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Quetzal Stories of Change Exhibition opens on the 18th September 2021 . I am well looking forward to pulling it all together. One of my goals is to tour all or part of the exhibition in various venues in and out of Leicester.  In this process, I identified some funding to support the tour as well as venues that could host the exhibition. This week on Wednesday in particular, I had a field trip and visited the Marlene Reid Centre , a long standing community centre in Coalville. On the Wednesday, they host a food market with a cooking station, a café, they also sell clothes uniform. They invited me to fill a bag of veg for £1, browse the charity and their furniture shop and even snacks on some lovely Turkish food. Stories were shared with me about how women in the area used the centres and how significant it is to educate about trauma, sexual and domestic violence. They had in the past training with Women's Aid s uprooting female survivors on their journey. Anywoo, we agreed on the ...

A team meeting is in order, yet the team was not ready to engage this week. One of the collaborators contracted COVID and oh well Summer is here. It allowed me to focus on fostering our relationship with T. It led to the development of documentation that we will be able to disseminate to our network. After the encounter, I thought that the next team meeting, I will invite T. to come along to gauge the energy and see how we will work together. Other elements, I asked for some quotes for the print and consciously waiting for their reply. 

I dreamt of the neighbours complaining about his first daughter never going to school, a young blond teen. I was surprised to know that he had a third daughter.the daughter said he seems to think that because I have white in me I do not feel the traumaof a black person. I have his blood. I then I was at a partycan feel it too. Then I was at a party. We were dancing, then for some reasons, the dj put some macarena. No one liked the music or they felt it was so old school. Anywoo I started dancing.people started to dance too. More and more people appeared .at the bottom of an aisle I saw nye and next to me the neighbours. And we locked eye  Dreamt of Desn asking questions about moussss and I. Dreamt of getting a new job with other lady aside of Quetzal with a cleaning company. A group of women they were deciding on their logo... Z.dreamt of having or being late for an event. And needing to find something to wear pretty qujckly I dreamt of being or seeing so many books being trash, be...

Leicester  Fixers won some time ago a £500 voucher to get tools from Ifixit . It was a thrilling gift to receive. This week, I moved forward in defining the toolkit we will order by making some enquiries to Loughborough Fixers as well as Leicester Fixers . Thanks to those who came back to me, I will study your reply and make an order. Even though, there is no plan as such to have any repair event in Leicester in the upcoming year, Thinking about it is a start in possibly doing something about it.  I also had a discussion with Durgha from Flow Finder about her coaching consultancy services I am considering to use to support Leicester Fixers. She suggested for me to restart our newsletter updating our mailing list about our activities and gather a bit energy there.  About my personal repair, I returned to Woodgate Computer this week to fetch a data stick and bring some mobile phone. I had four in total. Amongst the four, they took three to give me a quote. Amongst the th...

Your emotions are yours - a construct of your mind and gut layering upon your eyes a tinted vision of the world and their objects. Are you getting infatuated or obsessed with an object or a person? What do you observe that you find attractive? What is it that you feel that you are missing and observe in an object, situation or someone else? Are you just addicted to the highs and inevitable lows of idolising an object of desire? Best to take responsibilities for your feelings. What about searching within your body, the high that always keep you high regardless of what is happening outside of yourself. - Meditate - look inside of yourself - use your sexual and creative energy to keep creating within yourself the good feeling - nothing outside of yourself can top the love that you feel for you first. You will never feel lonely after that. 

Dr Rob Watson interviewed me as part of Leicester Stories series #BuildBackBetter in July 2021.  Prior to the interview, he sent me few questions for me to prepare the interview and start thinking about what it means to Build Back Better post-pandemic. In the following post, I answer one of the questions augmented after reflecting upon the interview R: I’d like to know what conversations and discussions people living and working in Leicester had during the lockdown, especially when these conversations started to focus on the idea of Building Back Better? Through the lockdown, my discussion were upon the tools available to people to support their mental health and connections with others. In a trauma-informed programme, the first steps are stabilisation and regulation. In other words, if someone is in a state of shock, the first step is to ground them and help them manage their emotions. In our community, we experienced first hand what it is to be in a state of shock during the pand...

Monday - Emails Tuesday - Publishing and Scheduling Wednesday - Funding Application writing and planning Thursday Writing Books, News & Schedulinh Marlefeed Friday - Clear Eliminate & Plan Saturday - clear eliminate plan Sunday - rest What's Yours?

There is not a time when I speak to my mother that she does not say to me that she is tidying up and putting things together. It feels like a constant journey of messing and tidying. At the moment, she is creating a space within our home where she will work on her arts. This translates into moving things about across the house to create the space where she will strive. I am counting the weeks until she is able to do such work. On my side, I had confirmation that we have the possibility to exhibit her work in the UK and I am looking to get some print to display her wonderful work. I will ask for quotes withn the next week or so. My sister is currently unavailable to support at the moment. I look forward though for her to have a wake up call and realise how significant her role is in this enterprise. I am sure the universe will let her know soon.

A good cold helps readjusting priorities. Your mind is such in a state of confusion that they are only few things that you can possibly hold onto to get some sense of grounding. Did I sleep this week more than ever and somewhat been more productive than ever. How just changing the way I deal with my emails. My experiment dealing with all my emails on Monday is paying off. This week I was able to start writing an important piece of work that I have been postponing for ages and continuing some home transformation projects. I have way more time than ever before by choosing not to interrupt myself with emails during the week. I feel that I have more control over my work and this feels great. The extra time did make me feel at loss at some level and I am currently readjusting my priorities and bringing some new things in. At Quetzal I have been writing a funding application to tour Quetzal Stories of Change for people across Leicestershire to learn more about sexual violence. I will visit s...

It's been another day of everything - running around not even hearing the outside world. I have my headphones on. My phone is constantly buzzing in my pocket with notifications,reminding me of the things I need to do, to know, to fill today. It is a matter of trying to detach myself from all the thoughts going through my head. Get the MIND silent, feel my body, the motion of my joints, and the breeze of the wind in the ocean of people and cars.

On the surface, some things always looked the same. The birds sing their heart out awaiting for the worms to come through the earth, just as they always did. The old men still sit at the pub with their coats on sucking on ales. The road are flat and tidy, there are the buggies and their owners, the old ladies with their bags, the impatient children waiting for the bus.

Dr Rob Watson interviewed me as part of Leicester Stories serie #BuildBackBetter in July 2021. Prior to the interview, he sent me few questions for me to prepare the interview and start thinking about what it means to Build Back Better post-pandemic. In the following post, I will take time to answer the questions I was sent and augment my response with some of the reflections I had through the interview. R: I’d like to find out what we are still learning from the experience of the lockdown, particularly here in Leicester? M: At Quetzal, the lockdown taught us and invited us to reflect on the following: What does it take to be a community that is not defined by a set location? What can we do to mobilise our partners, volunteers and collaborators from remote location? What does it takes to disseminate information and make it accessible to people who may not have access to the online world? What other type of event can we develop that keep ourselves and other safe? What special provision ...

My new experiment for productivity is to send emails only on the Monday to my collaborators. Today was my first day sending emails to everyone. What can I say, it was intense and at the same time so rewarding. I feel that my list of things to do for the week just reduced dramatically by just dealing with all my planned emails first. Now I can focus on reading, planning and more. The plans for the rest of the week is to read through email 1hour during the day to see if there is anything urgent.Otherwise, they'll be dealt with next week.  What about you? Have you got a productivity hack?

  I’d like to find out what we are still learning from the experience of the lockdown, particularly here in Leicester? From Quetzal perspective, the lockdown taught us what it takes to be a community that is not defined by a set location, what can we do to mobilise our partners, volunteers and collaborators from remote location, what it takes to disseminate information and make it accessible to people who may not have access, what other type of event can we develop that keep ourselves and other safe, what special provision do we need to make to support better some female survivors, that crisis are great opportunity to reach greater level of consciousness and how important is to cre about our mental health, then that media are so important social mnedia local media to share informatiom between people I’d like to know what conversations and discussions people living and working in Leicester had during the lockdown, especially when these conversations started to focus on the idea of B...

3.22 am...I am awake My first thought: "you ate too much chicken. Your digestive system is out of wack" It had taken me many years to understand that the reasons why I have sleepless nights is related to constipation and ultimately linked to what I eat. From the moment, I reduced meat consumption and even eliminated for few weeks at time, I slept like a log. The impacts of insomnia on wellness and wellbeing is well known. So why do I keep indulging. I truly need to find a way of preparing meals that allows me to ever, never be tempted to eat the food prepared by others.

This week many changes occurred First, I returned to Marle's Feed for updates and writing. Last week, I let go of Instagram to update on my weekly progress to recentralise my thoughts on my main blog. I started this blog back in 2012. There are probably more than 400 entries dealing with projects such as Positive Money and the Money workshop, Footpaths Leicester, The Green Festival of Making and Mending as well as Leicester Fixers, plus plethora of other writings. I did not write much about the Breaking the Silence Initiative at Quetzal. Though I intend to update the blog with past entries.  The return was motivated by conversations with my uncle, Emile Biti Abi, author and thinker, recently published author Joyce Henry and my dear friend and artist Kajal Nisha Patel from Lightseekers. I thought let's consolidate and integrate all my writings on one central platforms. The second important change is dealing with all my emails and online communication with collaborators on the M...

We are working towards harmonisation and alignment at Eugenie Bitty Arts. Though there are pieces within the team that needs to be straighten out further. On my side, the main thing I can do is to trust the process and keep myself grounded in the present. I have been looking for mentors to support this journey. I wrote to SheAfriq. I also received a call from a collaborator who suggested to me a potential mentor. I hope that I will be able to work with them soon. Our main workshop at Villecresnes is being changed and declutered. All this with the goal in mind to accommodate a workshop. Paintings are being selected for our next exhibition in May 2022. We will soon be able to create the appropriate documentation to send to our collaborators. I am looking forward to seeing what are the gifts we will share next year with our visitors. For more information about Eugenie Bitty Arts: www.eugeniebittyarts.com

What I learnt from watching the 4th season of Ready to Love - know yourself - be clear about what you are looking for - be open to the opportunities that come your way - to love someone, you first need to love yourself, be secured so nothing outside of yourself can sway you away - give space to the other person to grow and flourish - listen properly - be in touch with your emotions so you can better address situations and be present when love is available for grab All the best for all the contestants, I wish you to find love 💘

The man opens the cage to throw a big cat in there. I look at him intrigued. I look closer and see other animals caged including gorillas and orange outan. To my horror, one of the cage I'd open and a big cat is about to escape. I look for help and I see two mens disguised as gorilla taking care of the animals. I told them about the escape. When they look the animal is no longer there. Before I knew someone comes to find us asking us to go as if something terrible just happened and we started running to all our might.

Did you find yourself in many instances just scrolling down Instagram,  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn mindlessly? Did you wish you could just stop the behaviour and focus on something more productive instead? Did you answer yes yes yes. You are here for the treat - the Stay Focused App. Oh you've used it already? and it did not work for you? You kept resetting the times to access your favourite app? I tell you, you are not the only. I have downloaded the Stay Focused app several times before finding my mojo. What changed? Reading Tim Ferris 4-hour a week comfortable challenge of not feeding ourselves with information during 4 days A discussion with Muslim and Christian about the heartfelt decision to fast for a set period of time. How do I use the Stay Focused App? When I open Instagram or any other app first thing, I ask myself did I gather everything I needed it from there. Then I log on to Stay focused, then I make the decision to fast for 5 hours on my social media. When...

Writing a book for a general audience came into my awareness for few weeks now with friends suggesting to turn my doctorate into a book. Then, I was invited to celebrate a girlfriend birthday in Nottingham. Unable to drive to the destination, I was picked up by a newly published author. We spoke all the way there and back about the process of writing a book and some of steps involved in delivering the written product. In the evening. I discussed some of the elements with another friend who told me that she will help me find the necessary funding to make this happen. My first book is about Leicester Fixers, Repair, the Doctorate and more. I want to be able to raise some funding to continue and expand the development of sustainable communities within Leicester,  Leicestershire and Rutland. Through the book, I want to be able to raise necessary funds to do this. Fingercrossed, this will be possible.  If you would like to support me with this project, please do not hesitate to get...

Eugenie Bitty Arts had a meeting this week to review the success, impacts and key learning from the group exhibition at La Maison Muller. At the results of the discussion, we have decided to organise an exhibition in May 2022 to exhibit a collection of her work in Paris. I trust already that the work we will produce will have great success.  I am inviting all my collaborators to visit her site and subscribe to her newsletter to be the first one to know about the event www.eugeniebittyarts.com 

My uncle and beautiful writer, Emile Biti Abi, writer said "if you write everyday you will write a book" If you write everyday, you probably wrote already many books. Tell me which story are you currently contributing to? 

 Thank you for sending me an invitation to shop at Amazon Smile so that your charity can get pennies out of my purchase. I am appalled by the effort. I will make sure that you know the ten reasons why Amazon Smile does not make me smile. 1) Amazon does not pay their taxes appropriately in the UK to support vital services for people. Their scheme is a pittance compared to what they could contribute to the global society. They send gift hampers to our MPs to get more tax breaks. 2) Out of £1000 purchase, as a charity, you will get only £5. How sad? 3) Amazon subjects workers to poor working condition across the world. How can you as a charity demand social justice and yet spit on your efforts? 4) Your charity is eating away your supporters' desire to give more to you. They will feel like ''oh well I am buying through Amazon Smile so, I do not have to give more. It is another ''slacktivism'' example whereby people become less charitable because they get the fee...

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr Marie ✨ (@marle.di)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr Marie ✨ (@marle.di)