These days I like orange. I see it in so many places; warm and bright. I made a short list. May the warmth of an orange find you too. 😊

I saw somewhere that Chimamanda had a writer's block hence why she couldn't publish a book for 10 years. I heard her explain it as scary among other things but it consoled me. As a person who goes through writer's block from time to time there is nothing more consoling than knowing even a 'real' author gets it.

She recently published a book titled 'Dream Count' and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I listened to some of the interviews she did including the podcast with Trevor Noah (which I am yet to finish but couldn't help but admire how relaxed she looked and how much she was having fun with Trevor and Christella) and I wished to read it.

I read the first sample pages from some site.

Then as I went to the city for work, I stopped by a library called Ikirezi in Kigali. I knew I would find it there. I just knew. It is this big bookstore with so many books and I knew Dream Count definitely had made it there.

I climbed the stairs past the couple who were walking out and there it was. White. With the fire like cover. I picked it up. Heavy on my hands. Smells so good. I flipped some of the pages. Very beautiful fonts. I imagined life with it. With this beautiful big book. My dad used to say he would imagine his afternoon whenever he borrowed books from his vendor on Saturday mornings.
I imagined it all. How it would look on our living room shelf. How Helen can read it once I am done. How I probably would stay up at night reading it.

Then I walked carrying it to the seller. I asked how much it was. He checked on his computer and said 32,500 RWF.

I said, what?

Because I am not in a very financially comfortable phase of my life, that is a significant amount of money for me.

But even if I were, it still is a lot of money.

It is equivalent to half of my internship salary in Ethiopia.
32,500 RWF is more expensive than our monthly WiFi bill. 5 kg of rice. Among other things.

He told me it is expensive because it is new.
I understood. Adichie is important. She tells our stories and does a wonderful job at it. She also said it is important for her that she is read in Africa hence made sure it is available which I assume is not an easy job.
The other day, a friend told me John Green sells his book 'Everything is tuberculosis' on paperback for 30 dollars in the US.
I looked at the book a little bit and returned it where it was. I thanked the guy and told him I simply can't afford this book. He told me they will run out if I don't buy it now. I laughed and said I seriously can't afford it. I am just a girl.

I thought I would be able to buy books to my heart content when I grew up. That is how I consoled my little heart when I couldn't find a book as a child.

But it is a good thing I saw it. It looked beautiful.
@coffeeandscribblings

Memoirs from Mayange
Special mention @MelkamFekadu @coffeeandscribblings

ዛሬ እንደአውሮፓውያን አቆጣጠር ሚያዚያ 7፣ ከ31 አመታት በፊት በቱትሲዎች ላይ በሩዋንዳ የደረሰው የዘር ጭፍጨፋ መጀመሪያ የሚታሰብበት እለት ነው። ለ100 ቀናት የቀጠለው ይህ የዘር ፍጅት፣ ከ1 ሚሊዮን በላይ ሰዎች ሞተውበታል።
ሩዋንዳ እና የሩዋንዳ ወዳጆች ዛሬን እና መጪውን ሳምንት፣ ይህን ክፉ ጊዜ ያስቡታል፣ እንዳይደገምም ቃልኪዳናቸውን ያድሳሉ።

ሔለን እና እኔ ለአንድ አመት ሩዋንዳ ስንኖር፣ ስለዚህ ጉዳይ የተማርነውን እና የተሰማንን ሁላችንም እንማርበት ዘንድ እንደሚከተለው ተቀዳን።

ብታዳምጡን በጣም ደስ ይለናል።

@coffeeandscribblings

https://youtu.be/vi9uW2X-jlQ

My friend told me she thought this was a book excerpt. It is not. It is a memoir from a funeral I attended here in Rwanda.

ሩዋንዳዊት ጓደኛዬ፣ ፈረንሳይኛ እና መልካም ስነምግባር ለአቅመ ሔዋን ከደረሱ በኋላ የሚማሯቸው ነገሮች አይደሉም አለችኝ። የግል አስተያየቷ ሳይሆን፣ ሩዋንዳውያን የሚሉት ነው። ሳስበው ይህን የሚሉት መልካም ስነምግባርን በጊዜ ለልጆቻችሁ አስተምሩ ለማለት እንጂ ካደጋችሁ በኋላ ፈረንሳይኛ አይዘልቃችሁም ለማለት አይደለም። ግን በተዘዋዋሪ አሉት።

ከሰደበኝ ስድቤን የነገረኝ እንዳለው የኔ ሀገር ሰው ደግሞ ቀን ተሌት ፈረንሳይኛ ለመማር ስታትር እያየች ይህን ያለችኝ ጓደኛዬን አንገቴን ነቀነቅኹባት።

እኔ የአባ ቢላዋ ልጅ አልዃት

አምንብሻለሁ አለችኝ

አይ የልብን ተናግሮ አምንብሻለሁ አለ እንዴ አልዃት

ጨዋታ ነው።

አሁን Gael Faye (በእንግሊዝኛ የጻፍኹት እንዴት እንደሚነበብ ስለማላውቅ ነው) የጻፈው petit pays ማለትም ትንሿ ሀገር የሚል የፈረንሳይኛ መጽሐፍ እያነበብኹ ነው። ወይም ለማንበብ እየሞከርኹ።

እልህ ምላጭ ያስውጣል እንደሚሉት የኔ ሀገር ሰዎች ደግሞ።

የዚህ መጽሐፍ ፊልም በፈረንጅ አቆጣጠር ሚያዝያ 23 እዚህ ኪጋሊ ይታያል። 10 ቀን አለኝ።

ጨርሼ ለፊልሙ ከደረስኹ ትሸልሙልኛላችሁ። ወይ ታጨበጭብሉኛላችሁ አስተያየት መስጫው ላይ።

ይህን ሀገርን ወክሎ በአለምአቀፍ መድረክ ከመወዳደር ለይቼ አላየውም። ትልቅ አደራ እንደተጣለብኝ ይሰማኛል።
@coffeeandscribblings

April 17, 2025
@coffeeandscribblings

በድል ተጠናቅቋል እንደማለት።
@coffeeandscribblings

http://lozadmasu.wordpress.com/2025/04/22/encore-debutante/



Here is an entire article.

ስብርባሪዎቼን ለቃቅሜ ስመጣ ብንኮሻኮሽ፣ እዘኑልኝ እንጂ አትፍረዱብኝ።
@coffeeandscribblings

By the way…
The movie (The adaptation of petit pays that was screened) was intense to say the least.
Words have their own way of evoking emotions but the movie hit me entirely differently.
The french accents of the people, the use of Kinyarwanda amid conversations, the use of local daily items we see here, the clothes the people wore made me relate to it even more.
It had so many scenes that were not in the book but it wasn’t very annoying.
I was very distressed during some scenes.
That is the power of art.
With this, I am letting go of the story of Gaby.
If you read or watch it, I hope you enjoy it.
@coffeeandscribblings

I channel Kali sometimes. (I am not a Hindu and when I say channel I do not mean I pray for her guidance).

But I actively think about her at times that I need to be angry. It is important to be angry at times. Angry feels like an understatement. I am actually usually angry. It is important to be furious.

I imagine Kali in the story. She found herself in a battlefield where a devil's spilled blood sprang up more demons making killing him an impossible task. She emerged in a cycle that is frustrating. Cycles generally are frustrating but a specifically frustrating cycle this one.

She stormed into the battlefield very furious. She killed the demons and drank the blood of the original one before it could touch the ground. Finally winning.

It is not a pretty scene. It is a bit disturbing and messy.

Being furious in an attempt to break a cycle is as disturbing and messy too. And the difficult part is you might also have to face the dark parts of yourself and be a little humiliated.

Kali's dance of destruction got out of hand and she continued shedding blood until Shiva stepped up. And she hangs her toungue out in shame.

Somebody I used to know told me channeling Kali is a tricky thing cause you pay the consequences. And she couldn't be more right. Whether we admit it or not we have a big share of our own misery and repetitive cycles. It is humiliating to discover that. But it is also necessary.

I see more than a few cycles going on in my life. Be it in my personal life or professional. I am thinking about Kali a lot now. I am about to take some extreme measures that will probably make me face my own darkness and faults. I am about to let the unruled part of me rule for a while.

Because... what the fuck?
@coffeeandscribblings