eKhaya TURNS ONE!
Last year we shared a story that started with how our mission has always been to create strong communities for storytellers, conservationists, and scientists to help each other grow and take up space. In just one year, eKhaya has evolved into a space to gather, grow, learn, challenge, train, eat and rest in community. Created as to be a home base, #ChangingTheNarrative manifests as African storytellers, scientists, researchers, ocean explorers and conservationists filled its space with perspectives, ideas and dreams more diverse than our community of more than 250 fellows.
Exploring the Future of Storytelling
This year has been electric with momentum! One of the most exciting events on our travel calendar is the National Geographic Society Explorers Festival. For NEWF, each year has given us more opportunity to celebrate our community and see our dream of Pan-African representation growing in the Society and around the world. Our dream of seeing diverse catalogues of authentic stories featuring a global melting pot of culture, language and community-inclusive impact is one we see coming to life.
What does the Africa you dream of look like?
Recently, Dr.Aristide Takoukam Kamla and eight (8) prospective open water SCUBA divers from Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal were welcomed to eKhaya Storytelling and Research Centre in Sodwana Bay. From London where just on Wednesday he accepted a highly acclaimed Whitley Award for Nature, we spoke about everything from finding his purpose on the waters of Lake Ossa, to a small Weevil giving it the chance to breathe again - and how together it has paved the way for a career rooted deeply in Cameroon's coastal communities.
In Retrospect: #NEWF2024 Fellows Summit and Congress
#NEWF2024 is a whirlwind that starts our community's year and sets it on a busy course to bring ideas to life and keep the momentum created through networking, inspired dialogue and interactive learning at large. But this year was different. Word on the street is that it was our best yet - and from our side we are working towards even more positive growth.
eKhaya: We are HOME
Our mission has always been to create strong communities for storytellers, conservationists, and scientists to help each other grow and take up space. At NEWF, we have watched this community grow from one group of fellows pitching their films in 2017, to more than 200 fellows from more than 25 African countries. If only these walls could talk!