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ABOUT RAIN AKAI FOUNDATION
OUR VISION
RAF Alliance believes that art and creativity are essential to initiate social change. We use various forms of artistic expression to inspire and bring about social change by incorporating safe and inclusive frameworks. RAF Alliance is specifically geared on destigmatizing mental health in Black communities.
OUR MISSION
RAF Alliance aims to achieve its goal by developing and executing social and cultural projects and programs to promote mental health advocacy, decision making, innovation, community engagement and more enhanced shared citizenship responsibility.
Our Team.
Meet the dedicated team behind RAF Alliance who dedicate their craft and lived experiences daily. We practice self-love and empathy to foster social change by creating conversations about mental health, based on personal experiences. We denounce systemic racism and operate our professional lives unapologetically.
OUR STORY
The inspiration for RAF Alliance comes from the founder's personal experience with mental health and her passion for community-building. Melissa Nyamushanya – better known as Rain Akai – migrated to Canada as a refugee from Zimbabwe in 2001 with her family at the tender age of seven years old.
As an impressionable Black woman in the diaspora, talking about her mental health was considered taboo in her South African community. Being a suicide survivor, Rain Akai’s songwriting and singing not only helped her connect with people, but it also saved her life. Rain Akai is passionate about suicide prevention and avidly advocates for Afrocentric mental health care. Too often then not, the red flags and symptoms of depression can portray differently to those who identify as Black which makes it to seek services until an accident or tragedy occurs. Rain Akaï will continue building safe spaces like the La La Land Gala to #breakthestigma and #breakthesilence by use of art and conversation.
Through Rain Akai music journey she has been able to find healing and finds strength empowering those around her by sharing her own lived experiences to build resilient communities in spite of difficult circumstances. In November 2019 Rain Akaï became the recipient of the Changa Youth Achievement Award for her determination and strength to excel despite the barriers she has faced. As an artist she uses her voice to inspire and empower youth to transform our generational conformities, through advocacy and engagement. Her authenticity and transparency navigating the diaspora as a first generation immigrant from Zimbabwe is common. Her story is not just her story but is one of many.
To honor our stories that rarely get told, our struggles, our resilience, our triumphs as Black women—recognizing our vulnerabilities and strengths, in different situations—Our team began to work together to establish a safe space to talk about topics such as intergenerational trauma, mental health and inequality. Through RAF Alliance, they have found a way to use their voices to be the change they want to see. We hope to create a lasting impact for our families and future generations to come locally, globally and normalize the mental health conversation.
