114 Everything We Say At Funerals Is A Lie - Joy Akumu on Basketball, Culture & Fighting Depression
Did religion save us… or erase parts of us?
In this episode, our guest Joy Akumu doesn’t hold back.
As we discuss the uncomfortable truths behind Religion, African culture, wife inheritance, and the HIV epidemic, this conversation goes where most people won’t. Akumu also opens up about depression, the “phone generation” crisis, and how she turned her darkest moments into a trailblazer basketball club.
This is a story about the love for sports, intertwined with our identity and survival. Prepare to question everything you’ve been taught.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - INTRO
1:40 – I’m the Person You Call in a Crisis
3:15 - CHAPTER 1 - CULTURE’S STRENGTHS AND ITS BLINDSPOTS
5:01 – My 7-Foot Father (And What He Taught Me)
6:11 – This Generation Is Losing Human Connection
8:28 – My Dad Gave Away His Last Money… Every Time
11:23 – Wife Inheritance Explained13:13 – The Culture Helped Spread HIV making Kids Parents Overnight
15:42 – Was HIV Engineered? The Uncomfortable Question
17:17 – Why HIV Is Rising Again in Young People
18:40 – What Happens When Lifesaving Drugs Disappear?
21:52 – Did Christianity Erase African Culture?
27:55 – The Truth on Fake Happy Families
29:23 – Funeral Promises Are Lies
32:08 – Rejection Doesn’t Hurt Me Anymore
35:07 – Kids Today Fear Dead Phones More Than HIV
38:03 - CHAPTER 2 - THE TRUTH ABOUT KENYAN BASKETBALL
38:57 – I Started a Team to Save Myself
40:19 – The Hidden Architect of Kenyan Basketball
41:56 – Dating as a 6-Foot Woman
44:47 – You Are Enough… What My Dad Told Me
54:31 – The Brutal Cost of Running a Team - 5M KES
1:04:01 – Protecting Girls in Sports
1:09:47 - CHAPTER 3 - DEPRESSION, THE WAR NO ONE SEES
1:11:00 - Dealing with depression when you have children
1:17:29 – Early Death: The physical and mental cost of carrying heavy emotional burdens
1:26:23 – Sugarcoating religion for the majority: Owuor, Ng’ang’a and Kanyari
1:32:04 – Using meditation to survive the "rabbit hole”
Joy Akumu:
IG: / akumu_aduke
Lakeside Women's Basketball Club
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X (Twitter): @joabogato
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