On Wednesday September 17th, Story Moja Festival kicked off at the Nairobi national Museum. It was a five-day event running under the theme “Imagine the World”. Writers, poets, musicians and other creatives were at hand to share knowledge and tips on their areas of expertise. BAKE was part of the event and had 4 successful sessions.
How to Blog session – 17th September.
The first session we had was for teenagers aged 14 and above. It was facilitated by Kennedy Kachwanya and Lulu Akaki who were at hand to share information on what blogging was all about. They took the attendees through the various reasons on how to blog, how to come up with a topics and even touched a little bit on how to monetize the blog.
How to blog session 18th September
This session was facilitated by Sam Wakoba, Magunga Williams and Naomi Wanjiru and was similar to the first session. We had a young group of children aged between 12-18 years old who were interested in blogging. They got to understand what blogging was and were helped to know blogging is not just about words. It was an interactive session where the children learnt that blogging can also involve pictures, audio and videos. Despite their young age, the children also wanted to know
Bloggers on Fire Masterclass – 19th September
The Bloggers on Fire session was an interactive and hands-on 3 hour session led by Owaahh and Njeri Wangari. The session kicked off by having the audience talk about their blogs and what they are passionate about. They then shared some thoughts on blogging and discussed with the facilitators about how to develop a blog, how to come up with topics and keep your blog active. They were also taken through the process of understanding the power of social media as well. This was in reference to Biko Zulu’s post “Visa Denied” that went viral.
Plagiarism was also touched on and the audience got tips on how to handle the issue. They were talked through the process of giving credit when they use someone else’s’ images in their content.
The hands-on session involved taking the attendees through the process of coming up with a post. They were taken through the step by step process of how to come up with a title, how to embed a video and tweet.
Bloggers Roll Call – 20th September
Saturday morning saw us arrive at Storymoja bright and early. We had a panel discussion comprising of Brenda Wambui, Rachel Muthoni, Ian Arunga and Jesca Irauka discussing their blogging journey in a session led by Njeri Wangari. It was a small gathering that helped us and those in attendance know more about what established bloggers go through. We got to know how they handle potential advertisers, how they keep focused and deal with plagiarism. One thing that came out loud and clear in this session was the need to maintain your identity in blogging. Even when you are paid to do content, you should remain true to who you are at all times.
We had an amazing time at Storymoja. Thank you to the Storymoja team for allowing us to be apart of it and to everyone who attended our sessions.