It is very hard to find pristine spaces in our cities and towns
Let’s Think Creatively and Cause a Sanitary Towel Revoluntion
I really can’t get this issue of sanitary towels out of my head, yesterday my boss challenged me to think beyond a quick fix solution.Yes we all can give a part of our salaries to buy a few towels per month, but does that really deal with problem at the root? What if a time comes when we are not to give the money?the project stops?and what happens to the girls? it would be so difficult for them re-adjust.
It is imperative therefore that we think of a sustainable ways of sorting out this problem because it affects all of us. And we cannot deal with it from an emotional response. I invitate your suggestions on how effective we can be in dealing with this challenge once and for all.
Pretty Wings -By Maxwell…..I sing this song for a trully special someone
Time will bring the real end of our trial
One day they’ll be no remnants
No trace, no residual feelings within ya
One day you won’t remember me
Your face will be the reason I smile
But I will not see what I cannot have forever
I’ll always love ya, I hope you feel the same
Oh, you played me dirty, your game was so bad
You toyed with my affliction, had to fill out my prescription
Found the remedy, I had to set you free
Away from me to see clearly
The way that love can be when you are not with me
I had to leave, I had to live
I had to leave, I had to live
If I can’t have you let love set you free to fly your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings
Your pretty wings, pretty wings around
I came wrong, you were right
Transformed your love into like
Baby believe me, I’m sorry I told you lies
I turned day into night, sleep till I die a thousand times
I could have showed you better nights, better times, better days
I miss you more and more
If I can’t have you let love set you free to fly your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings
Your pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings
Your pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, pretty wings
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Pretty wings, your pretty wings around
Read more: Maxwell – Pretty Wings Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Our Attempt
I might have said some things I didn’t mean. And you might have said some–you didn’t need to. Makes me wonder if that was just the heat of the moment or maybe simply it was the moment of truth. For strangely enough, I thought about it all, way after we said all those brief and insane things yet so bravely muttered.
Wasee nichangieni doh za shule!!! Help me go to Amani Institute!
Who am I?
My official name is Naomi Wanjiru, my alter ego is lonesomebounty. As lonesomebounty, I tell stories through performance- dance, acting, singing, playing instruments- and written words. I have been telling stories since I was a child. My mother famously tells the story of how as a baby I would be fond of crying. She tried all sorts of medicine thinking that perhaps I was in pain. Finally she had to take me to the doctor, who pronounced me healthy. But why was I crying so much? My concerned mother asked. The doctor laughed and said that I was just trying to talk. I was telling them baby stories.
In 2006, I had just finished high school with two years of nothing much to do. I met Obilo Ngongo who was meant to show me how to apply for a scholarship to Japan to study engineering. My mother’s…
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My Nairobi Chronicles 3 (Julz, Jojo and Emma)
Tuesday 4th February, 2013
So I am still on my trip to Nairobi.This is my 4th day and it starts on a bit of a slow note but picks up as it goes along.
I start with a mid morning business meeting at the KCA Univesity with Victor, Kairo, Purity and her friend Joyce. Purity and Joyce have both expressed interest in the Clarity 4 D accreditation workshop that will be holding in Nairobi in a month’s time and they requested for this meeting so they can get to ask questions and get a better understanding of what Clarity 4 D is all about. I had recommended the training to them. I think an accredition in Clarity 4 D will hugely enhance their careers as psychologists and I hope they get the funds they need to participate in the workshop either together or send one of them. Purity is Joy’s elder sister and meeting her today is the closest I have gotten to Joy since arriving on Saturday. I know not whether Joy knows of my presence in Nairobi or not but as I said before that’s just how the cookie crumbled.
After the meeting I decide to go to Kenyatta University to sort out issues relating to my graduation, I am hoping to graduate sometime this year. My journey in pursuit of education has been a long and tough one. I have had make some huge sacrifices, I have made and lost friends. I have been made happy and disappointed. My heart has been broken and I have broken a few hearts. But I have taken it with courage, with patience and with hope and determination.There have been times when it seemed like I had reached a dead end and there seemed to be no light at the end of tunnel. I lost my Baaba just after the 1st semester of my 1st year in University and I nearly quit school because of the challenges that followed. But through every hill and valley and through every fall I rose to my feet, dusted myself up, stood tall before commencing the journey again. I prayed and believed in God and by his grace I made it. I am proud of myself and I am sure Baaba looks down on me with pride.
Kenyatta University has changed quite a bit since I had last been here. There are a couple of new buildings and some more under construction. There are a couple of changes with the systems too especially with the processses of clearing and pursuing missing marks. But the people sitting behind the service desks are the same old guys. Your typical civil servants from the Moi days.They will open the doors to their offices but you will hardly find them on their desks and if you do, they will be rude and slow sometimes not even a little bit helpful. And, as I predicted my trip to KU yields not much fruit but my resolve to sort out these issues is strong that I decide I will still come tomorrow and the next and if I can the day after that.
I am happy that I am able to meet Juliette (Julz).Juliette and I as I said before have a long standing friendship; in fact I should say a special bond. We have come a long way and it’s funny how fate always has its way of bringing us together when we least expect it even when we have been apart for so long. Juliette is a wonderful lady. she has fabolous outlooks and a charming personality. She is kind and humble, very level headed and mature. She is also disciplined and trustworthy (I can trust her with anything). I feel very comfortable around her and she and I are free with each other and we can talk to each other abhout anything. She is one of those few people who have the power to get me to talk at an intimate level something I have to admit publically that I am not very good at.She and I decide to take a ride to town together and on the bus we get talking. I tell her about my life in Zambia and about my job and just when I am coming back home. She tells me about her life in KU and just how little time she still has left in and her preparations for her Teaching Practice sometime this year.She seems excited about it and I am happy for her.
We decide to catch some lunch at a restaurant in the CBD and continue talking and at this point specifically about politics and in particular the coming elections. I admire just how much she is informed about politics and about the elections and it is no surprise that she and I have the same political views and we have preference for the same candidates in these elections.Too bad I won’t get to vote.
After lunch she agrees to come together with me to the PA-K office in Upperhill. I am going to see Joanne (Jojo) and Emmanuella (Emma). I have missed these two beautiful ladies so much. When I started working formally for the 1st time these two were my first colleagues and we built a wonderful relationship professionally and socially. We had so much fun when working together and I experienced a great level of personal and professional growth while working with them. For the time I spent with them and the things I learnt from them I am forever indebt.
Jojo is a gentle soul. She is beautiful both inside and outside. She is laid back kind and humble. I have actually learnt the essence of spiruality from her and she has proven to be a great partner in my journey through spirituality and I have a feeling she has had a similar infuence on Emma too.
I love that Emma speaks with a French accent. I think that is beautiful and she is beautiful too. She walks with an aura of warmth thats inspires happiness wherever she is. She is funny and friendly and most of all I had missed her laughter. There is something about her laughter that makes it irrisistable and it just warms your heart even when you are feeling low. I must have a funny story to tell her so she can laugh and I can love it. I have known and worked with Emma longer than with Jojo and it is Jojo who broke the ice between Emma and I and brought us closer. Before Jojo,Emma and I totally did not understand each other. She thought I was a snob and that I was too quiet and I somehow just didn’t find a way of relating with her. But thank God for Jojo we are now the best of friends.
So Jojo, Emma, Julz and I get chatting. Not about anything in particular but just a random chat one which friends would have to catch up. There is endless laughter and happiness and that is what I miss most when I am away from these three amazingly wonderful ladies. May God bless their souls.
I love you Jojo and I love you Emma and I love you Julz and thanks for making this day worth it.
26 of the randomest facts about me
So I picked this idea from my friend Ben who wrote 13 of the most random facts about him. I decided to outdo Ben and write 26 things that are least known about me which is twice the numbern of Ben’s facts.These are facts about me that you are highly unlikely to hear from anyone else. Do take note of the simple fact that this list is by no means conclusive.Here we go;
1.I can fluently communicate in 3 Kenyan tribes namely;Kikuyu, Kamba and Dholuo
2.I don’t know my weight or my height for sure.
3. I earned my 1st pay doing comedy with pilipili and Ndarling P just after finishing my class 8 (thats way back in the day, and I was the King of Mchongowano in my hood).
4. I have been to all the continents of the world except the Antarctica.
5.I make a terrible cook, in fact I prefer washing the utensils to cooking.
6.I am a ridiculously shy person, especially around women and I can’t play football.
7.I have a great phobia for rats, electricity and hot porridge.
8.For my 10th birthday, my grandad brought me a kitten which I named Elizabeth and kept her till she died at the age of 11 having given birth 6 times to at least 4 kittens for each round.
9.The highest score I ever got in all my Maths tests was 35% (I once scored a 1% when I was in form 1, don’t ask me how) and I have never found X in any of my Maths tests.
10.I prefer music to movies (in fact I think movies are overrated) and I would watch a movie with earphones in my ears.
11.I have recently fallen in love with gospel rock music. My favourite artists so far MercyMe, Casting Crown and Enya.
12.I have a huge collection of Kikuyu music from Paul Mwai to Ben Githae to JB Maina to John Ndichu among others with my favourite Kikuyu song being Agiginyani.
13.I only learnt the spelling for entrepreneurship recently.
14.I had my first house and paid my own rent in my 1st year of university.
15.In high school I had a huge crush on Jamila Mohammed and my heart was broken the day she got married and I stopped watching NTV for a while.
16.I have 59 shirts, 30 Vests, about 40 pairs of socks, 30 pairs of boxers, 8 T-shirts, 26 ties(which I hardly wear),and I brought 15 pairs of shoes to Zambia.
17.I bought my very 1st pair of jeans recently after pressure from my ex-girlfriend. I hardly wear them because I am not a fan of jeans.I think they are too conventional and highly overrated.
18.I am a terrific dancer but only a handful of people know this
19.My favourite beverage is tea
20.I know I will make some fine ass dad sometime in the future. I believe God for 3 children (2 girls and a boy) and I have names for them already even though I have yet to meet their mum.
21.My high school teacher of Kiswahili has never forgiven me for scoring a B in Kiswahili at KCSE.
22. I am currently learning isiZulu online.
23. I can recite Obama’s 2008 victory speech word for word
24.I wish to meet Nelson Mandela in his lifetime (or my mine)
25.I love politics and I will enter politics when I turn 40
26. I am secretly concerned that my best friend Jim is getting fat and will have a huge belly with time.
So there you have it just in case you needed to know.
Soul Reflections
I decided to compile a list of random stuff about me…I just thought of getting all up-close & personal on this post….here goes….
1. I absolutely cannot sing, even to save my own life…sometimes I catch myself singing & wonder who is doing all the off-key singing 🙂
2. I would survive on Marinated chicken any day.
3. I would love to have 2 daughters who look exactly like Faith does, we still haven’t agreed on the names yet
4. I dream at least 2 times every night, though I cannot remember a thing once I wake up 😦
5. I get very weird bouts of claustrophobia, sometimes I have to get out of the bus to catch some air…
6. I have a thing for Faith when she’s wearing high stilettos 🙂
7. One day I would love to travel the world, sharing the love of Jesus to those who…
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My Nairobi Chronicles 2 (In my Mama’s arms)
Sunday 3rd February 2013
I have longed to be in my mama’s arms;to feel the warmth of her embrace and the sqeeze of a loving mama. These are things only a mama can do and for that I am going home.To my mama.Mama is oblivious of my coming,in fact I haven’t told her that I will be coming home. My friends think I am being malicious and I agree to some extent but I really want to surprise HER.
And I know just the thing to do; today being a Sunday I will dress sharp (in a way I know mama would be impressed), and go to church. I will sit at the spot Baaba used to sit. I have noticed on many occasions before mama throwing quick glances at that spot. I bet in those moments she misses Baaba and today when she throws a glance I will be there, seated, smiling.
I am dressed in black linen pants and a blue linen shirt tailored in African design. I have also acquired a new bible and I will bring that too. I am swept in a wave of emotions in anticipation of mama’s reaction when she sees me. Will she be spiteful of me for not telling her of my coming?or will her heart skip a beat?. Well I will find out in a few.
I have missed being in this church. I have never in my life had this kind of experience where there is so much spiritual outpouring before God. The music is good and the worship does well to lead me closer to God. But most of my attention is on mama. She is so beautiful in her weave and a pink dress. Mama likes to sing her heart out and over the last 4 years since Baaba went to be with the lord I have seen her grow closer and closer to God. She has given her life to the ministry (albeit at a huge personal sacrifice of her family) and she has become a priest and a prophet over our lives. She lives a prayerful life and I feel safe in the lord because whenever she prays for us (her children) she mentions each one of us by name and just what eaxctly she wants the lord to accomplish in our lives. I believe I am what I am today because of mama’s prayers.
I can see her from the balcony. She looks unsettled, like something is on her mind. It is typical of mama to have things on her mind. She worries a lot, or may be she has a lot to worry about but I worry about her too.I want all the good there is for her. she has been the best gift to us for always and especially since Baaba has been gone. She has made huge sacrifices and she continues to do so and its propably what’s is on her mind right now. I know seeing me would make her happy and probably drive her mind from whatever is bothering her and I try all I can to make her look up to where I am. It is funny how things don’t happen when you want them to and today for some reason mama isn’t looking up. I try beeping her phone and even sending her a text but she just won’t look up. I will be patient even though I too am unsettled now wondering what could be going through her mind, if she could just look up and tell me.
Shortly the pastor takes the pulpit and I have hope that in one of those tell your neighbour moments mama will look up.Common pastor, allow us to even pinch our neighbours…..And I am not wrong because mama does look up eventually. Her eyes open wider as do mine, her smile spreads from cheek to cheek and she is fighting tears as do I, mine are tears of joy and I hope hers are too. Of course they are,mama’s eyes are like a window to her soul and I have learnt over these years to know her heart through her eyes.Neither her nor I pay attention to the message today. I can’t wait to get down there and have her wrap me in her arms and have me in a long loving embrace. Many months have I wandered, been through many hugs but this one has always been special and if I could leap over the balcony just to get down to where mama is I would.
Mama’s embrace has never dissapointed. It is in her arms that I am sure I will always find true love, given wholeheartedly with nothing held back. It is such a joy to be in her arms and both she and I don’t want to let go. It feels like home.
My first instinct is to take her to a supermarket and luckly there is one nearby. I have come to have my ways of knowing when she is worried about what she will serve her guests. I have never considered myself a guest in her home, but she has always wanted a kingly treatment for me and is something I have learnt not to fight with time. So my instinct is to take her to a supermarket and have her pick anything she wants to make for lunch. She is shy at first (as always) but I assure her I will pay for everything and anything she picks and within a short time she has done a month’s worth of shopping. I love this woman.
Mama lives in a simple single room in the neighbourhood of Kimbo Githurai which she shares with my babay sister Elizabeth and my adopted sister waithera. But this time I am met by a sight I least expected. Mama now shares her single room with another lady (I can’t remember her name so I will call her Mary) and her son Njuguna so together with my two sisters there are 5 people in my mother’s household. It is not unusual for my mum to open her door to her friends and host them when things go wrong for them. In fact I think this is something she learnt from my grandmother. But I say this here hoping that Kenyans would learn a very simple lesson from my mum and her friend Mary. Mary is Kikuyu and we are Luo. The rivalry between the Luo and the Gikuyu in Kenyan is a fact that is known world over and is pretty unusual that on an election year like this one a Luo and a Kikuyu woman would ignore all societal and political stereotypes and share more than just a small room but everything that comes with it. It means that when there is a meal they will share it equally with the children and when there is none they will share in the spirit and go to bed some even next to each other.
I understand that Mary’s sister also makes some to stop over and stays with them till late night just chatting and sharing the word of God. Mary’s sister’s daughter Njeri has also become a very good friend of my baby sister’s and I enjoy sitting there and watching them play their children games of making food for non-existing guests. Of important note is that Mary and her sister are staunch supporters of Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Alliance (which apparently is launching it Manifesto today at an event aired live on TV and we watch it together) while my mum is an ardent supporter of Raila Odinga’s CORD Coalition. But their political differences have not affected their friendship in any way. I am so inspired by this and wishing all Kenyans can see it.
We share a meal and they get me to talk about Zambia. Mama is particularly interested in knowing if I have already found a Zambian girlfriend or if she should start hoping for grandchildren.Liz is laughing at me cheekily that I have to explain why I haven’t gotten a Zambian girlfriend yet. Mama says she is praying for one. In my defense I say I havent been lucky to find one yet and that most of the girls I have met in Zambia drink alcohol a lot and that I have seen many women grow beard when they get old. But mama won’t have it. She says I can find a good girl in church at which point I promise to start being keen on finding one but secretly I wish she knew I am not interested.
Today, has been the climax of my Nairobi tour and I have had he most amazing experience but it is getting dark outside and I have to be on my way to my place. I don’t wanna let go of this moment but I have to.
Soul Reflections
Soul Reflections 