I first heard about ROAPE in my late teens from a close friend. I was excited to know about this online space for radical analysis of the political conditions of my continent, but for a long time I could not access most of the published material. In my mid twenties, I became involved in community organising at Mathare Social Justice Centre and at Ukombozi Library; once again, ROAPE floated into my universe.
It took a village to help me publish my first blog on the site, and it has been wonderful to witness many more young members of the social justice movement publishing their work on Roape.net. Even as we were succeeding and forging new intellectual paths in the movement, access to ROAPE’s archives was still an issue. I remember searching high and low to get a copy of a paper on community organising written during one of ROAPE’s connections workshops in Dar es Salaam. I reminisce with a lot of warmth in my heart about the immense support of ROAPE, the Africa is A Country website, Mathare Social Justice Centre, Cheche Books and Ukombozi Library during the initial writing workshops that birthed the Organic Intellectuals movement, which has collectively published three books reflecting on historical figures of the Kenyan left.
