CQ, Familia sweep Born & Bred Awards

Miss Afri-Canada 2000 - Jane Nteyafas

I was born in Moscow Russia. That makes me a Black Russian……(laughs)

 
Family … I am the oldest and there are three after me. We are two girls and two boys. My sister is a writer too. She writes very beautiful poetry. My dad is still alive. My mother died when I was just entering my teens. That was one of the biggest blows in my life, but I am still here. I am surviving, although I miss her every single day. My dad is a retired diplomat with his own restaurant business. He is an amazing man. He speaks several languages including French, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Kinyarwanda, Swahili, Danish fluently. He went to University in Russia and France. I aspire to be just like him. I am trying to convince him to write his autobiography because not only will it be interesting, but it will also be inspirational.

 
Education … I studied all over the world. I did my primary in the British School of Paris in France, Gayaza Junior School In Uganda, and Bjorns International School in Denmark. My secondary was done in Rygaards International School in Denmark, Gayaza High School and Namasagali College in Uganda. From there I went to do university in Cuba. I studied at the Universidad de Matanzas and Universidad Central de Las Villas. I studied international Law. Getting a scholarship to the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine arts – Makerere University was a great achievement, although I chose to follow my sense of adventure and go to university in Cuba instead. But I am back to doing what I was brought on this earth to do-my creativity.

 
Travel …. I have been to a lot of places. I have lived in Russia, France, Denmark, Uganda, Cuba and Canada where I am now. I have lived here for the last 6 years. It’s hard to tell which I liked the best. I would say Uganda. However each place had its attraction; France with its romanticism, good food and wine as well as its appreciation for art; Cuba with its people, music, art and beaches; and Denmark with lovely Copenhagen and that old European charm. What attracted me to Canada was its multiculturalism. I love that! Russia of course is my place of birth. By the way some of my best friends in Cuba were Zambian guys.

Africa … I wish I could afford to come back every year. You have no idea how much I miss it! The last time I was there was in 2003 and before that was 1995.

Miss AfriCanada Pageant 2000… I got to meet very many interesting people during the Miss AfriCanada Pageant including African-American actress Sheryl Lee Ralph of Moesha and the cast of Soul food. But the most memorable incidence was winning the pageant. I won that pageant on my birthday! What an incredible birthday gift! For the next few days my cell phone would not stop ringing. I was euphoric. I almost did not make it because just a week before that day, I had been admitted in hospital and had my appendix removed. I was still weak from that.

 
Stereotypes… The thing I heard of the most was what was an intelligent, talented lady like me was doing in a pageant? I think that attitude is disrespectful towards all the women that take part because everyone joins for a reason, some even to pay for their university! Look, even Oprah Winfrey won a pageant and she is one of the most intelligent women that I know. To me a pageant meant exposure, something that an artist needs. I also saw it as entertainment. People came to watch and I entertained, discovering that I had a very strong stage presence. Another thing that I came across was how brave I was to enter a pageant with my God-given natural hair. I had an afro that night with plaits and cowrie shells.

The best I could do was ignore the stereotypes and move on. If you bother with other peoples opinions you will never get anywhere. One of the reasons I joined was to challenge the status quo and represent women just like me, with natural hair and looking very African. If people had an issue with that, it was not my problem. It was theirs. But I noticed that it caused a lot of controversy, even newspapers featured that extra piece of information. I found it very amusing that I would make news for participating in the way God created me -Au naturel!

Inspiration ... Basically my mother inspires me. My mother was very talented artistically; she wrote and she was a visual artist, but because she was busy being a mother, she did not have the time to follow those passions. However she taught me how to write and draw, and that legacy lives on through me.

Artistic themes … As an artist themes change as I grow and as I experience life. For the past few years after the being involved in the pageant my focus has been on uplifting the self-esteem of black women by showing them positive reflections of themselves through my art and writing and that is why you will find a lot of my art centres around black women. The pageant and all the controversy over my hair inspired that.  I realized that there was an issue that needed to be addressed. Natural hair has been vilified for far too wrong that I am trying to change that negative stigma through my art. That being said, I am a global thinker. All the places that I have lived in have left their mark on me and therefore, I address several themes but I would say that the biggest is love.

You can find my art on my website www.nteyafas.com and some of the writing on www.bwmag.com/magazine or you can just google my name.

Books … Right now I am reading Elizabeth of Toro-The Odyssey of an African Princess. It’s about Uganda’s most famous high-fashion model, diplomat, Cambridge university-educated lawyer and princess Elizabeth Bagaaya. She was the Minister of Foreign Affairs during Idi Amin’s reign. I find her very inspiring and spectacular. I am enjoying the book. As far as music, I am currently listening to a lot of Haitian Zouk. What beautiful music!

Movies…This will sound bad but I have not been to the cinema in a while. I have been so wrapped up with painting, writing and my 9-5. I spend my extra time reading and with family. But I am one of those old-fashioned people who prefer theatre over cinema and I just went to watch a South African play called Umoja. That was mind-blowing! Earlier this year I also watched a play called Da kink in my hair. I hope it comes to Africa because it was amazing too.

Relationships… Ha ha, I have been taken for a while now. I am married to a wonderful African Canadian guy from Montreal, Quebec.

African men… African men come in all varieties and I cannot speak for all because they are all so different and I have not met all of them. But I will mention the one that I admire the most, my father. He is the romantic type that opens doors for you when you are coming out of a car or entering a restaurant. When I was a teen, he would take me out to restaurants, theatre and buy me perfumes and other gifts. He knew how to make one feel special. Those are the kind of African men that I appreciate.

"Love brewed in an African pot"… I would say love between two Africans, and I am being broad here and including everyone of African ancestry, like African Americans, African Canadians and Caribbeans.

The next 5 years … Hopefully I have several books published. I have several manuscripts including two poetry books and two novels awaiting publication. I wrote plays when I was in college, directed them and won awards. I want to move back into doing that as well. There will be new art collections as well. I just finished one for this year and I am completing another. I will be very busy.

Dreams and Hopes …I dream of an Africa where Africans are no longer aspiring towards Eurocentricity because, while that may work for Europe, it has not worked for us. We operate differently and the sooner we realize this, the better. I also dream of an Africa where people no longer see themselves with ethnic differences and biases, but as people. I believe that it is one of the reasons why we have all these issues. It is because of all these tribal hostilities.  It would be great to see a few female presidents too.

We can also appreciate, celebrate, promote and showcase our artists. Africa is so rich and yet the world knows it as a diseased, poor, starving desert of a continent. Artists of any country are its cultural ambassadors. We reflect the wealth of our countries through our music, art, literature and films. Too many artists of all genres are frustrated because they do not have government support and exposure in the media among many things.

Uganda … Uganda is truly the Pearl of Africa. It is a beautiful country. It’s the source of the Nile, has the mountains of the moon, is home to Lake Victoria and is teeming with abundant flora and fauna. The political situation has changed greatly since the terrorizing days of Idi Amin. People are no longer scared to go out at night and businesses seem to be flourishing. Since I do not live there and have not for the past 10 years; as a matter of fact I barely lived there, I cannot give more comments than that.

Role Models … My parents, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya of Toro and Aleksander Pushkin-the black Russian writer and poet.

I would also love everyone especially Oprah Winfrey and Nelson Mandela to read my writing. It’s time for generation xers to be recognized and read too! We are the new Chinua Achebes…..

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