Utanu Maa's Blog

October 8, 2021

Eulogy of my brother

This poem is a thanksgiving, an expression of gratitude for the many blessings in a human’s life despite loss and hardships.  It is also the essence of the resilience that we need to overcome life’s challenges. Gratitude is the cornerstone in building up resiliency. Resilience helps to heal from the loss.  This is the process that I went through to cope with the death of my beloved brother, to grieve, heal and overcome the...

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Published on October 08, 2021 09:06

Interview With Author Utanu Maa by NFreads

 

https://www.nfreads.com/interview-with-author-utanu-maa/ 

 

1.  Please introduce yourself and your book(s)!

I am Utanu Maa, author of the poetry book “Rise and Fall of My Beloved”, also known as Utanu Adele Mafandala, my birth name. I published my debut book of poetry last year using a pen name, Utanu Maa, just to keep it short on the book. I live in Toronto, Ontario and worked as a public servant within the Ontario Court of...

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Published on October 08, 2021 08:23

June 5, 2021

Westlane Cares AIDS Walk’s Interview with Utanu Maa

Video #1: Westlane Cares AIDS Walk Presents An Interview with Utanu Maa.

“Westlane Cares AIDS Walk committee welcomed poet Utanu Maa virtually to discuss her book “Rise and Fall of my Beloved”.  Utanu is inspirational.  She channeled her grief of her brother’s loss, together with the isolation in COVID into a moving story told in poetry of family love, forgiven...

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Published on June 05, 2021 18:58

May 8, 2021

The Mother

The boy has become a man
The boy raised by a single mother
She calls home to check if he has eaten
She, a caring and loving mother.
A deep voice replies to the call
The hoarse voice is unrecognizable.

A stranger is in the house, she thinks
Frightened, paused and puzzled
Her mind wondering about the enigma
Hesitant but resilient, she calls again.
The raucous voice resonates again
Promptly croaks in an assuring tone:

“Hi Mom, it is me…, your son.”
Oh! The boy has become a man!
She murmurs to an invisible human.

Amazed and amused, she realizes
That Many waters have passed
With no shores under the bridge
With no stop as dreams and hopes
Flow along fear of some deceptions
Carried away to the existence docks
That define a man with humanity

The boy has fully become a man
Then a doctor, an engineer and
A talented artist or an architect
Through a great journey that sustain
Sacrifices, dedication, and resilience
Through each daily rising sunshine

An abyss of hope and courage
Determination despite the stereotypes
To exult to the goal to build a better
Future and elevate a good human
Yes, the boy has become a man
The boy raised by a single mother.


A poem by Utanu Maa,
From my second book of poetry collection to be published in December 2021. Copyright

I wrote this poem at work while talking to a colleague about our experiences of raising a boy and then surprisingly realizing proudly that that little boy has become a man thanks to a mother's love, care, guidance and sacrifices.
Happy Mother's Day.
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Published on May 08, 2021 20:10 Tags: happymothersday, love, loveyoumom, mother, mothersday

April 25, 2021

Questions from Weslane Students

Hello Humanity,

Sharing with you this powerful testimony of one of my readers. I believe in posting positive, informative, constructive and educational messages to spread humanism and build stronger communities. Last month, I received an email from Mary Shaw, a teacher in Niagara Falls, Canada, and a fundraising organizer for HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa. Mary sent me videos of her student asking questions
https://drive.google.com/.../1OeYZmmp......
https://drive.google.com/.../1Oxx1Enh......
https://drive.google.com/.../13FJeecY......
and I kindly answered them in a video posted below. She also sent me another video of one of the fundraisings she organized with her students to support children orphans of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Mary commitment to improving the life of HIV/AIDS orphans has inspired me. So, I undertake to donate $2.00 of every sale of my book, format paperback, to support the children orphans of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Each of your purchase of my book “Rise and Fall of My Beloved” will also contribute to a good cause in allowing access to early diagnosis and treatment, and elongate life expectancy of HIV orphans and patients.
Please click on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f7_1... and my video posted below to watch Mary and her students’ fundraising, and my answers to their questions. In her email, Mary wrote:

“Hello Utanu,

I am a Tellwell Author also and read about you in their Spring newsletter. I have just purchased your book on Amazon and I have finished reading it. I am so impressed. I did cry, a lot-so much. “Tell them that discrimination, judgement, labels, isolation and rejection killed him way before the disease ended his life”. That really resonated with me. Especially the discrimination. Hopefully with COVID wealthy nations will see that we are all connected and disease for one is disease for all and bring more investment in global health… I am so sorry for your brother and the sorrow you have known.
I am a teacher in Niagara Falls and one of my main projects has been organizing each year our Westlane Cares AIDS Walk. Each year we try to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation and Tumaini Children’s Project. I am haunted by the number of AIDS orphans in Africa and their plight. I make an annual video with a theme to try to encourage students to participate in our walk. Every year I research the number of orphans in Africa and every year it grows higher. 5 years ago, I made this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f7_1... there were 14.8 million orphans, then 2 years later 16 million. I am really sorry that the AIDS pandemic did not get the same level of attention that the current pandemic is receiving. It should have.
I am so impressed with your Facebook page and your outreach and all the wonderful reviews of your book of poetry. You have done such a great job in so little time. I hope to share some of your poems with my students - though I teach math so it will be short ones. And if you could video you reading one poem of your choice and maybe some of the lines from "The Little Orphan". I think the students will be moved by the childhood of your brother. On P. 3 and in the introduction to childhood “The absence of a mother… up to he desperately waited for his dear mother to return.” Such powerful imagery. I can see him and 16 million other orphans in Africa. It breaks my heart.
Congratulations on your accomplishment and I hope for better day ahead for you and your family,
Stay safe and well,

Mary Shaw."
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Published on April 25, 2021 19:07 Tags: awareness, book, hivaids, mybeloved, orphans, riseandfall, support

March 7, 2021

What inspired me to write my book?

Rise and Fall of My Beloved by Utanu Maa I needed to heal from the profound grief and loss I carried after the death of my only sibling and brother from my mother. I lost my brother to HIV/AIDS. He suffered a lot, and it was painful to him, and to me as a sister to witness my loved one going through a myriad of pains and health complications until he died. I cared for him for the last two months of his life. I was deeply sad and devastated.

I grieved from April 2019 until April 2020; I felt weary and burdened, I desperately needed to talk to someone to share and ease my pain. But Covid-19 had forced the entirety of humanity into confinement. My anxiety, along with everyone else, increased and I felt so lonely inside and out.

My son was away for studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In solitude, the only voice you can hear is yours inside of you or your own murmurs Rise and Fall of My Beloved by Utanu Maa , and the only person you talk to is your own double. So, my only rescue was to write and pour all my grief onto a paper to start a journey to resilience, gratitude, and healing.

How have my personal experiences influenced my book?

In my book, I expose not only the pain and suffering caused by the HIV virus but also the shame, stigmas, discrimination, rejection, and isolation that our society inflicts to people living with HIV. So, I write about a virus that is still active, still very infectious, and deadly to bring awareness for protection, inspiration for resilience in hard times, aspiration for a healthy and compassionate society, a testimony and reflection about the voiceless and vulnerable people in our society.

Each poem of my book depicts a true story and personal experiences. I am the witness of the events happening throughout the journey that my readers embark in my book. I wrote about what happened to my brother, from his childhood as a vulnerable orphan infant, marginalized but resilient to survive and grow, to his rise as an accomplished and successful engineer, and to his fall and death as a HIV/AIDS patient.

My writing is also a journey into learning to express gratitude despite challenges because life is a blessing. Our life is filled with many blessings, big or small, but we tend to forget to count them when facing hardship, struggles. One morning as I was weeping, thinking of my brother’s struggles in childhood as a vulnerable and neglected six months old orphan infant when my mother died, recalling the bullies he endured because he did not speak earlier like other kids and was labelled mentality retarded and incapable of succeeding at school, and counting the pain, sufferings, shame and rejection he faced and how he beat all odds and became an accomplished Master in Structure and Building Engineer, a still small voice stormed me inside and spoke to me in this way: “count instead the blessings of his life and heal from that because death is not a punishment”.

From that moment, my brother’s death became the beginning of a new life in everlasting peace. My grief taught me to express gratitude, and with gratitude, I found resilience to overcome and heal. These are the two main lessons in my book: resilience and gratitude to overcome grief, and heal.
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Published on March 07, 2021 22:48 Tags: book, grief, healing, inspiration, loss, resilience, writing

January 23, 2021

Book giveaway!

I’m giving away 100 copies of my book Rise and Fall of My Beloved.  Enter by February 21, 2021 for a chance to win by clicking here.  #giveaway #bookgiveaway #freebooks #goodreads.

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Published on January 23, 2021 20:07

January 14, 2021

IndieReader Review!

RISE AND FALL OF MY BELOVEDBy Utanu MaaUtanu Maa’s RISE AND FALL OF MY BELOVED is a heart-breaking collection of poems that teaches the reader important lessons in resilience and trauma-recovery in the language of simplicity and love.Synopsis:

Utanu Maa’s RISE AND FALL OF MY BELOVED is a book of poems that tell the story of Zola, a malnourished orphan who overcame great odds and personal disabilities, to have a successful career and mar...

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Published on January 14, 2021 13:36

December 24, 2020

The Blood Test

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Published on December 24, 2020 08:32