Kabu Okai-Davies (March 21, 1960 – February 17, 2017)
Dr. Kabu Okai-Davies was born in Ayalolo (Accra) and had his formal education in Ghana, England, United States and Australia. Kabu studied Political Science, Philosophy, Sociology and Literature at the University of Ghana. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, he lived briefly in England before migrating to Newark, New Jersey in 1988. Once he settled in Newark, he enrolled at Rutgers University-Newark where he studied Theatre Arts, Film Production and Cinema Studies and at the New York University School of Continuing Education. After his studies, Kabu founded African Globe TheatreWorks in Newark (1992-2005) where he wrote and produced several plays including In Another Man’s Name, When A Man Loves A Woman and The Daughters of Le Roi-Jones. He worked as a resident producer at the Newark Symphony Hall and Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick while running African Globe. Kabu taught Creative writing and Film Production at Drew University and the New Jersey Governor’s School.
Kabu travelled extensively and visited several countries in Europe and Asia — Japan, China and Vietnam in 2002 where he visited a former University of Ghana classmate Pauline Adobor, who he later married. They began a long-distance relationship between the U.S. and Australia, got married in 2003 and in 2006, Kabu moved to Canberra. He furthered his studies by obtaining a Bachelor of Philosophy-Honours, Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing, and Masters in Creative Writing and successfully defended his doctoral thesis in Creative Communications, meeting all the requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy in Communications at the University of Canberra. At Australia National University (ANU) he obtained a Master of Studies degree in 2010 and was a Visiting Fellow at the University. He also holds a double Post-Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing and Political Science at Oxford University-School of Continuing Education, Exeter College in Oxford, England. His passion for theater continued in Australia. He worked with the Street Theatre in directing, acting in and developing plays. He produced Nativity plays at various churches with people from diverse ethnic backgrounds. He was also a motivational speaker at African Community Events in Melbourne, Townsville and Darwin, where he inspired Africans to aspire to great things and to help solve Africa’s problems. Kabu self–published a number of books and poetry collections including his memoir called Curfew’s Children, Long Road to Africa, Evidence of Nostalgia, Embers of Desire and Symphony of Words. He worked as the Manager of the Theo Notaras Multicultural Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Centres in Canberra and was Festival Director and Producer of the National Multicultural Festival in Canberra, ACT. Kabu passed away in 2017 of colon cancer.