About Noela:
"My name is Noela Elidah Weramundi and I am from Nairobi, Kenya. I am a young 17-year-old enthusiast about love, science and life in general.
Writing, painting and drawings are ways in which I choose to express my feelings and thoughts.
I aspire to be an astronaut and an astrophysicist. One of the things I look forward to every day is making a difference. I want to look back and remember the fruitful life I have lived. I want to be remembered for what I did. To be quite frank, I look at life with a Love point of view. The law of entanglement is my favourite law. If I must say. I believe that we are all interconnected and that there is no bigotry in Love. Being accepting of one another despite our unending differences is a personable experience that we should all adopt."
I have been doing my research for the last three years on the origin of locks and I have deduced that the origin remains ambiguous to this day. Some theories suggest that locs originated in Eastern Africa, and others suggest that locs originated in India.
Have you ever wondered why locs are referred to as “dreadlocks”?
One theory suggests that the term “dread” came to be when the British Colonialists gave this name to the MauMau Freedom Fighters’ hairs which at the time were locked.
Regardless of these reports, one thing that unites all of us in this loc community is our roots.
Prior to me locking my hair, I had always been fascinated by these commonly called “dreadlocks”.
Globally, more and more people are locking their hair. Locs, if maintained, bring out, especially in Africa, the fullness and thickness of our 4C African hair.
It goes beyond the intertwining of the hair strands. It is a way of life. Among the Rastafarians who proudly wear their locs to symbolize culture and religion, the majority of Reggae Artists, both modern and traditional, wear their hair in locs because that is a symbol of culture that will live on through generations to come.
Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs, Mikey Dread and Sugar Minott are a few of the reggae artists who gladly have locs and continue to inspire those in the Rastafarian community.
Despite the richness of locs in History and Culture, why is that, in my school, I cannot be accepted with my locs because it is not part of the “dress code”? Why is it that folks with locs are not given equal and fair opportunities because our hair is locked?
Why is that locs are only accepted in the Entertainment Industry?
We are so underrepresented in the Scientific and Corporate communities.
DeAndre Arnold is a very recent example of the injustices that exist in the loc community.
He is a Texas student who unfortunately will be barred from graduation unless he cuts his “dreadlocks”, his school says.
I have proudly locked my hair and I am going to be the first astronaut and astrophysicist with locs.
To all Rastas out there, join me on revolutionizing locs from “dreadlocks” to “lovelocks”.
Thank you so much to Noela for this amazing, powerful piece.
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