More and more, we see conversations on internal well-being taking centre stage, and rightfully so. Without better understanding of prevalent issues surrounding mental and emotional health, how are we to be ideal people in society?
Beneath the Surface Podcast looks into mental health, emotional health and general wellness. Started by long-time friends, Shiru Waweru and Sylvia Wanjira, the duo wanted to facilitate conversations about mental health where self-awareness was encouraged and self-reflection could take place. Within these facets, listeners would be able to question why they (we) are the way they (we) are, the impact our childhoods may have on us as adults and how this ends up forming most of our adult relationships, whether platonic or romantic.
Shiru’s inspiration was rooted in frustration: “A lot of the pre-existing information and solutions around mental wellness were very Eurocentric, and weren’t accessible to most Africans living in Africa. This ultimately seeded a want to create a space to discover the ways in which we already take care of ourselves that we don’t consider as ‘care’ because these ways are kawaida – normal habits.”
For Sylvia, her past experience and her coping mechanisms informed her decision to be part of this platform. “I was exposed to various forms of abuse from a young age, and I really only had myself through it. My main message to anyone I meet is always the importance of being aware and accepting where you are in life and who you are beneath what everyone else can see.”
In a sense, both ladies were vexed by the recurring perceptions around mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. For one, they were being taken lightly. The solution was to act, and this was steadily done through research and discussions that were compassionate to the ways in which we can take care of ourselves and people around us fighting these internal battles.
The discussions soon birthed a podcast with aid from members of Baraza Media Lab’s ‘Sema Box’. These content producers and audio experts invited Shiru and Sylvia to have their conversations in studio – to see how things would go. With guidance, they were able to record and produce their first episodes. Their podcast was soon enrolled into Sema Box’s Dada Incubator: a programme promoting audio content by women and marginalised voices. Under this, the BTS team received training on all aspects of podcasting from qualified audio experts and successfully produced 10 episodes.
The most memorable episode for Shiru is on ‘Why People Stay in Abusive Relationships’, while Sylvia’s most informative one is the fourth one: ‘Are You in a Potentially Abusive Relationship?’ Both these episodes highlight the importance of awareness in relationships, and take a different approach from the general ‘passive’ view where the focus is on the abusee and not the abuser.
Traction for all episodes of this Kenyan podcast comes from the fact that the information is educational and authentic – a format that both hosts want to maintain as they continue growing it.
Cast your ears on Beneath The Surface.