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piqer for: Global finds
Ciku Kimeria is a Kenyan author "Of goats and poisoned oranges" - (https://www.amazon.com/goats-poisoned-oranges-Ciku-Kimeria-ebook/dp/B00HBBWPI6), development consultant, adventurer and travel blogger (www.thekenyanexplorer.com). She writes both fiction and non-fiction focusing on African stories that need telling. She has worked on diverse pieces for various international and local publications including Quartz, Ozy, The East African etc. She has travelled to 45 countries – 16 of them in Africa. 153 countries to go and 63 territories!
"Of goats and poisoned oranges" has been extremely well received in Kenya and beyond. It tells the story of a Kenyan middle aged power couple and their complicated marriage. The novel explores issues of greed, revenge, betrayal and murder. It runs from the 1960s to 2013. It has been described as “Wicked, funny, poignant, wacky, human, a big ball of fun and danger”, “A unique and captivating book”, “Fun and intriguing”, “Impossible to put down once you start reading.”
She recently moved to Dakar, Senegal from Kenya to work on her second novel. She also works at as the Africa Communication Manager at a leading global strategy consulting firm.
She holds a B.S. in Management Science from MIT with minors in Urban Planning and International development studies.
100 Amazing African Women You Should Know About
Okayafrica's top 100 women list is especially amazing given the diversity of women they cover — in terms of country, sector (art, sports, literature, politics), age, etc. Whether you get to go through each of the 100 bios or handpick a few, this piece offers a lot to the reader.
You might get to see some names that are well-known in the global sphere. There's Imbolo Mbue, who became the first African to sign a million-dollar contract for her novel Behold the dreamers. There's Lupita Nyong'o, the extremely talented Kenyan beauty who won an Oscar for her role in 12 Years A Slave. Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie, the Nigerian novelist whose essay We should all be feminists has been made required reading for all 16-year-old Swedes and has been sampled in Beyonce's song Flawless. Warsan Shire, the British–Somali poet whose haunting words force the world to think about how we treat refugees, women and other marginalised groups. There's also the amazing Kenyan visual artist Wangechi Mutu, whose work on identity evokes emotion even from the most casual of observers.
While all of the women on this list have defied the odds in their fields, special mention has to go out to the athletes. In particular, South Africa's Caster Semenya and Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba, who have had to fight for the right to be called women given their hyperandrogenism.
Then there are the women of "firsts" in their fields: Rwanda's Louise Umutoni, who has started the country's first publishing house, determined to get Rwandese stories to the world (and not just about the genocide). Kenya's Juliana Rotich, the co-founder of Ushahidi, the world's first app to use crowdsourcing for disaster tracking and management. Having used it first in Kenya during the 2007/2008 post-election violence, it was used in the aftermath of the Haiti hurricane among other crises.
Just like my summary, there is no way to talk enough about all the women positively changing Africa.
Okayafrica's top 100 list is a great start in saluting these women.
