Celebrating our Contributors

Tell us about yourself and what you do, in
relation to the move for a truly liberated Afrika.

I’m Maagu Karuri Kabui, a 26 year old Afrikan man based in Kenya. I’m a Software Developer by profession, with an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Kenyatta University.
Although formally in the tech space, I have an interest in all things Afrikan — basically any area that touches our day to day lives. To get answers, part of what I do is spend a lot
of time in the past — our past.I spend a lot of time revisiting our history, since we typically
learn it from a very Eurocentric/Westernized perspective. I take the phrase “Know thyself” very seriously. In my opinion the most important part of knowing thyself is learning your true, authentic history. It’s the beginning
of not only finding answers about yourself, but also of finding solutions to our current and
future problems. By so doing I’ve found that our ancestors had a deeper understanding
of almost everything. Contrary to popular belief that we have developed more now, thanks to science and other modern
tools, I’ve found we have retrogressed.

Say something about Msingi Afrika Magazine and how you feel about
contributing articles to it/why you do it.

In these times of ever-rising Eurocentricity, one cannot overemphasize the importance
of Afrocentric journalism.
Journalism invested in honestly understanding issues facing the Afrikan and voicing the solutions to these issues. Msingi
Afrika Magazine fits this shoe perfectly and I feel very humble being featured in it. Especially against the caliber of guests or
authors I’ve seen featured thus far. Having discovered Msingi Afrika Magazine quite recently, it’s one of those gems I wonder
how I didn’t come across earlier. To suddenly find myself in a place with masters in their
crafts is quite humbling. I have learnt quite a lot from previous issues of the magazine, and I look forward to future issues.
Kudos to the writers, editors, and everyone else involved!

What’s your hope and aspiration for Afrika for the next ten years?

The hope I have for Afrika over the next years is simply freedom.Freedom, which comes
from remembering herself, then restoring herself to her former glory; maybe even transcending it. Great efforts are needed
to make this more than just a pipe dream. First and foremost, efforts in the re-education of the Afrikan, so that they remove from themselves notions of being inferior to others. Education here doesn’t only imply school,
but the education we give ourselves and each other. As Carter G. Woodson said in “The
Mis-education of the Negro,”the most important education a man gets is the one he gives himself.” It is my hope that over the next decade we can at least restructure the education sector so that our educational institutions produce a crop of people who understand they are there to provide solutions for their respective situations. This in itself would be a colossal step as it
would touch on every other sector. We’ll have made it when we stop looking up to the so-called first-world countries, waiting for
their approval for every single thing. Getting here means we must first understand our culture. As Dr Llaila O. Afrika used to say, you cannot be free when you are not practicing your culture! We each have a role in
reclaiming our memory.

What ought Afrikans be doing now to ensure that we as a people and as
a continent truly realize Afrika’s great potential?
Our identity. Only then can we realize the greatness we truly hold and work towards it.

You can follow Maagu Karuri on his
Facebook platform
https://www.facebook.com/
maagu.karuri.3