Why NouZistwar? and why now?

Our story begins with my grandfather, who is featured in the first blog post. Growing up people would come up to me and say "I knew your grandfather (Aja) or I was taught by your Aja" . I think I had not paid much attention, but maybe far too late I understood the role he had to play outside of being a loving grandfather who bickered with my grandmother in a modest house in Beau Basin.

Maybe I took his story for granted. In later years I had got to understand who he really was and it all clicked together later on. Mauritius at the time was abstract, I was a London boy, and still call myself a South London Mauritian, and proudly so, but living in Mauritius over the past decade has helped me understand more and more about Mauritius. Away from my life in the UK, I would have conversations with everyone as I struggled to understand how this country actually worked.

Nations are built by many people and their stories, and not exclusively by politicians. With increasing digitisation we lose touch with those who have dared and dared greatly, and potentially how luck played its role. I looked inward at my circle and thought, a considerable number of Mauritians have contributed significantly to the world both locally and internationally. Nouzistwar tries to tell those stories. When you look at the old buildings, the question is what have they witnessed and what have they overheard?

I think there is something in our DNA and something which are forgetting, many of us come from forced labour, as my grandmother said there is the blood of our elders in this land. After speaking to more and more Mauritians I realised there is a great treasure in Mauritius and in Mauritians. Hence Nouzsistwar.

My next unlock will be wider stories.

Why now?

Those who were witnesses and those who were actors in the birth of Mauritius are sadly passing away and we risk losing those stories forever, as well as that from looking at the past we can build a wonderful future based on that rich diversified DNA.