Munene, the journey...

They said we should wait. The wazees were deliberating. They were discussing "important" issues of national security and interest. So, we walked out. We stood by the door. It was raining hard, and we strained to stand as close to the wall as possible, to avoid getting drenched. Inside, the air was exuberant. The wazees were laughing heartily as they imbibed to their fill with nyama choma and Tusker baridi . My stomach was grumbling. I looked around at my friend. She was shivering. "She's going to catch a cold if we don't get somewhere warm soon," I thought to myself. I could stay here and wait to see the wazees and tell them why we had come. Or I could save my skin and call it a day (or night). I chose the former. I motioned to Wanjiku to follow me. She seemed shocked. We had come so far, having walked in the wind and rain for two hours. She was heavy with child, and due any day now. We passed the Toyota VXs that had transported the wazees to

You think you will have another chance like this, nigga You think you will have time to do this again, nigga You think the world will wait for you, nigga You think she will wait for you, nigga Get up, get up, get off of your fucking butt Life ain't a rehearsal You gotta move, gotta move, nigga If you don't move, you will regret this moment, nigga Seize the moment, take the moment, nigga Leave the fear, leave the fear, nigga You can't fear your whole life, nigga You can't regret, can't r3gret nigga Keep it going, do the hustle, nigga Make the money make the dough, nigga Lov3 your wife, love your kids, nigga Let them know, every day, nigga If it's not for the love, leave it, nigga They gotta come first, today, every day, nigga

We need to cut other people some slack. I need to.  Everyone's struggling in their own way. They are. To judge others, is to miss out on who they are. It is. To refuse to be empathetic is to disregard our humanity. It is. Especially when they are loud, obnoxious and annoying. They are. That's when they need our love the most. They do. And by loving them, and being kind, we render our hearts open. We do. And when our hearts open, we love more fully. We do. And when we love more fully, we truly live. We do. Where love abounds, joy follows too. It does. And where joy is, contentment and peace is there too. It is.

Kenyans are growing tired of empty promises by their leaders. We elect representatives and executives, who then turn their backs on us. They no longer represent what we want as a people. They take us for granted. And so they take us for a ride. They rob the country and bleed it dry. Of course politicians will not pay for their sins. No, we do not have a system that punishes corruption in political power. The three arms of government are in constant quarrel as our country is mortgaged to the highest bidders. Oil exploration blocks are decided while we fight about whether or not Miguna Miguna should be allowed back into the country. In the midst of election petitions, it emerges that the IMF representatives have been in cahoots with the Treasury and Central Bank to doctor records and basically misrepresent the state of the economy. Regardless, of what it is, Kenyans are angry. So, should we take up arms? Should we resort to violence? Should we arm ourselves and eliminate all thos

President Kenyatta joined other African heads of state on March 21 in signing the #AfCFTA. What does this mean for Kenya? It means that Kenya's goods and services could have a broader market to sell to. It also means that locally made goods and services will face increased competition from similar products in the African market, especially if other countries have a comparative advantage. What is the projected net effect of these two sides of trade? Well, it's difficult to predict. It depends on which goods are on the schedule of reduction of tariffs both for other countries and Kenya. Pres. Kenyatta signs the AfCFTA Image courtesy of PSCU   Looking at other similar regional pacts such as North America's #NAFTA or the EU, we can see that trade between countries increases many fold. But as in the case of Mexico which saw the bankrupting of peasant farmers due to cheap corn and other agricultural produce from subsidized American farms, the aggregate effect might be po

Got up at 8.30 and had breakfast from 9am. I then went to my room and packed up. Afterwards, I checked out of the room and left my bags at the front desk. Wardah and I then went to Sarinah Mall to get some souvenirs. The 5th floor of the Sarinah Mall has a lot of souvenirs: masks, carvings of gods, paintings, mugs, musical instruments like gamelan and bamboo pipes, carvings of animals, fridge magnets etc. this is an excellent place to buy souvenirs. I intended to go to the National Museum, but I was tired from walking around in the Mall. So I sat in the restaurant downstairs and worked on my blog. Later I had ramen chicken curry at the Food Court in Sarinah Mall. It was approaching the hour of 6pm, so we paid for our cab to the airport. We left Artotel at 6.15pm and we were in terminal 2 of Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 7pm. Unfortunately, we could not check in immediately, so we waited till 9pm for check-in to be available. We checked in, and went through security.