Beauty Behind the Black Bloody Veil.

As I prepare for my first interview with an activist from my community, I have chosen to focus on my vision of being an ambassador for my continent, my people and of course the women and girls in Africa. It is evident that the image of Africa presented to the world by the media is that of a dark continent, with bloody mess and a dying people. However, little is known of the beautiful people and the riches that the continent bestows.

Beauty Behind the Black Bloody veil is about undoing the dying image of Africa. I aim to reveal to the world women who are rebuilding Africa from the ruins at the grassroot level, to nation and international arena.

One such woman is Ms Ory Okolloh, whom I first got to know about through TED.com. Ms Okolloh made a presentation dubbed 'The making of an African Activist' where she amongst other issues shared her vision to ensure that African daughters (and sons) get a chance to rise up the ladder of success in education, business, politics, health and other social statutes without having to leave Africa for the West.

Ms. Ory Okolloh is a lawyer, a political activist and a blogger. She is the co-founder of Mzalendo a website that tracks the performance of Kenyan Members of Parliament, and the co-founder of Ushahidi, a website that grew out of the political crisis in Kenya and that maps both incidents of violence and peace efforts. Currently, she works as a legal consultant in Johannesburg for several NGOs and manages her various activism efforts.

She likes to blog on issues that build Africa and the fact that Africans have the right to creating Africa's own content, telling Africa's own stories, and reflecting the diversity of Africa. Her blogs are an outlet for her opinions, and commentary that is why I am interested to get her views on how to effectively advocate for empowerment of African women using social media networking. Secondly, how African women especially those in the Diaspora can actively participate in discourses that make Africa better.

Look out for this interview coming soon on my journal at worldpulse.com