American family’s mission to share Africa’s truth

Before they began a life of travel around the world, Aaron and Michelle Jackson say they have been nomads all their lives, having lived in different parts of the United States of America. 2015, however, marked their global nomadic life when together with their daughter Ala Jackson, they moved to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where Michelle had just acquired a job offer. They would later move to Cambodia, where they lived for a year, before relocating to Rwanda at the start of 2018. “Mum and dad,” Ala says, “first came to Rwanda for mum’s birthday anniversary and they immediately fell in love with the country. When they came back to Cambodia, they were telling me stories about Rwanda and we just decided to move here.” Aaron is quick to chip in: “We met a lot of people who introduced us to their families and friends. They were very welcoming, which was the first time this was happening in our travels. The country is clean and organised. We had been travelling to many beautiful countries but Rwanda just blew our minds and for us that has been our cultural shock.” “So many things drew us to this place,” Michelle adds, “I loved to see how many people are like me, a lot of people are very talented, people as young as 19, doing business. I am very fascinated by the progress. It is good to see how people are just so happy with themselves. They have a healthy level of self-pride. I love it! Everybody just loves their country and it’s stunning!” The Jacksons love and live for travel. As an educator, travelling for Michelle is about learning things, while Aaron and Ala enjoy meeting new people and eating good food. “Most people think teachers don’t learn, we learn a lot. Travelling teaches you so much about the world, and opens your mind to so many opportunities and enables you to connect with people from different cultures, learning different languages and eating different kinds of food. “It also helps us unlearn some of the negative things we have heard, especially on the continent of Africa. We get to see with our eyes and look at things through our own lens and express our truth with everybody else,” Michelle says. In between their relocations, they have travelled to 14 countries where they take videos and pictures that they share on their social media pages. Their first trip to Africa in 2015 was to Zanzibar which is when they began video blogging for their almost 11,000 subscribers, and they have not looked back since. “We wanted to show other people who don’t travel that there is a vast world out there that is beautiful and what the reality is right now. “Our whole story is just trying to get the truth to everyone. In the West, there’s this big misconception about what Africa is and our aim was to show the world the truth of what Africa is right now and this beautiful country of Rwanda, and letting our sisters and brothers in the Diaspora know that it is a beautiful and progressive place. There are some people who relocated to Rwanda just from watching our videos and I am very humbled because we have a lot of people travelling and seeing the beauty that they don’t show on TV. “And we have seen entire families, seniors and businessmen coming to Africa because of our stories and we are humbled,” Michelle says. Aaron adds that growing up, he didn’t know that Africa had cities. He remembers as a little baby seeing images of babies in Africa “with a big stomach and flies on their eyes. It was sickness, famine and hunger, that’s all they showed. All you see on TV is Africans living in huts, and people ask if they have shoes and clothes.” He believes that content creators are making a big impact on the way people see the continent of Africa. The more they tell their stories, the more they share the truth. The family is very consistent in creating content but outside that, Michelle is an educator who also creates content for educators worldwide, while Aaron is into animation that he sells his online. 15-year-old Ala, is a gamer and visual artist, doing painting and digital art. As a student, she also home schools online at an American school, which makes it possible for her to travel. For Michelle, “these times have taught us to always create a plan B, all the way to Z. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, if you’re creative in something, do business out of it. “We also learned that you have to pay attention to the signs and rules of every country, it’s for people’s protection, that you don’t just film anywhere you like,” Aaron adds. The Jacksons also recently registered their local business that that deals with sales and promotion for businesses, homes, products and events.

Lifestyle

American family’s mission to share Africa’s truth