I saw the post on X just after 9 a.m., while waiting in a queue for my grandmother’s antibiotics at a local clinic. The power had gone out, again. There was no doctor on duty, again. And someone’s mother was crying in the hallway because she’d just been told to “bring her own gloves.” It was against this backdrop that I opened my phone and … Continue reading Minister Machakaire Just Discovered What the Rest of Us Live With
I am tired of being a slogan.
Tired of being the glossy smile on a political poster, the ‘youth’ they name-drop when it’s time to chase votes or donors or dreams that were never built for us. I am tired of being the opening act at your summits, the dance troupe at your national celebrations, the one who reads the prepared speech about “hope” while you sip whisky and rehearse betrayal in the comfort of your bulletproof sedans. You wheel us out like ornaments, like cultural seasoning, and then stuff us back into unemployment, depression, or exile once the cameras are off.
Everyone loves the idea of the diaspora when it’s just about accents and “international perspectives,” right? A little exotic seasoning to sprinkle on your diversity panel. But living in the diaspora isn’t just airport codes and WhatsApp calls across time zones. It’s exile. It’s grief with no funeral. It’s shouting in a language your children might never fully understand.
A long life is supposed to be associated with the most wonderful dreams of endless discovery and learning. However, these dreams could carry the grave burdens of seeming boredom, heartbreaking survival beyond loved ones lost, and difficult questions of how to allocate dwindling resources. Longevity may deepen the texture of life, but it may also numb life’s urgency. Perhaps the true essence of life is … Continue reading Thoughts on the concept of living a very long life
Zealous Thierry 