The Semanda sisters have found a life online

Our early morning appointment at Dancing Cup, Bugolobi speaks of the sisters’ creativity. The scenery is beautiful, with niches for taking photos that will leave a lasting impression on a connoisseur of photography.

Joan Semanda, the elder of the two, walks in slightly ahead of her sister flashing a striking smile. The 29-year-old public relations officer, wearing light makeup, spots a natural hairdo.

“Wearing my hair naturally is second nature to me. It is less expensive and I can change the style anytime.”

Angela Semanda is formal in a pink sleeveless tie-neck blouse and maroon pants. The 27-year-old pharmacist, spotting short dreadlocks, is the extrovert. “My personal style keeps changing, although now I emulate comfortable chic. There is something Parisian about it. I dream of Paris and its elegance although I have never been.”

For a scientist, Angela is very expressive and according to her sister, a good writer. Both had separate blogs, but in 2015 Joan approached Angela (they live with their parents) with an idea of a blog. It turns out Angela was having the same thoughts. Angela says, “I had to convince her that we were better off blogging together instead of alone. She did not want to blog with me but I told her to think about it.”

The more Joan thought about it, the more she warmed up to the idea. They brainstormed on what they wanted the blog to look like. They named it Imigani which in Kinyarwanda means short tales. “We wanted our blog to relate to our culture and the name to stop and make people question it.”

Thoughts on Imigani
In May 2015, Imigani went up – first with little content, but it has since picked up. “We are growing with it, but basically, we are lifestyle blog dealing with food, fashion, photography, and places,” Angela says. “We do not want to only be a Ugandan or East African blog; we want any tourist in the world to visit us as a resource place for information.”

Imigani has a life of its own and the writers put as little of themselves in the stories as possible. “We may blog about an outfit and throw in a little bit about our day,” says Joan, “There are so many things to write about. For instance, I traveled to Rwanda and interviewed a couple of designers and business people who have a story that Ugandans can be interested in.”

To keep up-to-date, the sisters joined hair and fashion social media groups where they latch onto trending topics to guide their blogging, which has helped get more visitors to their blog.

Besides social media, Angela’s incentive for more visitors is to have fresh content. “Kenyans and Rwandans have easy access to the internet.

That is where Uganda is going so we have to be prepared.”
A year after they started the blog, their effort is paying off. A certain bracket of organisations hire them to blog about their products. The blog also has a shop tab where people make purchases.

Who inspires them?
Not everyone can find the time to blog, and definitely, not every blog leaves a lasting impression. “Personally, I look to bloggers both internationally and in Africa,” says Angela. “I pick out the things I like about their style and develop my own ideas.”

Joan’s inspiration comes from Sara Donaldson, an Australian blogger who runs Harper and Harley, a fashion, style, and beauty blog.

“Many things in her style have influenced me. She takes good quality pictures and her blog is clean. There is something to be remembered about nice pictures. You might write great content but if you do not blend it with great imagery, you lose people’s attention.”

The sisters take most of the pictures, but once in a while hire upcoming photographers. Angela credits Joan with the consistency of the brand, saying, “Sometimes, I want to write about something else but she tells me to focus. It is not easy seeing everything through the same lens. We try to blog every week and without her devotion it would have been difficult to find the time.”

While they take pictures on Saturdays, the inspiration to write comes any time, for Angela, even when sitting in her pharmacy or attending a seminar. “I sometimes enjoy writing in a relaxed environment. I might have five drafts written down but most get rejected by Joan or myself. People want perfection.”

Joan only blogs while listening to music, “…specifically Script (an Irish pop rock band) as I weave a story around the pictures before me. I also do some research before I write.” Angela playfully admonishes her, “That is my band! Why do you steal my band?”

Proudest achievements
Outside of Imigani, Joan counts her MBA in Public Relations and Marketing – taken at EU Business School in Barcelona, Spain – as the big deal in her life. “I did not know until the very last moment that I had topped my class, and my parents almost did not make the graduation. I felt really proud to represent my country and the work ethic that we have here.”

She has been a Public Relations Officer for Moringa Ogilvy since 2010. When she was leaving for Spain, her Managing Director requested her to return to her position after her studies. “He was impressed with my work and when I returned, they were holding my position for me. They have never done that for anyone else.”

Angela’s proudest feat is opening a pharmacy. “It has been a sacrifice in terms of money, sleep, and time since January. If I knew what I was getting into, I would have hesitated.

I leave work at 10.30pm and it has been a tough road. You have to get the strength from within; a lot of the time you feel like you have crushed. But, you have to pick yourself up.”

She also started Tupakase, a project for girl and women empowerment.

Huddles they have overcome
Some say writers are introverts who take the backseat in life. Joan is no different; self-expression is a challenge she is overcoming. As a middle child, she has dealt with loneliness.

“Angela is younger than me, and I have an older sister. Both girls have strong personalities. When we were younger, I was not friends with my older sister because she felt I had come to take our parents’ love. She and Angela really got along. That situation shaped my personality. I am more subdued.”

The PR expert describes herself as “very in a box,” because she loves black, white and grey.

She only buys those colours (She is wearing a green blouse), although her friends keep telling her to try different colours. “I do things by the book. I am a very straight person. There are standards I hold myself to that I should meet.”

Her mother has had to encourage her to express herself in family gatherings. Working in PR, marketing, and blogging are avenues that are helping her emerge from the shell. “I do not feel lonely anymore. I am good friends with Angela and the blog is an expression of that.”

An extrovert, Angela has had her own struggles with an unhealthy concern for people’s opinion, to the extent that it paralyses her into inaction.

“Sometimes, I can be in a hospital working with all these professionals who have got it all figured out and I just feel like writing or when I was much younger, singing. I cannot do what I want to do because I keep on wondering what they will say.

Throughout university, I got so much criticism. However, nowadays, I have decided I do not have to tick everyone’s boxes – which is difficult in our cultural setting. But, I just want to live my life, make my mistakes and learn from them.” The scientist only takes criticism from well-wishers. “Haters” are in through one ear and out through the next.”

Life outside blogging
Currently, Joan does PR only two and a half days in a week. The rest are spent working at International School of Uganda where she sits in for a friend on maternity leave.

Angela does not believe people should do only one thing; so, with her Tupakase Project, she does volunteer work in sexual and reproductive health.

A day before the interview, she was in Kitgum District and in May – July she was in Berlin, Germany. “The fact that you can no longer publically talk about sex education in Uganda is tricky. It is a step backward but I understand the cultural point of view that influenced the ban. Now, I concentrate on teaching menstrual health.”

In their free time, both women exercise, although Angela does more of it. “I work out three times a week while listening to audio books. I am curious and I like to learn about people. I also read quite a bit.”

They also meet friends for coffee and conversation (Angela insists they have separate friends). “To unwind, I spend time with my nieces and nephews,” Joan says, adding that she also loves curling up to watch movies.

Both are not married, although Joan is in a relationship. They studied at Greenhill Academy and Gayaza High School. While Angela studied Pharmacology at Mbarara University, Joan studied her BBA in Marketing at Makerere University Business School.

They blend two distinct cultures; Kiganda and Kinyarwanda. On which city – Kampala and Kigali – they prefer, Angela exclaims, “Oh my God! That is a trap! I am doomed if I say one or the other. But, Kampala has a better life and is freer.”
As Joan and I leave the Dancing Cup, Angela opens her laptop to revise for an English exam she is sitting in 30 minutes time.

The challenges
Starting the blog cost the sisters about Shs700,000 to buy the domain name. Being siblings, naturally, they disagree on many things and finding middle ground is challenging.

That is why coming up with content that is not repetitive takes a lot of research. “People will always ask you why you are blogging,” says Angela Semanda, the younger of the sisters. “If one person asks, that is okay; but if 10 people ask in a day, then it will never make sense to them.”