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!
#KeExcellence
Kenyans - we are a people of ingenuity, tenacity, hard work, serious compassion, great humor, academic and sporting prowess. We kinda know it, but we often take for granted just how special we are. It may be our natural tendency to be modest about our successes - we prefer to say we are just surviving even when we’ve just closed the deal of a decade or when we're
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!
#PaukwaEssays
We love telling stories that celebrate various facets of the 254. But every now and then, we are compelled to delve into aspects of Kenyan history and culture that are not entirely positive. Our hope is that by sharing our thoughts on these issues, we can give them the attention they demand and, who knows, perhaps even incite change. Here are our Paukwa Essays. [uncode_index el_id="index-907995"
Remember the story of...
Wasini Island
There is a legend full of betrayal, mystery and intrigue that lives on the shores of Wasini Island. One version of the tale begins with a war between the Wavumba people of Wasini and the Chifundi on the mainland. Wily young men from Wasini managed to convince Mwaozi Tumbe – the daughter of the Chifundi ruler - to betray her kin. They urged her to raise false alarms while the...
Our audio stories
A note from our team
CELEBRATING THE EARTH
We only get one home, or one planet to call home. The idea of the existential threat of climate change often feels too heavy or distant to contemplate, but if we are indeed to be the stewards who keep our shared home viable for us all, that’s exactly what we need to do – contemplate, then act! Thankfully there are many everyday champions who do act – as stewards, as changemakers, as earth warriors and we are happy to have shared their stories in our collection #OurGreenHeroes. Through their actions we all are a bit closer to keeping this shared home of ours safe for all who inhabit it. We urge you to do your “little thing” like Wangari Maathai – reduce your plastic use, plant a tree, teach a child about environmental action because as Margaret Mead once said, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has”.
TEAM PAUKWA
A note from our team
ON GRATITUDE
Allow us to take a moment of reflection. We are grateful for the journey of time, for the learnings we have experienced about our country as we have spent time in archives, in interviews, on bumpy roads crisscrossing the nation, in online rabbit holes in our quest to build stories of Kenya. We are incredibly grateful for the community of readers we have and all the feedback, thumbs up, questions and exclamations that you have shared. We have enjoyed spending time in new spaces bringing our story collections alive in forums, on panels, in festivals and in virtual settings. Through each of these endeavours we are continually sharpened by others, we have found our tribe of individuals and collectives as curious as we are about our history, and we are comforted and emboldened by the reminders that we are not alone on our quest and indeed – this work of narrative shaping, of history building, of spotlight shining is important. With reflection comes gratitude, introspection, and hope and so we thank you for being part of our Paukwa journey.
TEAM PAUKWA
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