How it went on

April

When doing the Book Launch, our plan was that, we would just come together, launch the book, sell it, then call it a day, with everyone going home to continue with their lives.

We hadn’t really thought out whatever you see Qwani being today. Then, our plan was for us to just be a Literature outfit. Every other aspect of the community has overshadowed that, at the moment, but we are trying to get that back as our main priorities.

But then, the program of the launch was so entertaining, that, a week later, we had people reach out to us and ask, “Eh guys, next event ya Qwani ni lini?”

And so, we were like, “Hmmm. What if we hold a similar event to the launch, but this time, taking out the book as the focal point? Such that, the program of the event would contain musical performances and poetry readings. Didn’t Kwani? also do this? What’d they call ‘em? Open Mics. Right! Let’s do an Open Mic!”

And thus, on the last Friday of April, the 28th, we announced that we’ll be having an Open Mic at the same venue that hosted the book launch, the Alliance Francaise Library. We did a call out for poets and musicians, and once we got a couple, we were ready to go.

There was some amazing hype in the days preceding the event, with people even publicly asking each other what clothes they’d wear for the event (mpaka tukajiuliza, “Ai, kwani ni serious hivyo?”).

The date is April the 28th. The time is 2pm. It’s heavily raining in some parts of Nairobi. Ruaka and Juja specifically, which is where half of our audience comes from. Some texts start trickling in, with people stating that they, unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to make it to the event. We start getting worried. Will it flop?

The time is 4pm. Only a few people are in the room with us. Presently organizing the event are Boy A, Girl A, Boy C and Boy D. Girl A is, once again, at the reception. Boy D is, once again, at the sound. And this time, Boy A and Boy C are the MCs. They are, of course, quite nervous. Within 30 minutes, quite a sizeable number of people have streamed in. So, they decide to start.

It is important to note that this event was taking place at the library. However, the musicians performing at the event had no care for that. Clearly, they wanted to bring the house down, and they didn’t care if the books will come down with them too.

Once again, Clark Keeng & Co closed the show with, what was possibly, the most electrifying performance we’d ever seen. In attendance, this time, were 200 people. One, two, three, four… all the way to two hundred people, had braved the rain, just to come and attend the Qwani event. There must have been something about us, right?

MAY

We decided that we might as well just hold these Open Mics every month. I mean, people just want to come together and listen to this stuff, no?

So, in the month of May, we did a similar thing, and planned for an Open Mic at the Alliance Francaise library on the last Saturday, the 25th of May. One week to the event day, however, we were hit by a sudden change of plans by the host. That they could not facilitate us on that particular date since they were having exams.

Well, having hyped it once again, we figured out it’d be a bad idea to cancel it. Therefore, we embarked on finding alternative spots to host it. One of us (no longer one of us) suggested Lava Latte, and even went ahead to do a reconnaissance at the spot, then convinced us that it’d be a good idea. We went on with the plans, and on the event day, the Open Mic happened. Whether or not it was a good event, is a story for another day. Nonetheless, we had a huge turn-out (for the space).

JUNE

Having done two Open Mics now, one of us (no longer one of us) asked, “Till when shall we keep doing the same event? Si watu pia watachoka na sisi jameni?”

So, we took a break in the month of June to strategize and plan the way forward.

The month had no events.

JULY

July was great.

By this time, we had figured out that the reason why people keep coming back to our events, was because they desired the sense of community and belonging that we offered. Additionally, we were a third space, away from home and work/school, where people could hang out with friends, chill, and do other stuff besides drinking (even though they still went to Mwendas after the events). Therefore, we started by forming a Whatsapp group and dumping in anyone who loved to be part of us.

For the month of July, we had planned to have three events:

• The first, to be held on Saturday, the 8th of July, was the Open Mic. This time, we had moved locations, once again, to a space called Happening Arts, which is just next to Nairobi Primary. It was very artsy. Very very artsy. This time, our event ran from 2pm – 8pm, and we had tons of performances, including a karaoke from 6pm. I should mention that Ndung’u Mbithi was among the people who took part in the karaoke, singing Eric Wainaina’s Ritwa Riaku. The turn-up was high, in excess of 150 people, and even had a birthday party in the middle. Truly, memorable.
• Having gone on numerous hikes before Qwani, together with Naomi, Mark, Kambai & Zawadi, Ang’ana saw it fit to introduce hikes to the community. His reason? Nothing brings people together more than suffering. Therefore, on Saturday the 15th of July, we hosted our first ever hike, which was a trip to the scenic Tigoni tea farms. We are definitely speaking from a nostalgic bias, but that was definitely one of the best hikes (mostly because we were young and naïve and knew not what to expect). In attendance, we had 30 of the most amazing people.
• At this point, we realized that we had, by far and wide, forgotten our core mission: to promote Literature. Ever since we launched the book, not a single day had we set aside to discuss it. This, one way or another, had possibly demoralized the authors. Therefore, we decided that, on Saturday the 22nd of July, we shall host a Book Discussion at the Alliance Francaise, with five of the authors (Keith Ang’ana, Lewis-Miller Kaphira, Marion Mbakaya, Ryan Kiruri & Yvonne Wanja) as the panelists. It was beautiful, really.

Three consecutive events on three consecutive Saturdays in one month. We had really outdone ourselves! And were quite proud!

It was also in the month of July that we brought in one of our best (and tiniest) members of the team, Natasha Muhanji. Six days after doing so, she won the ‘Sondeka Awards for the best Short Story’, and we were more than happy and proud of her achievement.

From then on . . .

Well, they say that the sky is the limit, but in our case, we’ve discovered that the universe is a wide expanse. If we thought doing three events in a month back then was stretching our capabilities, then I can confidently say that we’ve even gone on to do four, five, six, seven … and recently, in August 2024, we did eight events in one month!

We’ve become more diverse than the colors of the rainbow.

What began as a collective to promote writers has ended up being a collective that encompasses artists, painters, musicians, photographers, script-writers, film-makers etc. And, it is our dearest hope that time becomes fair on us, that we may achieve more and more on this earth.

Ubi concordia, ibi Victoria!