your writing, even when you're making stuff up, I think you have to keep a level of authenticity.

You’ve chosen to crowdfund this book through Unbound. Could you tell us a bit about what that is and how it is useful to authors? 

It's been a fantastic experience working with Unbound. They really believed in this project and they are really about bringing the story to the reader far more directly than a standard publisher.

I notice you are a patron of Action Aid. Could you tell us a little about how you became involved with them and why? How can people support them?  

I'm very proud to be involved with Action Aid UK. They are an incredible organisation who work with women and children in poverty throughout the world. You can find out more about what they do and how to get involved through their website.

*

 

One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days is due for release early in 2020. You can find out more about the book and help to support it on Unbound.

Perdido Street Station

Well, uh... that's interesting. I read a book and joined a political party.

Book first.

Was a fan of Tea & Jeopardy, where I first heard the name China Miéville. Then was sloshing down sangria the other night and a friend introduced me to a friend who runs a book club here. 

"Oh, who do you like to read?"

"China Miéville."

That name again. So, I Googled 'where to start,' and continued my love affair with Audible by downloading a copy of Perdido Street Station.

First of all, Jonathan Oliver deserves an award. That was one heck of a narration - thirty-one hours' worth of narration. And he didn't let the energy dip at any point. 

I was a bit of a reluctant listener to begin with. My preference is for magical realism - our, recognisable, world with a bit of weird shit happening on the sidelines. I find it creepier that way, when you could really believe something is true.

Also, my mind's a bit lazy nowadays. It can be quite challenging to imagine really out-there new species. Especially when you've grown up on Star Trek NG and CGI movies that do it all for you. And audiobooks make it even more challenging for two reasons:

1. You need to pause the story to give your brain time to catch up with the description.

2. You can't distinguish a homonym.

It was a revelation to find this list of illustrated characters. Unfortunately, I didn't see it until after I'd finished the book, so all the way through I imagined Wiremen as flying coat hangers.

Bottom right: Wyrmen
(click to enlarge)

What a difference a Y makes.

It's weird, because, as a kid, I spent hours playing Shufflepuck Café on my uncle's Mac. It was set in this alien bar with different species. I had robot colouring books I loved, and I used to imagine being on space stations and wandering through magical realms surrounded by all sorts of other-worldy beings. It disturbed me how difficult it was to get back into that. Definitely out of practise. But I got there in the end, and there's some incredible beings in this. The Weaver and the Slake Moths are just joy in a bottle. 

Then I was surprised at how invested I became in these characters I'd had such trouble imagining at first. Suddenly they were all there, and the story really took off. I was a mad Fighting Fantasy fan, and the prologue to PSS really brought back fond memories of Port Blacksand.  

Anyway, I was left smiling. I wasn't expecting quite the level of nuanced cruelty this book served up. You only have to say the name Andrej, really. Bad things happening to people who honestly don't deserve it, and then bad things happening to crooks and monsters who maybe do, but the things that happen to them are so awful, you feel horrible about it. 

All culminating in quite a deep and complex moral dilemma.

More than I bargained for. Still thinking about it now, and quite likely to continue with the series at some point in the future. Certainly got some rusty neural pathways back in action.

So, then what happened was, I went to look up China Miéville, because I always like to learn a bit more about authors I've been reading, and through that ended up reading the entirety of Left Unity UK's manifesto. And then joining. My goodness, I thought, think they're missing a trick here on Universal Basic Income, but on the whole, this reads exactly as I'd hoped the Labour one would. Plus they made a post commemorating Rosa Luxembourgh - so, y'know, what you gonna do?

Wasn't really expecting that when I set out to write this review, but hey ho, life is full of surprises. Just a little disappointed I came to it that way and had never heard of them before. 

So - yeah. Good book. Good politics. 

Kigali Book Swap

Had a lovely afternoon yesterday, soaking up the sunshine at CasaKeza, my friend's Spanish restaurant in Kigali. Then these two wonderful people turned up, Rachael and Marisa, with a huge pile of books. It was Kigali's inaugural Book Swap Club. Every few weeks people will get together to swap titles they love. Books are quite expensive here and you can't always find something you want to read, so it's a great idea. Who doesn't love a cup of coffee or an ice-cold smoothie on a sunny day, whilst bending back the cover of a well-loved paperback? Long may it continue.