Farming New Roots

Welcome to Amjambo Time,
the podcast where stories from Africa and its diasporas meet memory, resistance, and hope.I’m Éloge Willy Kaneza, journalist with Amjambo Africa.Today’s episode takes us to Portland, Maine, in November 2025, where art became testimony and music carried the weight of exile, survival, and faith.In a powerful reimagining of Handel’s Messiah, refugee artist and poet Nyamuon Nguany Machar, also known as Moon, brought the stage to life with Gospel Messiah—a fusion of gospel, spoken word, theater, and lived refugee experience.This is not just a performance.
It is a story of displacement and belonging.
A story of mothers, fathers, and children forced to carry home on their backs.
A story of joy as resistance.In this episode, we listen to Moon’s voice—calm, fierce, and deeply human—as she explains how art becomes memory, advocacy, and healing.Stay with us.You’ve been listening to Amjambo Time,
a production of Amjambo Africa.Today, we heard how Gospel Messiah transformed a classical Western oratorio into a living archive of refugee experience—where poetry breathes, gospel cries out, and survival becomes sacred.Nyamuon Machar reminds us that refugees are not statistics.
They are storytellers.
They are creators.
They are witnesses of history.As Moon says, “Joy is a form of resistance.”
And sometimes, choosing to survive—to protect one’s peace—is itself an act of courage.If this story moved you, share it.
Talk about it.
Let it travel beyond borders.I’m Éloge Willy Kaneza.
Thank you for listening to Amjambo Time.Until next time—
stay human, stay curious, and stay connected.