passion | No Fear, Just Hope

DARE TO DREAM BIG

July 15, 2020

I am already 10 minutes late for my board meeting. Everybody is seated and waiting. I apologize and make the same joke I make every time I am late for a meeting, “I am Kenyan you know, I said we meet in the morning, and it is not yet noon, so, I am on time“! This rarely happens and that’s why they all laugh! I am almost always on time, this is the one thing that could ALMOST make me be called German. I got held up in the office trying to reschedule an Interview I will be doing with a famous author, who has a crazy schedule and not easy to get hold of.

The meeting today is about expanding the Karibuni Jikoni Network to cover the Asian market. Our Research and Marketing Team is back from Beijing, and they have some very positive news. I will be flying to Tokyo, then Hong Kong, and finish up in Beijing, all arrangements have been done. I am scheduled to Cook with some Asian Star Chefs in their Restaurants while interviewing them. They have agreed to do a series of Shows on Asian Cuisine with me.

I am woken up by my daughter in the middle of this beautiful dream, I smile at her and ask her to give me 10 minutes. I get out of bed, kneel and pray! I repeat this dream in my prayer, And at this point, I transform my dream into a wish, and I tell it to my heavenly father at first casually, and later in another prayer, as a formal request. I then leave it up to him to know when He will grant me this wish. I still remind Him every now and then, but in the meantime, I continue working hard on the wishes that have already been granted.

Dream big?

Sometimes my dreams are so big that they scare me, and they scare me because I know that I just don’t let them remain dreams. I sometimes even think that I annoy my heavenly father with my persistence, but then again, He tells us in the Bible in the Book of James 4:2 …”You have not, because you ask not”, so I ask!

When I was 12, I saw a movie about a family of four, a father, mother, son, and daughter riding bicycles in the woods. The scene remained with me and some days later, I dreamt about it. This time, it was my husband, our two children, and me. Our children were mixed race, what we used to call “Pointees”! And like I always do, I prayed about it, and continued praying about it. I did not let being born in a slum and not even having a bicycle of my own or even the fact that I did not have any contact with white people limit what was possible for me.

In 2012, when our son turned three and could ride a bike on his own, we did a bicycle tour in the woods, my husband in front of us, our daughter behind him, and our son in front of me, my Kids are Kenyan-German; mixed race! I cried for about an hour, tears of joy, because, 20 years later, my dream had come true. And I can narrate at least a hundred of such stories.

Notably, I have learned to relive my dreams, fantasize, to be in those places I dream about, to write those dreams down and pin them on my Vision Board, to talk to and with myself about them, to keep them present in my mind. I have a feeling that I dream about things that I wish for, so I am not sure what comes first the dream, or the wish… but does it matter? All I know is that I bring it all to the Lord in prayer. I let Him decide when I am ready to receive the blessing, though I may sometimes get impatient, I never lose my faith and I remain hopeful!

More often than not, I am very clear about what I want and I work towards achieving that, I am also very specific in my prayers. I think God is a busy person, and because I know that He takes time to listen to my prayers, I don‘t want to abuse this advantage by littering all over him with unnecessary words. So I first prepare my notes before I have those meetings with him, just to make sure I have put my most important points across before he starts running out of patience. You know, I know how I am, so just in case, He is like me, points noted! I am precise, very specific, and consistent. I have small and big wishes/dreams, and as I said, sometimes I get impatient, but I never fail to recognize and take time to thank Him when He grants me even the smallest wish.

At the moment, I am thanking Him for every like and view on Chef Carol’s Show. I am already building my Karibuni Jikoni Network, I am working hard so that my Father can see that I am capable of handling more.

So the day I will be seated in my Private Jet heading to Tokyo, you can imagine what a party, “Kigosho (Praise) Party”, that will be for my team and me!

Is this too much for you to digest?

That’s the same feeling I get sometimes, but it doesn’t stop me, I am not afraid to DREAM BIG! And even if, it just remains a dream, it doesn’t really matter, I nevertheless enjoy living in it, every now then, because it is a beautiful place to be in. Now, don’t make me tell you how often I sit in that Private Jet opening a bottle of Champagne dancing to Jerusalema. It’s up to you. DARE TO DREAM & DREAM BIG!

Carol.

DARE TO DREAM BIG

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Courage & Passion Faith over Fear

LIVING FULLY AND FREELY | ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT

June 16, 2020

It all started upon reading this quote:
“It is a tragedy to look back on your time and realize that you failed to engage Fully and Freely”.…… Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day by Todd Henry.

We tend to associate health to the physical but in the last couple of years, I have personally experienced and seen friends as well as colleagues, women especially deal with mental health and stress.

Many, I included, consider sacrificing our health, happiness, and well-being by working long hours under continuous pressure to meet unrealistic targets with little to no support or appreciation and worse off, not necessarily adding any meaningful value.

I used to be about efficiency – working long hours to get the work done, no matter the odds. It took a near death experience, a health crisis to wake up to the dangerous path I was treading.

Thankfully, I have since learned to remind myself daily of what really matters and nourish my core with this conviction knowing that despite my vulnerabilities and imperfections, discomforts are bound to come, which in themselves should not matter but, rather that I transform these disruptions to build a body of work from a position of strength with positive outcomes. Reframing my story, slowly and intentionally with purpose and meaning infused with hope in the certainty of the impossible is what I do.

A ruptured appendix woke me up!

It was brought about by a stressful and demanding project at a time when I had to be the single parent for several weeks due to my partner’s foreign assignment but all too often, powerful experiences emerge from embracing the pain that confronts us when faced with discomfort and disruption.

Though painful and confusing, my recovery set me off on a journey of self-awareness to raising awareness for a conscious style that is shaped through the art of repurposing and reinventing, which has blossomed into a social enterprise called UnikBlends that provides slow, conscious style and zero-waste accessories using sustainably-sourced African fabrics.

Desiring to have the possibility to serve and grow on my passion, priorities, and personal convictions, I consciously chose to give up some comfort with familiarity. I decided to leave a company I had worked for almost 12 years with, where I was fortunate to have colleagues whom I regard as friends. Thanks to a friend, who was once a colleague, I found a company willing to hire me on a part-time basis with flexible working conditions, so I could carry on building my project management career while creating a brand
that is inclusive, innovative, and empowering us all of UnikBlend’s products are handmade by female artisans.

It is my hope that UnikBlends products help in telling a powerful story as each of our products are infused with Africa’s rich textile heritage as well as the artisan’s unique art of repurposing to reinvent modern, multi-functional masterpieces from pre-loved clothing that would have been discarded as waste.

Making a Discovery to Shift the Norm

Given my engineering background, for most of my university education and career, I have been surrounded by men, and most times, especially in the last 15years, I am the only woman of color’ at the table.

Born to Nigerian parents from extremely different parts of the country to live in South Africa where I attended a once all-white school in a predominantly white neighborhood, then relocating to the Netherlands and working in an engineering firm, being different was my norm.

However, during my recovery, I engaged with people I refer to as “strong women” who are convinced about their purpose and did not allow barriers to prevent them from reaching their aspirations. Most of these women (and a few men) were of color and had energy, enthusiasm, and an entrepreneurial attitude not common in my normal sphere of activities – they propelled me on my new journey as they shared their “stories of hope”. These stories became a great source of inspiration and they still are.

By proactively reading, listening, and reflecting on genuinely sincere biographies and stories, stories that I could readily relate to and see myself in and connecting to a relatively small but diverse network of people besides those in my foundation engineering profession, I gradually got to see possibilities that allowed for my biggest paradigm shift in redefining myself as more than just a position, credential or role.

It is for these reasons that I decided to create SheSustains a not-for-profit initiative, based in The Netherlands, that offers a safe space and ample time for reflection and sharing in the form of annual Retreats and Sharing Stories that Matter events. Through this platform, it is hoped that women from diverse backgrounds, form long-term friendships, collaborations, and support systems that remind them of who they are and build better versions of themselves as they forge on with their busy lives.

Together with Veena Joseph as co-founders, we believe that through these get-togethers, we can authentically support, inspire and nourish each other, living fully and freely. This is on our individual journeys and collectively have a sustainable impact in making our world better

LIVING FULLY AND FREELY — Christy is a Project Management Professional. She is the Co-founder of SheSustains and the CEO of UnikBlends. She lives in The Netherlands with her family.

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