Posted by Jambo
Bramwel Masinde Nguti a.k.a Bram Nguty migrated to America in 2007, partly in a quest to pursue the proverbial “American dream,” as well as to pursue his own dreams and ambitions for which he felt they would be actualized within an environment provided by a developed country.
Mukurimax.com caught up with Bram and this is what he had to say about life in Kenya and the transition to America:
How would you describe early life in Kenya? I grew up in Kimilili, a town in western province but we often moved around in various parts of the country as a family because our parents were civil servants and they were occasionally transferred. It was quite an adventure to live in different provinces and intermingle with different tribes at an early age.
At what point did you migrate? I migrated in January, 2007 while I was attending Shang Tao media Arts College majoring in Media Arts and animation.
What made you migrate? The American dream of course, but most importantly I wanted to further my studies abroad. I attended and graduated from Southwest Minnesota State University with a double Major in Graphic design and studio arts. I also served as the graphics director as well as the editorial cartoonist of the campus weekly newspaper “The spur” from my sophomore year to senior.
What challenges did you encounter in the U.S.A?The first challenge that I encountered was the weather. I landed at Minneapolis airport in January 2007 and it was in the midst of winter. On that day everything was covered by 4-inches snow! That was a little bit scary. Other challenges included culture shock, and language barrier. What hit me the most was unemployment and having to survive America on a student Visa.
How did you overcome these challenges? I have not overcome all of them yet and they are part of my life in a foreign country, but I never taken my eye off the goal despite the turbulence.
What are you working on? I am a motion graphic artist, comic book writer and an entrepreneur. I am the founder and C.E.O of WANYAMATION WILD WORLD, a global entity that is tailored to bring diversity in art and design world; home to Wanyamation world online store, Wanyamation Studios and many more. I work in collaboration with other creatives in art, graphics and animation industry both locally like Kwame Nyon`go as well as international ones like Vic Shane, Damian Wambler, Leonardo Barreto, Kuen Tang(DC comics)to name a few.
Any vision that you have? I want to create and publish comic books so as to bring diversity in the comic world industry and also to put Kenya and Africa as a whole on the map. For instance, my upcoming comic book The Praying Man-tis, “Man-tis v/s the killer hornets”-will be bilingual English-Swahili, thus being the first superhero comic book with that genre on international level.
What would you like to add? Yeah, My Kickstarter fundraiser to bring my comic book project alive HERE. I dearly ask for your generous support. Episode#1 will be on the “Road of Death, Bolivia in South America”, to act as an ice breaker internationally but the follow up episode#2 will be in Kibera slums, Kenya, so don’t miss to follow this amazing episodes and thank you so much for having me and for sharing my story with the world. God bless!!
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