Written by The WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi
Last updated: 8 May 2026
Belonging
Poem created on Africa Day 2021,
at the We Will Lead Africa Annual Gathering.
We
Unique, but all the same
New Africa
We rise, we build, we cry
Bold Africa
With empathy, with compassion, and stewardship
Great Africa
We are the blueprint for the future we want
Yes, Africa
We are all
Africa
Will
I will, not because I must, but because I can
I will, not because of, but despite my challenges
I will, not because it might be, but because it’s inevitable
I will, not because I am told, but because I am
Lead
To be in service and of service to your community
From wherever you are, with whatever is in your hands and soul
Lead with love, with guidance from the heart
Multiplying what you have been given to be a blessing to others
With no hesitation and pushing the existing limits
Leading from a place of internal purpose, gift, strength, and abundance
Listening to the context in which you wade,
and dance in the complexity of being
Although scary it might be, quite rewarding it is
To Lead is not to Wait, for we are the Africans we have been waiting for!
Africa
Rising like a long day that promises so much potential that never wanes
Africa, know your worth
Show up as a partner, colourful and strong
We Will Lead Africa: Volume Three: Belonging, Beloving, Becoming was the first volume to emerge from our Griot Masterclass series. In a community of We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) leaders, the masterclass introduced Griots, from countries across the African continent and the diaspora, to the WWLA method for telling and documenting personal stories of everyday leadership. The result was a volume of 24 stories and/or poetic contributions, and 11 Oríkìs (Yoruba-inspired personal praise poetry) that make up the leadership inspirations in Volume Three.
As we reflect on this volume now, we are clear that it emerged as a living, breathing community space that met a deep need at the time. Born in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this volume was shaped through a virtual circle that became a healing, necessary, and profoundly human place to gather, tell stories, affirm each other, and keep leading in the midst of uncertainty.
At the heart of the volume is a spontaneous and striking collective theme that arose organically from the contributors’ shared poetry and responses to the leadership activities we did together: belonging, beloving, becoming. These words say everything. Belonging speaks to community and identity, to feeling held and seen within a collective. Beloving (a word that is no longer used in regular speech) perfectly captures the sense of care and vulnerability the group brought to the discussions each week. The Griots created a space that centred love as an explicit and public practice, something we rarely name so boldly in leadership spaces. And becoming invited growth, emergence, and the constant unfolding of ourselves as leaders and humans.
Volume Three feels especially intimate and sweet. Sweetness here refers to tenderness, care, and an unmistakable sense of love woven throughout the process and the pages. This was a space where we could belong without judgement, love on one another, and celebrate and practise leadership in whatever way it was expressed.
This volume also marks the first Griot process within the WWLA journey, grounding leadership in African ways of storytelling, remembrance, and praise. Through Oríkì and other narrative practices, contributors were invited to reflect, affirm their identities, and honour their ancestors and legacies. We witnessed how naming one’s story and praising oneself can be deeply empowering, how it fills people back up with themselves and reconnects them to who they are, and who and where they come from.
Griot and peer editor Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo mirrors this in her reflection of the process:
Participating in We Will Lead Africa: Volume Three was a profound experience in honouring lineage, memory, and the power of African storytelling. Contributing to this volume invited me to step into the Griot tradition as a custodian of truth, culture, and possibility. Writing my piece required deep reflection on the people, histories, and moments that shaped my leadership journey.
Serving as a peer editor was equally meaningful. It allowed me to witness the vulnerability, brilliance, and resilience of fellow contributors and to help their stories emerge with clarity and dignity. Editing became an act of relational stewardship through listening deeply, honouring voice, and supporting each narrative’s fullest expression.
This volume reaffirmed my belief that storytelling is a form of leadership and liberation. This volume is more than a book; it is a collective archive of African wisdom and a testament to our shared future.
What stands out in this volume is how clearly it embodied everyday leadership. The stories from the Griots and other contributors that responded to the open call are largely grassroots, grounded, and accessible, not dominated by high-profile figures. It reflects everyday people leading in ordinary, but profoundly meaningful ways. Many contributors in this volume are emerging leaders – not defined by age, but by a moment of stepping into new horizons and iterations of themselves and their work. This gives the volume a relatable tone and energy that makes clear: you can lead from anywhere.
This is further reflected across the key learnings in each story. We hear simple yet profound guidance and wisdom that resonates across all contexts of leadership: Go for it before you feel ready. Don’t wait for perfection. Small actions can spark big change. Be yourself. Accept yourself. Have faith. Lift others up. Build your community. These are foundational truths, but their power lies in the act of pausing to reflect on them together, which sparks new visions and imaginations.
Poetry threads its way through the book, surfacing again and again. Collective poems for belonging, beloving, and becoming sit alongside individual Oríkìs that resonate deeply. Poetry, it seems, naturally pours out of this work, offering synthesis, emotion, and insight beyond what prose alone can hold.
Beloving
Excerpt from contributor and Griot Masterclass member, Blen Mandefro
Dear Child,
Shod your feet with skin as soft as My Petals
Clothe your skin with silk as smooth as My Fingers
Crown your head and braids with gems that gleam as My Eyes
Quench your thirst with waters as clear and sweet as My Words
Embrace your lover with pleasure as deep as My Laughter
Let children shine as bright as the rays of My Smile
Make the seeds you plant and the fruits you bear as abundant as the strands of My Hair
Protect your body and nourish it to be as succulent and delicious
as My Kisses
Work your mind to be as glorious and immaculate as the rainbow
of My Dress
Polish your intelligence to be as beautiful and brilliant as My Image
Fill your belly with nothing but the sweet Joy of My Truth
Expand your territory with a vital force as irrepressible as
My Breath
Do this My Child, so that I shall know you as mine in all time
and space
Do this My Child, so that you shall know me as yours in all time
and space
Do this for yourself My Child, and you shall be forever installed in the eternity of My Heart
And you shall become a Guiding Star –
A Shining Star to Home,
A Radiating Star to Here,
to all that behold you.
Arise. Make Africa. Lead Africa. Be Africa.
Yes, Mother. I am arranged as you command.
Finally, the volume widens its lens through voices from the African diaspora, including reflections that remind us of Africa’s rhythm, spirit, and transformative power. As Tanesha Barnes noted in her contribution, ‘Diaspora to the Continent: Reconnecting, Rebuilding, Reimagining’:
The source of humanity has a way of capturing you within its rhythm. The beat of Africa, if you allow it, will cleanse your soul and you will see it with new eyes. Most importantly, you will see yourself anew. Travelling through Africa changes you – it will change the world as we know it.
These perspectives serve as mirrors and invitations, calling us back to source, memory, and possibility.
Ultimately, Volume Three feels like an embodiment of what WWLA aspires to be and, in many ways, already is. It is authentic, healing, and rooted in storytelling that honours both individuality and community. It is a space that held us as we led through difficult times, and one that continues to invite us to belong and to build a beloved community as we keep becoming.
Becoming
We Will Lead Africa Griots 2021 Poem
A Collective Poem
We put the brave in the safe so more people can
come into their own in emergent, brave spaces.
By truth and authenticity
and by being more,
we pass the baton to generations coming.
We continue showing up and developing the story
so generations will hear of our life stories.
Showing up authentically.
To come out with a badass, kick-ass, unforgettable story.
Our commitment is to do exactly what
we have learnt and do it better, so that others can learn as well.
Offering a space of belonging, beloving, and becoming,
to love and to live, to be bold, and strong …
Use the slide deck below to read some inspirational quotes from Volume Three:
