From Pop Culture to Politics the Habari Njema News Series Informs Thousands About African Current Events
by Olivia Green | WeINSPIRE Reporter
HERCULES, Ca. — Marie Mbullu is a 20-year-old, Tanzanian American who in addition to her obligations as a college student, runs the TikTok series, “Habari Njema,” meaning good news in Swahili. “Habari Njema” focuses on spreading accurate news from politics to pop culture that spans the breadth of the African continent. Since Mbullu started her account in February of 2021, she has already gained over 200 thousand followers and over a million likes.
While a lot of news focuses on tragedy and hardship, the large majority of reporting about the African continent articulates a monolithic narrative about such a diverse geographical region. In addition to this, most of what makes up that narrative comes out of negative stereotypes. According to the University of Southern California’s Media Impact Project, references to Africa in American news scripted television and social media interactions were considerably more likely to be negative than positive. This is partially due to general misconceptions that non-Africans have about the continent, but through Habari Njema, Mbullu has begun to do the work to change this.
“I saw that there was a need to talk about African stories that weren’t tragedy and suffering,” said Mbullu. “There are a bunch of interesting things happening in Africa that aren’t depressing, and I just felt like even Africans that live in America, the U.K., or even some Africans that live in Africa don’t know what’s going besides tragedy. I felt like there was a need to spread that kind of news.”
Considering how quickly Mbullu’s audience has grown, it is safe to say that many, whether they knew it or not, sought a platform that presented African news in a holistic manner. In fact, since the beginning, Mbullu has received messages from followers of diverse backgrounds that express how they have learned from her and developed a newfound interest and understanding of African current events. “I think Africans, in general, have been able to feel closer to home and have started noticing more similarities between us,” said Mbullu. “From the outside looking in, there is a lot more knowledge being spread, and people are more comfortable talking about African current events and other topics. They feel comfortable asking questions about Africa and are more excited and ready to learn more.”
Despite Mbullu’s passion for talking about Africa that largely comes from the pride of her Tanzanian heritage, reporting on an entire continent as one person comes with its challenges. One of those challenges is the sheer volume of news. From her own research to the many articles that her followers send her to review, there’s always something going on. For this reason, Mbullu says, “I don’t want to be someone’s only source for African news. There’s so much news, and I’m only one person, so if I miss something, it’s not like I’m purposefully ignoring it. I just couldn’t get to it.” Separately from the volume issue, Mbullu has to be extremely discerning in the sources she uses because while many send her information with the intent to help, she also receives copious amounts of propaganda that others may like her to share as news.
As “Habari Njema” continues to grow, Mbullu plans to expand her platform to include a YouTube channel and possibly other reporters from different countries to have a more diverse view of the continent void of any bias she may have to East Africa. Separately from her web series Mbullu is in the process of starting the non-profit, Kutoa Ni Upendo, meaning giving is love that will partner with grassroots organizations to fund children’s educations and even support their parent’s businesses. While Kutoa Ni Upendo strives to help those all over the continent, it is starting in Tanzania.
Most of all Mbullu would like all to know, “Just being able to have news that is reliable and credible is a privilege. If you can get news, use it and embrace all that you can because a lot of people do not have that privilege.”
To learn more about Marie Mbullu and “Habari Njema,” check out her TikTok account!
