Wednesday, February 13, 2008

LOVE TESTIMONIALS BY AFRICAN PEEPS!!


Aight so excited about this 1.......I asked people around me what their
personal definitions of love were, what it meant to them to be involved in a relationship, or what is love to them in general ..some responded w/poems, personal testimonials, quotes..ect..:)

I would like to thank everyone that was courageous enough to share pieces of them, I am grateful and humbled..


Let's go:)

Deguene from Senegal/Italy about Stefano her love who's from Italy as well... they have 2 beautiful sons together:)
"L'amour, pour moi, en ce moment, est une énorme estime que j'ai pour mon homme, dans sa sa façon de voir et de vivre le monde. C'est ce qui me permet de pouvoir avoir un projet en commun, et une recherche continue de la vérité, ensemble. On me dit ne pas être romantique parce que je ne vois pas d'éternité dans mon amour pour un homme. Je n'ai pas la force de jurer d'aimer un homme toute ma vie, parce que je change moi même, et je veux laisser la possibilité à mon parcours de vie de changer. Mais je crois que je verrai toujours Stefano extrêmement beau durant une discussion politique ou pendant qu'il explique quelque chose à nos enfants. Je pense qu'il sera toujours capable de me faire rire de mes propres colères ou juste après avoir pleuré. Penser à sa façon de courir me fera toujours sourire, et voir notre fils courir exactement de la même manière me fera toujours éclater de rire. Je n'ai jamais vraiment fêté la Saint valentin...mais s'arrêter à des moments, fêter et remercier Dieu d'avoir cette personne proche de toi actuellement qui te rend heureuse, vaut la peine d'être fait tous les jours.
"Déguène M'Bow "





When Ivory Coast meets India



Maria from India about her man David who is from Ivory Coast

"David is my valentine because he makes me a better person everyday. He takes time to make the simplestthings special-like calling me at work just to makesure I'm having a good day, making sure I got homeOK.....sometimes we as women take the small simplethings for granted...and as I get older I realize thatthese are the most important things to me....He put asmile on my face, when I really need it....taught meto be kinder..and just over all a WHOLE WOMAN!.
Happy V Day..Davey....Je taime..."



Abdou from Senegal's poem about love

"Our love I remember our first kiss This so sweet kiss Living us speechless. That day The beginning of a love story. That day since, We have been together and We better believe that it will be forever. Into this world, our world. Beautiful moment Romantic moment Idyllic Moment. Communication Concession Commingling Constructing Same destiny Same life We are together You and Me, and nothing else. Contemplating this endless road. You body Your tenderness Your hands around me My Body Myself to you Silence as a ritual. Gold is our Love Our most beautiful Tresor, Our Love. "

Plu

Dorothy Ghettuba from Kenya Valentine's testimonial for her sister

"My Sister/My Valentine"

Valentines Day I believe now more than ever is for celebrating love and those we love.

It dawned on me that Valentines Day is around the corner. This year, unlike last year and the year before where Valentines Day caught me very single and very alone and rather convinced that it was altogether a celebration coined by the retail industry to rip unsuspecting lovers and of their hard earned coin, this year I am excited about it.

Not because I am dating someone.

I highly doubt I will be envious of the couple holding hands walking down the street and I am pretty sure that I won't be jealous of the co-worker who receivers a ridiculously sized bouquet of roses. I think that at my age, I have learnt to celebrate love all year round.

My sister had surgery a few days ago and as I watched her recuperating in bed, the pain, the anguish, the discomfort after such an invasive procedure, yet she managed to laugh at my silly jokes albeit warning me that her stitches might pop. So this year she is my Valentine, and she will always be my Valentine because she will always love me and I will always love her….we spend too much time searching for love, waiting to fall in love…falling out of love – when unconditional love is standing right in front of us.





Kimmy African American about her hubby Oye who is also African American

Mine is a true love story, one for the folks who want to believe in fairytales but maybe haven’t had the proof that they exist. I am truly married to the man of my dreams…He is strong, wise, handsome, bold, mysterious, hilarious and all the other things that make my heart skip a beat when I think of him. We met when I was 13, yes 13 years old and we started dating when I was 14! 11 years later and still madly in love-we got married on the anniversary date that he first asked me to be his girlfriend! How sweet and romantic! We have been married for 4 wonderful, happy, madly in love years-so 15 years total that we’ve been together! And it feels like yesterday. Can you imagine? Loving someone for half of your life? Sharing half of your years with someone? It’s so beautiful. He still makes me laugh and smile even when he’s not around… (I’m smiling right nowJ). He is so beautiful, truly the strongest man I’ve ever know-physically, spiritually and emotionally. He’s so grounded and wise, accountable and trustworthy. When I was working on my wedding invitation I was thinking about our story and I found a scripture in Proverbs that summed it all up for us. So much that it became the theme for our wedding and stills remains true in our marriage and friendship. Simply stated it says: “I have found the one whom my soul loves”…Everyday my heart finds rest and peace in knowing that I am sharing my life, dreams, hopes, successes and failures with the one whom my soul loves. So even on the days when things aren’t necessarily going my way or we’re looking at each other like “you’re crazy”-my soul is still telling this man “I love you”. Oye is my Valentine-today and everyday. He is my best friend and truly my soul mate; we are woven together so intimately that words can’t describe it justly. Love is a beautiful thing and knowing and loving this man had made me a believer in true love. Happy Valentine’s Day….

Kim


Carina N. from Senegal 's personal definition of love


WHAT IS LOVE IS TO ME


I have been blessed with a lot of love in my life and it has shaped who I am today. So when Valentine’s day rolls around, I also send positive thoughts to my father, my mother and my siblings. They were the ones who first taught me about love. If I said that I found loving in a romantic way easy, I’d be lying. Being a type A personality person who likes things to be her way, I like to be in control. You are anything but in control when you love someone. Suddenly, their whims and humors affect you in a profound way. Your day could be ruined by one comment or lackthereof. It seems like you are holding your breath until you see them. Their touch is something you crave and you become addicted to their scent. You glow from the inside yet become moody. One moment you feel high, the other you feel dizzy as things and feelings seem to erupt outside of your will. It’s terrifying, exhilarating and intoxicating to be in love. You struggle with letting go completely and keeping a piece to yourself. At least I do. Notwithstanding the above, I sincerely believe it is better to have loved (and lost) than never to have loved. Even if the end result is pain, chances are, you’ve grown as a person, as a nurturer (do not buy the myth that women are nurturers and men problem solvers – to want to solve a loved one’s problems is tantamount to nurturing them), as a member of society. To love is to dig deeper into the well of your potential. Love makes me a better person. To love is to learn new things about yourself, about others, about life. This insight is invaluable to the process of your emotional and spiritual evolution. There is nothing sweeter than to see the best in someone through the eyes of love and vice versa, especially when going through periods of self-doubt. I thank God for all of my relationships past and present. They were/are blessings…some in disguise but blessings nonetheless. (smile) With time, as it should be, I see only the lessons and the growth, having shed the anger, resentment, hurt and incomprehension. So I celebrate love. I am still a bit afraid of her but I relish her omnipresence in my life. I would not have it any other way…I love to love. Love, C.




Sheeva Butler from USA about her man Madou who is from Ivory Coast
"Growing up in a small town of ohio where everybody has somewhat of the same background and just about every family either knows of or actually know each other it never crossed my mind that i would fall in love with someone so different from the mold im used too. Moving to NY changed my life, when i met Mamadou aka madou aka my douky!! I thought, yeah right we are sooooo different by culture, religion, i mean just different period, but whoever came up with the cliche opposites attract is a genius because, we are a true testiment of it. he is quiet i am loud but he loves to cook i love to clean. The biggest thing that stoud out in the beggining of madou courting me was i would get off very late from working sometimes 3am or 4am in the morning madou would come from where he lived in queens pick me up from work in manhattan take me home to brooklyn just to go back home to queens he did that everyday even in the worst wether even when he was sick even when his car wasnt working he asked his friend to pick me up to make sure i would get home safe, and he NEVER complained...this allowed our friendship to grow stronger and stronger he allowed me to feel safe and protected when i am with him ...I LOVE HIM SOOOOO MUCH i think of the times he would come to my apartment just to take the trash out for me, (now we lived together and he always forgets..lol) but he truley is my valentine.... and i cant wait till the day i will become his wife....i appreciate our differences i learn and know more about his culture which is my ancestrial cultural so it is a pleasure that i can have my past my present and my future all in one with my man...my dookie "


Edis Fall Ndoye from Senegal about her husband Athiou from Senegal as well


What makes him so special:
-when im with him i feel unwavering, i feel like im the most beautiful woman in the world, i can read that in his eyes and i love that feeling, he boost my confidence.
i think that what define him the most is the fact that:
he knows who he is, he has a lot of faith in God, he believes in himself without a doubt, he's honest, sometimes too much for my taste ...lol
he did not jump mood (n'a pas de saut d'humeur)
he is strong mentally and physically, so he's my rock, i am someone who has a lot of character and pride so I needed a ''quiet strength'' (une force tranquille) that does not need to be loud or maccho to gain respect ... and I found it in my husband ...Nothing like a man who has a sense of honor, of word, of responsibilities, a man that stress does not stop, a man who manages stress with a lot of calm and reason, unlike me who will freak out ''sometimes'' very quickly, for example.
He also showed a lot of compassion towards me, which makes him very caring and especially delicate. he loves everyone and everything i love...he listen to me, he respects me...you know him
but he also tells me things like it is, even if i don't want to hear it but he'll do it with such delicacy that my feelings won't be hurt...
i respect him a lot and i didn't know that love and marriage are not always that easy and romantic...i always thought that real love is about romantism...but i learn something in my relationship, that real love or the one that i live is about:
Build things together. respect each other, trust each other, have compassion , support each other in everything they do and above all communicate ... the key of success in a relationship is the communication, I can say it without a doubt...
and the final key is our son that we love more than EVERYTHING...Im very blessed that i have a such family, everyday i thank God to have put him in my way...Machala, i hope very deeply that soon you'll live something like that or even more real...




Marian & Steve
Marian from Ghana speaking about her hubby Steve who is from Ghana as well

Steve is my perfect valentine as he’s kind, humorous and loving. He also proposed to me on Valentines Day so it’s a day special to my heart!
I suffer from Endometriosis (condition where lining of womb regrows outside womb) which causes me constant pain daily. I would not have made it this far without my Steve. He has been a constant pillar of support, making me laugh when the pain’s at its worst. He is forever putting my needs first and is utterly self less.
He has taught me through his action’s what love is. It’s not some pink, bubbly fantasy but that which sees’s you through trials, sickness and pain.
Many wonder how I work as a hectic fashion stylist with endometriosis. I give all the credit to God foremost as it’s only by His mercies that I make it through each day. Then my husband, who helps me, gets out of bed when I can’t walk from extreme pelvic pain.
This Valentine’s Day will be our fourth together as a married couple and Steve could not be a more perfect valentine!



Amie from Sierra Leone speaking about Clovis her boo from Ivory Coast



Love. It’s a crazy thing, a feeling and emotion, sentement, which drives people insane both literally and figuratively. It is also a blessing and a curse. While it is true that most people never know love, I’ve been blessed to encounter this extraordinary emotion three times in my somewhat young life. Every time has been real and genuine but because life is real and not a fairy tale, those times just did not work out; this time however, I believe it is forever. Subsequently after year or so after a long - tremulous relationship, after attempting to get over crazy depression, I was finally ready to venture out and meet new people. It would have never occurred to me that the person that I would randomly meet would turn out to be my fiancé. He is amazing, charming, handsome, caring, funny, silly, athletic…you know, just a regular beautiful, strong, African, educated, man. OK, maybe he is not that regular because he is everything any sane woman would desire in a man (which is kind of rare). Never have I been involved with someone who goes out of his way to make sure I am physically well. He cooks me food, cleans my bathroom, visits me at work, takes care of me when I am sick and icky, he even leaves me love notes. And he is not 14 ladies, this is a grown man way past the puppy love stages of his life. He is exactly how romantic is defined in the dictionaries and that is why he is my valentine and the person I most adore. I love everything about him and was blessed to have met him by chance that night. Now do not get me wrong, there are many things that do infuriate me about his person, but nobody is perfect. We work together and make what we have perfect for us.



Paplass love poem, Slam artist from Senegal
http://victorian-bantu.skyrock.com/
Quand je pense à elle j'ai le coeur qui Boum, le sang qui bout, les sens à bout.Je vous assure, seule elle me susurre les murmures qui me font frémirAvec elle je veux murir, avec elle je veux mourir.Dans ces bras j'ai découvert ce qu'est l'amour sans censureUn seul de ses regards suffit à guérir les plus profondes de mes blessuresEt chaque regard qu'elle me lance me rend agare et envoie mon esptrit en erranceAvec elle je me laisse aller à divaguerlui promet des vagues et un palaismoi qui suis d'habitude si carréAvec elle j'aime que ma langue découvre son palais au gout si sucréA ses côtés j'ai appris la différence entre faire l'amour et baiserA ses cotés j'ai appris le langage du corps et celui des baisersNos deux corps unis, forment une fresquequi nous ménent vers des plaisirs uniformes ou presqueAvec elle l'avenir prend vie et le désir me donne l'envie de la rendre heureuse, de la rendre joyeuseMon Amour pour elle pour donne les vertigesEt son Amour pour moi me rend du prestigeAujourd'hui si je vous parle d'elleC'est tout simplement parce que je suisFOU D ELLE

( la Foudélité)Paplass



Mosa & Ed


Mosa from South Africa about Ed her boo from Tanzania

He is just a STRONG BLACK MAN and on top of it all............
Ed and I have been inseparable for the past six months, our personalities are just harmonius, I am the roudy, hyper one while he is more calm and laid back. It is amazing how our personalities balance each other out. He is a positive force in my life that makes me want to do good and be the best I can be, and I let him laugh, relax and have fun. We are able to do almost anything together we are friends and lovers all at the same time even our friends have become friends........He is very creative and loving always wants to see me smile and has taught me alot about LOVE. "Love is unconditional it accepts you with the flaws you can not change, gives you courage to change things you can and wisdom to know the difference .......



Bamba from Senegal's personal testimonial about love

Love ?. it’s love! It starts from nowhere and makes usreach what seemed unreachable. It’s start On a planeto Djakarta, a boat heading out to Stockolm, in a busridding you to Alabama. Can’t explain it, just canfeel it. Just can tell how good, how blessed someonecould feel when u find true love. Parents loving theirkids, workers loving their jobs, people loving thecommunity they live in, me loving u, u loving meback. Love takes different faces but only one outcome:happiness. Imagine someone standing in front of u,tears rolling on his/her face, and saying to you; Ilove you. Close your eyes and imagine! Imagine again!Just Three words. Three magic ones. Yeah! It’s a treefor whoever finds it. A tree giving us out deliciousfruits I’ll eat and eat again, again and never diecauz it makes me eternal. It goes beyond race,language, signs and no need to be scientist.just feelit, seize it. Some people say, love can turn people crazy. Yeah itis! I’m Crazy over u. crazy because of what u’remaking me feel. Crazy because I seize the moment wheneach word is purer than a diamond, heavier than aboat, deeper than a hole. and I’m alone in that islandcalled love; that island you built for me. With yourlove, I can conquer the world and bring it to yourfeet. With you love, days are brighter, nightslighter, stress gone, and I’m on the phone with u.



Here's my own:
Learning that sometimes u may want something bad..but that it may not neces' be in the plans for u..it may seem as real as life..u're like no it's suposed to be this way..but hey ain't nothing u can do against God's will. ..I've been blessed to love someone to the point of "suffocating" yeah u can do that when u love realy hard..i've had the honor of being loved as well..unfort' the timing was not right..i've been trying to catch up w/time..but I'm faced w/the reality that this would have been possible thousands of hours ago..i'm too late and the train has been gone to so many other countries in the meantime..so 2day I give up..let go..and agree w/the AllMighty..and i think to myself..ok..i've done enuff, ran hard to catch up..but still nothing...time to live 2day....forget while yet not forget what i've known..what i've wanted..what i thought could have been etc...let go of my mistakes that handicap me...Face future love w/the respect that it's due, w/the rightful expectation it needs...give love a chance if Allah Bles me w/it..but for that I have 2 turn my back 2 the first...sad but ready..on this eve of valentine's day i can say that i put on the floor the heavy load of "suffocating love"Will see next year, what "papa love" brought me....God's Willing!!!



Happy V Day , loverboyz & girls this 2008:)
Eyeee Wayeee:)

4 comments:

Lead Events said...

Yaye,
I love this post, really beautiful
elike

Anonymous said...

Bonne st Valentin. Tous ces temoignages sont emouvants. Great post.

Anonymous said...

YAYE! I bet you did this to make me cry...you've succeeded...This is your greatest post...yet...GET THEM!

Hijabee said...

Hey Yaye!

Long time. How are you????? Ive been MIA but hopefully I am back now. Miss your posts. I love this one, it is very creative and I love the stories that you featured. Reading, I was waiting to see yours :) And was happy to read about it in the end. But I remember you telling me few months ago that you were going to try again and catch that train!!! Anyhow, whatever made you change your mind/ go a new route is something that you can not ignore.The reason being once you go that route, you might just burst into so many new adventures and experience things you never dreamed about. I know because it happened to me. The minute I closed that door and I was opened emotionally/physically to the world, everything was better. I was me again, I was whole and I loved it. So may you find what you're looking for and May Allah help you in your search. Love!!! Fa