Why Despite The Grisly Stats, CHRIST IS STILL ON HIS THRONE.

This very night, Stealth Bombers from the world's top Armies, will bomb an obscure village, in the remote Tora Bora mountains Afghanistan, that posed no threat to world peace, back to stone-age. Kids will be torn to shreds, women will be dismembered and men will be skinned alive by radiation-fueled flames. The press will pick it up, and after days of consultations, the Superpower will acknowledge the bombing, terming the innocent deaths as 'collateral damage', and pretend to regret the occurrence. 

They will assert that, from their latest satellite beams, the village harboured armed and dangerous terrorists responsible for widespread terror plots, and hence their action. Never mind the fact that even if that was true, then the village needed to be freed, not made extinct. It will become inhabitable for the next millennium, and those who survive, will remain scarred for life, scars that no one can visibly see, except maybe from that distant, detached look the victims will give you when you go shooting that movie for Hollywood years later, wondering if that 'bird' that came one morning and dropped death upon them, came from your world.

Tonight, thousands of fetuses will be aborted by their mothers, who's role is to specifically do so for various Satan-worship orgies across the world. Thousands of three-year olds, will be sacrificed to Satan by demon-filled men across the world, in orgies too gross for description. The idea here being, the more the pain to an innocent soul, the more 'joy' for the fallen angels of death. 

These butchers will emerge the next morning, looking sharp in their blue suits, to make the next agenda for that multi-national company...even government(s). They will give lectures on morality, visit the sick in hospitals, even preach from blood-bought pulpits, and call people to salvation. They will instruct, correct, own and lead. Then they'll wait. For the next date.

Tonight, a new bus, straight from the assembly line, will somehow resist the commands of its driver, and plunge into a fast moving river, fifty meters below complete with its occupants. No one will survive, and momentarily the river will turn red from human blood. Flesh-eaters that no one has ever spotted before on the river, will show up and have a feast to remember. C.N.N will report it with glee and blame driver incompetence, if it has happened in the third world, but be quick to blame the weather if thethe massa has happened in the West.

The wreckage will be pulled out after some days, even though it could have been done much earlier, but the President was out of the country, and he needed to reap maximum political mileage from visiting the scene, so the damn mangled wreckage had to wait.

Tonight, a Volcano will erupt in some island with a funny name. An earthquake measuring seven point five on the Richter scale will bring down everything this impoverished nation has ever built in the last decade, and in an instant return it to early formative days. Millions of Dollars will be mobilized to bring back at least some level of civilization and sanity, with half of it ending up in individual off-shore accounts. 'Christian' organizations will join in the scramble for this new 'opportunity', raising millions of their own, through telecasts and sermons that have little to do with the real Gospel.

Tonight, another scandal will be unearthed. But many more will be swept under the rug. The world will make deafening noise over the one that is out in the open, not knowing that this is just a tip of the iceberg....and that if they were to know the real scale of theft and decay in their country, if they weren't so blinded by tribal loyalties, they would be too stunned to say a thing about their wilful slavery. Words will fail them, and they'll think the world is about to end, so the less they know, the longer their lives. 

Commissions of Inquiry(s), constituted by cronies of the perpetrators will be formed, and soon, their findings will be gathering dust at some ceremonial, system-created office with a fancy name, that has never intended to indict, leave alone prosecute, anyone.

Tonight, another disease will break out in Sub-Saharan Africa, and European Pharmaceutical companies will immediately give it a name to match this latest export off their labs, and hence new market, for their new drug. They will announce modest Profits in the End year results, a far cry from their actual windfall, most of it derived from the poorest areas of the universe. 

Well meaning medics will volunteer to go and die in these areas, as they stay true to their calling, and the mainstream media, being part of the machine, will cover their heroics, to show just how grave the situation is. But the cause of the outbreak will be discussed in hushed tones and will appear at the back pages of the large Dailies, to attract little or no attention at all.

The outbreak will die out when and if, some board-meeting convened in an exotic island, decides so, having surpassed their set monetary targets by about one Hundred Billion Dollars.

Hope;And Life.

Tonight, all we are going to hear is how bad things are. Good no longer makes news. And the news makers would rather concentrate on that which brings in more revenue. 

But tonight, an invincible army of Christ is out. Healing, restoring, creating from nothing. It doesn't depend on the mainstream media to move, nothing stops it, no barrier is big enough. Its as powerful as it is invisible. And its out. It has gone out to accomplish a purpose,and nothing is going to change that.

Dynasties will come crumbling down, and desperate men will be left groping in the dark for the correct scientific terms, that defied their numbers and logic. They will logically try to discern, but only succeed in drifting further from the truth. Yet the truth, stands right in front of them, and they would see it if they, for one moment, stopped pretending that they possess answers to every query.

Contrary to all that is coming out of every speaker, and every fancy forum and mouth-piece, evil isn't winning. 

"Everything, as you know it will end, yes. But on My Terms", Says The Lord. True,the future seems bleak, what with countries seemingly aligning themselves with their allies, anticipating a final showdown. Destruction comes with the loss of hope. The latter always precedes the former. Let no one lose hope, even with all these grisly headlines. Lest you accomplish their purpose. The more grisly the headlines, the more defiant The True Soldiers Of Christ ought to stand. Speak more faith, sing more praise, give more Hope.

Tonight, amidst all that, and much more yet to come, Jesus Christ, The Lord over all that is, and yet to be, The Son of The Living God, is as in total control today, as He was two thousand years ago. And before the very formation of the earth, over whose control they fight.

Be a true foot soldier. Enlist. Sign up. Take up arms. Choose sides with wisdom. Then go to battle. Confidently. For you have, s your commander, The one and only winning General- JESUS CHRIST, God's only Son.

Shalom.

MISS BELINDA BUTT - THE 'SOCIALITE'.

Hello. My Name is M'mugwika M'raini. And i  have nothing against you. Nothing at all. I am not anyone you'd look at twice. In fact, my background is bananas, nappier grass, cows, stray mongrels and more bananas. First time i saw a sky-scraper, i was twenty. And that was The K.I.C.C, Nairobi, where when looking up, i felt either the clouds were moving a bit too fast or the darn thing was coming down on me. I went to lower primary school barefoot, not because my folks couldn't afford decent footwear, but because shoes were outlawed in my school. My only encounter with a Boeng 747, which is how you travel Business Class to that social function in Singapore, is through the movies. I still don't know how to dine in five star hotels and i've never quite understood why a sane man will abandon the legendary spoon, for the other complicated stuff like chopsticks, folks and knives. I mean, if the idea is to only scoop my food, most of the times all I'd need is my bare hands!.

So you see. I would have no reason to harbor any ill feeling towards you. You are way above my league. But i do have reasons to believe that i own a brain that works pretty well. And save for a few mishaps here and there in my past ( And for which there is a perfect explanation ; one, Muguka , a drug/stimulant grown in my country or two, Senator Keg Beer, a brew that is made of whatever is left after they have made Tusker, i hear), i have not been known to walk around town minus my entire thought unit. And its from that unit, that i derive these few concerns that surround you and people like you. It's not my business, I hear you say, but in response, I'll ask to read on.

The Transformation.

First time they took your picture, and placed it in my weekend newspaper pull-out, i thought you looked beautiful. Your hair was great, even to a naive guy like me. Your teeth looked naturally healthy and that smile real. Even your out fit was stunning, if you ask me. You looked real, even believable. 

Then someone placed on you the tag 'socialite' and you abandoned the outfits for the skimpy wear that only falls short of revealing the unmentionable. But because, as i said, some of us may have functional brains, my imaginations are stirred every time they put your picture on my magazine or when someone uploads your video online, dancing (Funny how you dance..only your waist moves, and your audience plus the one with the camera, sits strictly behind you). But i've been made to understand that stirring our imaginations to near toxic levels is actually the intention here so, i should either shut my unsophisticated mouth or relocate to Mars. To Mars because i hear you've now gone global and there's no hiding from you. 

Even The Arab Royal families now invite you to grace their lavish birthday parties, i hear. And i believe it because, the other day, i saw you playing with a tamed lion in some Riyadh Palace, belonging to a renowned oil tycoon. Yet for all her philanthropic efforts, they never did the same for Mother Theresa. Or for Wangari Maathai, she who put her life on the line to save the planet, for a thankless human race. Its always you and that tall American, who walks like a giraffe with a knee handicap on a catwalk, Naomi Campbell. Yes. That Briton who's now Kenya's official tourism ambassador.

Back in the day, they would take your pictures from the front, just like the rest of us. But now they will only snap away if you turn, to reveal your ever-growing backside. And then you have to look back , or we wouldn't know who it is. Now all our girls have abandoned being photographed from the front, and they all do it while turning around, then looking back as if they forgot something where they are coming from. These things i don't understand. And i'll hold you personally responsible if any of our daughters dislocates her midriff, in an attempt to emulate you.

The Querries.

Many times i've heard people wonder why your skin keeps getting lighter. Or why your backside keeps threatening to break out, increasing in size every six months. And i try to make them understand that its no fault of yours, that for some people, some of their body parts keep growing in size, even after they've hit thirty. While other parts keep changing in complexion, like your skin. It happened to Michael Jackson, now its happening to you. Some conditions are only for the affluent, i guess. That's why to date, no such occurrence has been reported in Turkana, and which explains why the Health Department remains largely un aware of it. But these people keep saying that you actually spend a fortune making the changes yourself. Despicable people! 

But this is where it gets risky and hence my concern. Take a look at Dolly Parton. Am not saying the same is going to happen to you when you hit seventy like she has. Am saying its going to happen to you earlier, like in your thirties, at the exact time you want to make some babies, then and even Matendechere will take quite some convincing to come anywhere near you. So here i'll say this to you; go easy on the knife. If you are not being 'cut',like a true Mumiiru man, then avoid going under all these knives. You may accuse me of poking my nose in other people's affairs hivi hivi. Well, at least, its my nose and i run no immediate risk of having to collect it from the floor like Michael Jackson!.

'The Hators'

Then there are these men (And women) who keep asking what it is that you actually do for a living. They seem to be under the false impression that everyone needs to work, if they are not Paris Hilton. Or if their Dad isn't Charles Cooper, McClarens Team F1 owner. They assert that no one born in rural Msambweni can just have free tickets to every party in the world. Maybe its time you told them what else you do, apart from being a 'socialite'. So they can stop peddling all these lies.

Like when they say that if all you do to make the big bucks, is show up at some party graced by oil tycoons's children, then there is a name for that profession and its not nursing. That the profession is not even studied in any college in the world, even American ones, where kids will get a Distinction in English, then rush in droves to google, for the meaning of the word 'stamina', when it shows up in their presidential debates. 

But these are unpolished men and women who don't understand basic civilization principles, like outlawing ogling by men at women, then turning around and legalizing gay marriages...make it as hard as possible for a man to show interest to a woman, while only falling short of endorsing 'gayism', as the new normal. So maybe you should dismiss them with that word you use on all who fail to agree with your choice of weave ( Or is it wig ) - 'Hators'.  Not that i know who those are, no. Its just that you seem to throw that word around everything and everyone that doesn't toe your line. I liked the way you used it on those who were asking what University in this planet you went to, and who saw you there, apart from God and yourself. As if one can't attend university in outer space, if they have the means.

But here, i agree with some of their sentiments. I know nothing goes for free in this world. I know that no man gives a girl a free ride to Monaco to watch the Grand Prix (Something she knows nothing about, but will cheer every time their 'Beau' does so) in his 30-Meter yacht, expecting nothing in return. There has to be a way through which you pay for all those treats. And it can't be money, because these guys have more money than Djibouti's entire running budget for the next millenium. I may be from the bush, but still a man nevertheless and i know how our minds are wired. Even the Pastor is no exception if he is human. Its just that he's learnt not to do what his carnal male mind is instructs him to do. 

But you see, the problem with paying these playboys that way (We both know which way), is if a girl with a bigger butt and lighter skin shows up, that's your cue to move. To Malawi. Because to them, you are a memento, a souvenir, part of a collection of sorts. You've been objectified, you are in a chess game and you don't even know the rules. The only way they win accolades from their peers is if they keep nailing the latest, the least used, the newest in their circles. That's why i chose Malawi for you, because that's the same place they are growing lots of tobacco and once they are through with you, you'll need it to, at least, roll your own cigars, a complete departure from the Cuban ones you held just a few years back.

So, Miss. Here's my unsolicited advice....get out while you still can. Quit 'while still on top', as they say. I know its hard but it can be done. If Size 8 ditched chanting lewd phrases on stage, which passed for music, for the pulpit, then surely nothing is impossible for a determined soul. Quit, because all humans hate slavery and that's what you've become. A light-skinned slave, with a Rolex watch. But you'll say, that's better than being free and having none.And you will do with your body as you please and those who have a problem with that 'can go hang'. (See?.I know all your phrases!). I disagree. At the risk of sounding all 'churchy'(Gosh!.He's going God on me!.Who does that anymore!?), your body is actually worth every honor and respect that God bestowed upon it. You are simply the custodian of it, it doesn't belong to you. 

He loved you, so He gave you the honor of seeing to it that its well taken care of. Do it and all shall be well. Ignore, and you'll have an expiry date, just like all consumable goods on the shelf. And the one who sees things about you which no one else does, the one from whom you can't hide all your pain and tears, which you privately shed in that gold-themed apartment in Burj Khalifa's 160th floor, will guide you home, gently, with his loving eye. He'll welcome you home with a smile, erase your past in a flash and usher you to a place, a level,where all the lies and the 'smoke-screens' will only appear as a tiny, little dot, in the far horizon.

Good Luck, Ma'am.

YET ANOTHER DAY GONE- KENYAN YOUTHS WAY.

Its a beautiful sunny day. Days like these had better be well spent. If you let these kind of days pass you by, you might just remember them later with regret. But i'm the smart type, so i know what to do. I'll put on my best clothes, and head to town. That Man United jersey always impresses. Once in town, i'll get down to 'hustling'. Hustling means, getting Muguka on credit from Mwas, and some cigarettes from Kiaba, also on credit. How i'll pay them back, i don't know. A real hustler never wastes time worrying about small, small debts. Besides, mwanaume ni madeni. In fact, once this herb kicks in, i've got solutions for the global warming, The Brexit debacle and The Corona vaccine issue. Its as simple as that. So you worry if you feel like, am not joining you down that road.

Building Castles In The Air.

Am now seated by the road side, my Muguka neatly arranged and things are beginning to change right before my eyes. Its now noon, but i would care less about time, if this feeling is anything to go by. All the issues that were troubling me before, begin to evaporate, as i imbibe more on this wonder-drug from Mbeere. I'm beginning to wonder why i was so worried about this month's house rent, yet i'm now a landlord, with houses in every town of Kenya. Hell, i even have a mansion in Brazil, where they held the Olympics the other day. What i don't understand is why i never made the trip there, so i could watch Bolt bolting and obliterating the field in nine seconds flat. Or so i could house the Kenyan robbers in blue suits, masquerading as the athletics team officials, then knock the NOCK out of them by charging exorbitantly.

A bus from Mombasa is speeding past. I wonder how much they have made today. See, its time i caught my bus's crew in the act. I've always suspected they steal a fortune from me. From my ten buses, plying the Mombasa-Meru route, i wonder how i could only manage 50 million in a whole year!. It has to be more. Time i switched to Choppers, if this keeps going on. Because a chopper doesn't need a road to reach its destination. Besides, i can always build an airstrip in Timau, where i own a hundred acres of land. Not that my choppers will need the airstrip. No. Its the Cessnas am worried about. Two, i've already acquired, three are on the way coming. By the end of the week, the proud owner of five Cessna aircraft. I can literally see the clear Baite Air Travel writing on their tails. Which reminds me...

See this very morning, my wife was going on and on about some cash she needed. I had nothing on me, so i sulked, took my jumper and walked out. But now looking back, i don't understand how i could have been so blind. Because, all i have to do, come tomorrow, is walk into the nearest bank, ask for money, then walk out. Hivo tu. I now believe that all banks will want to lend me some money. Sometimes they'll even forget to get it back. Everybody wants to do business with a high end businessman like me. All i have to do is make up my mind on the amount and voilaa!,its done. But i couldn't have thought of that genius of a solution in the morning, because i had just woken up and was as sober as a judge.(Judges are sober and they still haven't nailed that Asian,three decades since the maverick leech milked the country's coffers dry?). See, it takes one 'bag' to get my mind running, two to move it into full throttle mode. Then, and only then, will everything just fall into place.

What i don't understand is why with each passing day, i seem to be getting poorer. I've built Malibus in Miami, alongside Maina Kageni's. I've bought and sold apartments in high rise skyscrapers in Chicago. I've cleared squatters from my thousand acre ranch in South Africa and sold it to the government, so they could build a soccer stadium. The state of the art Soccer City, to be precise, where Iniesta scored that goal that sunk the then fancied Dutch, and won Spain the world cup in 2010.Whether the rumors doing rounds, that all those stadiums S.A built for the tourney have now turned to white elephants, is none of my business. A real business mogul sells, forgets instantly and takes off the next day. I've banked proceeds from my secret Congo gold-trade in a Swiss Account that the best money laundering sniffers wouldn't sniff if they took all year sniffing. All that as i sat by the roadside, chewing this wonder drug, muguka. So i don't understand why with each passing day, instead of the Gucci shoes am supposed to own, my left shoe keeps looking like my right one. And vice versa. Now even the big toe is threatening to break out and it doesn't seem to be joking. I can't figure out where all the deals i make disappear to, on the onset of dawn. Or why in the morning, all i seem to have is my matchbox, with a stubbed-out cigarette inside. This is puzzling and i better get to the bottom of it, before it gets to the bottom of me.

The Reality Blues.

Its been a while since this habit kicked in. A decade, to be precise. Give or take. I have better things to do, than to keep counting my own mistakes. And rather than listen to all the hot-air being peddled by politicians left, right and center, i imbibe on this stuff and then i can make my own promises, get my own stuff done in record time and with my own kind of precision. They all come trooping back, the politicians, to the village after every five years with more promises to the youth .Frustrated, some of my age mates headed east, to fight their own country, hooded like sore thumps. Some came back, some never did. Those who came back, now roam the shopping centres like zombies, directionless. And the cops take them in for kicks or when bored. And hope, for them, is gone,s ame way the zeal to live did.  Though i didn't head East like they did, i did something similar;- i tore my voters card to shreds, mixed it with my herb, then chewed it. That's how i keep getting certified crooks for leaders, having eaten my only remaining weapon.

Time to head back home is nigh. And because i've spent the whole day doing nothing, i'm headed home with nothing. The crushing feeling of reality is gradually creeping in. Its the most fearsome feeling ever. It attacks you from all corners, leaving you feeling empty and worthless in its wake. I hate this feeling, i hate the truth. But its here, and Mwas can't be of any help now. Its time to face myself, time to soak all the lies in. There has to be a better life than this, but i don't know where to find it. And as i lie in bed, counting the iron sheets above and, in my mind, painting them in the process for the millionth time this year, i realize the bitter truth. Its all a sham. Its a hoax, made real by some twigs. Its the adversary's way of keeping you rooted at the exact same spot, year in, year out. Time i ditched the adversary. Time i switched sides. Time i joined the winning side, God's side, if He'll have me.

But for now, i turn to the wall,s wallow hard and shut my blood-shot eyes. Because for me, this, is yet another day gone.

GROWING UP: Our Way.

At some point, we were all young. And probably even good-looking. Back then, no one would have made us believe that one bright morning, we were going to wake up, look in the mirror, then go back to sleep again, in shock. Because staring back at us, would this wrinkled bloke with a white beard, who looks like something that someone dug up from the backyard. Then we'll realize that we are now all grown up, even ageing. Then we'll wonder just how the years have come flying past.

This age comes with strange new behaviors. We'll suddenly start waiting for the most silent matatu, yet just a few years back, we'd nudge closer to the booming Kenwood speakers. We'll start wondering why there's all this hullabaloo about some guy called Demarco, yet all the Jamaican Ragga criminal does, is yap on and on about some woman's wriggling bottom. We'll smile less, and start finding the nine o'clock news very interesting, when just a few years before, we'd do rounds in the village instead, hunting for the damsels. Men will develop that beer belly, and start wearing funny jackets to church. To church, because that's the only place that is open on a Sunday morning, thus offering them refuge, as they seek to flee from their teenage kids, who've now turned the home into a recording studio.
The ladies will find themselves belonging to all these Chamas and church groups . They'll be looking forward to the meetings, so they can eat sweet Mandazis, drown in bottles of wine and complain about weight. They'll even probably ditch the knee-high skirt for the garbs that fail painfully short of concealing the toes.
When that age hits, nothing will make you understand why a sensible young lad has chosen to drop his pants to his knees to reveal his backside, dye his hair like Chris Brown and adopt that walk that the hyena tried and failed. We'll start conversations with age-mates we've never met with the phrase "Kids of today!", for the other party will most likely also have something to say on the same, and just like that, new bonds are established.
But we conveniently choose to forget that, even as we find the young lads irritating, someone out there had to bear the brunt of our own growing up trends. The only difference is in how we executed our ploys, how we went about "being cool". Let me give you a small glimpse of our growing up days.

Growing up...

As little boys,we served it rough and had it served even rougher back at us. We played brutal pranks on each other, and looking back, i think the judiciary should have been more involved here. Like when we'd place pieces of broken Nacet razor-blades on the ground as we sat around telling stories , then invite you to take a seat. Looking back now, i think those who fell for this prank, had every right to prosecute, for one's backside would be grossly shredded. In the absence of the razor-blades, we'd place hot coals of charcoal, and cover them up with a little dust. You'd sit, then your shorts would be burnt and you'd let out the kind of scream that would cower a demon. There's nothing like burning charcoal on your soft backside.

If we wanted you to watch us play football from the sidelines, we'd carefully wrap a rock with old newspapers plus black polythene, then invite you to take the penalty spot-kick. Images of 'Ncabubu' jumping on one leg, while clutching the other in his hands (or whatever had remained of it) are still fresh in my mind. He hit the rock, split it into two and rendered his North-Star shoe irreparable. I don't know how many times his right leg was split into, if he could do that to a rock, but i seem to remember him in crutches afterwards, watching us play, exactly as we had wanted it. For the guy kept scoring for the opposing side. So a plot had to be hatched, a damage-control mechanism of sorts. To stop the guy, because he, being also a good fighter, nobody was willing to face him head-on. So ingenuity was used to take him out. And it worked.

Footballs drove us nuts. We'd even play on the dusty road, since speeding vehicles were hard to come by those days. And even when one showed up, we'd quickly retreat to the sides, stone it, then vanish. And the driver would hit the brakes, come out screaming obscenities to no one in particular ready to kill. Then he would look around and immediately realize the futility of bracing yourself for battle with an army you can't see, for we'd be nowhere to be seen. So he would just get back in his vehicle and drive off in a huff.Why we did that, i don't know. We should have been encouraging local tourism, I know, by welcoming all our visitors. We stoned their vehicles instead. We should have been arrested and prosecuted. Because these were pure acts of terrorism, which would earn you time in the coolers today.

Sometimes innovation would be awakened in us. Like when we made these four-wheeled wooden"machines", big enough to carry four to five suicidal boys. Then we'd carry the darned thing to the top of that hill, get on board, then have it roll downwards toward the stream(or river) below. Sometimes the wretched thing would disintegrate mid-way, and send us sprawling to the rocks by the roadside. Or it would successfully make the trip, with us screaming on board, only for it to end up in the river below, in what would easily pass for a real road-crash, requiring the attention of the traffic cops. But those were hard to come by those days, so we weren't really scared of the guys in uniform.

Sharing was taught at an early age.We'd mill around the boy who'd successfully managed to steal that sh.10 from his mother's pulse. How a loaf of bread, or Kaimati, would be shared between five to ten screaming boys. I can't tell you how, but each would get off with a piece, no matter how small. But when I say sharing,  I mean the same kind of sharing that lions practice. Sometimes it would turn tricky, if Matebe was present, because the kid always wanted it all. He's the reason why most fights broke out, and he'd always vanish with the whole loot. I hated him for that, and many times we plotted on how we were going to kill him, though am not sure if we understood what killing really meant.

On weekends we'd rise up early to go hunting for birds who's names we all knew. We possessed astonishingly effective home-made weapons, that would have shamed The Boko haram anyday. Sometimes we'd lay traps for birds, and end up with the wild rabbit instead. Need i say, that kind of a catch brought the boys' version of Christmas early . And it instantly made you a celebrity in our circles.

'The art Of Conversation'

Onward to high school. At Ikuu Boys, Chuka, we'd write love letters to girls in neighboring schools and painstakingly scent them. And if Bruce, our only source of perfume had ran out of it or wasn't simply feeling generous, a little Lifebuoy soap dissolved in a little saliva did just fine. I never heard anyone lament that the letters smelt of the bathroom, so the girls couldn't have been any smarter.

Then we discovered James Hadley Chase novels and all hell broke loose. I would read a copy again and again, while playing the goings-on in my mind, more like a movie. You protected a Hadley Chase novel the way kids protect their i-pads today. It was the only movie-theater I knew!.

It was then when we perfected the art of conversation because then, you actually had to physically meet your target girl, present your case, then wait for the results after a fortnight. Sometimes the results came, and sometimes you waited till you gave up. No matter how many borrowed jeans you'd show up in, some girls just didn't seem to budge.vMy first encounter was disastrous. No matter how hard i tried, words just wouldn't come out, for my mouth had turned drier than the Kalahari. Finally, when fed up, the girl drew something on the ground with her big toe and left. Still no words came out and after spending eternity rooted at the same spot, alone and motionless, i sauntered home to hug my pillow. And since it was mandatory that you report to your peers on every outcome of every date, when prodded by my gang, I had to lie to save some skin. But the chic had squealed on me, so the more positive I tried to make it sound to the gang, the harder they laughed. Bingi wouldn't stop laughing, and I was so mad at the girl i immediately started plotting on how i was going to commit my first murder. Eventually, my shame wore off and i moved on to my next 'conquest'.

Today, kids will meet a week before they move in together....Social media will have done the rest. And as they talk about their favorite soap opera on their first 'date' and discover that they like the same character, they'll deduct they have a lot in common and wedding bells will be ringing after a month. Then the world will be required to finance both the wedding, and the honeymoon in the Seychelles where some media house with nothing better to do, will screen their pictures on prime time news, as they play with the baby-crocodile. The same media house will stay mum on the split, sure to happen at the airport when they fly back. But the girl will have gotten herself pregnant in the brief 'marriage'and before you know it, she's posing for some magazines, published and read by her peers in high places, as she holds her 'baby-bump' and 'giving motherly advice to aspiring mothers'. With a mama like that, now you know why kids are calling their mothers by their nick-names.

Brotherhood.

If you come from my area, then chances are you had your own quarters, most likely at a certain corner of the compound. Some guys went a step further; -they would make their own "gate", for obvious reasons, to and from the compound. And because we knew our cows by name,and they knew us back, sometimes you would be sneaking in a girl in the dead of the night, only for the cow to start mooing on recognizing your gait. The more you signaled her to keep her big mouth shut, the more she mooed thinking that breakfast may have come in early. Then the old man would wake up to see who's milking his cow at night, only to come face to face with Gacunku, the first-born daughter of Salesio, his sworn enemy. These are the kinds of things that brought tension between youths of our time and our fathers.

Your circle of friends were entitled to your possessions, including your food. They would troop into your home pocketing and head straight to your quarters. And because the spot where you hid your key wasn't exactly a secret (almost always at some top corner of the door, or somewhere on the flower bed), they would let themselves in, eat your food, listen to your tapes and on realizing that the Eveready dry cells were getting sluggish, they would leave whistling, exactly the same way they came in.vAnd no one would call the cops on them, for your circle of friends was known to your family. Besides,at that exact moment, you were most probably at theirs, doing the same thing, so nothing to worry about...just another day in the office.

Anyone who acquired the prized 'Savco' jeans would be made to understand by his peers, that the acquisition did not belong to him alone. Each member of the group was entitled to it, if he could prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the damsel he's out to impress was a few social steps higher, and proper presentation would, therefore, be key.So Jordan would show up at Canisius home in search of a damsel, dressed in a black trendy pair and Chris would arrive in the afternoon, dressed in the same pair, in search of the younger sister. If the renowned lawyers daughters could tell that a single pair of trousers was being used to woo them, they never showed it . Maybe out of kindness. And these two guys won our admiration for making forays in such an affluent home.

But Leftie wouldn't play the sharing ball, citing skin diseases (A false accusation. We were actually a clean lot), and he was instantly blacklisted. That meant he could borrow nothing from any member of the group....in fact, the first thing i did the next morning, i repossessed my ruck-sack, as a sign that things could only get worse for him. No one could survive this kind of an embargo and, need i say, his resistance was short-lived. He, like Saul of the Holy Book, suddenly turned from fiercest critic, to staunchest ally. And for his troubles, we elected him 'treasurer', because, after all, he was the chief financier of almost all our 'habits'.

I have no way of bringing back those days. Once a second has passed, its gone for good. And clearly many have passed, since those beautiful days i've been re-living above. Here's a toast to all 'wazees' whom i grew up with, my age-mates.., Jordan, Baggio, Cloudie, Leftie, Mugash, Pauloo, The late Tonardo, The late Bingi (You guys went too soon. We miss you),  and of course, Mad Max, the best all round footballer that Kenya never had. There will be many, many more who'll remain unmentioned, but without whom, the 'color' of my growing up days would be tragically lost. It wouldn't have been the same without you guys, i salute you. And from behind my key-board, i am secretly sipping a toast to your honor because, for now it's all i can do.

Cheers,gang!.

TRIBUTE TO A FALLEN COMRADE AND SOLDIER-2.

I know its been six months,since that last letter.At least,from where i sit.I don't know what calendar you use over there,or if you use any at all.If a place is half as good as The Holy Book says it is,a calendar would be of no use to anyone.No one is awaiting their payday,having already received all their dues,no one is looking forward to that presidential pardon,because all are free and no one is waiting eagerly for that divorce hearing date,for all are married to Christ over there,the perfect one,the giver of all.So a calendar would be of no use to anyone.But down here,its what we look at every morning,because we keep hoping for a better day.There's always something we are looking forward to,and that's probably why we are never really satisfied with what we have.

When you were here,you kept making fun of 'political party hoppers',and specifically of that perennial defector from Juja,Stephen Ndichu,who back then had joined more parties in one year than all that had been formed since independence.He was never satisfied,wherever he went.Each time he lost,he would cry foul.He lived in so much denial that it almost cost him his sanity.In the end,he got so fed up,he quit politics for good and started his own church,a common trend with most political rejects,including one from my own area,who also doubled up as one of the system's most trusted assassins.I guess the name of the church must be "Church Of Christ Against Election Rigging Ministries",like Christ has anything to do with his own political failures.

Divided To The Core.

The bullets have not stopped flying around.Only the reasons for the same, have changed.Whereby we demonstrated over corrupt practices and injustice,today a section of the population will do the same because their tribal chief is out of favor with other communities of the country.On the opposing side, charged laymen will cheer their deluded,war-mongering legislator because when he sings war songs,in their drunken and ignorant stupor,they stupidly imagine he's defending their tribe.They are totally blind to the fact that even the little they have,will be all gone if the leader gets to have his way.That whom they should be shunning in totality,they cheer and celebrate,because their forefathers 'okeyed' it, in a snuff-sniffing meeting held by the edge of a forest,which they imagine is actually their tribal property because of its name.That's how low we have sunk,how divided we have become.The imaginary divide between people from 'The mountain region 'and 'The lake region',rather than thin,what with the enlightenment of the population,has instead, become more pronounced.The former feel more entitled to national resources,almost more superior.The latter feel they've been short-changed by the 'mountain-led' system,over the years and their time at the helm is long  overdue
But that wouldn't surprise you, because you were here when the perpetrator and chief architect of the biggest financial scam since independence,turned from villain to foe, to role model,complete with his own church in the leafy suburbs of Westlands.(Yeah,you are right..he of Asian descent,who for decades has ran rings around the country's judicial process with glee).

The art of stone throwing has been defiled.Its either people have lost their ability to take proper aim,or they don't know who the real target is.Because these days,they destroy all property around them,save for any establishment they imagine belongs to one of their own.Activism has lost meaning.It has been replaced by out and out rioting,with destruction in mind.Activists of yesteryear,who openly rejected bribery and impunity in its entirety, have now taken political sides.Even that prolific writer,who wrote about the naked king,and the perils of a leader who chooses to surround himself with stalwarts and loyalists,as opposed to thinkers and critics,has since taken sides.I guess he can barely remember why he wrote about the mountain eagle's re-birth process,a painful real-life process that happens up in the mountains,that he used then,to encourage resilience in the political arena,specifically for the then budding pluralists proponents.You will have trouble believing that he's actually singing the song of the same system he criticized and now his name is coming up in one major embarrassing scandal,that even the devil would have been too ashamed to touch.Back then,he would have exposed the scandal,shamed the thugs.Today,he's not only in the scandal itself,he's also the culprit's biggest defender.How a man can intellectually degenerate so fast in less than a decade,i don't know.But it has happened right before our very eyes,and scholars(specifically writers) who based their studies on him,now have to grope in the literary dark,directionless.

Watching that Rwandan documentary,of how in ninety days, close to a million humans were butchered,i see an uncanny resemblance to the build-up,back then...the thinly-veiled broadcasts on vernacular radio stations,the tribal meetings that pass for campaign rallies,the deliberate polarization.Its all there for all to see,but we keep walking towards making grisly headlines all the way to mars, with our eyes widely shut.Even professionals have abandoned their intellectual prowess to stand by their 'people'. And now my theory,which you literally mowed,then shot down,is actually beginning to make sense.That the reason we are a million miles behind Singapore and Malaysia is because we hold dear a useless addition-tribe.We have tribe,they don't.And where they do,they've thinned the differences,not glorified them.The only difference a man will see between himself and the next guy is maybe height,which they will make fun of,then get down to business.Here,we still carry identity cards that distinguish you from your brother from the other tribe.And just like that,your difference has been approved and sealed by the system,that has struggled to relinquish the colonial-era kind of divisive tactics.And with the leaders directly benefiting from this kind of community awakening,the hate is bound to go on.And that is the sad  reality that you didn't have to witness,you being in  place where there exists no differences.

Civil Rot.

You did lead a robust civil society,that the world took note of.And through your writing,many more were awakened in far-flung areas of the world.(By the way,The Dalai Lama, leading the Tibetan struggle half a world away in Tibet,admitted to reading and getting some inspiration from some of your works-a monumental endorsement).But that's where the problem is,because now i have to break your heart.The civil society,is no longer the spotless lamb,that you left.Its has been infiltrated by moles and porcupines with fiery darts.It now depends on politicians to thrive and is bankrolled by the system.You,know that's like dining with a rattle-snake,hoping to make the darn thing a friend.It no longer has the moral authority to criticize and pin-point flaws,however glaring and announced they may be.Because one false move,and all their underground deals will be exposed.So they play ball,sing the song.The reasoning here is by so doing,nobody gets hurt,everybody's happy.

But a country spirals to a banana state that same way.Loyalty is only good up to the point where it doesn't blind you nor cloud your judgement.A civil society that dines in State House every week,will feel indebted for the 'meals',and fail to ,say,educate the public on the blatant flouting of the constitution on various state-sanctioned errands.And we don't speak out like you used to,give what you gave,or even have the same zeal and determination.Even when an entire platoon,due to glaring technical military blunders were ran over by terrorists in the lawless Somalia,the civil society only half-heartedly sought for more clarity on the exact number of live lost.To date,the same remains shrouded in secrecy,and understandably so,because the embarrassment in military circles on the region's top military power-house(Or is it) would be most unwelcome.Am afraid this time all i have for you is bad news.But then again,can the world produce cheerful news to one who's already in heaven?. I guess that's like expecting for a sensible speech off the mouth of The Gatundu South Legislator,in his current state of decay-an impossibility.

Wheels Of Justice.

We did compel the painstakingly slow process of justice to move a little faster on the drunk truck driver who smashed onto Mr.Bean,and sent you to heaven before me.Though the company that owns the truck did their best to oil the palms of the judge,fear of the media and the uproar his acquittal would have caused nationwide, carried the day.The son of woman got away with seven years,after which he'll be back on our roads,having hopefully learnt his lesson.Forgiveness is a virtue,i agree,and it wasn't easy doing so.But i've now learnt how to make the best and the most out of everything,even if it means doing so at the expense of this thing called common sense.

I hope to be the one to welcome the guy by the prison gates when he's freed,for my desire wasn't exactly the punishment,but to ensure  admission of guilt and that justice is served.(No amount of punishing is ever going to bring you back,and none is equal to losing you). My point has always been,social status should have no bearing on serving justice,and no one should languish in the gallows because they couldn't facilitate movement of justice.If the legal system clogs up when the weak are lined up on the dock for failing to raise the few hundreds shillings fine for brewing 'chang'aa',then something is tragically wrong with how its being served.Contrary to many a believe,its supposed to free,not imprison,a society.Its supposed to enlighten,not muddle with people's thought process.Correct,not punish and teach new criminal frontiers.Those,as you liked to argue,are the fundamental flaws without which,a country is supposed to know 'it has arrived'.

I,this time,have much less to say,because i suspect with elections drawing closer and closer, i will have to write to you again soon,hopefully from the spot up your favorite hill.Snakes may still terrify me,but am not giving up your spot to them.I'll face them if and when they show up,for a snake can't tell when a man is so scared he's about to pee in his pants.(Even if i have to do it while hanging from a tree branch).

The wailing dog has since gone silent,and i find myself wondering why. Maybe it mourns you,maybe it too,had enough and went to dog's heaven.I don't know.But i'll let you know all about our favorite hill,your paths uphill and down hill(Why did you have to make two paths,to and from the same destination?),your 'desert spot' and your rocks.It still remains my treasured writing spot,where i get to really talk myself dry to my keyboard.

Your beliefs still influence us mightily and no one could have shown that better than your Mum,when she donated all 'proceeds' from your accident to charity,to the utter disbelief of the financial 'crocodiles and the hyenas'. You hated the 'i miss you' phrase and other hypocritical statements that are used by a materialistic world to 'smoke the cash out',so am not going to say it.Just rest knowing that we would be far more energized and focused with you around.And united against all the ills you fought so hard against.Watch over us,send us your help when stuck-we'll know its you.May the fire keep burning,in the life that i am in,and in the one that you are  in,for someday,they will meet and transform to one.

Once again pal,R.I.P. SHALOM.

Why Skinny MEN are Living A Disadvantage.

This club, to which i belong, is made up of men whose ribs you can count, no matter how many pieces of clothing they wear. We steer off the weighing machine, the way you steer off speeding trucks. Because we believe it's an invention specifically made to discredit us. See, we have eaten raw animal fat, drank molten lava, eaten the hind quarters of some fat pig, yet our bones keep protruding from the front neck area. And our backsides look like the entire area has been carefully carved out. Not many of you have any idea what we go through in silence. And when you speed past us, and we are blown off to the ditch, we calmly pretend its the slippery road. But knowing its the resultant wind.

We don't come out during windy days. Because of the comedy that is sure to follow us all day long. So we opt to stay indoors till the winds subside, thereby increasing our survival chances by a million. So after years of suffering in silence, today i will speak on behalf of all skinny men, worth their salt, because the constitution actually protects us, as much as it protects you. If you're driving along and you come across a skinny man being driven backwards by the wind, don't just go popping open your next beer can and laugh. Hapana. That's selfish. Go out of your way and help that club member get to their destination safely. I mean, if you can pull a stalled car whose owner you don't know,  how much easier would it be to pull us along. 

Ask all the Biblical men of faith, and you'll see they reaped blessings from blessing us. Plus, when you make fun of us, we lose more weight,... when there's really none to be lost.

The Hell That Is Dating

No woman wants to walk around with a skinny guy. This, in all honesty, is not only unfair, its outright cruel. I want to emphasize here, that just because a man is skinny, it does not mean he is skinny everywhere. Collective condemnation will get this world nowhere. If Michelle had dismissed the then utterly skinny Barrack, the way you ladies dismiss us today, who would have rescued the American gay population? Those who laugh at a lady because she's dating a man who looks like an inverted pole, make the assumption that the man is as useless as he looks. Please understand that looks can be deceiving, and no matter how malnourished a man may look, he deserves as much chance as the biceped one. Or the one with a bulging chest, like one of those pill-popping wrestlers.

Most ladies will take one look at us, survey us fro head to toe, frown, then click. Then she turns and leaves, making you feel like the Preying Mantis (I pity this insect-the male one), that's about to have his head chopped off and eaten by the one person you were trying to impress. 

It gets worse if your wallet is as skinny as you are. In this case, nothing short of a miracle would ensure continuity of your genes in this world. Yours will be a life of perennial starvation, and am not talking about food here. We suffer untold misery in this department. We are dismissed the moment a well-built man with half a brain shows up. Anger has been welling up inside us over the years over this blatant discrimination, and the moment Corona is done with its assault on humans, it will be our turn on stage. Because even when you manage to make a girl see beyond your bones, and she has to introduce you to your potential mother-in-law, that always turns out to be the worst day of your life. The mum will keep asking for the Guest, while you stand right in front of her. And when the girl points to your direction, the Mum will let out a scream instead of 'karibu'. A scream when all you want, is to get married. Disappointing because if this chance passes you by, you are done for and you know it.

Many times i have seen a girl i fancy and have tried to puff myself up like a puff-adder, by breathing in hard and pulling my arms outward slightly like a body builder, inflating myself . But am not a frog and i can't keep this look for good because its not real. The moment i breath out, the girl has already started looking for other options because staring at her, is this carefully arranged array of bones held together by thinning black skin, that looks like black polythene. Just like that, i am judged and dismissed as 'bure kabisa'. 

 'Picked On By Mr.Picky'.

Some guys have esteem issues. And rather than have them addressed by the appropriate authorities, they will pick a fight with us for absolutely no reason. Especially when they are in female company. Many times we walk into a social place, only to discover that its not so social after all. Because midway through that drink or meal, a well built man will walk over and accuse us of stepping on their huge toes. Or looking at their girl, the way a hyena would look at a piece of meat in the middle of the dry season of The Kalahari. And with that, the meal will have come to an abrupt end. Because the guy will pin us to the wall the way you pin a poster, while lifting us by the collar. But you see, a poster is not only flat, its also lifeless. Now, if you have to lift a human being the way you lift a poster, at least try to remember they are alive. And when they finally release you, to sprawl onto the floor, to the amusement of the lady for whom this show was all about, you can be sure our appetite for the next one week will have disappeared. Please note that our shirt collars, though they may look unusually flappy on our necks, are not handles or hooks on which you attach your dirty body-building paws. 

How do you expect a lady to look our way again, if you perennially have to subject us to this kind of free for all comedy?. How do you expect us to enjoy the free for all air, if every time we walk out, we have to keep walking around people, as opposed to walking past them?.
This treatment has to stop forthwith, because who knows, we may just put on some weight one day and come looking for you. Even though it has took Europe seventeen years of non-stop construction, to complete a 75 Kilometer 'bullet-train' underground tunnel under The Alps mountains (The world's longest), its completion has actually been done a year before the projected time, so do not rule out my weight gain that fast, just because i have been working on it for more than a decade. It may take long in coming, but rule it out at your own risk.

Ignored

Many times we walk into a restaurant and at the entrance the usher goes ahead to ignore us, the way you ignore something you can't see. Once inside,it gets worse. The waiter will choose to serve the bigger guys, totally oblivious of our presence. I am tired of all the waving and the whistling, as i try to catch the waiters attention. Even when he finally spots me, he will study me first, then instruct the trainee to come and serve me, figuring that I'll have a problem footing my bill. And that I'll leave no tip, seeing as i look like I'm the one who could use all the tips I can get.

So i have learnt to to accept trainees as my closest friends wherever i go. At the bank,  the teller will signal the security guard to attend to me, so she can move swiftly to serve the big guy behind me. That's despite having queued for an hour. And if there is pushing and shoving, that's my cue to take a seat. Because pushing and shoving against all these huge men, is like doing so against an unrelenting wall. If you are not Dj Soxxy or Eric Omondi, then please avoid being skinny. Its a tough calling.

Suspects.

Whenever we attend these functions you hold, please stop being ever suspicious of our eating habits. True, a hungry mosquito poses more danger to a sleeping human than one that's so full it can hardly fly. But we are not mosquitoes and if Nyama Choma has run out in the middle of a party, do not always keep looking suspiciously at us. Even our stomachs are kind of skinny so we eat in moderation. We pose no danger to any party and the groom should rest easy when we are spotted by the gate . 

All we are in search of, is someone who will look beyond the bones, beyond the ill-fitting clothes. Someone who'll actually take time to listen to what we have to say before releasing 'Simba', the dog, on us.

I will defend the skinny guy, till the day i put on some weight. When and if i do, i may still carry on with their defense. But i don't want to make any promise i can't keep, so let's just leave it at that . But the world would be a much better place if we went easy on stereotyping. That's what this has been all about. When you judge someone you don't even know, you do them injustice. And that's where i always have a problem with all those religious zealots out there. They will put silly tags on people they don't know, because they feel they are holier, better, more godly. Fine he's a drunk and you are not. But you are not them and you know nothing of where they come from, what they have to deal with or the reason they do what they do. If their creator still sees it fit to keep loving them,who are you to speak ill of them.

Maybe by pinpointing other people's flaws, we feel we have covered ours. Maybe its the need to crucify, as a way of avoiding our own crucification. Maybe when we accuse, we feel we have avoided being accused. I don't know. All i know is, we'd be better off without it.

Have a stereotype free day..! 

Why You Should Not Ignore That Inner Voice.

All of us will easily remember that time that we went against our gut feeling and ended up in tears. I say easily because we've still not probably forgiven ourselves ever since.

It's a real, small voice that tries to steer our decisions to the right direction, to the most profitable or beneficial option. Its not a shout, no. Its not like anything you've heard before. Its gentle, considerate and loving. Its sounds like its from a source that knows all there is to know about us. Its more audible than the loudest shout. And even though sometimes we are so fixated with our own reason and thoughts that we end up ignoring it, we can't really forget the moment it spoke. Because it seems to leave these lasting memories. 

And over the years, i have had reasons to believe that if one has the guts to follow it through, its rarely wrong. 

Its promise may take time to come, but if we stay the path, they always come to pass. And it always leads the safest option, where every risk and danger, is covered. But many times, like i said, we go against it and end up wrecked on the freeway.

'Smitten' Eligible Bachelor. 

You are young and you possess this very hot blood that your entire clan is known for.  You have a bright future and this is not a muguka-induced illusion. Not at all. You really do. Your first job rakes in six figures a month and before long,  you are known by your first name in all the city's top entertainment joints. Even the entertainment magazines have ran a feature of you, placing you firmly in some Most Eligible Bachelors top ten list, that no one ever asked you about. Ignore the fact that you probably have no intention of ever getting married, largely because you are suspicious of this wilful sentence that begins with a party.

But your new found status soon opens a ladies windfall and before long, you are trotting around with a half-black, half-white damsel with a strange 'accent'. That rumor doing rounds that she actually hails from Shamakhokho is neither here nor there. This is not only a complete departure from what your mama taught you, its also in direct collision course, with a small voice that keeps equating  you to a zebra that is dating a crocodile. You dismiss her insatiable appetite for wild parties as a youth problem that will go away by the time she hits thirty, but the small voice is constantly reminding you of an English saying that has to do with men digging own graves. And it's so consistent, that we might as well be talking graveyards here.

You ignore the voice as being the result of a naive and unsophisticated past, and before you know it, all her leopard-spotted underwear are hanging in your bedroom as she marks her territory.

By the time you hit forty, you are known as the guy who dozes at the bar counter, because you are too scared to go to your own home. The damsel has since transformed into a full grown dinosaur that hates pot-bellied men, of which you've now become. You remember the small voice you ignored and you order another beer because that's the only way you can avoid crying in public.

Ill-Fated Journey

Its been raining donkeys and horses. You know that junction near your home becomes impassable when it rains, because water from the nearby hills first converge there, before deciding where else to go. For some reason, something inside you keeps discouraging you from picking your car keys. Its a feeling you can't really describe, but you know its against your driving out, at that particular moment. But you go against it because you have to go get a hair-cut, and half-an-hour later, a break-down vehicle is spotted headed towards that deadly spot, because you are now in someone's farm.

You are wondering why you ignored that little voice, that red light, so to speak, because you have no idea how the car drove itself out of the road, past the barriers, and into a farm. Now you have to be pulled out, and because of you, Christmas has come early for the mechanic.
You can swear you heard a warning inside your head just before you was closed the door behind you, but you don't know from whom. You escape without any physical injuries, but i wish i could say the same about your sleek German machine. The moment you see it lifted up by those breakdown chains like a bull that's about to do the unthinkable, then pulled away, that same lifting and pulling motion is happening to your entire insides, because this baby did cost you both an arm and a leg. But you can't do much about the situation now, can you...

The Lottery Miss...

This betting game has been going on for ages. You are perfectly aware of the addictive nature of gambling, and for that reason, you have always totally stayed out of its way, the way a cat would stay away from mud. You have no desire of going to any rehab in this lifetime like some people you know, so you stay out danger. 

And you have successfully done so, until this day, when your chic urges you to pick the numbers for her, because she's busy cooking dinner. You remind her of your new year's resolve to stay away from gambling.  She picks the numbers, swearing divorce if she wins, never mind the fact that you aren't even legally married. A small voice tells you to pick the darned numbers one last time, but you dismiss it as a voice from the pits of hell.

A week later, you are sitting in the audience as your girlfriend makes her way to pick the giant dummy check, that introduces her as the country's latest millionaire, having won with the opportunity you let go. You want to cry, not because she's won, but because you actually had the chance in your hands. Now its the survival of the relationship that you are worried about, since common sense dictates that unless you become a millionaire yourself within the next one week, she'll be inclined to go in search of fellow millionaires , for only they can give her 'sound investment advice'. Birds of the same feather flock together, she will say, as she wheels her last bag out of your servants quarters. She's now become a firm believer of that and other English sayings that encourage women to 'step', if for no other reason, to be seen as 'strong, free and liberated', especially in the single women's gatherings.

And you are now painfully realizing that small voice wasn't from the pits of hell, after all. Only, its rather late for you now, because the lottery game picked its last winners the previous weekend, and it wasn't anybody you know.

The New Craze

The enlightened, of which you are one, are rushing in droves to invest in the quail, arguing its more profitable than that piece of small land in the town's outskirts. Every thing you have read in school is in favor of the land option and the small voice is screaming at you to ignore the Quail direction.

 

But you are a firm believer in 'hitting the metal when its hot' and you go for the quail, sinking in hundreds of thousands in it.
The piece of land is snapped up by an 'unwise' investor before you buy your first batch of quails and months later, no one will touch a quail egg with a plastic ten foot pole. The craze has left, exactly the way it came.

Because you ignored that small voice, the money is gone and now you have to subject your loving family to endless quail dinners, because there is nothing else you can do with your birds. You should have known you live in a country of one craze after the other, and after the quail, who knows, maybe its going to be time for the lizard, because of the medicinal value of its head, especially the yellow-headed ones, if boiled for exactly forty and a half minutes. I mean, if no one gives Loliondo, he of the healing waters fame, even half a thought anymore, then surely.....

You followed the craze, against advice from the tiny little voice, and now its time for you to pay, between your clenched teeth.

(And if this is going to make you feel any better, please feel free to substitute Quail with any bird, or wrong investment of your choice).

Wrong Turn.

This is most common among people who find themselves doing jobs they find unsatisfying, meaning they are actually the majority of Kenya's workforce. That morning the still voice urged you to wait for the School of Journalism intake, you ignored it and rushed off to the K.D.F recruitment because all youths in your village were turned on by the uniform. Besides, you had overheard that girl you had a crush on, express her undying admiration for the men in uniform.You mistook a brief obsession with the real thing, a crush for love. Now, a year later you are an unwilling soldier and no amount of training will get you ready for the battlefield. Every time you watch war movies, you suffer endless migraines, and its on record you actually peed in your uniform once, when they asked you to carry the Rocket Propelled Grenade to the Armory.  Becauseyou are handling arms, when you were made for pens and cameras.

Or the office clerk who should have been an athlete, but took a wrong turn at some point despite protests from the little voice. Now the sight of all office chairs irritates them and the sight of a computer key-board gives them an immediate allergy. Because they find it grossly repulsive. The thought of that office layout sends them on a binge of illegal substance consumption, because that's not their environment.

The ideal work-day becomes torturous because one bright morning, they chose something else over a gut feeling that would have led to peace and fulfillment. And it wouldn't have been, had they given it more thought, more consideration, rather than dismissing it with a cup of Keg beer, bought on credit.
 
The examples are not about to dry up. But i have to stop now before i irritate someone who ignored the still voice and is now living 'behind closed doors' of Kamiti or Shimo La Tewa, sending dumb texts to an enlightened public, that refuse to buy the cheap con ploys.

If i knew the source of that still small voice, trust me i would tell you. But many times, its the difference between success and failure, even life and death. Trusting your gut feeling, will sometimes make all the difference.

Sometimes it makes no sense. But its there. And you can't run away from it, even if you wanted to. Maybe its your guardian angel speaking, maybe its God Himself, who knows. Next time you have to make a choice, take time to listen to that small, pure gentle voice from deep inside you.

It may lead you to a treasure!.

FROM THE HORSES MOUTH-The Boda Boda Rider.

 I have been in this business for the last decade. I have seen all manner of bikes come and go. With their riders. The bike to the junkyard, the rider six feet under. Or more, depending on the mood of the grave diggers. Sometimes a fela's so unpopular, that the diggers will dig seven feet, instead of six, in case the son-of-a-goon decides to perform a 'grave-break', like Lazarus of the Holy book. I have learnt to keep my peace, to let you pass if you are in such a hurry, for many times i have done so, only to find the 'overtaker' mixed up with metal, only a few meters ahead. Then, they are wheeled back to the side they just came from, just a few moments ago. Only, this time it's in an ambulance or behind a police land-rover motionless. 

I have seen colleagues give their very lives to this business. I have seen others get theirs from it. By and large though, we have remained unappreciated through and through. We are suspects of every wrong-doing in the society. True, there will always be a bad apple here, and another there. Just like there will bad apples within the force created specifically to eliminate bad apples: - The police force. (My personal belief is, if the police force was made up of apples, by now they would have all turned to bitter lemons).

The collective condemnation we suffer is painful. Especially because on almost all counts, we are innocent. Look at the very selfless roles we perform for the society.

The Unofficial Custodians Of Gossip.

We have come a long way to usurp this role. When we realized that the Salonists were not very good custodians, we voluntarily offered to yank that role from them, on behalf of other peace-loving citizens. You could not trust the salonist with gossip. Because she would only manage to stay silent on a matter, as long as there was no other human being on sight. The moment one shows up, she'll spill the beans, plus the maize. She's directly responsible for breaking many a household. Because she can't keep her mouth shut. A salonist holding a new secret, is like a balloon waiting to be pricked. Having taken in maximum capacity. You prick her with a feather and she tells the whole world . She has this funny look on her face, imploring you to ask so she can squeal. Trust me, when a salonist has some new piece of gossip, she bulges on the forehead,  with the words 'inbox' blinking to a stranger from a mile away, begging to be clicked open.

On realization of that, we have officially usurped that role of gossip custodian. Taking the role from her hasn't been easy, though. But finally, after numerous attempts, i can report success. She did resist, yes. But we knew we were winning the moment ladies embraced the boda boda as their favorite means of transport. So then all we needed to do was win them over, get them to talk. Soon, they were offloading to us all that they used to offload to the salonist.

Now we know who slept where and with whom. We know whose house erupted into a wrestling match at night, moments after we dropped them off. We know which houses exploded into a full-blown heavyweight category boxing match, complete with the ear-biting technique, invented and perfected by a fading 'Iron Mike', back in the nineties, after dismantling all and sundry for over a decade.

 

We know who (And there are many) are battered by their wives. We even know of a man who has slept on the couch for the last one decade, having been served with a conjugal rights revocation letter before Corona swept in. These many things we know, yet we keep our mouths shut. We desist from spreading rumors unnecessarily because we are peace-loving citizens, who not only pay our taxes before time, but also pay more than is required of us by law. Willingly. We go out of our way, to ensure households remain as firm as a Captain bike, because we understand that a society that squeals on its customers, is a society hurtling down to Ubers. And no one wants that. Where everyone is driving their own cars, because they couldn't trust the Boda boda rider, that is detrimental to national growth. So we've embraced honesty. Our ears are open, every time of day. 

You will accuse us of not brushing our teeth and having foul-breath, but its actually you, who do almost all the talking. We simply offer a listening ear. So if anyone's breath is foul, it might as well be yours. But we don't tell you that now, do we. Ours is a listening role, a rather passive role.

Spare Boyfriends

This is going to hit men hard. But it needn't be so. See, sometimes the man is rather too busy in nation-building activities, that he'll need someone who can step in for him, in his other duties. Sometimes a man is almost always away in all these important functions, especially now that there is BBI and early campaigns. And every man's disappearance is blamed on BBI campaigns.

A guy will fly off to The Seychelles with his twenty-year old mistress, and still be assumed to be in some BBI conference in Kisumu. People who are this busy, need not be bothered with questions like why wherever he goes, network issues seem to follow them so that their wives can neither call nor text them. These kind of men need their peace. Or the economy of our country will crash. Our very lives depend on these men having their peace and having it well.

You do not want to disturb a man who is in a BBI conference that has gone on, all the way up to three in the morning. If he shows up, in those wee hours, with a hoarse voice, meaning he must have been the lead speaker, do not disturb him. That's how much this nation depends on him. 

So what we do, we offer alternatives for their girlfriends and spouses, for the sake of our country's economic goals, especially now that we wish to hit double digits, this coming financial year. So understand that most of these things we do out the love. Love that we have for the nation. Patriotism. That's the word. Friends, we have to work collectively, if we wish to move this country to the next level. And if anyone realizes that, it surely must be us, the boda boda riders.

And trust me, our armpits smell just fine. I mean, haven't you heard of the saying 'mwanaume ni kajasho'?. We don't stink as much as the media people would want you to believe . If we did, would our lady customers be holding onto us from behind the way they do each time we negotiate a sharp bend?. This is one of those lies that have been carefully choreographed by our business competitors, whom we are gradually driving out of business; -The Taxi car.

Voluntary Suspects

Ask the cops, then you'll know how much easier their work has become because of us. Because whenever there is a major crime, and the ill-equipped cops have no clue where to start their investigations, all they have to do is show up to our boda sheds, and pick a few of us up to "assist with investigations". Next thing you know, we are paraded to court for crimes we know nothing about.  But the cops will have scored big. They will have been seen to be working. We might later be cquitted over lack of evidence but that is neither here nor there. Then the cops can quickly resume their daily fattening routines and lifestyle before bars close over corona. Simple. Their work has become so much easier now, yet there is hardly anyone willing to give credit where its due. We provide ready suspects for crimes that are yet to be committed , suspects for assassinations yet to happen. 

We are the society's willing sacrificial lambs. We will keep playing that role because we realize, the role is not only a calling, it is holy.  Never tire of doing a good thing, they say.

Platform For Ladies To 'Tease'.

Look. You have been alive for three decades straight. You believe you are an attractive lady. Yet the only person who has ever looked your way, the way a man is supposed to look at a woman, is that guy who sells weed at the corner. And even he, did it once when stoned to high heavens. He's never quite looked your way again, despite numerous winks and suggestive overtures from your side. Now you are beginning to wonder if, from the moment you step out of your house, you turn invisible . Men seem not to see you. You've read that they are supposed to be dogs, yes. But they seem to very uninterested dogs, these ones. You've heard that will take anything to bed, as long as it is breathing. Well, anything except you. You are beginning to develop a dislike for them. Men and dogs, including the innocent chiwawa, that knows nothing about dating or the predicament you are in.

For these kind of ladies, we understand their pain. And we provide a perfect forum, from where they can display all their wares, as we zoom through town. Men will ogle and whistle, for the skirt has deliberately been pulled a few inches upwards. By the time she alights, the lady will have felt much better. It's s therapeutic, you see. She will have confirmed that she is not an invisible spirit after all, and there is still hope to nail herself a real man. She will sleep much better, and hope that the ogling continues even when she's on foot . 

Some women will be irritated by male attention, because they've never had a problem getting it. Others would give anything to have all those male dogs, seated by the wayside chewing green cud, to at least whistle, even disrespectfully towards them. You see, then, how helpful we are to such. We help restore her confidence and self-pride. And we ask for nothing in return.We don't even talk about it when we get back to the shed, no.We keep our mouths shut, only speaking when spoken to.

Punching Bags.

Some men have never had the privilege of giving an order all their lives. They have lived the life of a lion that can't hunt. They have had to watch events unfold, without having ever had a direct input to it. No one answers to them. The wife long 'grew horns', and no longer sits up when the poor bloke coughs. She doesn't even stir, because the hunter has brought nothing home.

But you can't keep blaming the lion for the annual wildebeest migration that leaves one section of the park without sufficient prey. Its the economy, not the man. But though battered to submission by the economy, traces of a lion can still be found in most of these men. But ladies don't seem to understand that, and will take very little nonsense from a man who's pockets have been plucked out.

So, whenever they can, these men take it out on us. They bark orders to us, the way they wish they were doing in the work-place or at home. Sadly, they the recipients, not the givers of orders. So we accord them the only opportunity in life that will make them feel better.We obey without question, save for a few occasions when they have trouble paying for services rendered and we have to turn them upside down, so their last few coins can trickle down. If we weren't there to receive this voluntary battering, who would such men to?. We avert untold psychological catastrophes, by being the uncomplaining punching bags.

So there you go. I hope from today, you will accord us some respect. Without us, you people would suffer untold misery. We willingly immerse ourselves in winter jackets, in the middle of tropical African weather, so your lives can be better. Do not blame everything on us. Sometimes we make our mistakes. But then again, so do you. We are an important addition to your lives. And we will keep volunteering for those roles above, and many many more that will best remain unmentioned for now.

But for now, i have to go pick up some damsel downtown, before she opts for the wretched User. 

See you around....

THE DAMSEL.

When she walks in, she has to bend slightly by the entrance door. Stoop, if you will. Or anything that an Ostrich would do getting through human-'measured' doors. She is that tall. Like Naomi. Or Tyra. If you don't know who those are, please go read some politics somewhere. Hatuko hapa juu yako.

The way she strutted along the array of tables, beautifully arranged, that Tsavo peacock you keep praising would have had nothing on her. Her head seemed to be floating, carried along by an invisible pole. Her face is expressionless. I guess all that make-up has wiped off all her facial expressions, my kimeru mind deducts. Sometimes I pity my Kimeru mind. It's thinking that her real face may be smiling, but the make-up one looking like Laila Ali's, on title defence morning. 

As our damsel floats on, you wouldn't know if she was impressed by her surroundings or just outright irked. She sweeps her eyes around, absorbing the sea of humanity, who's attention is now firmly rooted on her. It's the reason she's here anyway...the collective attention.

One of the Governors drops his glass of champagne from of God--knows-where, and there's no earthquake to blame it on. Wow. Wow, because you just have to admire the she timed her entrance. This chic walked in, even after all those who rode on all those motorcades, had sat down....a dignitary-aide's worst nightmare, cos the boss might just ask for her number na hauna. Taabu hii. Careers are on the line, and there's nothing like like the sight of twenty 'aides', each representating their boss, now at this strange damsel's fingertips, each trying to save their careers.

But she hasn't even finished her entrance yet. Her high-heels are sinking in with every step, because its been raining and water has found its way inside this huge, dignitary-filled tent. Don't ask me what i was doing inside a tent, with all these tables beautifully arranged. Hiyo itakuwa kazi mbaya...even I, may not know. 

But when she pulls out her heels off the wet ground with each step, she has to make this slight jump to pull them out, and all her accessories have to literally clap in unison...the jewellery, the 'unsecured' K.C.C, and the even more unsecured 'sitting allowance'. And I wished she could just keep doing that for eternity. But I can't stop my Kimeru mind from deducting that she really must come from Hawaii. See, all the movies on Hawaii that they've let us see so far in Meru, are on near-naked, beautiful, flawless humans on even more beautiful beaches. Not a single beggar, not a single poor bloke.....i must go to Hawaii.

Dancers...

The traditional dancers who came in before her, wore stuff that produced that same clapping and clamping sound that her modern attire is now producing. And I feel today, tradition and modernity is agreeing on something for once. See, there's a time, when they hadn't discovered all the clothing, that they wore everything. Now, they've discovered all the clothing, and they are wearing nothing. Tragic.

Human Bulb

She's shining all over. The clothes, that is. Shining brighter than the lights up in the tent's 'ceiling'. At some point i thought she looked like the International Space Center.Hii Umeru itaniua,haki ya nani. 

Then, half way down the tables, she stops.  Allher accessories protest at this sudden stopping of movement and they clang and clatter some more.  If you've worked in some mhindi cup-producing plant, then there's a sudden power blackout, that sound of machines screeching to a halt, take it and bring it here. Then she swings her eyes around, as if in search of someone to torture, and everyone is looking down with every direct stare. Then her gaze finally swings to my direction. I want to hide but that's like hiding from a giraffe in a grassland. I'm thinking...if she's been reading my thoughts all along, then my day with my maker may have just arrived. They weren't very nice thoghtst. I breath in hard, for she has started this forward motion toward me, sweeping all aside. Behind her you will find napkins and table-cloths, traces of mercury and all. She's in this gown that seems to be mildly magnetic, and is attracting stuff on it, only to release them after a few seconds. Being dressed for the occasion,she has this huge ribbon running across her shoulders to the waist, and which announces to all who she really is. She's some beauty pageant winner, something i know nothing about......

 

Be right back..

I breath a sigh of relief when she veers off my path, and heads off to this table occupied by these black men with curly-kit hair, and who speak like a million throat infections rolled into one. And who's description will not be expounded further, for my own, and others security reasons. And these men, having had earlier been frisked, and ascertained to be posing no immediate physical danger to anyone, offer our queen a seat, and she takes it with glee. Only doing so, i felt she's swang her midriff a wee too much, like its about to move out of place. Or like its where our eyes should be fixated on. But my other mind reminds me of my only business here, which is to mind no business.  

Then these dudes embark on this barrage of their strange language that no one can understand if you ask me. But because you haven't, we'll leave it at that. Even they.

This doesn't bother our damsel one single bit, because even though they are obviously talking about her, she understands not a single word, so that's their problem, not hers. Then the waiter shows up, and the damsel will not place her order, without first studying him from head to toe.Think of it as a grown Jewish man, being stripped naked by a lady Nazi SS Officer, at the gas chambers entrance at Auschwitz. See, the fela's shoes had definitely seen better days, and trust me there's nothing as degrading as a lady staring down at your torn shoes. It feels like a crocodile staring at you, as bathe naked in some river. It's the one flaw that you have, and is privately aware of, but can do nothing about, because of 'torn pockets'. You want these people to look elsewhere but the Damsel would rather pull everyone's attention to the one flaw you'd rather hide. My friend, the world is made up of unkind people, and you're realizing it the hard way.

To proof my point,....a waiter is required by law to, instead of shooting the Nairobi middle-class brood when they come for holiday, he must smile and pretend to love their drunken antics and jokes. So our waiter is fried, and social media will certainly not be on his side if this chic posts his photo online. And data-fed middle class will rush to her defence, and condemnation emojis will overpower the National Security traffic for a day. 

The damsel proceeds to place an order, after half an hour of scorning the menu material. And when she finally does it, the disgtuntled but smiling waiter leaves, butbut  can see smoke bellowing out of his ears even though on his face.

It would be another ten minutes before the waiter returns. He's shocked to find an empty seat. The men with the strange language are too engrossed in their hearty conversation to be of much help. See the damsel, immediately after placing the order, rose and strutted to another table, half a mile away, eyes firmly rooted at the dais. The waiter is searching frantically around for her, then spots the obvious give-away that would direct a blind hippo to you;- The shiny attire. Carrying his overloaded tray, he heads to her new location and places his load on her table. Just then, another waiter shows up and places his own load on the exact table.bApparently, The damsel, in her impatience, sent two waiters, though with different orders. Now sitting in front of her, is this huge party, not a meal. And when you look at her size, the irony sinks in. Modelling must be a costly business. Taabu hii...

There is a sharp bone protruding from her back, just below the shoulders. She's skinnier than skinny. Her skin seems to be the only thing that's holding her bones in place. Yet her one chance of putting on some weight is sitting right in front of her, and shes letting it pass. One false move and she would disintegrate into a million pieces of beauty pageants. But its her turn now, to wish attention away. She pretends to type away on her large gadget, (Again, hii Umeru itaniua), but even if you don't know what it is, you can tell its clearly off. But as she 'types' frantically on it,  like her life depends on it, you can almost read the words 'Baibe, uko waapy, wananicheki vybaya, come lock them up, from a million miles away. 

Both waiters stay put.  Eachone is trying his own 'karibu chakula dada', but the damsel may have turned deaf, for she pays them no attention.

When she finally raise her head to them, it's like her Majesty the Queen of Mongolia. Then she looks at the party before her, inwardly salivating. But you are not allowed to consume unhealthy foods, if you want to remain a 'queen' in the Modelling business. The other guests must be crazy, according to her, for looking around, everyone seem to be enjoying the hearty meal. To her, if the Cosmopolitan Magazine says African food is awful and unhealthy, a 'queen' worth her salt would be best advised to believe it. So she waves the food away, with a scorn on her face,bbut not before nibbling on each plate,bas if to ensure nobody else will touch it after she is through. 

She's been on this table for ten minutes flat, by which time she's managed to irritate all and sundry. Reminding me of the day 'Miss Kenya' showed up at the site of a collapsed flat, with flowers and high heels. As others were using bare hands to move blocks of concrete and steel away, she posed for cameras, with the collapsed site and crying family members as her background. She may have had compassion on the families trapped under the rubble. But you couldn't have told that from the flowers and the high heels. She was the most unwelcome sight on site, and the most useless as well, under the circumstances.

The damsel gets on her feet. The clatter and clang follow suit. Her heels are inches deep in this soft ground. She pulls her leg up forcefully, so that the other one sinks even deeper. Then she repeats the motion over and over again, all the way to the entrance, by which time the other guest have started clapping for her ironically, for having successfully navigated through the most difficult lunch of her entire life. Hii Umeru, kweli itatuua.

Thumps up to the Beauty Queen.

OF HABITS/AND ADDICTIONS-HOW TO BREAK LOOSE.

Many of us struggle on a daily basis, with habits we'd rather get rid of. Yet the more we struggle to break free, the tighter the noose seems to get. Some of us seem to have it all, like everything just fell into perfect place. We seem to have our act together, seem to be in perfect control. The sad reality, however, is the outward picture is as deceiving as a mirror that's broken right down the middle.
Many people will smile during the day, but cry hot tears once they retreat to their private abodes, once the door is safely locked behind them. Because despite putting up this macho individual for the public, deep inside, they are broken. Because that which they want to change about themselves, is actually what they seem to be doing more and more. Sinking deeper and deeper into it. Nothing can be more frustrating than that.

Some guys will shout loudest at the bar, but instantly transform to timid pussycats when they get home. Because the guilt and the desire to be different is greater when alone. The shouting was to hide or drown the desire to be different. Others will hide behind their pride, convincing themselves that everything is alright. But no one has ever successfully ran away from themselves, and soon the truth will hit home. Half of the hapless drunks and substance addicts in the allay, actually hate the situation they are in. They wish things were different, that they were living sober, focused lives. Others are sitting somewhere with their 'buddies' in a strip club, smoking Shisha to look trendy, but would give anything to be home with their kids. The habit keeps having its way. Later, frustrations set in and performance spirals downwards. They are struggling inside, but they look alright to the normal observer. I don't have an antidote for that. I don't have a solution either. But i do have my take on how to break free.

Learn To Hate The Habit.

Let's get something straight here. Those things you hold dear to you , you keep them close. You can only break free of a habit if you learn to despise it. I don't care what psychologists and columnists say in unison but, hate it and you wont keep it much longer. Focus on how its held you down, how long its taken advantage of you. Internalize that and blame your Grandmas little spat with her goat on it. Blame the global warming on it, even Manchester United's awful home record. Blame all your financial woes on it and counsel yourself that minus the habit, it would be smooth sailing for you all the way to the pearly gates. Because its actually true. If you've made it this far with the baggage on your shoulders, imagine how fast and far you'll run without it. You can't keep holding on to something that dreadful. What your spirit lets go, its gone for good. And your spirit is too clean to cling on to a dumpsite, when it has the option of playing in a flower garden.

Identify The Trigger Points.

Every habit or addiction has its 'trigger points'. These have to be the things or situations that the brain associate with a certain pattern or behavioral change. That's why the school teacher will be all composed and collected until he visits the Sacco offices, then all drunk demons will pay him a visit. Whether he's going for his pay or not, he'll hit the bar immediately afterwards. Identify your trigger points and go for alternatives. Its murky here, but its worth a try. Is it that T.V channel or is it that intrusive little thought that the adversary sneaks in like a dart. Or is it that thing that someone says to you, that gets to you so bad, it sends you on a binge. Treat these trigger points as your adversary. Nurture an enmity with them, steer clear off them. Skip the T.V channel, avoid that website. Because you are the evidence that every time you visit it, regrets follow. Walk to the football playground at the exact moment that demands you visit that dingy den, where they sell you froth you can't see. Ignore that inviting text, switch off the damn phone if you have to. Whatever you do, this one day, do things differently. Its one day at a time, victory is on the way.

Think Positive.

See yourself free. Envision the joy of freedom, for that's where you are headed. Even if no one else on the planet has ever kicked your kind of addiction, worry not. You will be the first. No two men are exactly alike. No one has ever meant it like you do, no one has ever had your kind of resolve. Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter without the murder case, has nothing on you. You've owned up to your pitfalls. That makes you a winner. So you are on your way, and nothing in the world is going to stop you. Internalize those kind of thoughts, own them even.

How the next guy tried and failed has nothing to do with you. They didn't do it right, you are doing it right. You will not make the mistakes they made. Plus your drive is fiercer and unstoppable. You will go down history books, by re-defining the very word victory. You have special equipment those who failed in the past didn't have. You are unique and unrivaled. Kids will study you in school, drunks will sing songs in praise of you. You've just started a winning streak that no one can touch. See yourself that way. Unparalleled and unmatched.

Ditch The Crowd.

As they say, you are a product of the first five people you hang around with. They hadn't been bribed to say so. It's actually true. So drop those so called 'friends', who keep lighting up when the last thing you want to see, for obvious reasons, is a lit stick of smelly tobacco.. You don't share the same resolve, you aren't headed to the same destination, you have no business to transact. So step. 

You can't hang around grossly tattooed outlaws while looking all smooth, clean and 'legal'. At some point, you will succumb to the pressure, and get one tattoo of your own. Before you know it, your mama is asking for her son, while you stand right in front of her, unrecognizable.

If you hang around people who see nothing wrong with sitting in an office, totally unproductive for the whole day,bas they talk about crops they didn't plant, you will be the next nincompoop in a suit and a tie. The salary is not everything. Its about how you are using that which the Lord gave you, to make your contribution to the world. And to give Him glory. 

Don't criticize the habit, as you sit in it, with your 'brothers in sin'. For then, you are part of the problem. You are the fuel that makes the fire stronger. Step out, and the fire will subside. Its going to be lonely out there at first, yes. But eventually, others like you will locate you. And you will make a formidable strike force. Then, and only then, will you have located true friendship and companionship. The other kind, was only sustained by the slavery you shared. Once free or if you express a desire to be free, this kind must despise you. 

Rediscover Your Hobbies.

God sent no one to the world empty handed. Each of us was equipped with all that was necessary to ensure we lacked nothing in this world. Talents to earn us a living effortlessly were distributed equitably by the wisest being there is and there ever will be. But along the way, the habits and the addictions came and those 'equipments' were effectively buried. Hand the adversary a resounding defeat, by picking up that shovel and scooping all soil off that 'grave'. Its marked, so you can't miss it. You are gifted in it so there's no one else who's quite like you. You are the best. But only if you do it.

At exactly the same time you would have joined your friends for a fix of weed, read that book. Follow the news on Sky news, for you always loved current affairs, before the addictions blurred you. Write, if that's what does it for you. Sing all your favorite songs, for you have a great voice and soon you'll prefer singing to gossip. You are a natural. Draw that sketch. Love it. Its what you love doing so who cares if the world takes notice. Do it anyway. Because had you been the only one in the world, you still would have done it. Have fun, pal.Have fun, by rediscovering yourself. And enjoy every moment. For the true owner of your gift, walks before you. 

Use Your History To Your Advantage.

Your past reads like the original script of a horror movie, written by a proven psychopath. Fine. Turn it into a stalk reminder of what bad habits can do. Beat your past in its own game. Defeated souls will scoff at your attempts to change and make fun of it. But in actual fact, they are scared of of being one man less, in their escapades. 

They'll say your type can't break free and toast to it, while all along throwing glances at the door, hoping you will troop back, head hung down. Your history has no power to define you, unless you buy the lie. Rwanda's history is genocide and murder of unprecedented proportions. Now as we grapple with tribal numerical counts, that pass for elections, she's turned into a jewel that glows in the dark where nations previously far more prosperous than her, go to learn a few things on good governance. 

She was there before us, so she knows better than, say, play around with tribalism and class divisions. She's embraced reconciliation and brotherhood as the way forward. We have a more colorful past than hers. But i wish i could say the same of the future. Your past is defeated and buried. Treat it as so. It failed to put you six feet under when it had a chance. Now you are the one to bury it for good. That alone, calls for celebration.

What a joy!

Act Different. 

There are things about you that defined you as your previous character. Eject them physically. If for nothing else, the message this action will pass on to the subconscious mind. Begin by taking down that Tupac Shakur poster you've hang in your room for a decade. Because you are through with 'thug life', this poster is of no use to someone as conscious as you. Throw it into the trashcan, and walk away feeling triumphant. You have a right to feel that way, because you are well on your way. Throw away that C.D. Its of no use now. Go through your ward robe and do away with all those 20 centimeter long dresses, for the unpopular modest skirt suit. Your friends are going to laugh at you. Worry not. They know not your resolve. They think you enjoyed walking around half-naked in sophistication's name, bearing all the cold goose bumps. They have no idea you were living a life you hated,ba life that didn't define who you really are.

Ignore their gasps and the 'oooh!'s. They are comfortable in it, you are not. Please don't expect them to join you down this road. You made an entry into the world alone, and you'll exit alone. Its all about you now and what's best for you. Time to be you is here. You've lived for them long enough. Its now time to live for you and the one who made you so flawlessly.

If your friends 'don't do church', and you feel inclined to join the church choir, that's alright. They'll think you are making a fool of yourself, dressed in those flowing costumes like you work for the circus group. They'll think you are after the handsome Pastor, if your history is anything to go by. But its your calling, not theirs. They aren't feeling what you're feeling inside, they didn't hear the voice you heard. Somebody actually thinks you sound gorgeous and that's whom you were meant to touch. Your seed is different and special.

As i said i do not have the answers. Or the solutions. I don't even know why i did this. But it feels right. No matter how deep the hole you are in seems, once you begin the uphill climb, rest assured eventually you'll be at the top. That's when you'll realize the uphill struggle was worth every effort. May the good Lord, He who created you free and unburdened, see to it that you get exactly that which you wish for-; Freedom.

Shalom.