Paukwa? Pakawa!
Paukwa is a place dedicated to positive stories about Kenya. Our story house is named for the Swahili word that is an invitation to a story – Paukwa. It’s an age- old term, well known across East Africa. Paukwa invites one to remember the joy of stories from their childhood days and to get lost in new, familiar or unknown ideas about the daily things that surround us.
Each day ordinary Kenyans are pushing our nation forward. As volunteers, as SME owners, as creatives, teachers, farmers, counsellors, techwizards and more. There is a bigger story as they build our nation each day through their tenacity, hard work, positive attitude, search for excellence, and sheer hustle.
Through their efforts we all grow.
At Paukwa, we shine a spotlight on the everyday builders of our nation and the history we almost forgot.
This digital storybank celebrates memory, culture, modernity, but most of all, the positive. Dive in and discover a story of Kenya you didn’t know you never knew!
#NgomaZetu
Music. We all have our preferences when it comes to genres, and fortunately, there are countless songs on the internet, in music stores and phone applications to discover new talent and industry moguls. The most significant thing about music is its ability to motivate, lighten moods, boost intelligence and concentration. Think of all the song lyrics you have memorized. The ones that have remained in your mind months,
Paukwa? Pakawa!
Paukwa is a place dedicated to positive stories about Kenya. Our story house is named for the Swahili word that is an invitation to a story – Paukwa. It’s an age- old term, well known across East Africa. Paukwa invites one to remember the joy of stories from their childhood days and to get lost in new, familiar or unknown ideas about the daily things that surround us.
Each day ordinary Kenyans are pushing our nation forward. As volunteers, as SME owners, as creatives, teachers, farmers, counsellors, techwizards and more. There is a bigger story as they build our nation each day through their tenacity, hard work, positive attitude, search for excellence, and sheer hustle.
Through their efforts we all grow.
At Paukwa, we shine a spotlight on the everyday builders of our nation and the history we almost forgot.
This digital storybank celebrates memory, culture, modernity, but most of all, the positive. Dive in and discover a story of Kenya you didn’t know you never knew!
#KeFolktales
Stories: we are fond of them, we love them, and we learn from them. You remember those days when you would travel upcountry and sit by the fire with your grandparents and hear the sweet stories from yesteryear, or made up, that stuck with you? Paukwa? Pakawa! Hadithi Hadithi? Hadithi Njoo! And then, with a bent back and captivating eyes, your grandfather or grandmother would begin the story
Remember the story of...
He’s on a mission to save the Nyatiti
[gallery columns="1" link="file" ids="8686,8687,8688"] Rapasa Nyatrapasa Rapwapwa's journey didn’t start as that. He just knew he enjoyed playing the instrument whenever he would travel upcountry from his home in Nairobi, and he wanted to learn everything about the eight stringed instrument that is synonymous with musical sound in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. When he would go to shags as a young boy some people in the village tried to...
Our audio stories
A note from our team
VALUE-BASED EDUCATION
One of the greatest joys of working at Paukwa is the energy that our team exudes and the enthusiasm we have to tell the stories of Kenya creatively. In February 2020 we embarked on a new journey – to create content for children. These are stories of ordinary Kenyans who have chosen to live their lives with purpose, are doing their best with what they have, or striving each day to give back to their communities in myriad ways. Our value-based education initiative gave us the opportunity to bring these stories to life through the Hummingbird Tales animated series and accompanying guidebooks. Each Kenyan child sitting at home or school can learn the values that promote our collective wellbeing and citizenry. So, take some time today or this week to share a screen (whether big or small) with a child or children and enjoy with them stories of Kenyans showing up and building the 254.
TEAM PAUKWA
A note from our team
CULTURE AND HERITAGE
One of our favourite things about writing stories at Paukwa is that there’s always something new to learn about Kenya. Sometimes it's through retelling the narratives that we have come to accept, and other times it's just about appreciating the people and the places that make us proud. We’re constantly challenging the norms and asking ourselves how we can celebrate different facets of Kenyan history and culture. Through our #OnlyInKenya story series, we learnt that one of the reasons that Kenyan communities told stories was to explain the unexplainable. Take the Crying Stone for instance, Ikhongo Murwi. The Luhya community has a story that explains why it cries from time to time. Creativity at its best, we’d say. And that’s just one of many incredible stories from Western Kenya. There are more of those in Paukwa’s repository which have been specially curated to spotlight trailblazers, hidden gems, and creations that hail from this region.
TEAM PAUKWA
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