The Price of Our Phones | Special Episode

The Kingdoms Europe Forgot | S3 EP1

Before Europe built castles, Africa built empires. In this episode, I take about the forgotten kingdoms of Mali, Benin, Great Zimbabwe, and Nubia — civilizations of gold, trade, art, and science that flourished long before colonization. From the bronzes of Benin to the manuscripts of Timbuktu, from stone cities to shattered statues, this is a story of memory, erasure, and the truth beneath the dust. The Kingdoms Europe Forgot reminds us that history didn’t start with conquest, it started with creation. Sources & Key Facts Mali Empire * Founded by Sundiata Keita in the 13th century. * Centered around Timbuktu and Sankore University, a hub of global scholarship. * Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca (1324) caused a global gold price drop. * Sources: UNESCO, National Geographic, Britannica Kingdom of Benin * Flourished from the 11th to 19th centuries in modern Nigeria. * Known for its Benin Bronzes, sophisticated metalwork, and complex governance. * 1897 Punitive Expedition looted thousands of bronzes now held in Western museums. * Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, The British Museum, The Art Newspaper Great Zimbabwe * From the Shona phrase “dzimba dza mabwe” — “houses of stone.” * Major trade center (11th–15th century) connected to Persia, India, and China. * European colonizers denied African authorship for centuries. * Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, BBC World Histories Nubia / Kingdom of Kush * Located in modern-day Sudan; ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty (“Black Pharaohs”). * Built more pyramids than Egypt and mastered early iron smelting. * Rediscovered by Sudanese archaeologists reclaiming African history. * Sources: Smithsonian NMAA, National Geographic History Erasure & Reclamation * Colonial scholars redefined African empires as “tribes” or “myths.” * Oral histories and modern African archaeology are restoring lost narratives. * Sources: V.Y. Mudimbe (The Invention of Africa), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (Decolonising the Mind), The Conversation Africa

The Price of Our Phones | Special Episode

The world runs on Congolese minerals: cobalt, coltan, copper, yet the people who dig them out of the earth are living through one of the most devastating and underreported crises on the planet. In this episode, I explore why the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been buried under global silence. From the legacy of colonisation to the modern tech industry’s demand for resources, I trace how a land rich in minerals became a centre of violence, exploitation, and suffering. Millions displaced. Children working in dangerous mines. Entire communities caught between armed groups, corporations, and a world that depends on their labor but rarely speaks their names. As an African, I feel a responsibility to talk about this — because silence protects the systems that harm the most vulnerable. This episode is my attempt to break that silence. Humanitarian Crisis:• Mercy Corps – The facts: The humanitarian crisis in the DRC https://www.mercycorps.org/blog/drc-humanitarian-crisis [https://www.mercycorps.org/blog/drc-humanitarian-crisis?utm_source=chatgpt.com] • UN OCHA – DRC Humanitarian Overview https://www.unocha.org/democratic-republic-congo [https://www.unocha.org/democratic-republic-congo?utm_source=chatgpt.com] • Amnesty International – Why the Democratic Republic of Congo is wracked by conflict https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2024/10/why-is-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-wracked-by-conflict/ Minerals & Child Labour:• Human Rights Watch – Child Labor and Human Rights Violations in DRC Mining https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/14/child-labor-and-human-rights-violations-mining-industry-democratic-republic-congo [https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/14/child-labor-and-human-rights-violations-mining-industry-democratic-republic-congo?utm_source=chatgpt.com] • Save the Children – Cobalt mines, child labour and the green transition https://www.savethechildren.net/stories/drc-cobalt-mines-child-labour-and-green-transition [https://www.savethechildren.net/stories/drc-cobalt-mines-child-labour-and-green-transition?utm_source=chatgpt.com] • U.S. Treasury – Sanctions on entities linked to illegal mining in the DRC https://cd.usembassy.gov/treasury-sanctions-entities-linked-to-violence-and-illegal-mining-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/ [https://cd.usembassy.gov/treasury-sanctions-entities-linked-to-violence-and-illegal-mining-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] History & Context:• Panzi Foundation – War in Congo https://panzifoundation.org/war-in-congo/ [https://panzifoundation.org/war-in-congo/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] • World Bank – DRC Country Overview https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview [https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview?utm_source=chatgpt.com]

Free To Dream But Dreaming Isn't Free | S2 EP8

When the world sleeps, the empire sells escape. From augmented reality to endless screens, this episode is about what we’ve lost: the art of dreaming for ourselves. It’s a reflection on living beyond pixels, on gratitude, purpose, and waking up to what’s real. The season closes with a promise: next, we remember where we came from.

Reach For The Gold, Drown In The Oil | S2 EP7

Oil built our world and now it’s burning it. In this episode, I trace how a single resource shaped empires, rewrote borders, and still fuels the wars and illusions of modern civilization. From the first oil well to the towers of Dubai, from the deserts that turned to gold to the climate that’s collapsing beneath it this is the story of The Empire of Oil. The fire we chose to feed. Sources * https://www.britannica.com/topic/Standard-Oil [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Standard-Oil] * https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-17444592 [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-17444592] * https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-oil * https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp83-01042r000300040005-6 * https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29146407 [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29146407] * https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/24.htm * https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2016/12/07/petrodollars-and-the-global-economy * https://www.insideclimatenews.org * https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023 * https://www.un.org/en/climatechange [https://www.un.org/en/climatechange] * https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/publication/global-tracking-framework [https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/publication/global-tracking-framework] * https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-aramco-2023-profit-2024-03-10/ * https://www.theguardian.com/environment/exxon-climate-change-cover-up [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/exxon-climate-change-cover-up] * https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/20/how-the-middle-east-became-rich-from-oil * https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/23/world/middleeast/gulf-workers.html [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/23/world/middleeast/gulf-workers.html] * https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics

The Fire We Built | S2 EP6

From the first coal mines of Britain to the burning forests of the Amazon, this episode traces how the Industrial Revolution ignited a global addiction — to comfort, to growth, to fire itself. I unpack how empires of industry became empires of carbon, how the Paris Agreement became a promise on paper, and why climate change isn’t a tragedy of nature but a design of civilization. A story of smoke, survival, and the price of progress. * Our World in Data – CO₂ Emissions Since 1750: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions * International Energy Agency (IEA) – Historical Energy Data: * Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845): * Global Carbon Project (2023): https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/. * Oxfam & Stockholm Environment Institute Report (2020) — Confronting Carbon Inequality https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/confronting-carbon-inequality-621052/ * UN OCHA – Pakistan Floods Situation Report (2022): https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/ * UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change): https://unfccc.int/climate-finance * OECD 2023 Climate Finance Report: * Friends of the Earth & The Guardian (2021–2023): * Amnesty International – This Is What We Die For (2021 Update): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/11/drc-cobalt-mining/ * The Guardian (2022) – “Lithium extraction in Chile’s Atacama desert drying up water supplies”: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/07/lithium-chile-water-rights [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/07/lithium-chile-water-rights] * Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) – PRODES Deforestation Data 2023 http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br * Science (Lovejoy & Nobre, 2018): https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat2340 * WWF Amazon Report (2022): * UNFCCC – Paris Agreement Text (2015): https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement * BBC News (2020) – “Which countries have ratified the Paris climate deal?” https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35073297 [https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35073297] * Global Carbon Budget (2023): * International Energy Agency (IEA, 2023): * World Bank – Groundswell Report II (2021): https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36248 * UNHCR – Global Trends: Forced Displacement 2023 https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends * Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine (2007) * The Guardian (2022) – “Oil and gas companies plan expansion despite climate pledges.” * Vanessa Nakate / Fridays for Future Africa: https://fridaysforfuture.org