UTU

Corona virus has got the world freaked out. It sent me down memory lane and I thought that that might be a nice excuse to get back here. I typed this in February on my way to visit my family and friends. Disclaimer: I like to write, or share, I am not and I don't even think I aspire to be a writer! Enjoy https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQDIFw_COUdt26CVIbUKJ9a_PNEuy9hNxw7InGsdg_Ww3NozsZvNHw3Jl2S1xsw_GzJ2ebPx7hIqveo/pub

Apondi peeps from behind the granary. She watches her friend Junta run to catch up with a group of girls walking to school, their bare feet skipping down the dusty path in excitement, their school bags swinging as they laugh and talk happily.  She could be with them, but not today. She does not know what to do with her blood. The insides of her tummy were knotting and scratching painfully. She had never felt like this. Why the pain? Why the blood? “I swear never to steal food from the pot,” She whispered to herself as another moment of an invisible hand scratched and knotted her insides. That was the only feasible explanation for the 3 day pains she’d had and the red stain on her school uniform. “Apondi!” someone calls out. She sees her best friend, Atieno’s elder sister Junta, stop and turn towards their compound. She must have been delayed by their lazy mother. Atieno had told Apondi how for some reason her mother would get lazy and have either Junta or her other friends do the har

 I came to France in 2001, wrapped in the heaviest coat ever. Never mind that it was September and the weather was still quite warm. We dreaded winter and it was probably what we’d prepared for the most. It was the one thing I was sure I would have to confront. The folly of youth my friends! Insouciance at its best. I wasn't afraid. I knew I would miss my people but hey, we had all been dispatched to boarding school. Four years, locked up. I didn't mind the experience. The good thing was that you made new friends, and that your school friends became friends with your home friends. You became more independent. Parents didn't have to deal with rebellious teens every single day, not that we really rebelled. I mean, French teens rebel. I find this perplexing, given that they are basically the ones ruling us. So why would a dictator rebel? I am digressing. The point is, I didn't fear separation. So to France I came, got to the airport and My lawd the first shock. C

A mutant’s journey  The Road not taken. Robert Frost I never dreamed of being a teacher or anything really. I wanted to be an engineer like my father, and the key word here is father. But my Physics teacher told me I was pathetic. Not his exact words, but they may as well have been. He didn’t dislike me he just thought that I wasn’t cut out for it. The thing is we will never know whether he was right or wrong.  He wasn’t the first teacher to tell me I wasn’t good at something. In primary school, our Arts teacher advised me to drop Art as soon as I could (it was compulsory in Primary). He was right, I suck big time at Arts. My son could draw better than me when he was only three. Now that I think about it, could it be that the art teacher killed the artist in me? I doubt it! Even I am not able to that theory.  Anyway, after my Engineer dream was shattered, I decided I was going to be a lawyer or a shrink. I didn’t need any help shattering my lawyer dream. How you may ask, L

History American stand-up comedian M. Che once had me in stitches when he spoke of his mother struggling financially. She didn’t tell them that she couldn’t afford stuff she’d say things like” What! You got a D? You aren’t getting anything for X mas”, this would be in March and the punishment would last several X mases. (I have of course noted the gist of the story not the exact words). Well my folks and his mum had that in common. Dad would rarely tell us about his financial situation. Once in a while he’d say stuff like “Tell your mother I don’t have any money”! But that, I assumed was him refusing to give her cash or telling us to go easy on the food. Usually it was food related. My father whom I love very much had an” intéressant ”  “ way of doing things especially when dealing with us. But like most kings/ authorities he had a weakness, an Achilles' heel, or a Magere’s shadow or a Samson’s hair. Same myth different cultures, Luanda Magere belongs to the Lu

UTU . Why UTU ? Why now? Because there’s never a perfect time for such things, that’s why. Because it is the little things that matter. Because one needs to make their first step at some point. UTU begins in Gem, because Gem is my Genesis. Most Kenyans identify with their tribes and country side, in short where their paternal ancestors last settled. In my case, my parents are Luo/ Jokanyanam, and our roots are around Lake Victoria. No, we didn’t give it that name, a British explorer did. Our people called it Nam Lolwe. We use our region as an identity.  Example: my dad is Jagem (Yala /Uyonga) and my mum is Nyar Alego (Masumbi). Ja = man from. Nyar is the female version.  Gem and Alego are the “larger” areas. Consequently, I am Nyar Gem, Yala or Nyar  Uyonga. How I met your mother! In matters destiny, my granddad wasn’t dealt the best card as a kid. He was the second last born son, and was orphaned right after his fifth birthday. He was dragged across t

Destiny, choices, fate, privilege, entitlement! Intimidating words, conversations that are hard to have, I seem to thrive in such. A friend once asked me whether I like to provoke people and " Don’t I fear the repercussions? "  No, I don’t say, or in some cases post, these things to provoke people, I do because they are on my mind! I guess I don’t really fear the repercussions because my intentions are not to annoy people but to, you know, get us thinking and talking, preferably out of the box and our comfort zones. These are intertwined topics that I think and read about, and research on almost obsessively. Why you ask? I have a theory I don’t know how right it is but here goes! I don’t like to define myself or people. I believe we are and should remain fluid. Plus, we go through different things in order to survive or flourish we need to adapt and change. But having said that, there are boxes we can’t really change. My box I am a dread locked female