Life Made Simple

August 10, 2017August 14, 2017 / ludlumdrive / Leave a comment

Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe

The simple life. Life is who you are, what you create, what you become. Life is creativity, what you live and how you present it. It is what you dance to, what makes you, what makes scream the most. It is not about what you can’t have but what you don’t have. It doesn’t take much to make a kid happy, all he/she needs is a toy and if you don’t have one, you create one. You make one out whatever you can find and then zig zag through the hood. It is life, it is what drives you, what becomes you, what makes you happy, a toy made of wire and wood. This beautiful expression of “leve leve”, meaning slow, unhurried definition of an happy and simple childhood emblemises the islands of Sao Tome and Principe in Africa. Yes, life made simple.

I Am Me, African!

July 31, 2014August 1, 2014 / ludlumdrive / Leave a comment

I am caucasian but in the eyes of many, “you are white”, they say …

Silently I tread, smiling I march.

I cannot point fingers at anyone, so I sit still because let’s face, it takes a special deftness to be or feel something that you are not. How can you convey a state of being to someone?

As human beings, we act and behave differently. We are not the same. We don’t have the same DNA. We are individuals.

Perception does not always denote being, so I smile. They don’t get it. So, I keep going. And when my African roots unintentionally manifests itself, verbally or through dancing, many react and do a double take, as it unhurriedly becomes apparent to them… yet bewildered and bashful, in a quite whisper they ask, “are you white?” Grinning, I move on.

I know who I am. Half of me belongs to the world and the other half, to me. I am me. I am my own creation, a blend of color, life and dreams. I am white. I am african. I am million other things the word cannot define. I am the “whisper” that defines us. I am the hip-vibrating hips when I hear the drums playing. I am the spice I grew up eating. I am the color of my flags. I am a person. I am me.

Happy African Women’s Day my beautiful country women. You are every race and hearts in this one continent of ours, Africa.

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P.S. My niece Marta wrote this beautiful piece in portuguese, she speaks and writes perfect english, on her Facebook page in observance of African Women’s Day today, I love it so much that I decided to translate it and share it with you.

Breathe, It is Paradise

May 7, 2014June 16, 2014 / ludlumdrive / Leave a comment

Breathe and exhale. Say amen and dream. Take your temperature and stay cool. It is the sun. It is the cloud. It is the palm tree. It is the serene sound of tranquility. It is the quietness. Silence. It is the sea. It is the sunset. It is the red sunset. It is the sun on the horizon. It is heaven. Relax. It is paradise in the middle of the ocean. It is the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe in the golf of Guinea in Africa, Lonely Planet and CNN travel destinations for 2014. And oh, did I say that’s where I come from?! Indulge!