Through the generous support of the Samosa Festival, we were able to print 50 copies of the anthology for the event at the ever-hospitable space of CheChe Bookshop & Cafe. The remaining copies as well as copies of our first PftSotW anthology are for sale at CheChe while supplies last.

The event began with a panel session on the intersection of queerness, community and (creative) resistance set against the backdrop of the setting Nairobi sun. The panelists shared from their personal and artistic journeys while being moderated by FreeQuency who took up the opportunity to further contextualize the connections and stories within the anthology. 

Yesterday marked one year since Palestinian freedom fighters called on the world to support their ongoing liberation struggle. In just a few days it will have been 4 month since Kenyans took to the streets with similar ambitions of collective liberation.

At our retreat in August, we dug into the role of the “artist” vs. “creator” and what it means to be a cultural organizing collective in these times of world endings beginnings. In line with our grounding belief that “words create worlds”, we will begin grounding our usual programming in an overarching popular education series that gets at the core of the words that have shaped our worlds today.

Our monthly programs will center on specific themes chosen to build our collective understanding of the systems and structures that continue to encourage our collective oppression. This month we will begin by focusing on Imperialism and hosting 2 workshops (one on IG live, one on zoom) and an in person event. Please see below for more details:

As we continue to cross into a new world(s), a question we’ve been pondering is:
How are you tending to care, connection, spaciousness, and healing within the roots of your relationships? Your communities? Your networks?

GREY

In the freefall of time, I find myself supported. Not bound to numbers for a face, but in the rhythm of my beating heart and my breath. I remember the miracle of a body, and a being greater than that body, and a being greater with that body. I remember my story, one that dips and ascends, too complex to grasp with the very hands that are weaving this tapestry of a life. I take comfort that life is always shifting within me, my own self never in the same place I left it, no matter how fixed or physical my circumstances may be. I turn over every rock in my way; no obstacle is too much of a nuisance, not to carry its own possibility as the gift it brings, visiting, not intruding.

JERRY
I make my way to a blank canvas of paper that   Was once a tree

And defile it with Nonsensical scribbles that line the margins

Words no longer come to me easily 

The flourishing descriptions and witty imagery fade into the recesses of my mind, and leak out into the void of the creative garbage disposal,

I remember I'm in a community . And that's how I connect. It nourishes me 

I admire and get inspired by those around me,

Learning of their best parts, carefully pulling their strings out from the edges without wrinkling their fabric of existence into ruined knots and sewing my very own in a beautiful fashion

I learn from them and now adjectives and flowery nouns fill my mind and flow from my veins.

I am a writer.

FREEQUENCY

I tend with my tools

I suffer no fools

Lest they transfer their suffering to me

And my seeds

We here be tree

Strong roots 

Thick trunks

Shedding what we don’t need seasonally

We quench thirst with our own waters

Don’t fear the salt’s rushing waters as much as the stillness that invites scavengers

We turn back to soi;|soul when the roots get untethered

Whatever the weather|whether

We storm

We stay grounded while stretching towards the sky

We ask why

But the why don’t stop the do or who

The Who depends on the where and when

The how is the culmination of all the thems we are and have been and are (un)becoming

The how is the what

Is The Who(s)

The Who is me

The Who is the we

Even the weeds

The wildflowers who are the only ones who call themselves by their own names

Lagniappe:

Moving Towards Life: What happens when we cannot “agree to disagree” as cultural organizers?

On the 17th of August 2024 from 4PM-7PM at Cheche Bookshop and Cafe, Paza Sauti: Kenya is thrilled to invite you to join in its second in-person Anthology launch!

POEMS FOR THE START OF THE WORLD: ISSUE 2 ~ Ushoga Ni Uhuru is a collection of decadent offerings describing what is means to be liberated. This launch will be featuring discussions and performances from the collective members, Jerry, FreeQuency, Grey, and Jaaziyah, as well as some of the contributors to this anthology, _13Elle, Immah Reid, Seise Bagbo, Makena Ngito, Kuiyu and Rebian Artis. This latest collection has also been brought to life through the generous publishing support of Samosa Festival.

Tickets to the event are KES1000. For those who simply must have a physical copy of this publication as they enjoy the show, your wish is only KES1500. For the folks who want to include the anthology in their library, but perhaps can’t make it to the launch, you may purchase your copy for KES1000. (And if you just cannot wait until then, feel free to slide into our DMs over on IG pazasautikenya to reserve a copy at the same price.)

We are so deeply excited to see each and every one of you on Saturday!

IN MY FEELINGS w/ FREEQUENCY:

In 2020, in the midst of a yet unknown global pandemic, I saw a Facebook post from my friend and fellow wor(l)d worker Suzi Q Smith talking about a collection of poems called “Poems for the End of the World”.

When I saw this post, I was in the midst of working on my own collection of offerings|experiment in poetics called (On |Un-)Becoming (Button Poetry, 2025). The text, which contains dual|simultaneous titles (On Becoming and Un-Becoming) and uses this symbol | to connotate their synchonicity as processes, asks us to fully explore the process of becoming by delving into the concurrent process of un-becoming that makes space for who|what we become.

1Grey x FreeQuency via IG Live @PazaSauti_Kenya

It was while ruminating on the title of Suzi Q’s collection and trying to articulate the framework that would contain my latest story that Poems for the Start of the World came to me. Jaaziyah, as always, was like “word, lets do it!” and before we knew it, we’d traveled across the continent and beyond speaking to|listening to African story|tellers.

2 Jaaziyah x Jerry via IG Live @PazaSauti_Kenya

As we begin final preparations to publish the 2nd Poems for the Start of the World anthology, the Paza Sauti team is excited to bring back both the online Instagram Live series AND a series of workshops to accompany the series!

We kick off where we began - with Jaaziyah and I hosting each other before we host the new collective members Grey & Jerry (again) before we expand to Kenayn poets (again) before we leave these imaginary borders of our so called country and find our features across the continent and diaspora! If you’re interested in potentially being a feature for the series, please email PazaSautiKenya@gmail.com, subject line: FEATURE REQ: Poems for the Start of the World 2024

3 FreeQuency x Loyce Gayo, founder of Paza Sauti: The Dar Youth Poetry Festival via IG Live @PazaSauti_Kenya

Paza Past the Page:

Sometimes people ask us…what do yall do as a collective when not doing public events? Well, we thought we’d start sharing. We being each collective meetings with an intentional check in that allows us to get to know each other’s personhoods and beings better. We treat collaboration as a deeply intimate|vulnerable action, which means moving at the speed of trust and giving ourselves enough time to build the kind of trust we need in order to do the kind of work we have accepted the assignment of doing. Feel free to read some of the collective responses from last session and send us YOUR responses - we’re interested in knowing who we are in larger community|collaboration with!

What people place land community and political lineages anchor your vision for the future? How are your actions aligned with your lineages?

Grey’s Reply:

What people place land community and political lineages anchor your vision for the future? How are your actions aligned with your lineages?

Call me Nairobi’s Lorax because I speak with the trees, not for them. I speak for the ones that grew after colonization like me, free beings planted in a soil meant to eventually choke them out. Like them, I saw the nude mothers at Freedom Corner and regarded them with honor for their bravery and subversiveness. The roots of movement are breaking the sidewalk your dumbass city planning laid. Like a path of desire, our mothers are twisting away from the destinations and directions. They’re demanding their babies move freely in this world, even in the worlds you designed to be constricting. 

How does this anchoring and alignment impact how you move through the world? I lay bare my freedom, moving and swaying with the winds of time, like I have a right to be here. My roots mirror the action of the jacarandas of the CBD; my shade spreads out over everyone because none of us are free unless all of us are free.

FreeQuency’s Reply:

Nairobi

New Orleans

I am a child of the In Between and Beyond

And I’ve been gone for far too long (from t)here

My lineage is movement

I keeps it moving

My lineage is Movement

I keeps it pushing

My lineage is Move|Me(a)nt

My Moves are meant, always

forward|towards

I don’t move through the world

I flow through it, in between it, around it, beyond, below|above it.

I do not move through the world

I am a world onto myself

trying to (un)become myselves

In the months of January, February and March, I opened my poetry commissions. As a community poet, I use these windows to connect with my online community and facilitate creative expression for different people in the different seasons of their lives. I usually have my own theme for each month, but I open up the commissions to meet folks where they’re at. For January, the theme centered around my anchor phrase for the year which is “feral possibility.” I focused on writing poetry that transcended the boundaries that are shattering in my mind in the areas of faith, humanity, and existence. For February, I continued in the frame of possibility with the theme of connection. I tried something new: facilitating one-on-one writing sessions for people seeking to connect with their own writer/poet muse. In March, I rounded out the cycle of commissions with the theme of “Poems for Belonging.” I wrote poetry that spoke to the theme of belonging with grief, within the world of publishing, and within the world of responsibility as adults. What I enjoyed most about these commission windows was the freedom I experienced, understanding that while poetry is a gift that flows easily for me, I sometimes put barriers in the way of the work flowing through. For the coming months, I’m excited to partner with visual artists. I’m looking to diversify my offerings and express poetry in a variety of ways. To stay updated with this exploration and commission me, feel free to follow my social media profile on Instagram @/theideadoula

Lagniappe…Writer’s Read

From Vietnam to Palestine A CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD LAI, LYNN TA, AND PROMISE LI

IN MY FEELINGS w/ FREEQUENCY:

We’ve been gone for a minute but Paza Sauti: Kenya is back with the remix! It has been almost a year since our largest event ever in January 2023 - Ushoga Ni Uhuru. Ushoga ni Uhuru was a solidarity fundraiser organized to commemorate those we’d lost to the ongoing violence in LGBTQ+|Shoga|Queer communities in Kenya while celebrating the resilience, passion, beauty and strength of our community.

While the event was a monumental success (we had over 200 attendees and raised over 1,500USD that was donated to the communities of Edwin Chiloba, Sheila Lumumba and the Queer Trans Fund Kenya), it was also a large strain on the collective’s capacity and raised safety concerns about Paza’s visibility in the politically tense moment.

After the event, we had calls from community to organize a similar monthly or even weekly space, but truthfully, though the year had just begun, our accumulated urgency over the past years caught up to us and we began the year with burnout.

Instead, we stepped back and chose to took a critical look at the gap between our desires and our capacity. We decided it was in our|the community’s best interest to take a season to focus on restoration, fortification and sustainability. We also took this time to deepen our collective politicization as we got more clarity about the work we were assigned to do as a collective and the stakes of accepting this assignment since we began in 2018.

We took most of 2023 to ideate, reflect, mourn, dream and eventually began the process of (re)growing the collective by reaching out to creatives and cultural organizers we’ve long admired and/or featured in our Poems for the Start of the World series.

As a result of this decision, Paza Sauti was able to host Sauti ya Azadi, a spectacular Palestinians solidarity show that also served as Paza’s first in person event that took place since our founding without me in the country. This may not sound significant to yall, but that event truly signaled for me the start of the Paza Sauti: Kenya I initially dreamt of - a space in Nairobi’s creative community co-created by us for us that may have come from me but is not of me and has never belonged to me.

Please read below for more info about

-the current collective
-the work we’ve been scheming over the past few months
-a recap of Sauti ya Azadi
-updates on the 2nd edition of the Poems for the Start of the World Anthology: Issue 2 Ushoga Ni Uhuru (including a call for visual arts submissions for the anthology)
-info about our reading of the Gaza Monologues on 15th Dec from 5-6pmEAT
-an offering of poems that have been grounding me in this moment

Never forget that poetry is a protest and that words create worlds,
FreeQuency

THE COLLECTIVE CORNER:

Jerry (he/him)

Jerry is a multi-disciplinary writer holding an undergraduate degree  in Economics , although has managed to penetrate multiple work ventures within Kenya’s creative and art space. He self identifies as a Trojan horse when it comes to his uniquely evolved style of genre bending writing but instead of malice, the output bears a cache of wisdom and a flare of wit one should dig. He aspires to assume a position in advocacy and support under organizations catering to minorities using his skills in research to foster prosperity and protection for the very marginalized groups of people in society. Looking forward to being an established author and a digital writer tackling the intersections of culture, music, fashion, sexuality and race “Paza Sauti to me is more than just a union and collective for writers and creatives . It is a home that strives to house and nourish my fragile yet important gift . It entails the platforming of all voices of marginalized writers, choosing to illuminate and reverse the dimming lights of their creative voices” 

Grey Oletsa (they/she )

Besides people-watching and participating in the simulation, Grey Oletsa, the Nairobi-based filmmaker creates community through art. Oletsa is a magician and words are their playground. When Grey isn't neck deep in birth-work as a labor support specialist, they bring stories to life through musical poetry, fiction and a sense of humor that functions against all odds. “Paza Sauti is a platform for queer folks committed to the transformation of the world through anti-colonial artistic expression. When I think about my role in the collective, especially concerning social media, I achieve these aims through encouraging community investment and engagement in the creation and enjoyment of poetry. As we learn new forms, strategies and practices to support our creative expression, my ideals of workshop facilitation flow from a desire to learn with the people who offer Paza Sauti their curiosity. In conversation with the poets we admire and the deep politics supporting their work, we are moving together towards the creation of our desired worlds. Where are the hierarchies informed by power over, by capitalist time, by socioeconomic class, by heteronormativity? May they be shattered in our collaboration. May our cooperation bloom a new way of being for us all.”

Jaaziyah (they/she/it), founding member

I have an undergraduate degree in law (LLB). I have been a mental health advocate since the age of 20. A performing artist and published author. I am also an activist for gender rights, socio-economic equality and the Queer community in Kenya. Paza Sauti is a safe haven in the form of a workspace; it means a community and a home full of other like minded creatives. It’s like my little niece or nephew that I am watching grow into its own person.

FreeQuency (they/he/she), founder & agent of choas

FreeQuency is simply tired of writing bios and exasperated at the idea of continuing to make them. Like forreal wtf. Google “FreeQuency poet” if you want to read about their accolades, or go to their website or if you really wanna know, approach them like a whole human being when you see them in person.

To me Paza Sauti: Kenya means possibility. Means investing in the idea of world making through words. Means believing that a small group of people can radically alter an artistic community and that an artistic community can shift culture and that shifting culture can call forth the kind of world we all desire and deserve. Paza Sauti is an experiment, an exercise in faith and failure as a measure of success,

RECAP OF THE LAST FEW MONTHS: ANTHOLOGY WORK & SAUTI YA AZADI: SOLIDARITY EVENT WITH PALESTINE

POEMS FOR THE START OF THE WORLD ISSUE #2: USHOGA NI UHURU
A few months after the Ushoga ni Uhuru event this past Jan, we got to work building the promised anthology to follow. Rather than the call for submissions we did for the 1st edition, we decided to limit the written contributors of this anthology to the performers at the events and the new Paza Sauti collective. We used this project as a way to get to know one another as creatives and to commemorate the showcase. Similar to the 1st edition though, we are putting out a public call for visual arts submissions! Please see flyer below and know we are eagerly anticipating your submissions!

SAUTI YA AZADI EVENT: hosted by Grey & Jaaziyah

WATCH THE EVENT LIVESTREAM HERE ON PAZA SAUTI’S INSTAGRAM

In collaboration with CheChe Books & Coffee and Kenyans For Palestine, Paza Sauti: Kenya hosted an open mic fundraiser and political education event about the genocide in Gaza. We raised $900USD which we sent to comrades in Gaza. If you are an African artist, consider signing this form by African Artists Against Apartheid (@africanartistsagainstapartheid) to join a network of similar minded folks.

As part of our ongoing solidarity efforts, on Friday Dec 15th, from 5-6pmEAT, the collective will be hosting/livestreaming a reading of The Gaza Monologues from the Paza Sauti Instagram account.

Parting Words:

We are guided by the legacy of African freedom writers before us who understood the power of stories and words to shape worlds. In this time of compounded genocide and the re-recognition of the impact of empire across the world, we want to share these two pieces from revolutionary writers Assata Shakur and Patrice Lumumba.

AFFIRMATION: By Assatta Shakur

MAY OUR PEOPLE TRIUMPH by Patrice Lumumba

Freedom in our lifetimes,

The 2023 Paza Sauti: Kenya Collective

Grey, Jerry, Jaaziyah & FreeQuency

Subscribe now