Category Archives: General living

Critical Thinking, General living, Human interest, Profile

Running the good race

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I follow athletics more than the average person, I think. I can tell a rising prospect, a declining legend and an unexploited potential.

When I first saw Kiptum run at the London marathon, I knew he was special. It was only his second major marathon, and he was already the second fastest in history. In his first marathon in Valencia some months earlier, he had debuted under 2.02, the third fastest time, which was simply astonishing.

He went on to break the record in Chicago in his 3rd major race, at only 23. Who does that? Most marathoners, like Kipchoge, started on the track and transitioned to marathon in their late 20s.

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General living, Human interest

I just needed someone to pay some attention

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I wanted to leave immediately, but then we decided that we would have one more round of poker. I was sure that I would win this round, so I was getting my mind into it, mending one strategy after another, waiting for the next person who would say they were kadi alafu akule zake tano. The game was intriguing; nobody dared even sip a pint of water. We were all eyes until we got a knock on the door.

She was a pretty lady, probably in her mid-twenties, and she wore a dress top. She said, “Ni stima zimeenda huku ama? I was wondering, “Niaje kwetu kumezima tu.” We all shifted our attention to her, then she continued, “Oh, I’m Lorna. I’m sorry for disrupting you. I was over at my son’s friend’s house; they have a birthday party.”

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Critical Thinking, General living

Twenty twenty one

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On December 1st 2021, I met a guy I have known for a few months. I asked him about a project he was working on that he had mentioned to me a few months earlier. He had no response. To put it better, he didn’t want to talk about it. The project was one of his many fails of 2021. He was just glad that it was December which means that the year is finally coming to an end. “I just want this year to end, everything I have tried to do this year has failed. I have never experienced a worser year like this,” he said, shaking his head as he thought of how his goals for the year were ruled out by a callous and invisible referee.

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Another Good Story, General living, Human interest

Finding my self-esteem

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I would often find her in the office backyard, radiant, smiley, posing, absorbing snapshots of her life that unbeknownst to me, signified her transformation. I would never have understood. There was a time she hated her pictures, she has very few of them from her past and even if they are modest, she would never show them to anyone. Continue reading Finding my self-esteem →

Another Good Story, General living, Human interest

Nancy’s Voice Part I

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Five years ago, the world of Nancy Lugano was turned upside down. When you meet her, you cannot tell that she has undergone seven surgeries, lost her vocal cords, was told she will never speak again, had her teeth replaced, suffered severe depression and much more. Except for her low voice, Nancy is charming and warm, chatty and always ready to interact with people and learn more. Continue reading Nancy’s Voice Part I →

General living, Russian Stories

Remembering the siege of Leningrad

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When I was in my 3rd year of university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, I was required to do my final Russian language exam. It had been 4 academic years of studying Russian. One year before joining Uni and 3 years in Uni. As part of the final exam, students were required to write a paper on a Russian historical figure or event. Continue reading Remembering the siege of Leningrad →

Critical Thinking, General living

The Complications of Moi’s Public Apology

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The Late President Moi’s legacy is a complicated one, split between the good, the bad and the ugly. On one hand you have a man who attended church religiously, openly loved children, gave them free school milk, built schools and universities and did much more recognizable good. On the other hand, you have a man whose government had a torture chamber, who exiled people, enriched his associates through corruption and land grabbing and more that I might not know about.

There are different levels of Interactions with Moi. There are those who suffered or benefited directly because of his actions. There are those who suffered or benefited courtesy of their family members’ good or bad experience with Moi. And then there is the rest of us, who were affected positively or negatively by his policies and whose perception of Moi was mainly carved by the media and other people’s experiences of him.

Clearly his presidency and personality had many faces.

And what are we supposed to say when such a man dies? How are Continue reading The Complications of Moi’s Public Apology →

General living

A visit to Thogoto home for the aged

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“In life there are many challenges, and challenges are good, because when you overcome them you grow.” Those were the words of the last elderly man I spoke to when we visited Thogoto home for the aged in Kikuyu a few weeks ago. Slender, tall, constantly adjusting his belt, donning a yellow cap pulled slightly to the side, he cuts the figure of an old man still in touch with his youth. But the smoothness of the queen’s language that he speaks is something else.

He wanted to talk more but our time was over, all members of our bible study group were already out of the gate while I still chatted with the wazees. When I said to the old man that I had to leave, he asked me if I have a curfew.

I must have looked at him in a peculiar manner, prompting him clarify his words. “It’s like a curfew” he reiterated, adding that he didn’t mean a real curfew ‘but something like a curfew’. I can’t say that I completely understood what he was saying, and maybe that is why he wanted to continue the conversation.

“When you can come back, Continue reading A visit to Thogoto home for the aged →

Critical Thinking, General living

Gospel musicians or musicians who sometimes sing gospel music

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Opinion is colossally divided about what we have come to know as ‘gospel music’. There is a big concern that most of the new school kind of gospel music is not really about the gospel. Many argue that it’s about performance, showbiz, fame and money. The old timers, especially in church are particularly disturbed, they don’t understand the ‘perversion of the sacred’ that is going on. Even people who vaguely understand Christianity have an opinion on this.

But I think we need to take a step back and think about the definitions, which is where we got it wrong in my opinion.

In all other professions people go about their business without being labelled Christian, gospel or secular except in music. There are no gospel lawyers, gospel teachers, gospel doctors, secular engineers or secular writers. But we have gospel musicians. Why? Continue reading Gospel musicians or musicians who sometimes sing gospel music →