Maker’s affair from the Eyes of a Child

Every child is born with the creative genius element in them which needs to be identified and nurtured at an early stage either in school or at home. Creativity starts at the point where imagination and curiosity meet supported by the next action of inspiration and fun.

The long school holiday is here with us and most children, especially from marginalized or disadvantaged families won’t have that ‘quality’ time with their parents or guardians either because of lack of finances to take that dream trip or parents / guardians occupied in their busy work schedule etc.

The question is, how are we going to engage your children during the festive season? 

Most schools will close from next week October and will open around the first week of January 2020 while this a great time to bond with our sons and daughters most families find it tough to plan for this occasion that  end up in a lot of random activities whilst saving for this occasion is a mirage due to challenging economic times.

During the festive season there exists great opportunity to innovate or create fun activities for the children and their parents / guardians. On my side, I will be organizing a two weeks soccer tournament for U10 and U12 in Mathare North as part of my contribution in promoting safe space for children through soccer during the festive season.

On the flip side spending time with your family doesn’t have to be an expensive undertaking, there are many indoor and outdoor activities that we can do within our limited time and resources.

Think about this, what can you do with more than one hundred clothes pegs, small container or bucket? 

This is the question that flashed in my mind when I came in contact with the pegs and the containers while doing the laundry.

 "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Einstein "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." – Einstein 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Einstein 

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." – Einstein "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Einstein

 As a photographer, I have come to learn how to connect with my environment while creating those memorable moments through my lens either with a mobile phone or DSLR camera. My learning doesn’t stop at the point of knowledge, but my curiosity and imagination drives me to relate with both seen and unseen moments as a result awakening my next level of creativity.

Today’s piece of work was inspired by the love for Africa and thinking of what I would wish for my daughter and many millions of children around the African continent and beyond. Below is the result of my work with my daughter Debrah who is 3 years.

I focused on a combination of Photography, Design, and Empathy. Children learn very fast and in their world, there are no mistakes, parents need to keep a keen eye not to kill the creativity in them through worries, tough rules or lack of enough exposure and guidance.

Children learn from any moment and so are the adults, the only difference is that in the child’s world they get to explore more unless interrupted, while on the adult’s mind within their exploration exits many interruptions from every stage.

Here is what I was able to achieve with my daughter focusing on Photography, Design and Empathy!

Debrah is 3 years and already showing great interest in drawing and photography.

Creative Entrepreneurship Session at Hope Raisers in Baba Dogo

On 16th October 2019 I had a wonderful time with creative youth at Bega Kwa Bega Creative space run by Hope Raisers based in Baba Dogo.

Hope Raisers Initiative an organization that nurtures performing, visual arts and sports through interactive learning, exposure and mentor-ship in the informal settlement of Nairobi. More about Hope Raisers www.hoperaisers.net 

 During the session we focused on how to create and manage a personal brand.

Below are 10 key take away; The process of building a personal brand

1. Always seek for feedback it doesn't come automatically. 
2.  Have a meeting with yourself in what makes you stand out, strength, areas of improvement etc. 
3. Develop a strategy for Self marketing.
4. Work on your self-packaging (Brand name, slogan, grooming, marketing, presentation, writing skill, verbal communication, online presences etc. 
5. Own your STORY; know who you are, Where you are, What you do, how you do your things, what you want to be known for etc. 
6. Brand identity; Think beyond a name and logo. Also define your values, your design, philosophy, culture, process etc. 
7. Think of how your brand will be memorable, powerful, authentic and versatile. 
8. Build on every experience, learn new skill, build partnership, etc. Your personal brand can’t be in a static mode, you have to work around the clock adding different useful experiences to your brand. 
9. Know where you want to go; define the field of practice and ask yourself why? Learn about your competition and work on your unique value proposition. 
10. You might be known for many things but work on your top three that you want to be known for and the rest will fall in place. We can create an awareness but how people perceive you might be hard to control if you don’t have a strategy in place.

 Get in touch with for a session with your youth group.
wilson.masaka@gmail.com
+254 721 89 87 10

Celebrating the Day of Girl Child

 On 11th October each year the world celebrates the day of the girl child whereby sharing their success, determination, aspirations and also highlighting challenges that needs to be tackled in providing equal spaces and opportunities for the girls to be actively engaged in the society either in technology, leadership, economics among other areas. In the same spirit of supporting our sisters to do even better, I want to focus my lens on women's soccer in Kenya which has been facing many challenges. The contrast is that currently our entire soccer is going through some turbulence especially from lack of finances, which as affected even the top level men's league the Kenya Premier League (KPL) and National Super League (NSL).

This situation soon or later you will hear more about how NSL, KPL and generally the men's wing of the game not doing well followed by hash tags and campaigns to assist the game stays afloat through sponsorship after Sport Pesa exited the game. On the other side there's little attention on the plight of the ladies who have been struggling for a long time to make it happen in the male dominated sport in our country. The Women Premiere League (WPL) and relate leagues have been facing tremendous challenges and unwarranted struggles, especially at club levels and any related tournament.

One issue of a concern to me is that despite having some of the women in prominent positions either in the federation, government or corporate level you will hardly hear their voices in combating the challenges especially in Women in sports.

On the other hand, I'm happy with our Women's national soccer team the Harambee Starlets, they have been consistent when they are called to duty while striving to achieve the best results despite their many challenges and unpredictable soccer careers. Come the return match on 8th October 2019, I would urge everyone to come out in large numbers to support our sisters to win against Ghana's Black Queen in a return match to be played in Nairobi.

The winner will secure a chance to play the next match either against Zambia or Botswana in the ongoing 2020 Olympic Games qualifier matches.

#MyTake What does the win mean? To me, it's more than just qualifying for the 2020 Olympic. I see more of great opportunities for the ladies as follows;

1. Extra budget to support the ladies in the next matches. 
2. More of their story highlighted in the mainstream and new media.
3. Increased government attention and possible corporate sponsorship. 
4. Possible opportunity to play in other international leagues. 
5. A possible life breakthrough in pursuing their soccer careers in a more professional ways.
6. Increased platform to share their stories, challenges, aspirations etc. 

 #TheQuestion The questions I want to ask everyone involved in Kenyan soccer, especially with a more focus on Women; 

1. How many women's tournaments and soccer academies do we have in the country versus for the men? 
2. Is Women soccer a career option in Kenya? 
3. How many professional soccer stars (ladies) do we have playing in top leagues abroad? 

Anyway, with the right leadership, funding, material and other supporting infrastructure women soccer in the country can be an equal employer for our sisters who have the passion, courage, dedication to talent to do well in the game just like in athletics and volleyball.

Related read; International Day of the Girl Child 

International Day of the Girl Child is an international observance day declared by the United Nations; it is also called the Day of Girls and the International Day of the Girl. October 11, 2012, was the first Day of the Girl Child. The observation supports more opportunity for girls and increases awareness of gender inequality faced by girls worldwide based upon their gender. This inequality includes areas such as access to education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, and protection from discrimination, violence against women and forced child marriage.[1] The celebration of the day also "reflects the successful emergence of girls and young women as a distinct cohort in development policy, programming, campaigning and research. Wikipedia https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/girl-child https://www.unicef.org/gender-equality/international-day-girl-2019