Category Archives: Africa

Learning from Cashew Nut in Mozambique

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How much do you know about cashew nuts?

You might be shrugging your shoulder or tilting head, thinking why I am asking this.

To me, it was nothing but a part of nuts family (almond, walnut, peanut, etc.), and just learning a bit of this nut was quite interesting (at least to me). In this post, I will share some facts about cashew, which expanded my world. Probably there are not many people passionate about cashew nuts, but it can be a good example to show that any trivial thing can become a part of learning, which lets you see things differently.

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3 examples of making the impossible possible in Mozambique

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This would be maybe impossible…

Judging from my previous experiences and my personality, I think there are quite a few things that I unconsciously think are impossible. Three months have already passed since I came to Mozambique in Southern Africa, and I have learned a lot. In this entry, I will share 3 examples of making the impossible possible in Mozambique.

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5 Big Lessons Learned by Living in West and East Africa

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Jambo! mambo! Waka waka! hakuna matata!

You might have heard one of the above. I was quite naive to have had a typical image of Africa before my arrival, and after having lived in the West and East Africa for 2+ years, I am confident to say this:

Africa is big and diverse!

Just like any learning, the more I knew about a tiny part of Africa, the more I realized that Africa is too big, diverse and complex to generalize, and I believe everyone has their own “My Africa”. So acknowledging that I can by no means speak for whole Africa, let me share some learnings from my Africa.

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Kenya 6ー Learning from COVID-19 charter flight to leave Africa

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Since ever I made a critical life decision to leave Kenya, I have been waiting for an opportunity to leave Kenya for a long time when the airport has been closed due to COVID-19, just like many other countries (in fact it was just 1-2 month, but it psychologically it felt like much longer).

Some governments/embassies made efforts to arrange a chartered flight to send their citizens back home, but the announcement comes with very short notice (e.g. 3 days – 1 week, which is hard for someone like me without a willingness to come back).

Although I have taken the UN humanitarian flight for my work, I have never taken a one-shot emergency flight before. Given that not many people have a chance to take a chartered flight, I would like to share some learning from taking emergency chartered flight in the context of COVID-19.

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Kenya 5 ー How to make a difficult life decision

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When was the last time you made a difficult decision? I am not talking about deciding what to wear or what to eat today, but the one which could change your life.

Recently, I had one. The difficult part was that I had several choices, each of which was totally different. It was like comparing and mango, pineapple, and banana, and choose only one (I love them all).

I believe everyone has to make a difficult life decision some times, so I will share some lessons and tips, hoping this will be helpful for others. In a nutshell, it is only you who makes the final call, but there are many different factors and processes that can facilitate the decision-making.

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Kenya 3 ー 5 things I learned from going out on the street 6 times during COVID-19 pandemic

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It’s been almost 2 months since I started tele-working in Nairobi, Kenya where there is a curfew between 7pm-5am (semi-lockdown). During this time, I had to go out on the street.

Honestly I didn’t want to, but I had to. So I did it, not once but six days in a row.

As not many people (even residences in Nariobi, let alone people outside Africa) can see what is going on on the street of Narirobi, let me share my experience and learning in this entry.

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Kenya 1 ー 7 learnings from another life turning point in Africa

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Life is full of new encounter and departure, be it with people, items, jobs or places to live.

The reason I said good-bye to Mauritania (Nouakchott) was to say Hello to the new destination, Kenya (Nairobi). This is quite a big move, mentally (change of my work) and physically (west to east of this big African continent).

Since then, more than a month has passed and I already learned some important life lessons, which I would like to share hoping they can be informative and applicable to other situation.