{"id":134575,"date":"2020-05-19T14:17:25","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T11:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.com\/ke\/?p=134575"},"modified":"2020-05-19T15:15:03","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T12:15:03","slug":"%c2%a8i-struggled-to-fit-in-kenya%c2%a8-victoria-rubadiri-sadly-recalls-after-her-long-stay-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/%c2%a8i-struggled-to-fit-in-kenya%c2%a8-victoria-rubadiri-sadly-recalls-after-her-long-stay-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a8I struggled to fit in in Kenya,\u00a8 Victoria Rubadiri sadly recalls after her long stay abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well sought-after Kenyan journalist, Victoria Rubadiri had a hard time trying to fit in the USA, coming from an African country and after 14 years abroad, fitting into the Kenyan community proved a challenge as well.<\/p>\n

If there is something undeniably notable about the ravishing 33-year old journalist, must be her foreign accent, that only enthralls you the more.<\/p>\n

Back on track, Vicky is of mixed race, actually multiple–race, but her ancestry in Malawi and Kenya is proven. Atleast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Former NTV journalist, Victoria Rubadiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At just 10 years of age, the then-little girl had to adapt to a different environment – America – amidst her \u00b4funny accent\u00b4 and \u00b4funny name\u00b4 – that she says.<\/p>\n

Also read: I gave up being the typical single mum \u2013 Victoria Rubadiri speaks single parenting<\/a><\/p>\n

This saw her struggle to fit into the American culture and community as a whole.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always wanted to fit in. I\u2019ll admit it\u2019s been a weakness of mine. I guess it stemmed from that insecure 10-year-old Kenyan girl trying to find a place in this \u2018New World,\u2019 called America. My \u2018funny accent,\u2019 and \u2018funny name,\u2019 would ensure my square peg would never fit in their round holes.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Things supposedly went her way and life started becoming normal for her in the States.<\/p>\n

Return to Kenya<\/h2>\n

14 years down, the line, she returned to Kenya complete with a degree and ready to kick-start her career in the East African country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Renowned TV journalist, Victoria Rubadiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, it wasn\u00b4t going to be as easy as she presumed. Remember, she had spent a solid 14 years overseas.<\/p>\n

The people she had exchanged thoughts and ideas with and most especially the culture she had inherited was nothing like the Kenyan culture.<\/p>\n

She now had to re-learn the Kenyan people, their practices and way of life – if at all she desired to \u00b4fit in\u00b4.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Vicky Rubadiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funny enough, Kenya was home but everything about her just felt foreign. Okay, at least not Kenyan.<\/p>\n

A decade ago I returned to Kenya. After 14 years in the US, I was met with the same dilemma. This time trying to fit in to a culture that was my own but was so foreign. Again my \u2018funny accent,\u2019 ????and \u2018funny name,\u2019 (Rubadiri is Malawian????????) made sure of that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turn around<\/h2>\n

\u00a8I realised the harder I tried to fit in, the louder my difference would SCREAM\u00a8 she said, opting to take the wiser option – to just be herself and do things her way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Celebrated Kenyan journalist, Victoria Rubadiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The way out was in Journalism, which she aptly took and gradually worked her way through the Kenyan culture.<\/p>\n

Something helped though and that was becoming a journalist right when I got back home. It turned me into a student of my Kenyan people, language and peculiarities. Every story I told was a lesson.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mother of one eventually came to terms with who she was, accepted her flaws and actually used it all to her advantage.<\/p>\n

Each year I grew in my career, I accepted my \u2018outsider\u2019 tag a bit more and used it to my advantage. I gained a unique perspective on the world around me and tried to articulate that through my storytelling.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Every sunrise only pushed her to be better, to be more diffused with the Kenyan people, yearning to tell a story as it is.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
TV girl, Victoria Rubadiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And for every sweat she put in, she has no regrets because through her career in media, she was able to tell her story.<\/p>\n

Now proudly a well-blended, idolized personality who is part and parcel of the Kenyan heritage.<\/p>\n

Not having the comfort of \u2018belonging\u2019 kept me hungry to learn more and strive to tell a story as it is. It is a privilege to do what I do and give my audience a view of their world through my lens.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was in accepting she was who she is and didn\u00b4t need to change that to \u00b4fit in\u00b4, that she spread her wings and flew.<\/p>\n

Once I accepted that I\u2019m terrible at fitting in and better off working on myself and my craft that changed everything for me.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Revered Citizen TV journalist, Victoria Rubadiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wrapping up, she jotted:<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s to the outsiders, the misfits, the quirky, awkward, quiet ones. Celebrate your difference, while daring to shape the world around you.
\n#TuesdayThoughts????<\/a>#Thankful<\/a>\u00a0????????#IntrovertsSpeakToo????<\/a>\u00a0????#AcceptandMoveOn????????<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well sought-after Kenyan journalist, Victoria Rubadiri had a hard time trying to fit in the USA, coming from an African country and after 14 years abroad, fitting into the Kenyan community proved a challenge as well. If there is something undeniably notable about the ravishing 33-year old journalist, must be her foreign accent, that only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6063,"featured_media":134621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[310],"tags":[20,127186,127188,127187],"class_list":["post-134575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ghafla-entertainment-news","tag-victoria-rubadiri-america-news","tag-victoria-rubadiri-funny-accent-news","tag-victoria-rubadiri-kenya-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6063"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134575"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134633,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134575\/revisions\/134633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghafla.co.ke\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}