September in November

The year 1978 was a pivotal in my life. It was the year I made one of three moves that completely changed my life in ways I could have ever imagined. What’s interesting is that all those major moves can be captured by one word: September. Yet it’s not exactly for the reason that most people would think. Let me first briefly mention the moves. The first time I left my ancestral village for any other destination other than the capital city of Nairobi was to go to the lake side town of Kisumu with my cousin Maina.

I stayed there for almost a year and returned to my sweet home in Gathĩngĩra, speaking an additional language of Swahili, though poorly and also adding words of Luo, having picked them from my many hours of playing Akinyi, my best friend.Akinyi and I lived next door to us and we also attended kindergarten together.

Thes second move was to the capital city of Nairobi in 1978 when I permanently shifted my learning to Nairobi after only a 4 year stint in the village from the time I had returned. I moved to the city as it looked so clean and fun. I also didn’t have any farming chores in the city.

The third move was to the U.S., where I landed in Memphis on September. I ended up staying in Memphis for 12 years.

The first time I had had about a city called Memphis was while reading a music magazine at my oldest brother’s house. The article featured a popular music group known as Earth Wind and Fire. The group was very popular during those day and the most popular song in my view was titled September. It was a groovy song and a great beat for dancing. It was not only popular at the only club we frequented during the school holidays in a nearby town known as Kangema known as Social Hall. The song frequently requested by radio listeners too.

The song came out during my most energetic period of my life but its popularity didn’t last for long as Bob Marley and other popular music soon hit the scene .

What I later found interesting was that the composer and band leader, Maurice White was born in Memphis TN where he attended a famous high school named Booker T Washington. The college I attended in Memphis wasn’t too far from Booker T. Washington.

As I was going through my old stuff, I found an old CD of EWF and jammed it in my car. Those beats and words reminded of of the journey I have traveled and how it is connected to the three elements of EWF. The song September could as well be the theme song for that journey. This was especially deep as I thought about a long and enriching conversation with a Nigerian writer who heard my talk during my last keynote at the Afro Futuristic Convention in Humbug last week. I will be giving my 5th lecture in Germany this year at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam. Our team from Gathĩngĩra,the village of my birth, and a number of other mentees will be in attendance. It feels like I am in groove of “September” all over again even though it’s November. This time the groove is Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine, an idea that is deeply influenced by my time in Gathǐngǐra, Memphis the Piedmont area. The lecture at University of Applied Sciences will be an important milestone that will equally apply the three elements of EWF. Gathǐngĩra will represent Earth, my message represent the Fire and Wind represents the force of change we all aspire to and more importantly the pollination of best ideas between my village and university of design for the ultimate goal of a just food system. Put differently, I dream that we can all have a September in November moment for a start.

I Googled the lyrics of the song for the fun of it only learn that the song was released on November 18. All I could say was “Ba dee yah!”. If you know you know.

Chef Kabui

The Hex Kitchen is a collaboration between Chef Kabui and the Hex community in a bid to promote food literacy, mindful eating and wealth creation. There is a natural connection between those who are fighting against fiat currency and those engaged in the struggle against fiat food. The two social ills of fiat currency and fiat food are at the heart of the tyrannic global world system we are now living in. That tyranny is directly connected to the climate crisis we face and there is no way we can solve one part of the problem without being mindful of the whole system, For a start, the Hex Kitchen is keen on addressing the issues of real money and real food as a basis on regaining our sovereign power. It is no accident that the struggle for food justice would find allies in cryptography and more specifically cryptocurrency. It is not a usual collaboration but yet it is one that makes sense on many levels. Chef Kabui has been studying and applying the power of food literacy, mindful eating and food justice in the struggle against oppression in general and specifically to people of African descent.

Chef Kabui has studied the disciplines of politics, anthropology and culinary arts and has designed a cuisine or rather an approach to food that is informed by the above experience and the indigenous knowledge that he gained from his Kenyan family’s history as sustainable farmers for generations. The combined experience and education resulted in the creation of a cuisine called Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine. It is a combination of the most sustainable practices in the growing, preparation of food with the goal of causing the least damage to the environment and maximizing the health benefits of the food. Those two conditions are necessary for a mindful community that ensures that justice thrives.

Chef Kabui has been pushing organic food and healthy eating based on his research and his own experience. The idea of healthy food and justice is not something that chef Kabui got into but was born in it. His family operated a farm and his father ran a restaurant in the capital city of Nairobi. Kabui grew up in the village with his mother where they grew almost all the food they consumed. It was at his family farm that he Kabui developed a love for fresh food and the art of consuming food following the natural cycles of seasons.

The collaboration aims to share the skills for healthy food to the Hex community and beyond. No community can survive without food and the Hex community is no different. The Hex Kitchen is another assembly point for the community to be nourished both physically and socially. While wealth is private, food is social and having a kitchen for the community to assemble is a great option for a community that is causing ripples across the world.

What to Expect

The Kitchen will have virtual classes, content on Youtube and other social media presence for a start. The goal is that the Kitchen will have a physical place that will have a kitchen in a farm that will grown food and have space that guest can visit. The farm will have a demonstration farm for the vegetables, fruits and herbs,

For the schedule of upcoming classes please visit our events section and find a class that is fit for your schedule.