Her name is Nancy, a young and confident Tanzanian girl with a burning desire to share her knowledge about Africa with the world. She likes writing and has a passion for photography because she believes that the use of images enhance the message a writer is trying to impart to a target audience.
When she spoke to KSB, Nancy said that she started blogging about three years ago. She was in her second year at university where she was studying International Management Program. Part of her motivation is based on a strong feeling that blogging has the potential of facilitating serious changes in modern society. She observes that blogging is difficult and adds that successful blogging is passion-driven.
“Some people have the passion but they do not know where to begin or how to start”, she said. She thinks that there is need for programs to inspire people who have talent in writing especially in Sweden. At the moment, she treats blogging more as a hobby although she admits that she doesn’t have a lot of time to blog about everything she cares about.
“I do believe that blogging can change Africa. The Internet connection is getting better and better down there and many people in Africa are into blogs. Blogging has been a very special way of getting news and updates of what is going on around the world”, Nancy told KSB emphatically.
She views herself as a key to doors of information because she publishes all kinds of news and information that she believes is relevant to her audience. She writes in both English and Swahili and when questioned about her dual linguistic approach at her blog, she said that she doesn’t find it problematic or antagonistic especially to non Swahili speakers because tools of web site translations are available online.
Nancy appears to have understood her blogging mission to the last point. She says that the Internet is a huge media which could increase understanding between people on different issues although her philosophy is that real change of whatever nature “has to come from within”.
The blogger is a bit disappointed with Africans in Sweden because of disunity and lack of serious organization to sort out community problems. She says that Africans should support each other especially in matters of business and commerce.
If there is one thing Nancy hates, it’s fake people aka great pretenders. She supports freedom of expression as a principle and says that at her blog, she has given commentators a lot of freedom to say what they want.
“As long as I have given them freedom of speech and they haven’t used it in a proper way, then I can’t help it. If I had never given them a chance to do so, then that could be something else”, she told KSB.
She says that she can allow commentators to criticize her at her blog as long as such criticism is constructive. “I reserve the right to control my blog as long as I am the owner”, she adds. Her point is that in as much as freedom of expression is a necessity, everything has limitations.
“I have decided to give my readers the freedom of sending comments without approval but I think that am on my way to stopping it as people have been sending very bad comments”, she said.
Nancy does not shy away from politics. She told KSB that she was not happy with the way former Libyan leader Mohammed Ghaddafi was treated during the last moments of his life. She thinks that Ghaddafi had done a lot of good to his people and that although he had his darker side, he ought to have been handled differently.
When asked to send a message to her readers, she was very specific: “I would first like to thank everyone who has been supporting my blog by taking time to visit, commenting, sharing etc. I would also like to ask people to support it more by sending comments that will help others. Please do not use language that will bring air pollution. I would like people to send me more posts about current issues that need to be lifted up. All in all, I love them all and thanks for your support”, she said. To read Nancy’s blog, CLICK HERE.
African bloggers are not so many in Sweden and it is the policy of KSB to expose and promote such bloggers at every opportunity. We can only wish Nancy the best in her undertaking.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
Keep up Nancy, you are doing a good job!
Thank you Debs
Nancy I hope this will encourage other African women in Stockholm to blog. I like the way you blend languages on your blog to reach more readers. Good luck as you continue.
Osewe this is the spirit – promoting each other in our ambitions. Nancy endelea na hiyo kazi nzuri.
Very good work Nancy! endelea vivyo hivyo, we are proud of you.
Thank you Natasha and Presley…It is good to support each other, Kudos to Osewe for his support. Pamoja!!
Your comments has a lot to be desired.Why write a short sentence dont you have strong words of encourangement. Just to say we really proud of you has nothing in terms of any meaning. hej wa kenya whats wrong with you?
John Kizero what a low-spirited comment. You have lost hope and seem disturbed by the success of our sister. We need good words and not those that aim to degrade when things look good, This is why Nancy said that she will re-think allowing un-moderated comments to pass on her blog. Common u could do better than to write a disheartening comment. Nancy, Big Up na uangalie mbele!
Dada endelea na vyako usiwape nafasi wazuzu waliolala kusubiri pesa za serikali kila mwezi, na hali kuandika hawawezi. Waendelee na wivu wao nawe uendelee na kuandika kwenye blogu yako. Sio wote wanaokutakia mazuri.
Ahsanteni sana, natambua kuwa sio kila mtu hupenda kazi za wengine lakini nayaweza na nitayaweza yote katika yeye anitiaye nguvu, Mbarikiwe