Stories are created by being told. Wanjiku Mwaurah is a Kenyan poet and actress. She travelled to Germany to take part in the International Poesie Festival in Berlin. Today, she is also playing the role of Mercy in the radio soap Crossroads Generation, produced by Learning by Ear from Deutsche Welle. Wanjiku visited the German Embassy Nairobitoday to share her story and - as you may see on the photos - her emotions about the trip to Germany: The project Spoken Word wants to share African poetry to the rest of the world. It kicked off in Johannesburg in May 2013, then moved on to Madagascar, Cameroon, Angola, Uganda, Kenya, Mali and finally Côte dIvoire. Several poets were chosen to travel to Germany then. Together, we co-wrote a team piece for performance. Following an intense schedule, the tour took us to Mannheim, Halle, Magdeburg and finally Berlin. In Mannheim was the biggest slam event I have ever performed at. All the 420 seats in the big hall were filled. The lights were dimmed, the atmosphere tense, but backstage we were having a lot of fun. After the show, it took a long time for me to fall asleep -- because of the excitement, but also because of my problems with the prolonged daylight in summer. 10pm was when night fall started creeping in. I simply couldnt sleep, no matter that the clock told me it was already night time. Mannheim had prepared me well for what was next: the International Poesie Festival in Berlin. The evening was a salad of different voices. We shared the mic with poets from all over the world. This was the perfect way to end the weeklong performances. The event made me fall in love with poetry all over again. Over the next two days, I explored Berlin by tram, train and subway. I experimented with oriental food, I made new friendships, I got new memories to take home with me. The spoken word project exposed me to a beautiful city while still molding my art. For in this space away from home, I was able to see more clearly, influences in my poetry.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 09:26:53 +0000
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