Issue Four - TheZoom Magazine

LETTER FROM EDITOR There are plenty things in life we fear. From fear of the future to irrational fears like driving over bridges or dryer lint. (It’s a thing). But the thing we should all understand is that fear can be deafen- ing at times. Being so wrapped up in what scares you can stop you, if you allow. I know from experience, starting an independent publication at nineteen years old is hella scary. I had no one funding me, I didn’t really have full knowledge on how to do it or how to get started, and I was also afraid whether my friends or family would sup- port me. But I still took the risk to start TheZoom digital magazine in the begin- nings of 2017, which is now a growing online platform and thankfully I am blessed with family and friends that support and inspire me to get better every single day even when it feels like fear is trying to cripple me. I saw a potential of starting my magazine because I had seen that there was not any online platform showcasing the work of young creative especially writ- ers and bloggers, even the ones that were present it wasn’t easy for an up and coming blogger to get published unless you are well connected or ready to pay for it. TheZoom Magazine we focus on talents, we provide a platform for blog- ger/writer to submit their work and get published as simple as that. We are still a start-up and we believe that we still have a long way to go and a lot to learn. I want to inspire young people in my generation by saying this “Fear is something that blocks you from making your dream happen.” Cheers, SHEMA ABDOUL @shemaharris

CONTRIBUTORS IRADUKUNDA MADINAH @madinahxviil NADIA LORRAINE @nadia__lorraine WINNIE RUGAMBA SPECIAL THANKS TO SHARON AMANDA MUVARA MELISSA UWASE @melissambera NATACHA O’NDERATA SHIMWA @tacha_shim SHABANI SERVAL @shabani.serval THEZOOM 2018

WHAT’S INSIDE ? 29 12 MEET DJ TOXXYK MEET MAKTAIN 19 “HOME IS NOT HOME WITHOUT YOU“ A piece by Sharon Amanda Muvara 21 WHAT ARE WE LISTENING TO Our playlist curated for you when you feel bored and lonely

45 COVER STAR 25 THEZOOM CULTURE 41 Ron Karenga the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa HOW HAVE YOU OVERCOME FEAR We asked some of our reader how they’ve overcome fear. 46 MANZI JAZIL Get to know our cover star for this issue of TheZoom Magazine.

DID YOU KNOW The “LIKE” “15 minutes” of button was exercise everyday originally can add 3years to called the “AWESOME“ your life. button.

Your shoes are the ALMOST first thing people subconsciously “ALMOST” is the notice about you. longest word in the Always wear nice English Language with all the letters shoes in alphabetical order

NOT JUST A MAGAZINE - A MOVEMENT WANT TO BE FEATURED IN THE NEXT ISSUE ? WE WANT TO FEATURE YOU Also, feel free to submit your photographs, accomplishments, poems, articles to our email [email protected]

WE ARE WHAT WE CONSUME By Iradukunda Madinah Did you know that what we eat can effect our life? Some of us when we are eating, we only Image source: google.com care about how the food looks or how it taste but we always forget the proteins, vitamins,calories that are in that food. How can we tell the food is good for our health? Try to eat something light, food that How can we maintain a good healthy? won’t get your stomach tiresome while digesting, food that gives you energy. As we kept on saying it, try to eat Try fruits, vegetables like “salads”, healthy and in order. meat, breads ,a lot of water... Drink a lot of water. What should we avoid? Do physical exercises( if you are lazy put on songs and dance to it, or walk Although oily food is taste but it is not healthy, nowadays we find ourselves around to free your mind and your using poisoning oil thinking we are us- body). ing the best or buy some because they are cheaper. if you really want to main- “Your body is a temple, keep it holy and tain a good healthy life, try to cook with fit.” healthy oil like coconut oil, olive oil and always remember don’t eat too much in less time or eat every hour. It is not good to immediately sleep after a meal, try at least 30 minutes before bed Don’t workout after a meal. Don’t drink too much while eating. Remember to always take a light dinner, something easy and healthy.

MEET DJ TOXXYK

A Little introduction ? My name is Shema Arnaud and I ‘m 24 years old When did you start DJing and what or who were your early passions and influences? I started djing in 2011 my influence were dj jazzy jeff and dj kadir and still they are. What single night out has been the most memorable for you? When I was in Goma on their independence Day, it was unforgettable. What is one mistake you see a lot of up and coming DJ’s making? Most of up and coming djs just want to get there without doing their homework right: I’m talking about practicing everyday, not just downloading new music but also take time to listen to their playlist. Are you 100% Rwandese? Well my mum is Rwandese and my dad is chinese . DJTOXXYK SOUNDCLOUD / DJTOXXYK

PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK AXEL



Home Is Not Home A brilliant friend of mine once told me that Without You from our very first cry, we are always working By Sharon Amanda Muvara hard to go back to the way it was at the be- ginning. We are always working in one way or I think that ever since I started writing, ‘home’ another towards going back home where we belong. Our hearts never stop feeling the void has been one of the words I have used quite a that leaving our safety net, our mother’s womb lot. It has been the meaning behind so many left us. For that reason, I have come to under- of my thoughts and probably the drive behind stand myself why this world is not indeed our them as well. Why would a word keep coming home, because it doesn’t matter what we have back in the things that flow out my heart? Why or where we get, our heart will always look for ‘home’ of all words existing in the English lan- its home and as cliché as this sounds, heaven guage? And why is my heart interested in it? will always be our ultimate home. Those are the questions I asked myself after this sudden realization, questions I would love We are travelers just passing through this to have answers for too. world, and the wise ones have already caught Home is where our heart is. Home rep- this secret and started acting accordingly. We have a home and I know very well that it is not resents safety. Home represents peace. Home only my heart that has longed for it. However, is where most of our joy is found, because that also means we are not here for long. I hope there’s no thriving there. Home has enough that instead of finding a home in this world, you room for us to grow and home will never kick will find the reason why it was important for you out. Home is where we go to rest. Home is you to leave home in the first place. What did where we are seen just exactly as we are. Home father trust you to accomplish? What did He will allow you to just be, home will love you when hope you would say at the finish line? Did you you least deserve it. Home is where silence is forget there was a reason why He had to send not fought; Home is where you never have to you exactly at this time? Did you get to meet wake up wondering if you still matter. Home is the people whose cries hurt Him so bad that He the hands that hold you when you mean noth- had to create you? Did you find the people His ing to the whole world and the smile in the heart beats for? And did you tell them He loves crowd when you have made it. Home will never them? I hope you did. I hope you will. And that let you walk alone. when your time is here to go back home you will not enter the gates of heaven alone. It is not a secret that I have spent most of my I hope you bring so many with you because time on this earth looking for a home. A home home is not home without you or them. that’s deeper than just my family and house. I have searched for a home in every area of my PHOTO BY GOOGLE life, in my career, my passions, in every kind of relationship I have around me, and also spiritu- ally. For so long my heart has been after some- thing, something I thought that if I got I would be totally fulfilled. But the journey has been long and it looks like everything keeps leading to another, and I never seem to reach home.

THE “ POOR PETTY “ PLAYLIST SONGS FOR WHEN YOU FEEL BORED AND LONELY ORGANIZED BY SHEMA ABDOUL

VARIOUS ARTISTS “RIPTIDE” LUKE COMBS “WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS” MIKE POSNER “I TOOK A PILL IN IBIZA“ LEON BRIDGES “RIVER“ FEVER TRIBE “THE BALANCE“ RUTH “LOST BOY“ WHITNEY HOUSTON “MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE“ THE REVIVALISTS “WISH I KNEW YOU“ LENNY KRAVITZ “ALWAYS ON THE RUN“ MILEY CYRUS “THE CLIMB“

MUSIC ALBUMS (Local & Diaspora) 01. Disclosure EP - DOPE CRACK 02. Nyiramubande - BUSHALI THE TRIGGER 03. Soundsandheartaches - CHASE (6TH APRIL) 04. Ikibandi - YANNICK MYK 05. Seasons Change - MAKTAIN 06. Seedling EP - ANGELL MUTONI 07. A thousand hills prodigy - PRIME

PAN AFRICANISM Ron Karenga, also known as Maulana Nd- abezitha Karenga is an African-American pro- fessor of Africana studies, activist and author, best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa. Karenga was active in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and co-founded with Hakim Ja- mal the black nationalism and social change or- ganization US. Born in Parsonsburg, Maryland to an Afri- can-American family, Karenga studied at Los Angeles City College and the University of Cali- fornia, Los Angeles. During his student years, he involved himself in activism and joined the Con- gress of Racial Equality. Through his activism, he became involved in violent clashes with the I Black Panther Party. n 1971, he was convicted of felonious assault and false imprisonment. He was im- prisoned in California Men’s Colony until he received parole in 1974. He received his PhD shortly afterward and began a career in academia. Pan-Africanism is a worldwide intellectual movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all people of African descent. Based upon a common fate going back to the Atlantic slave trade, The movement extends beyond continental Africans, with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Caribbean, Latin America and the Unit- ed States. It is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and po- litical progress and aims to “unify and uplift” people of African descent.

The ideology asserts that the fate of The rituals of the holiday all African peoples and countries are promote African traditions and Nguzo intertwined. At its core Pan-Africanism Saba, the “seven is “a belief that African peoples, both principles of African Heritage” that on the continent and in the diaspora, Karenga described as “a communitari- share not merely a common history, an African philosophy”: but a common destiny”. The Organiza- tion of African Unity (now the African # Umoja (unity)—To strive for and main- Union) was established in 1963 to safe- guard the sovereignty and territorial tain unity in the family, community, na- integrity of its Member States and to tion, and race. promote global relations within the framework of the United Nations. The # Kujichagulia (self-determination)— African Union Commission has its seat in Addis Ababa and the Pan-African To define ourselves, name ourselves, Parliament has its seat in Johannes- create for ourselves, and speak for our- burg and Midrand. selves. Pan-Africanism represents the ag- # Ujima (collective work and responsi- gregation of the historical, cultural, bility)—To build and maintain our com- spiritual, artistic, scientific, and phil- munity together and make our broth- osophical legacies of Africans from er’s and sister’s problems our problems past times to the present. Pan-African- and to solve them ism as an ethical system traces its ori- together. gins from ancient times, and promotes values that are the product of the Af- # Ujamaa (cooperative economics)— rican civilizations and the struggles against slavery, racism, colonialism, To build and maintain our own stores, and neo-colonialism. shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 # Nia (purpose)—To make our collec- to be the first pan-African holiday. He said his goal was to “give Blacks an al- tive vocation the building and devel- ternative to the existing holiday and opment of our community in order to give Blacks an opportunity to restore our people to their traditional celebrate themselves and their histo- greatness. ry, rather than simply imitate the prac- tice of the dominant society.” It is in- # Kuumba (creativity)—To do always spired by African “first fruit” traditions, and the name chosen is from Swahili, as much as we can, in the way we can, “matunda ya kwanza.” in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inher- ited it. # Imani (faith)—To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righ- teousness and victory of our struggle



MEEMTAKTAIN A SOUTH AFRICAN - RWANDAN RAPPER BASED IN KIGALI HIS SMOOTH VOICE OVER SOMETIMES JAZZY IS SURE TO MAKE YOU WANT TO MOVE. ENJOY GETTING TO KNOW THE TALENTED RAPPER BELOW:

Tell us more about Who do you collaborate yourself with? My off-stage name is I collaborate with artists who Tshepang Makhethane I are in the same music label know it’s hard to pronounce as me which is Green Ferry it’s South African, I grew up Music so that’s artists like Ice in South Africa but moved to Nova, Prime, Bushali, Red Ink, Rwanda after I completed my and a few others. I have also enjoyed working with Weya senior 6, my father is Rwandan, my mother is South Viatora who is a talented vocalist here in Rwanda African, I’ve been writing music for as long as I can How would you describe remember but I started your own style? recording at the age of 13, I grew up listening to Hip Hop I would say it’s a mixture music, my favorite artist is of different styles such as AfroBeat, Kwaito, House and Drake and I plan to be bigger than him within the Trap next 5 years, and I’m also a student studying IT at Auca Gishushu campus. What do you think of Hip Hop scene in Rwanda? I think Rwandan Hip Hop has a lot of potential, there are a lot of upcoming rappers who just need an opportunity but the talent and support is already there

Do you think your music is How important do you think mostly enjoyed more for the videos is to your music, and beats or for the lyrical flow how do you produce your and content? videos? I think they are both equally They are very important they important help tell the story or convey What are the main the message you are trying inspirations for the out through your music lyrics you write? Which musician would you Usually from my life like to collaborate with experiences, everything I next? write in my music is Sauti sol and Meddy something I have been If you didn’t become a through musician, what would you What would be your dream be doing right now? venue in which to perform? Probably an IT Specialist Madison Square Gardens in “ I also like fashion, I have a clothing line by the name of America Afritag wear “ KEEP UP WITH HIM HERE Maktain_TAG

MISS RWANDA 2018 HER NAME IS IRADUKUNDA LILIANE SHE WAS CROWNED AS MISS RWANDA AND MISS PHOTOGENIC ON 24 FEBUARY 2018, SHE IS 18 YEARS OLD. HEIGHT 1.70cm, WEIGHT 57, WITH OVER 26K FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM

MUSIC ALBUMS (Global) Culture II - MIGOS .01 Man Of The Woods - JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE .02 Memories Don’t Die - TORY LANEZ .03 Invasion Of Privacy - CADRDI B .04 Victory Lap - NIPSEY HUSSLE .05 Kyota - Tyga .06 KOD - J.COLE .07

HOW DO YOU OVERCOME FEAR ? Melissa . USA, NEW YORK Everybody gets scared and fear is inevitable. The only way to overcome our fears is to never let them stop us. I believe a vital concept to learn is how to find strength in our weaknesses. I encourage everyone not to continue the race of running away from fears but to accept them and push though evermore.



HOW DO YOU OVERCOME FEAR ? Natacha . POLAND, LUBLIN As a child, I would always run into my mom’s arms because it was the safest place in the world! But now, I do my best to face it and if it is too big for me to face alone, I do not hesitate to ask for help to those that I trust! And what I like about facing my fears, they leave me a lesson and make me a stronger and better person in all the ways.



PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY MAES

MEET Tell us more about yourself ? JAZIL Well my real name is Manzi am 21 years old born in MANZI JAZIL Rwanda but haven’t been there in years I grew up in “I’M NOT A RAPPER” South Africa, cape town. Now living & studying in Belgium I’m proudly Rwanda even though I left at a young age but I have a vision of doing amazing things over when I’m finish studying. When did you leave Rwanda ? I left in 2004, I was living in Kigali, Igikondo What do you do? I have been doing graphic design for four years now & I’ll be finished in a few months. And I got a clothing line dropping next year I want it to go worldwide that’s first of my long term goals What are some short / long term goals you have for yourself? My short term goals I’m almost over with it such as finishing school and getting

all things I wanted when I was younger such as designer clothes I always wanted grillz on my teeth since I was small if I’m not mistaken most of young boys growing up used to put Aluminum Folie paper pretending it’s gold grillz or silver grillz. Lol including myself so now I got real gold grillz with diamonds on it. My long term goals are to build up my clothing brand take it worldwide and for the love of music I’ll be practicing to be a DJ on the side too I’m willing to try anything that will How did your love of fashion bring me more bread cause came to be? I’m a hustler and I want to I’m big hip hop fan more of build up houses and shops in trap music I got inspired by Kigali. I know I will make it all. my favourite trap artist how I have so much faith, the Lord they dress how they shine that got me where I am to- from head to toe and when day and gave me everything I was young I couldn’t afford I have now will do it again. I all that designer clothes they also want to help people as wear and I loved it so now soon as I get the platform to that I’m older I save up and do so. get whatever clothes I need. I’m a dream chaser.

“I want to own a football club in Rwanda” Do you have someone who influences in fashion? Yes, my elder friends and my elder cousin who live in South Africa, I’ve always wanted to dress up like him because he was so cool and all the girls wanted to hang out with him lol. And of course the hip hop world influenced me more. What are some of your fashion essentials? Sneakers, Flashy neck How do you manage your time? My free time I go shopping with my homies or we just stay and double it up. I love relaxing with my guys who I really rock with having fun playing games and such. My free time I also use it to go visit my mom and little sisters take them out or something spend time with them because I live for them

How would you best describe your style? I’d describe my style as expensive and hard What is the best and worst purchase you’ve ever made? The best was my playstation 4 I bought it with games and everything at a low price from someone who really needed money. The worst was buying two ray ban sunglasses in a week and losing them all in the same week



ABOUT US Why You Need to Tell Your Story to the world Who are you? I bet you have a story to tell. Will you tell it? What would be the cost to you in your life if you choose not to tell your story? What would you like to share with the people who know you- and those who don’t? WHO ARE WE ? We are an online magazine providing space for the youth to create and share their stories through art. It is important that we see ourselves in these spaces, showing that we do exist and we’re not going anywhere not only for ourselves but, for the future generations to come.

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