Foreign Lenses: Recent Episodes
Ajä, Ayen & Nyakelei
Looking through the lenses of Afro-Australian millennial women defining and sharing their views on multiculturalism and their feelings of otherness in a society that isn’t welcoming.
VIEWERS DISCRETION ADVISED!!! In today’s episode we talk about a topic that might be a little sensitive and a lot of people don’t talk about in our community...family and domestic violence/abuse.
In this episode we explored the different love languages and how they apply to us both individually and generally. We’ve learnt that as we grow we change the ways we communicate and receive love. There’s always hardships in the way we do this As African girls who’ve grown up in the west. We completed the love language test and further explored what they meant to us and if we agreed with the percentages.
5 different love languages are: Quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation & physical touch Five diverse ways of expressing and receiving love are known as the five love languages: Not everyone expresses love in the same way, and not everyone like to receive love in the same manner.
Knowing your love language has the following advantages: * Improve your understanding of yourself and others * Grow closer to family, friends, and others you care about * Gain courage to express your emotions and affection * Discover the missing ingredient in previous relationships * Date more successfully Whether you want to get closer to your parents, make new friends, or start dating again, there are plenty of things you can do.
https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/couples-quiz/
It’s without a doubt there’s soo much going on within our African communities and more specifically our South Sudan community that we sweep under the rug or express through other channels. In today’s episode we discuss the taboo topic that is mental health. We will discuss our personal opinions on how we think we as the African community are handling such issues.
Questions: -are we as a community aware of mental health issues in our community (stigmas around it) -why is mental health such a taboo topic in our community -do you think children’s mental health issues get overlooked more then adult mental health issues -what should we as the Sudanese community do more to combat this mental health issues -do you think that the spike of mental health issues particularly depression and anxiety is higher for the people that have migrated to Australia thank it is for the people that are back home or not?? -do you think that mental health issues are impacting our parents more then us and we as kids are not recognising or acknowledging it (eg Facebook live)
As children of immigrants, education is one of the main reasons why our parents decided to migrate here so their children can have the education that they have been deprived off due to state of our country. Often you would find that in a Sudanese household it is an expectation for us to go to university and get a degree but is getting a degree really worth the cost and the stress??
We share our personal education journey with you guys on today’s episode.
- Being ethnic in Australia
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• African pride (practicing traditions and language)
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• White-washing our names
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• Identity crisis?
Segments: Things my parents say vs what they actually mean
Questions:
What were your experiences with practicing traditions and language growing up?
Do you think your surroundings impacted the way you identified yourself? (those around kawajat vs those around other Africans)
How do you think our community ranks in balancing our African-ness compared to other ethnic groups in Australia?
What are some things about our culture you wish you knew more about?
What do you imagine will happen to the younger generation? (identity crisis)
What is Spirituality? * • Spirituality is more of an individual practice and has to do with having a sense of peace and purpose. It also relates to the process of developing beliefs around the meaning of life and connection with others. Why do people practice Spirituality? * • great way of seeking comfort and peace Different ways of practicing spirituality? * • Yoga * • Meditation * • Self-care Does Spirituality give us a clearer view of our Purpose?
Religion * • Set of beliefs and practices by a community or group of people * • the service and worship of God or the supernatural
what are your views of religion? What are some personal experiences of both Spirituality and religion? Do they come hand in hand or are they different practices?
do you think African belief systems (cultural Gods) comes from western religions or the concept of spirituality?
Define success and how you measure it? Do you deem yourself successful? Why or why not? Who is the most successful person you know? Do you think your race impacts your levels of success in your field??? Do you think the society we live in limits our views of success?
On today's Episode we'll be digging a little into the mysterious world of what IFs. WE will be answering a few philosophical questions about the world that surrounds us. Are soul mates and soul ties real? do they come hand in hand? Does reality differ for everyone or is it the same? and so much more..... If you enjoyed this episode please do let us know on our Insta page @Foreign_lenses
Love & Relationship (platonic, family relationships and romantic)
⁃ What is your definition of love? ⁃ Do you believe love can be conditional or unconditional? ⁃ Do you think blood is thicker than water? - falling out with a friend? Vs a family member ⁃ If a gun is held your cousin’s head that you don’t really know or your friend that you have a strong connection with? ⁃ Comparison on how we as a younger generation may view water being thicker than blood. Eg, location, we tend to relate to each other here in Australia because of the shared experiences. ⁃ Family breakdowns, how this has an impact on the kids?
⁃ Do you think guys and girls can purely have a plutonic relationship? Why and why not? ⁃ Where do we learn to love romantically coming from an African home where there is not a lot of love and affection. Do you think this impacts the way we love romantically in this society? ⁃ What do you think about the concept of “black men don’t cheat”? And does this affect the way they love romantically? ⁃ The we date in this society compared to the way our parents dated back then? Do you think the way our parents dated back then reduces chances of divorce? Emotional dating? Vs Rational dating? ⁃ We don’t know how to date? Love languages?
How did you or do you cope with racism/discrimination ⁃ Systematic racism? - Job opportunities, being hired for diversity not necessarily your qualities. ⁃ How do you think racism impacts how we interact with one another as a black community - eg, the indirect ideology that there can only be one black person succeeding in one particular profession for example, sports or YouTube channels, makeup businesss. ⁃ What do you think about being grouped as one, where do you think this Ideology originated from? Automatically getting embarrassed by another black person’s actions? ⁃ What do you think of the statement “you’re so lucky to be Australia instead of America”. Do you think we have it easier here, eg. racism, police brutality. ⁃ What do you think about the fact that we sometimes feel guilty about sharing and discussing your experiences of racism? ⁃ How do we move forward - platform, uplifting each other and she’s light on our successes
The name foreign lenses is us defining our otherness as we Look through the lenses of African millennials living in cross cultural and multicultural societies. It’ll be a great forum to discuss relatable topics and gather as a community discuss things that have an impact on our communities for example: Race related issues, relationships and domestic violence as well as mental health issues. Episodes will be out every Sunday. Our Instagram handle is: Foreign_lenses