Selam & Hello

Lilly Bekele-Piper

Selam & Hello is a show featuring stories of joy and justice from Africa and the diaspora. Produced in Kenya for global audiences - Selam & Hello curates conversations on identity and culture that inform, entertain and uplift.

  1. 4d ago

    A Potato for Every Child: Dr. Dinah Borus on Food Security & Africa's Most Underrated Crop

    More than one billion people eat potatoes every day. Yet this familiar crop is often overlooked in conversations about climate resilience, nutrition and Africa's food future. This episode is Part 2 of Living with the Land, a Selam & Hello series in partnership with the Australian High Commission in Kenya. Lilly speaks with agricultural scientist Dr. Dinah Borus, widely known among farmers as "Mama Viazi, "about why the humble potato may be one of the continent's most practical tools for addressing hunger and climate change. Kenya grows potatoes primarily for its own people, with most of the country's harvest consumed locally rather than exported. For Dr. Borus, that makes the potato more than an agricultural commodity: it is a locally grown solution that can strengthen food security, support farmers and feed communities without relying heavily on global supply chains. She explains why potatoes are considered a climate-smart crop, but also sounds an urgent warning: the climate crisis is changing growing conditions faster than many crops can naturally adapt. Farmers need stronger seed systems, better research, improved storage, modern equipment and greater access to technology—but many African producers still lack the tools required to increase yields and reduce losses. Dr. Borus also offers a bold and memorable idea for the continent's school-feeding programmes: "a potato for every child." Could nutritious, locally produced potatoes become a regular part of school meals while creating stable markets for African farmers? In this episode: 🍠What makes the same crops in the US-Kenya-Australia both similar and wildly different? 🥔Why more than one billion people eat potatoes every day 🍠What is changing faster: the climate or the crops? 🥔Why potatoes can be part of a climate-smart agricultural future This episode is part of Living with the Land, a special series from Selam & Hello in partnership with the Australian High Commission in Kenya, exploring the people and ideas shaping the future of agriculture across Africa. About Dr. Dinah Borus: Dr. Dinah Jeruto Borus is a senior agricultural scientist whose career has focused on sustainable agriculture, agribusiness, postharvest solutions and climate-resilient food systems. Known to potato farmers as 'Mama Viazi', she has spent more than two decades advancing potato and sweetpotato value chains across Kenya, Rwanda and other African countries. She has held leadership roles at the International Potato Center and ICRAF and now works with the National Potato Council of Kenya. She also serves as the World Potato Congress International Advisor for Africa and Programme Chair for the 13th World Potato Congress in Kenya. Selam & Hello is a Pan-African storytelling platform where Africa and her diaspora come to think, reflect and be heard. Learn more: National Potato Council Kenya: https://npck.org/ World Potato Congress: https://wpc2026kenya.com/bio-dinah-borus/ Australian High Commission Kenya: https://kenya.highcommission.gov.au/ Find us: https://linktr.ee/selamandhello #SelamAndHello #LivingWithTheLand #AfricanAgriculture #FoodSystems #ClimateAction #AustraliaInAfrica Follow Selam & Hello: Instagram / / selamandhello YouTube / @selamandhello / @selamandhello Website https://www.selamandhello.com/ Email us at: lilly@selamandhello.com producer@selamandhello.com Music Credits: Selam & Hello Jingle by Silas Piper All platforms @silaspiper / / @silaspiper

  2. Jul 28

    LIVE! 2026 Nairobi LitFest: Mothers Loom Large

    Recorded live at the 2026 Nairobi LitFest on Mother's Day. What do our mothers give us beyond life? Language. Courage. Silence. Resistance. Sometimes even the freedom to choose a completely different life. Lilly Bekele-Piper sits down with three of today's most celebrated international writers, Safiya Sinclair, Dr. Nick Makoha and Lina Meruane, to explore the complicated inheritance we receive from our families and how literature helps us make sense of it. The conversation moves far beyond motherhood into identity, migration, feminism, memory, faith and the responsibility of telling difficult truths. It begins with a deceptively simple question: why is literature uniquely able to hold contradictions? From there the panel reflects on language as technology, poetry as medicine, and writing as an act of survival. In this conversation: 📖 Mothers as our first teachers of language, imagination and identity ✍🏾 Writing memoir versus fiction, and why truth matters 🌍 Migration, race, and becoming someone else through displacement 🤎Motherhood as choice, expectation and political identity Featuring: Safiya Sinclair, award-winning poet and author of How to Say Babylon. Dr. Nick Makoha, Ugandan poet, playwright and founder of the Obsidian Foundation. Lina Meruane, Chilean writer, scholar and author of Against Children. Hosted by Lilly Bekele-Piper This session was supported by the Open Society Foundations' South-to-South Initiative and the British Council's UK/Kenya Season 2025. Selam & Hello is a Pan-African storytelling platform where Africa and her diaspora come to think, reflect and be heard. Find us: https://linktr.ee/selamandhello Email: lilly@selamandhello.com | producer@selamandhello.com More information: - NBO LitFest: https://www.hayfestival.com/nbolitfest - Book Bunk: https://bookbunk.org/ - Open Society Foundations' South-to-South Initiative: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1015010532&gbraid=0AAAAAD8I51aAC9lgxa5iY18T9CB_eY5tS&gclid=CjwKCAjwpqHTBhAcEiwAj2Afug7iT-hlaeiLoZJmcFQK4T_AromoOZ_fOV6ygAdgBC7jKjbcUX7CUxoC0zYQAvD_BwE - British Council's UK/Kenya Season 2025: https://www.britishcouncil.co.ke/uk-kenya-season-2025 Music Credits: Selam & Hello Jingle by Silas Piper All platforms @silaspiper / https://www.youtube.com/@SilasPiper

  3. Jul 21

    Inside Lilly's Afro-Modern Home

    (This episode is a special collaboration with @African Interiors. FULL episode can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83vTSspY7jg&t=627s) What makes a house feel like home? Today, Lilly welcomes you into her Nairobi home, where Ethiopian heritage, Kenyan life and Pan-African design come together to tell one family's story. Lilly reflects on identity, belonging, creativity and why the objects we surround ourselves with often become the keepers of our history. From handcrafted furniture and family photographs to Ethiopian coffee pots, Senegalese glass art, Malian textiles and contemporary African artists, every room reflects a life lived across cultures.  In this episode: 📚 Why books are the heart of this family's living room 🌍 Blending Ethiopian, Kenyan and Pan-African design traditions 🧵 How heritage inspired the creation of Amina, Lilly's Pan-African textile brand ❤️ Why Nairobi has become home while Ethiopia remains the heart's home Thank you to African Interiors for inviting us to share our home and the stories behind the objects that have shaped it! Selam & Hello is a Pan-African storytelling platform where Africa and her diaspora come to think, reflect and be heard. FOLLOW LILLY BEKELE-PIPER Selam and Hello podcast:     / @selamandhello   https://www.selamandhello.com/ FOLLOW AFRICAN INTERIORS African Interiors on YouTube:    / @african_interiors   African Interiors on Instagram:   / african_interiors   CREDITS Producer: ‪@african_interiors‬  Host: Lilly Bekele-Piper ‪@selamandhello‬  Director: Simon Wanderi ‪@s.m_wanderii‬ Director of Photography: Austin Morara ‪@UrbanTakesProductions‬ Editor: ‪@Fame.Fusion.Production‬  Colourist: Esther Magege

  4. Jul 15

    The Power of Food: Systems That Feed Africa

    What if the future of Africa isn't hidden beneath the ground—but growing from it? In this special episode that is part 1 of a series in partnership with Australian High Commission Kenya, Lilly Bekele-Piper sits down with one of the world's foremost voices on agriculture and food systems, Dr. Agnes Kalibata. From transforming Rwanda's agricultural sector to leading the UN Food Systems Summit, Dr. Kalibata has spent decades helping shape how the world thinks about food, farming, and the future of our planet. Together, they explore why food systems are about much more than farming - and why Africa has an opportunity to lead the world in building a future that is more resilient, productive, and sustainable. In this episode, we discuss: 🌾 Why food systems matter more than food security alone 🌍 Africa's extraordinary agricultural opportunity—and what's holding it back 🚜 How farmers, not policies, should be at the center of agricultural transformation 🌱 Balancing productivity, climate resilience, and sustainability 💡 The innovations giving Dr. Kalibata hope for the future Throughout the conversation, Dr. Kalibata challenges long-held assumptions about African agriculture and reminds us that the continent's greatest asset isn't simply its land, it's its people, its farmers, and its capacity to innovate. Whether you work in agriculture, climate, policy, business, or simply care about where your food comes from, this conversation offers a compelling vision for what Africa's future could look like when food systems are designed around people, opportunity, and resilience. This episode is part of Living with the Land, a special series from Selam & Hello in partnership with the Australian High Commission in Kenya, exploring the people and ideas shaping the future of agriculture across Africa. About Dr. Agnes Kalibata Dr. Agnes Kalibata is an agricultural scientist and globally recognized food systems leader. She is the Founder and Chair of C4Impact Advisory Group (https://connect4impactadvisory.com/), former President of AGRA, Rwanda's former Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, and served as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit. Her work has helped improve food security and livelihoods for millions of farming households across Africa. Follow Selam & Hello: Instagram / / selamandhello YouTube / @selamandhello / @selamandhello Website https://www.selamandhello.com/ Email us at: lilly@selamandhello.com producer@selamandhello.com Music Credits: Selam & Hello Jingle by Silas Piper All platforms @silaspiper / https://www.youtube.com/@SilasPiper #LivingWithTheLand #DrAgnesKalibata #AfricanAgriculture #FoodSystems #ClimateAction #FoodSecurity #WomenInAgriculture #SustainableAgriculture #AfricanLeadership #AfricanInnovation #SelamAndHello #AustraliaInAfrica #FutureOfFood

  5. Jul 7

    Culture Is the Circle | Katungulu Mwendwa

    Recorded live at the World Hope Forum: East Africa. What if culture isn't something we simply inherit but something we intentionally build? Fashion designer Katungulu Mwendwa has spent her career living that question. In this special episode of Selam & Hello, Lilly sits down with Katungulu Mwendwa, founder and creative director of Katush, for a moving reflection on identity, belonging, creativity, and the responsibility we carry to future generations. Drawing from her journey as a Kenyan designer, new mother and storyteller, Katungulu unpacks a question that has shaped her life's work: "Who am I culturally?" From growing up in Nairobi between multiple cultural influences, to rediscovering traditional craftsmanship through Akamba artisans, to reflecting on what her own son will inherit, Katungulu explores how culture is not simply preserved through beautiful objects but through relationships, rituals, community and shared creation. One of the most powerful moments comes as she describes weaving alongside women from her ancestral village, realising that "culture was not the basket. It was the circle." Through shared tea, prayer, conversation and collective problem-solving, she reframes culture not as nostalgia, but as participation. In this episode: What colonial history means for African identity todayWhy African fashion is about process, not just aestheticsHow motherhood transformed Katungulu's understanding of legacyWhy culture is built through community, memory and participation About Katungulu Mwendwa: Katungulu Mwendwa is the founder and creative director of Katush, a Kenyan fashion brand known for blending contemporary design with traditional African craftsmanship. Her work has been featured in Vogue, CNN and Forbes Africa. She collaborates closely with artisans across Kenya to celebrate heritage while reimagining it for today. Our theme of "Culture as Joy, Power and Source" runs through all eight speakers at The World Hope Forum: East Africa, including Donica Merhazion, Kevin Mwachiro, Omer Eltigani, Iona McCreath, Yonas Tadesse, Njoki Karu, and Lilly Bekele-Piper. If this conversation resonated with you: 👍🏾 Like the episode 💬 Tell us in the comments: What does culture mean to you? 🔔 Subscribe for more conversations celebrating Africa's stories, ideas and people Selam & Hello is a Pan-African storytelling platform where Africa and her diaspora come to think, reflect and be heard. Follow Katush: @katushnairobi | www.katushnairobi.com Find us: https://linktr.ee/selamandhello Follow World Hope Forum  https://www.youtube.com/@worldhopeforum3695https://www.worldhopeforum.com/https://www.instagram.com/worldhopeforum/?hl=en  Email us at:  lilly@selamandhello.com producer@selamandhello.com  Music Credits: Selam & Hello Jingle by Silas Piper @silaspiper  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTJMBigciZgiSLzagdsFYLw #SelamAndHello #AfricanPodcast #AfricanIdentity #CulturalHeritage #WorldHopeForum #AfricanFashion

  6. 08/19/2025

    Kabi's Next Cup!

    The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent the official views, positions, or policies of the Australian High Commission Kenya. Selam & Hello has partnered with the Australian High Commission as they celebrate 60 years of partnership with Kenya for this special series: Saying the African Part Out Loud! In this final (and wonderfully fun!) episode, Lilly sits down in studio with Nyokabi (Kabi) Kuguru, founder of Mount Kenya Coffee. With roots in a multigenerational farming family in Nyeri County, Kabi is carrying forward her grandfather's legacy while forging new connections between Kenya and Australia. Armed with two master's degrees from the University of Sydney—in Public Health and Digital Communication and Media—Kabi's path into coffee wasn't the obvious one. But through heritage, passion, and purpose, she is building Mount Kenya Coffee into more than a brand: it's a platform for storytelling, cultural exchange, and community. In this episode, we explore what gave her the confidence to enter a demanding global coffee market, what she is learning from farmers in Kenya and roasters in Australia, how she defines success, and the beautiful advice her grandfather shared with his grandchildren. Kabi also graced the studio with Mount Kenya Coffee beans, and as she and Lilly enjoy a hot cup, they wrap up with a lively game of kahawa ama chai to discover her true favorite! Pour yourself a cup and tune in to this warm, insightful conversation about coffee, culture, and connection. Follow Mount Kenya Coffee: Website https://www.mountkenyacoffee.com.au/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mountkenyacoffee_auLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkuguru/ Follow the Australian High Commission Kenya:  Website https://kenya.highcommission.gov.au/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AusHCKenyaInstagram https://www.instagram.com/aushckenya/X https://x.com/aushckenya Follow Selam & Hello: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sselamandhello/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGmO35TpU1jj2fGlzFQwLgA TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@seovelamandhello Website https://www.selamandhello.com/  Email us at:  lilly@selamandhello.comproducer@selamandhello.com  Music Credits: Selam & Hello Jingle by Silas Piper Production by: IR Studios

  7. 08/12/2025

    The Body & The Blueprint

    The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent the official views, positions, or policies of the Australian High Commission Kenya. In the second episode of the 'Saying the African Part Out Loud' series with the Australian High Commission Kenya, Lilly sits down with Hemanshi Galaiya — Kenyan bioengineer, social entrepreneur, and PhD candidate at the University of Queensland — to explore how science, identity, and purpose intersect. From her early days as a self-proclaimed "nerd" in Nairobi to earning global recognition as a 2024 finalist for the Global Student Prize, Hemanshi's journey takes us from being the first person in her family to pursue higher education to her current research in biomedical engineering. She shares her thoughts on why representation in science is about more than having "a seat at the table" and her philosophy for creating lasting systemic change. We also dive into her award-winning social enterprise, Young Stripes, which brings frugal science and hands-on STEM education to children as young as four — breaking down barriers and sparking curiosity in the next generation of Kenyan scientists. Hemanshi offers hard-earned lessons on starting before you're "ready," the art of fearless networking, and scaling social impact sustainably. Whether you're a young changemaker, an educator, or someone curious about how science can drive equity and environmental sustainability, this conversation is packed with insight, heart, and hope. Follow Young Stripes: Website Facebook  Instagram LinkedIn  Whatsapp X Follow the Australian High Commission Kenya:  Website Facebook Instagram X Follow Selam & Hello: Instagram YouTube TikTokWebsite Email us at:  lilly@selamandhello.comproducer@selamandhello.com  Music Credits: Selam & Hello Jingle by Silas Piper Production by: IR Studios

  8. 08/05/2025

    LIVE! Now & Next: Caleb Maru Curates Code Across Continents

    The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent the official views, positions, or policies of the Australian High Commission Kenya. To commemorate 60 years of diplomatic partnership between Australia and Kenya, Selam & Hello has partnered with the Australian High Commission for a special three-part series: Saying the African Part Out Loud! In this inaugural episode, host Lilly Bekele-Piper is joined by Australian-Ethiopian tech entrepreneur Caleb Maru, founder of Tech Safari—Africa's largest tech newsletter and a rapidly growing media, events, and community platform reaching over one million people monthly. Recorded live at iHub Nairobi with a vibrant crowd at their Creative Community of Practice, the conversation examines the conditions driving successful tech ventures across the continent, whether stronger capital, policy, and/or talent is most needed the Continent's tech ecosystem, the pros and cons of AI's development in our mother tongues and why failure is key to any tech entrepreneur's success. Caleb shares fascinating stories and insights from founders securing major investments, unpacks the pressures of "launching to survive," and offers his forward-looking view of the milestones that will define African tech success in the next 15 years. This episode offers timely, thought-provoking perspectives on African innovation and how African tech leaders are shaping the industry 'now' and creating what is 'next.'  Selam & Hello extends its appreciation to the Australian High Commission Kenya for its support in making this series possible. Special thanks to: iHub Nairobi, Creative Community of Practice, Collins Manaseh, Selina Jamayo, Hesketh Wines and The Wine Box Kenya. Follow Tech Safari Africa: Website Facebook Instagram LinkedInX Follow the Australian High Commission Kenya:  WebsiteFacebookInstagram X Follow Selam & Hello: Instagram YouTube TikTok Website Links from the episode:  The Diaspora Debate: Should African Professionals Return Home?Expatriate As a Service: The streets say you need a white co-founderThe rise and fall of Africa's first UnicornThis table raised over $100M to build Africa's future and its just the beginning  Email us at:  lilly@selamandhello.comproducer@selamandhello.com  Music Credits: Selam & Hello Jingle by Silas Piper Production by: Voomantics Kenya

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4.9
out of 5
56 Ratings

About

Selam & Hello is a show featuring stories of joy and justice from Africa and the diaspora. Produced in Kenya for global audiences - Selam & Hello curates conversations on identity and culture that inform, entertain and uplift.

Information

  • Creator
    Lilly Bekele-Piper
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    121
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Lilly Bekele-Piper
  • Show Website
    Selam & Hello

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