Cock And Bull

• Dealing With a Hollow

  Posted: January 31, 2008, 9:36 am by Administrator

  One of the reasons why we hold on to things despite our better judgment is because of the fear of loss. A person simple cannot bear the thought of the hollow that the absence will create.

  How can a person look at a hole without seeing its emptiness? Simply by putting something inside the hole. A person can decide to take a young seedling and plant it inside a hole. And each time the person looks at the hole, in the place of the hollow he or she will see the young plant needing Love and care. And will then nurture it moment by moment.

  When it comes to the emptiness of the heart, the best seedling to fill the hollow would be anything that has spiritual meaning. Jesus Christ for example, supported by the practices of reading the Bible, praying, contemplation and meditation can be an excellent way. And soon what seemed like unbearable emptiness turns out to become a source of joy and lifelong sustenance.

• Made For Each Other

  Posted: January 30, 2008, 2:32 pm by Administrator

  I lean on the balcony rail and I look at the palm of my right hand resting inside the palm of my left hand. I see how one perfectly bends round the contours of the other and I feel the warmth that comes from the tight embrace.

  When I am ecstatic the two palms come together in the excitement and make loud rhythmic claps.

  When I am in shame the two palms hide behind my back and clasp each other for comfort.

  When I nuzzle to sleep the two palms come together in a huddle between my legs.

  When one palm is hurt, the other massages it gently in an attempt to take away the pain.

  Even though one is the opposite of the other, I would not be complete without both my left palm and my right palm. And it is easy to see that one was made for the other, just as there is a one person that is made just for another.

• Throwing Away the Present Market Day Style

  Posted: January 29, 2008, 3:32 am by Administrator

  It was on market day. The unknown conman from another village confidently walked to the big tree at the middle of the market square and dramatically clipped a paper note on a leaf on the lowest hanging twig. It was a crisp one hundred shillings note. The market women and the male traders looked at him wondering at the meaning of such a dramatic act. And seeing the ill-camouflaged desire in their minds the conman flamboyantly announced, “This one hundred shillings paper money is yours if you can hit it with a ten shilling coin from a distance of 12 feet!” With that, he made several short strides and drew a line with the heel of his brown “hockey” shoes to indicate the distance from where the aim would be taken. Within a short time, many people – men and women - lined up to hit the big denomination note with the many coins that they had made when they sold their wares in the market. And they laughed gleefully at each other as they missed, while others looked desperate in the eye like they really needed to hit the note. Despite it looking like an easy feat, no one could hit the note and some even dismissed it as some work of “dawa” – the local juju. But others insisted on trying. And it was only after a person had missed many times that he realized that he had thrown away his 100 shillings worth of coins in order to get a 100 shillings paper note, but didn’t. Once again such folly was attributed to the work of the unknown man’s “dawa”.

  Sometimes we get so transfixed with the future ‘big thing’ that we will one day accomplish and forget to acknowledge the many small things that we can do today. And yet as it turns out, the ‘big thing’ often is the build up of the many seemingly mundane things that we do each day. And so the ‘big thing’ of the future robs us of the moment like the conman from another village on market day.

  Do not let future ownership steal from you the enjoyment of that which you posses today. Also, as you pursue that person that you aspire to be in the future, remember that you are already somebody today. Avoid the village market day folly of throwing away the present and losing the future as well.

• Truth Containers

  Posted: January 28, 2008, 12:06 am by Administrator

  “Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams — they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do — they all contain truths.”

  - Muhammad Ali

• Psalm 91

  Posted: January 27, 2008, 11:02 pm by Administrator

  1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
  will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

  2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
  my God, in whom I trust.”

  3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare
  and from the deadly pestilence.

  4 He will cover you with his feathers,
  and under his wings you will find refuge;
  his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

  5 You will not fear the terror of night,
  nor the arrow that flies by day,

  6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
  nor the plague that destroys at midday.

  7 A thousand may fall at your side,
  ten thousand at your right hand,
  but it will not come near you.

  8 You will only observe with your eyes
  and see the punishment of the wicked.

  9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
  even the LORD, who is my refuge-

  10 then no harm will befall you,
  no disaster will come near your tent.

  11 For he will command his angels concerning you
  to guard you in all your ways;

  12 they will lift you up in their hands,
  so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

  13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
  you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

  14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
  I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

  15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
  I will be with him in trouble,
  I will deliver him and honor him.

  16 With long life will I satisfy him
  and show him my salvation.”

• Change and No-Change

  Posted: January 27, 2008, 9:34 am by Administrator

  Living in the world today, it might not be easier to believe in God tomorrow than it is now since once again, the world will change tonight. But if you already believe in God today, then it will be easy to believe tomorrow since God will be the same tomorrow as he is now and will be tonight.

• Continuing To Believe

  Posted: January 27, 2008, 9:26 am by Administrator

  I am sure that there is a perfect scientific explanation about how the clouds hang from the sky without any strings suspending them from above, or how the rainbow arcs across the horizon without needing something to bend it. But still we have to ask, “How does God create all that science?”

  If you have read books about how to unleash the power inside yourself, you now know that you are the creator of your own universe. You might also know that every desire you have will come true as long as you hold the image in your mind and feel good about it. And this works whether you pray or not. But still we have to ask, “How does God create all those techniques?”

  If you study human history and keep an open mind, you might realize that the present concept of God is a continued reaction to man’s insecurity in a world of uncertainty. You also know that contrary to what your pastor might say, if you have a threesome tonight, you most certainly will be able to enjoy your day tomorrow without having to worry about a bolt of lightening from above shattering your skull.

  With all the science, technology, philosophy and intelligence today, believing in God might seem like foolishness. And so you have to ask yourself today once again, “Do I still want to believe in God?”

• Capitalling Our Gs

  Posted: January 27, 2008, 8:50 am by Administrator

  A few days ago, I was reading some literature and came across a section where the name of God had been written with a small letter g. My first reaction was to recoil in horror and I asked myself, “How can a person write God’s name with a small g?” And as I sat there wondering about the gross disrespect for God that this particular writer had displayed, I remembered an incident that once made a great impression in my mind.

  That incident happened a few years ago at the height of HIV/AIDS stigma in Kenya. I was sitting in a barber shop and watched as clients came to have their hair trimmed. I noticed that a few came with their own shaving equipment in order to avoid infection from the barber’s equipment which was used to cut the hair of every client. And I thought to myself, “That is excellent!” And then at some point, the barber was disinfecting his hair cutting equipment and said in exasperation, “A person will come with shaving equipment to avoid HIV infection in the day, and then will have unprotected sex with a person he hardly knows in the evening!”

  And so as I looked at the name of God spelled with a small letter g, I realized that we spend a lifetime being careful not to miss a single capital G while writing God’s name, and never give much thought about breaking the Bible’s Ten Commandments with impunity. I believe that if God was to start looking at His book of judgment right now, out of the people who would not qualify for a heavenly reward, none would be there because he or she failed to write God’s name with a capital G.

• Could This Be It?

  Posted: January 26, 2008, 11:02 pm by Administrator

  One day, a man left home and wandered into the big city. And he walked until evening and it became dark before he could get himself to turn around. And as he tried to hurry back home, the allures of the town by night distracted him. And he became careless and forgot to guard his heart. And that is when his heart dropped from his breast. And before he could catch it, it had rolled several times on the ground.

  The man hastily picked up his heart and stuffed it back into his chest where it belonged. And he hoped that no one had seen it fall. For it was already smeared with dirt.

  And for many years he walked around with a tainted heart. And it made him feel unworthy. And each day he wondered what it was that would wash his heart clean. He searched in all the places of knowledge that he knew. And he could not get a solution.

  Then one day he heard a beautiful song that said:

  What can wash away my sin?
  Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
  What can make me whole again?
  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

  Oh! precious is the flow
  That makes me white as snow;
  No other fount I know,
  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

  And he kept asking himself, “Could this be it?”

• Mbwa Kali versus Mongrel

  Posted: January 26, 2008, 10:09 am by Administrator

  Back in the village almost every household had a dog and each of these dogs was expected to serve a particular purpose. The dogs were mostly kept so that they could guard the homestead at night and to a lesser extent as companions in hunting and in the herding of other domestic animals like cows, goats and sheep.

  Some homes were known for miles around because of the ferocity of the dogs that they kept. In such a home, the owner would carefully write a sign that read “Mbwa Kali” (ferocious dog) and hang it at the entrance of the homestead to warn any prospective thief that the home was well protected. These dogs would be carefully locked away during the day and on being set free when the owner went to sleep, they would keep a night long vigil in their designated homestead; very disciplined. Usually these dogs were well fed by their owners who even took the trouble to make the long journey to town to buy commercial dog food. They were also well groomed and rarely had any insects on them or parasites in their bodies.

  In most homes however, the dogs ended up serving more as sirens than as guards. If thieves or wild animals came at night, the dogs would bark loudly to alert the owner and then take off in terror to save their own lives, leaving the master to deal with the crisis on his own. In fact, it was not guaranteed that the dog would be there to act as a siren, depended on where its sense of smell had taken it scavenging. During the day, these kind of dogs would be seen roaming the village looking for food handouts, with their huge floppy ears, ribs the stuck out and a tail that was permanently tucked between the hind legs. Occasionally, such a dog would stop with an audible sigh of frustration to vigorously scratch for flees with its hind limbs and would even attempt to bite the insects with its teeth with an angry growl. Its owner obviously never fed it, leave alone groom it to remove insects from its fur.

  Depending on its owner, any dog could turn out to be a mbwa kali (ferocious dog) or a mũfi (mongrel). The ferocious dogs had to be trained, fed and groomed and taken good care of. On the other hand, the owner of the mongrel never took the time to train or feed it, groom it or even take proper care for it.

  These two kinds of dogs remind me of our talents. God gives each one of us a special talent or talents. Some people take the time to train and nurture their talents until they become as useful in society as mbwa kali. Other people just take their talents for granted and never train or nurture them and so the talent ends up as emaciated, unkempt and disappointing as the village mongrel. And just as 1 well trained mbwa kali could be more useful than 10 mongrels as a homestead guard, a person with 1 nurtured talent is more fulfilled than a person with 10 talents that have been left to go to waste.

• DAY OF PRAYER FOR KENYA

  Posted: January 24, 2008, 5:04 pm by Administrator

  JANUARY 25TH 2008,
  DAY OF PRAYER FOR KENYA

  “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, I will hear from heaven, I will hear and I will come and HEAL THEIR LAND.”
  God, 2 Chronicles 7:14

  On January 25th 2008, we are asking Every Kenyan, Everywhere to take time to make a concerted prayer for Kenya.

  We want EVERY Kenyan in EVERY CONTINENT on the face of the earth to be praying together on this one day on behalf of our country.

  How to participate:

  * Spread the word: send this message to Every Kenyan you know, Everywhere – txt, SMS, e-mail, phone call

  * On January 25th, make a point of setting aside time to pray for Kenya, it does not have to be a long time but it must be a deliberate effort to pray for specific things about Kenya

  * You can pray individually, or get together with a friend or friends, workmates, someone on the street, your priest, pastor, congregation, youth group

  What to pray for:
  • AMANI, AMANI, AMANI. PEACE, PEACE, PEACE
  • Whatever else you feel in your heart to pray for concerning Kenya

  ‘Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; when there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.’

  St Francis 1915

  ‘Maombi ya mtu mwenye haki yana nguvu na huleta matokeo.’
  Bible James 5:16

  If you have any questions/suggestions please send an e-mail to:
  AmaniKenyaMilele@hotmail.com

• Planting A Tree

  Posted: January 24, 2008, 5:03 pm by Administrator

  “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

  - Unknown

• Being Today’s Nut

  Posted: January 24, 2008, 4:19 pm by Administrator

  “Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut, that held its ground.”

  Anonymous

  Do you have an idea that you would want to try, yet are afraid that it will make you look like a nut? Well, Henry Ford was past middle age when the idea of the Ford car came to him. His friends thought it was a crazy idea. He had great difficulty in raising the money and his father said to him, tearfully, “Henry, why do you give up a good twenty-five dollar a week job in order to chase a crazy idea?”

  Can you be today’s nut?

• Tell Him, Her, Them or It

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 8:21 am by Administrator

  One of the most inspiring Love songs that I know is the duet Tell Him by Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand. The song takes the form of a conversation between two friends with one seeking advice on how to approach a man she fancies.

  In the song the first friend says:

  I’m scared
  So afraid to show I care
  Will he think me weak
  If I tremble when I speak
  Oooh - what if
  There’s another one he’s thinking of
  Maybe he’s in Love
  I’d feel like a fool
  Life can be so cruel
  I don’t know what to do

  And the second replies:

  I’ve been there
  With my heart out in my hand
  But what you must understand
  You can’t let the chance
  To Love him pass you by

  She adds:

  Tell him
  Tell him that the sun and moon
  Rise in his eyes
  Reach out to him
  And whisper
  Tender words so soft and sweet
  Hold him close to feel his heart beat
  Love will be the gift you give yourself

  Touch him
  With the gentleness you feel inside
  Your Love can’t be denied
  The truth will set you free
  You’ll have what’s meant to be
  All in time you’ll see

  The first friend then says:

  I Love him
  Of that much I can be sure
  I don’t think I could endure
  If I let him walk away
  When I have so much to say

  The second friend finally advices:

  Love is light that surely glows
  In the hearts of those who know
  It’s a steady flame that grows
  Feed the fire
  with all the passion you can show
  Tonight love will assume its place
  This memory time cannot erase
  Blind faith will lead Love where it has to go

  Never let him go

  These are words with the kind of encouragement that many of us would like to hear, not only about the people that we secretly admire, but also for all the things that we truly desire in life. Often, we covet things from a distance and never quite go to get them for the reason that we have fear in one form or another. We think “What if…..” in its negative form and that only takes the objective even further away. Why not think “What if…” in the positive form and feel the excitement that possibility brings?

  As the songs says, “Blind faith will lead Love where it has to go”, and I say that whether as mundane as expecting to drink a cup of hot chocolate or as profound as the resolution to know God better, faith will lead whichever dream you hold dear to its destination.

• First Day To School

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 7:45 am by Administrator

  I see a school bus drive up to the bus stop. A man steps out of the door and quickly ushers in one boy in blue and white uniform and a school bag on his back. He then talks to a woman with a young boy next to her. He proceeds to pick up the boy from his mother’s side and walks with him into the bus. As the outstretched hands of the boy disappears into the bus, I hear the last sound of his cries. His mother has a shawl wrapped around her head and her hands are firmly drawn towards her back. And I can see that the fists are clenched as she lets her son go to school for the first time. As the bus drives away, the woman stands there looking at its departing tail undecidedly for a few moments before turning back to walk back to her house.

  As I watch the scene, I realize that it is obvious that the mother would have wished to keep her son at home for company for as long as is possible. However, she has to allow him to go to school to get an education. I saw that the little boy was reluctant to leave his mother and go to school, and yet it is necessary since it is for his own good. The highest form of Love allows one person to want what is best for another despite the discomfort that it might cause them in the process. When a person truly Loves another, he or she not only allows that person to become what they aspire to be in life, but also supports them and even helps to push them in that direction if necessary.

  Love is the reason why when the boy stretched out his arms, the mother hid hers behind her back - despite how painful that action might have been for both of them.

• Walking Upstream

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 7:14 am by Administrator

  In the village, the source of water was a small stream at the bottom of the valley. It was the duty of the women and children to make several trips everyday to fetch water for various activities in the household such as drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing and watering the livestock. It used to be common to walk to the stream to fetch water and find the water was dirty. And you would immediately realize that some naughty boys had muddied it upstream while either swimming or fishing. When that happened, there were two options open. The first would be to sit and wait until the water became clear and the second option would be to walk upstream until you come to the place where the water was clean.

  The problem with the first option was that there was no telling how long a person would wait. On a day when the boys were out on a nuisance creating spree, one would have to wait for hours before the water cleared. For that reason, it was better to walk upstream until one came to the spot where the boys were playing in the water. The water upstream of this point would be clean. This option had the additional benefit of the chance of scaring off the boys and hence ensuring that other people would not have to walk upstream to fetch clean water.

  Once in a while, a person realizes that their stream of life has been muddied upstream. Maybe a person picked up ideas that are not useful in getting them to where they eventually want to go, or it may even be habits that have seriously disrupted their lives, or they hooked up with a person who is not what they initially imagined. Many people just sit and wait, hoping that things will get better and that everything will eventually go back to normal. And that is all they do…wait, while feeling victimized by the circumstances that they are in, and blaming others for their misfortunes. Other people decide to take matters into their own hands and take action to change the circumstances. In so doing they save time and take conscious control of their lives, hence navigating themselves from the place they would rather not be to the place they want to go. That is what walking upstream to the point where the water is muddied is all about.

• Wiping The Blackboard

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 6:36 am by Administrator

  Can you imagine yourself sitting in a classroom eagerly waiting to learn your favorite subject? The teacher comes and gives a wonderful lesson and leaves. As soon as the first teacher leaves, a second teacher comes and gives a lesson in the same subject and then leaves. No sooner than the second teacher leaves, a third teacher comes and gives yet another lesson in the same subject. On and on, the teachers come and go, transferring their knowledge of the subject to you. This goes on for a long time, and you being a bright and eager student absorb all the lessons without question. And then one day, you try to assess your knowledge on the subject and realize that nothing is clear any more. You realize that what you already knew has been smeared with doubt, and whatever new knowledge you have is scanty and not adequate to enable you have concrete knowledge of your favorite subject. What to do now?

  This is how it sometimes feels on the subject of God. If you eagerly look for information about God with an open mind, then you know that it is inevitable to venture into various literature and to talk with different people about the subject. And God being one of those subjects that any theory might suffice - or not - depending on how convincing the lecturer is, you are bound to learn from the greats just as easily as from the jokers. And it might feel as if each of the teachers wrote on the blackboard even without bothering to wipe out what was written by the previous teacher. What to do then?

  I sometimes feel as if the key to understanding God better lies in unlearning what a person already knows more that learning new things about God. For example, being that each one of us owes their most fundamental believes – or non believes – about God to the geographical location, or family in which they were born, then it is imperative that when one can think for themselves they should examine their guiding principles not only about God but about life as well to find out if they serve them well or not. Having been born in a Christian family, do my most basic lessons in religion and what I gathered thereafter as a result of being a Christian by default serve to improve my relationship with God or not? If I were born in India and became a default Hindu would the worship of many gods be a suitable spiritual life experience? If I were born in Russia and found myself an atheist would I want to go through life believing in the non existence of God?

  Unfortunately, no matter how they feel about the beliefs, many people persevere in the religions they were born into for many reasons ranging from ignorance, lack of interest, and even the fear that the God of that particular religion would be wrathful if one became spiritually adventurous. As you might already know, few religions if any will agree that God is big enough to go around for all the people of the world. And as a result of this limited thinking, the ‘true God’ is carefully hoarded by the believers of each particular religion and is only dispensed out like my grandmother’s cough syrup back in the village; you only get a spoonful if your cough sounds convincing enough for her untrained ears. Just how many ‘true Gods’ can there be in the world?

  I think if we were to lose fear and accept the challenge of finding out more about God, we might decide that the place to start is at the beginning. And what a better way to go back to the beginning than to start shedding off those limited beliefs that prevent us from experiencing the abundant and everlasting supply of God? One of the most effective ways that a person can get to learn more about God is through asking God to reveal Himself in a way that the person will understand. When you ask God, He will reveal Himself (or She will reveal Herself, or It will reveal Itself) using one or more of the infinite number of ways available and in the most irrevocable way possible.

  What better way to start a class than to wipe clean a blackboard in anticipation for a brand new lesson?

• Back To The Beaten Path

  Posted: January 15, 2008, 9:54 pm by Administrator

  There is a feeling of being lost in a bush. And one knows that they are far away from the beaten path. When a person looks back, he realizes that once, seeming like a long time ago and maybe not too long ago, he was on the path that led to the place where he wanted to go. And the question is, just how did one get so far away from the path they knew so well? One remembers of values, and ideals, and beliefs that used to act as daily guides. And there was no fear or confusion at what has been, is, or will ever be.

  But now, there seems only to be ideas that never stop to seem strange even after being used over and over again. And the unapologetic drudgery of a monotonous life makes the shoulders sag like the jeans worn by today’s teenagers. When one laughs, it sounds strange for it has been such a long time since he heard that sound!

  And when the making of crucial decisions is based on what another person needs to hear, one misses the simple life of little songs:

  Jesus, Love is very very wonderful!
  Jesus, Love is very very wonderful!
  Jesus, Love is very very wonderful!
  Oh! Wonderful Love
  So high that you can’t get over it
  So low that you can’t get under it
  So wide that you cant get round it
  Oh! Wonderful Love.

  One even wonders when it is that he grew up! He realizes that to be able to find himself, he needs to replace his steps back to the beaten path. If need be, he will walk backwards one step before another until he goes back to the time when he was sure. For right now the future can only be salvaged by going back to the past. Back to those values, and ideals, and beliefs that used to act as daily guides. Back to the beaten path.

• Coming Together

  Posted: January 15, 2008, 9:24 pm by Administrator

  The joy of people coming together in a relationship is in what is added into their lives. Whereas one person would have planted one seed and reaped a single maize cob, now they are able to plant 2 seeds and reap 2 maize cobs. Whereas as one person had only 2 friends, now he has 2 more from his partner’s friends. Whereas a person might only have had one set of parents and a brother and a sister, now he has another mother and father, and other brothers and sisters. Whereas a person might not have laughed at his own jokes, now he can laugh from another’s jokes and his old jokes can still find someone to tickle. Whereas a person could only pray alone, now it is two people coming together for the sake of God. Whereas Love used to matter only when it is received, now it matters even more when it is given. And the longing of having someone to be with in a relationship is replaced by the joy of what is added into our lives.

• Shoe Laces Not Tied Together

  Posted: January 15, 2008, 5:15 pm by Administrator

  I was talking to a friend earlier about some difficult decisions in life and it reminded me of the time that I lost my job for the first time. It was in 2000 and it was the first real job that I ever had. The pay was good, my future in the company looked great, my career goals looked very attractive, and I thought I was where I wanted to be.

  One day, I went to see the boss with some grievances about my pay. I informed him that according to the company policy, I was due for a pay rise. I assumed the pay rise would be automatic since I had fulfilled some stipulated conditions. However, the man produced a flip chart and a marker pen and began lecturing me about the benefits of staying in a company with career growth as the objective. After he had drawn a few curves that all pointed to the sky – among them one that had my name on it - it became clear that I would not get the much anticipated pay rise. And since at the time my only objective for working was to get more money, we began having an argument about my right to have a pay rise. At some point, he became annoyed at what he might have considered my limited vision and he said in an offhanded manner, “If you want to quit, no one has tied your shoe laces together.”

  When I left his office, I knew that I only had one thing to do. And so as his words burned in my mind and I kept glancing at my feet, I easily wrote a resignation letter on the computer, printed it, signed it, handed it over to his secretary and left before I changed my mind. He was to call me later to his office, but it was for a different working arrangement where his company would hire me for 2 hours every day. That meeting opened up my mind to the realization that I could work for different companies at the same time. I was later to learn that I could even further divide my time between doing activities that generate money and doing activities that create value in none monetary terms.

  When I am brutally honest with myself, I always come to the same conclusion; that no one has ever prevented me from having more, or doing more or becoming more. I am the one who imposes the limits upon myself. When I look down at my shoes I realize that it is I alone that have prevented myself from going to the places I would want to be. Or to put it more clearly, it is I that prevented myself from leaving the place where I already are. For, I always see that my shoe laces are not tied together.

  No one’s shoe laces are tied together… not even yours.

• To Die For?

  Posted: January 15, 2008, 10:44 am by Administrator

  Tomorrow is Wednesday and Kenyans are preparing themselves for a period of uncertainty after an aggrieved ODM party called for another round of demonstrations from its supporters to protest what has now come to be referred to as the “stolen election”. Mombasa has supporters from both parties and if you listen to people talking in the streets, you will occasionally hear a person say that he or she is willing to die for his or her right to have the president of choice at the helm. And this reminds me of a conversation I had with Mama Flavor last week.

  Mama Flavor is a woman who sells condoms in some of the popular night spots in Nairobi. During the first round of political turmoil immediately after the presidential elections results were announced, Mama Flavor did not go to work and she says that some of her clients even had to personally find her at home in order to get condoms. With most of the shops closed – especially in the slum areas where violence was rife – Mama Flavor informed me that people had no access to condoms. She also informed me that in those few days, many, many people had unprotected sex, putting themselves at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. All the government dispensaries ran out of free condoms. Hearing Mama Flavor speak makes you realize that there are many sides to life that a person might not even know about. Who would imagine that while some people are desperately looking for food and shelter, others would be seeking desperately for a condom? And yet, both are scenarios with equally serious life and death situations.

  All this makes me wonder about the things that people are willing to die for. When one person will die for the sake of a particular political stand, another will die because the urgency to copulate could not wait until protection is found. And the list is endless since people will die for eating too much, drinking too much, driving too fast, for a lover, for family and even for God. Would God really be waiting with a bouquet of flowers to welcome a suicide bomber who blew himself up and took a hundred other lives of “unbelievers” with him? And would the devil be furiously stoking the fires of hell as he awaits those “unbelievers” so that he can roast them forever, ever, ever?

  The more I think about it, the more clear it becomes that the difference between the person who will die for a certain politician and the politician himself is that one person is willing to die for what he believes in, while the other is willing to live for what he believes in. Thousands of Kenyan men and women are willing to die so that Mwai Kibaki or Raila Odinga can be president, but ironically neither Mwai Kibaki nor Raila Odinga will be willing to die to become president. As far as politics go, these two and other politicians are survivors since they have been at the game for decades. In short, they have given their lives to politics by deciding to live for it and not die for it.

  What is it that you think you could die for? Why not have a different stand and decide to live for it instead? And let us all pray to God and hope that Kenyans will stop dying and killing each other for the sake of the convenience of a handful of politicians.

• Jelly Fish

  Posted: January 14, 2008, 9:07 pm by Administrator

  My friend warned me that a season would come when there would be numerous tiny jelly fish in the ocean and it becomes excruciatingly painful to swim. And as I touch my still sore knuckle, I guess that season is about now. I have had 2 jelly fish stings in the last three days. The first day it happened, a tiny jelly fish drifted towards me from the back and came into contact with my shoulder. Reacting from the sting and not knowing what was going on I reached behind and smeared the wispy tendils all over my back, making it even worse. I can only describe it similar to the pain of skin coming into contact with a hot surface. And the reaction is similar since like a burn, you instinctively attempt to wipe it away even after the contact is no longer there.

  Up till today, the only thing that I knew about jelly fish is what I learnt from the animated movie titled Finding Nemo: that they look similar to pretty pink mushrooms with thin roots growing downwards and that they sting. The jelly fish at the coast of Mombasa must be babies since they are tiny and blue have a few bubbles around them. They might not even be easily recognized from any other tiny sea debris floating in the water making them treacherous. Today I heard howls and screams from no less than three swimmers who had been stung.

  And as I research about jelly fish, the most surprising things to learn are that they have no brain and that the same orifice used to take in food, is also the one used to expel waste. Here’s more:

  The body of an adult jellyfish consists of a bell shape producing jelly and enclosing its internal structure, from which tentacles are suspended. Each tentacle is covered with cells called cnidocytes, that can sting or kill other animals. Most jellyfish use these cells to secure prey or for defense. Others, such as the Rhizostomae, do not have tentacles at all.

  Jellyfish lack basic sensory organs and a brain, but their nervous systems and rhopalia allow them to perceive stimuli, such as light and odor, and respond quickly. They feed on small fish and zooplankton that become caught in their tentacles. Most jellyfish are passive drifters and slow swimmers, as their shape is not hydrodynamic. Instead, they move so as to create a current forcing the prey within reach of their tentacles. They do this by rhythmically opening and closing their bell-like body. Their digestive system is incomplete: the same orifice is used to take in food and expel waste. The body of an adult is made up of 94–98% water. The bell consists of a layer of epidermis, gastrodermis, and a thick, intervening layer called mesoglea that produces most of the jelly.

  Most jellyfish have tendrils or oral arms coated with thousands of microscopic nematocysts. Generally, each nematocyst has a “trigger” (cnidocil) paired with a capsule containing a coiled stinging filament armed with exterior barbs. Upon contact, the filament rapidly unwinds, launches into the target, and injects toxins. The animal can then pull its prey into its mouth, if appropriate.

  Although most jellyfish are not perniciously dangerous to humans, a few are highly toxic, such as Cyanea capillata.

• Night Time In The Heart

  Posted: January 14, 2008, 8:30 pm by Administrator

  It was one of those nights where a person finds themselves wondering how long they have been awake or asleep. I did not know what time it was, and did not want to know. All the same, I hoped that it was closer to morning than to midnight. The air was very still and the night was hot and stuffy. Whereas I would be tossing around in bed if I were in Nairobi, in Mombasa, I found myself scratching my body at no place in particular. And so it was almost a relief to learn that Kachir was drunk once again.

  In this town, Kachir is the word used to refer to fried potatoes, and is the nickname given to the short, lean man with a bald head and shaggy beard who lives in an iron sheet shack at the back of the apartments block. The reason why the man is called Kachir is because once in a while, he lights a huge fire, brings out a huge frying pan, boils some salad oil and spends a few hours preparing potato crisps. He then packages them in small transparent plastic bags and sells them next to the main gate. However, his trade is not consistent since as soon as he has a substantial amount of money, he wraps up his trade and goes off to drink mnazi (local alcoholic beverage prepared from coconut milk).

  Kachir might or might not be our watchman. I heard that he resigned about a month ago after a theft in the neighborhood, but from his loud theatrics last might, I suppose he still considers himself the watchman. When he resigned, he took up the job of cleaning the neighborhood and collecting garbage, after telling off the former contractor.

  Though inconsistent, Kachir is very hard working. He is also the true jack of all trades and an even truer master of none. The other day when my shower tap was leaking, Kachir offered to fix it. Even though he only needed to replace a rubber valve, I ended up purchasing a whole tap, and then realized that he did not have the right tools to fix the problem. The leak was eventually fixed when Kachir enlisted the help of friends. If water was blood, and Kachir and company were a team of surgeons, it would have been one of the messiest operations you have ever seen. It is amusing to think that Kachir’s solution was similar to a person buying a new car so that he can remove the wheel and replace the puncture on the old car, and then realizing that he did not have a wheel spanner once the purchase had been finalized. Still I am grateful to Kachir since when I moved in, he is the one who did the general cleaning in my house and also did most of the moving of the furniture. I also have a standing offer from him to do my laundry, which I keep turning down.

  Anyway, Kachir was high as a kite and he walked into the compound shouting at imaginary enemies. He dared them to “kuja mkirukaruka kama chura” (come hoping around like frogs) and informed them of his deadly arsenal of bow and arrows. By then, I was already out of bed and I looked out of the window to see him seating on a heap of building stones attempting to wear his shirt. The task must have been very cumbersome to accomplish as he simultaneously made his loud threats since it took a very long time before the shirt successfully went over his head. By then he had given his opinion about educated people who do not use their “school brains”, the government and also about the opposition. To a person from bara (upcountry), listening to Kachir’s insult laced tirade of poetic coastal Kiswahili is as fascinating as a British aristocrat listening to a African American brother talk shop.

  When his shirt was firmly on his back, he stood up and went away towards the direction he had come from. And there was just a small respite after Kachir’s departure before a car pulled up and the silence was replaced by the agitated voices of two females. One was telling another, “Makena…stop crying!” and the one called Makena replied by telling her partner, “Why does someone take my life for granted?” After a short heated exchange, the car drove away with Makena’s voice wailing loudly. That is not totally unexpected in Mombasa since here, the party never stops and once in a while the aftermath comes interrupting your sleep.

  When I found Kachir washing a car at the car park this morning, I asked him who had so incensed him last night, and he looked at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about. And as I walked away I thought about the cycles; the light that chases away the darkness and you cannot recognize the person you saw in the night, when it is day. And I prayed to God that the angry Kachir and the anguished Makena that is in each one of us may find true peace, and that eventually in our hearts, night may be as day.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes