Munene, the journey...

He walked to the podium and stared at what we could only guess was his speech. He cleared his throat noisily and looked at the sea of expectant faces. He looked down again and began. "I don’t know what to say, I am not a great speaker, nor do I know any poems that would entertain you, nor do words come smoothly out of my mouth, for I am a stutterer. Last night, as I contemplated what I would say, I asked the Lord what He would have me say. After four hours, I was convinced that the Lord did not want me to speak on this podium today, for He remained silent. And so this morning, I called the Provost and told her to choose someone else to give the commencement speech on behalf of our class, she refused. She did not give any reason, even though I told her I had no written speech, nor did I have organized thoughts from which to draw a message. She remained adamant. So, here we are." He motioned at the building and entire congregation. Everyone was silent, no one breathing. Thi

How do myths and unsupported beliefs begin? Well, I don't know. But I will take a wild guess. Chance and coincidences. Among the Meru people, if you are walking on a road and see a black animal cross ahead of you, you need to turn back and use another route. Or if it's raining and you go out in red clothing, you will be struck by lightning. Oh yes, go back now before you die So, how did my community come up with these superstitions? I don't know. I have a hunch. One day, someone walked out in red clothes during a thunderstorm and they were struck by lightning. The following day, someone else wanted to go out. The village elders warned him not to go out in red attire during a thunderstorm. Well, he did not listen, and unfortunately, was also struck by lightning. And thus grew the superstition. This is the same with most of our beliefs. They make sense to us because we have believed them for so long. Some seem natural. We have always known them. Our parents always s

Chair: Order! Let's have some order in here! (looking around ) Do we have all the parties in here? ( his assistant looks around, counts the faces, and nods ). Alright, let's get on with it, what are the matters at hand? ( A hand at the far edge of the room shoots up, it's a young man who has been quiet all along) Young man: Mr. Chairman sir, may I... Chair: Please tell us your name, where you come from and why it is you have called for this meeting. Young man: Thank you sir. My name is Ezekiel, and I am a resident of this town. I would like to express my interest in buying a car from your dealership. Chair: ( leaning back in his chair ) Ok, go on... Ezekiel: I have seen a certain model of a car being driven in town and I'm considering buying it from your dealership. However, I am not certain it is the right car for me... Chair: Why not? Ezekiel: Well, for one, I do not know how it drives. I have spoken to three different drivers, and they give contradicti

I am among those who were shocked when on November 9, I woke up to the news that the unlikeliest of presidential candidates had clinched the American presidency. I could not wrap my head around a Trump win, because it had been so unlikely! Where did it all come from? Should we blame so-called populism? O yes! Impossible it was! Trump had to surmount a 99% chance that Clinton was going to win. She had led the polls all along, and there was no chance for an upset. All polls except two or three had predicted a landslide win for Clinton. All the TV stations all talked about a Clinton presidency, as if the election was a forgone conclusion. But Trump won, and resoundingly so. Or as others have said, Clinton lost; well, semantics. We are in a transition period. Suffice it to say that it's an interesting one. However, since that fateful Wednesday, garbage has been picked up at my house, tap water still runs, and there's still power in the socket. Whilst this may seem obvious, it

Before the weekend of November 4-6, I did not know that College Park was deemed a food desert. A college town that comprises mostly students, most people do not have access to grocery shopping within a mile radius, the definition of a food desert. Forest Garden As an international student living in the area, I attest to the truth in this statement. Getting fresh food for me involves a Lyft or Uber to the groceries shop, something I cannot do every week because it is expensive. Other modes of transport to the 1.4 miles away mega farmers market are irregular and very inconvenient. This however, represents a narrower view of the entire food justice issue. At Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, I learnt the model of Community Supported Agriculture. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation runs a not-for-profit farm, where food grown is shared among some members of the community who pay a fixed amount per season and those who put in some hours of labor and get a share of the crop. The rest of the

If you read my previous post on surviving graduate school, you would have been thinking that there's probably more to surviving than what I posited. Well, I think there is, here are some more thoughts. Connecting the dots Early on in graduate school, I have learnt that I need to connect dots. There's a lot going on here, and no one will decode it on your behalf. Graduation starts when you are admitted; and so the job search begins as early. Keeping up with the email This is the most common means of communicating news and information from the school. Professors use it, administrators use it, the President uses it, sports and activities use it, the health center uses it, the police department uses it. About every department, and there seems to be a lot of them in the University, sends information via email. Going through it, making sense of it, ignoring some, archiving others, responding to others is an important task I have learnt to do at least once a day. Working in

Graduate school is different from other levels of education, more so the intense American system that requires constant vigilance on the part of the student. As an international student pursuing a public policy program that requires a lot of study, I have learnt some skills to survive. Prioritization The best intentions are for the student to get all the readings done on time, and then read some more extra on the side. This, however, is not possible with the amount of writing, research, practical work one needs to do. Learning to prioritize on what needs to be done as the most urgent is the only way to keep up with all the activities of graduate school. Writing well Writing is a core aspect of graduate studies. Writing well, however, is required to survive and avoid rewrites and poor grades. Obviously, the more the practice, the better I get at it. Reading, fast and wide With tomes and tomes of required reading, I have learnt to read faster than I thought possible. I have vora

Rhetoric posits that Africa is rising. Africa has been rising for more than a decade now, but there does not seem to be real tangible benefits out of this rise. Sure, the rising is producing a lot of millionaires, but these are more of the same kind of cannibalistic kind; there is no real benefit to the African populace. Real and concrete benefits of Africa rising will only be felt once some key issues have been resolved. Education, learning and leadership Our current system of education in Kenya and the wider African continent is producing a lot of graduates ready to occupy offices. But there are no offices; Africa is not at that level of development. The education is predicated on the existent of a middle to high income economy. These unemployed and frustrated youth are turning to the next lucrative activity; tenderpreneuring and thieving. It is no wonder corruption has become such a major challenge on the continent. Corruption is virtually breeding on the grounds of our ill-

The past 2 weeks have provided me a great learning experience. The difference between Kenya and America are striking. To my past me, I would have emphasized the following lessons: Buy your own hair clippers: Cutting hair in America is expensive, an average of USD 20 depending on where you are. I don't know why, but I think minimum wages (USD 8.75/hour) are to blame for such high prices. That is the equivalent of about 10 hair cuts in Kenya at my kinyozi (at the rate of KSh. 200 per hair cut; assuming 1USD = 100Ksh.). I have already bought one, and I am now in the processing of learning how to cut my own hair. Learning to cut your own hair will save you a tonne of money Be prepared to eat odd things: every time I eat a burger, I know I am eating frozen meat from as far as Australia, fish from China and so on. The fast food business is booming and is not about to die. I have learnt to enjoy Chinese food including General Tso's chicken; all this while missing ugali and m

America has some odd things about it: Mechanical systems: when opening a bank account, the customer service officer will literally rap to you what accounts are available, what features and so on. People who sell fast food as well, seem to be in a trance-like state, mechanical even. This is perhaps due to the fact that they have to serve multiple people in a day, so no dilly dallying. This reminds me of Kenyan waiters who we keep waiting for 5 minutes while deciding whether we want mbuzi kaanga  or mbuzi choma . Queue at a popular fast food joint Strange names for some things: football as we know it is called soccer, taps are called faucets, a bonnet is called a hood, a boot is called a trunk, petrol is called gas, takeaway is called takeout and many more. Address systems: one of the easiest systems of navigation is the house numbering system widely employed in the US. This simple and obvious system is so useful, that it is impossible to get lost if one knows the address. Wi

A few things that are making my life easier while trying to adjust in University of Maryland, College Park. Shuttle Bus and Metro System: I am using Google to know which bus number is going where I want to go. The buses are tracked by satellite and you know when one is running late. This is a proper "public" transportation system. A Metro bus going somewhere Lyft and Uber: even though these work in Kenya, these services have been very helpful on those odd trips to unknown places like looking for a place to live. Airbnb: the cheap alternative to hotels and motels has proved very useful. I have also met very interesting people from all over the world. Airbnb Motorists are very "sane" on the road: A STOP sign means stop; in Kenya, we always ignore most signs. Pedestrians and cyclists are accorded right of way, without much hassle. A STOP sign Internet is very fast: yeah, like the Fios I am using at the Airbnb.

My plane landed at 3.40pm(GMT -4) on American soil. And with this touchdown, was a sense of exhilaration, anxiety and sadness. Exhiliration at the opportunities that lie ahead, anxious about the uncertainties before me, and sad because of the connections I had left back in Kenya. Some things stand out in the country: The roads, infrastructure It's hot: temperatures reaching 36 degrees celsius attributed to the Summer season. The place is organized: even from the airport, things just seem to work. Signs are well done, instructions clear, and directions very visible. This caused a bit of jitters in me, it seems a bit, mechanical. The highways are wide, clean, well marked and well, beautiful. People talk funny (the "r's" we ignore in words, are very pronounced). I am also made to repeat some things I say, "Sorry, what did you say?" 8pm looks like early morning, the sun is still out, and every place is bright. And even though the place is strange,

Whilst traveling, one of the first things I always need to learn is how to greet people, whether formally or informally. The following are phrases I have picked up, while growing up, as well as while traveling. Excuse the non-native spelling. Meru - spoken by about 2 million native speakers people in the Meru region of Kenya (my first language) Person A: Muuga Person B: Muuga mono Swahili - spoken by about 150 million people of the Greate Lakes Region of Africa Person A: Habari yako Person B: Mzuri sana, labda yako Person A: Yangu pia ni njema, shukrani English - an official language of many African countries Person A: Hello, how are you? Person B: I am well, and you? Person A: I am fine too, thanks. French - an official language of many African countries Person A: Bonjour, comment ca va? Person B: Ca va bien merci, et vous, comment-allez-vous? Person, Je vais bien, merci. Twi - spoken by about 9 million people of the Akan group in Ghana Person A: Etisein Person

One moment Koffi Olomide lands a kungfu-style kick at a female band member, the next, social media is on fire, the next Koffi is out. In this day of self-monitoring in Kenya, everyone should be very mindful of what they do, else they land themselves in trouble with the ever watching cameras. CCTV is everywhere, and we have declared ourselves citizen journalists, so when you think the government cannot catch you, your brother could be filming you. The proverbial mkono mrefu wa serikali  has turned into macho mengi ya serikali . When the video was shared, some female MPs held a press conference, demanding answers. Koffi went for an interview at Citizen, moments later he was arrested while leaving. Hours later, #KoffiOlomindeDeported was trending. Just like that. Olomide's deportation trending courtesy of twitter This is one of the issues that seems to have had the emotive traction that Kenyans are known for. Kenyans are very fast to counter social justice issues, spea

Time in Malawi went by so fast, I was surprised when my 8-month stay came to an end, abruptly, as if by surprise. While there, I completely fell in love with the country, its people really. I found Malawians to be very hospitable, open and unassuming. The people I interacted with were genuine about their lives, their country and what they held dear. Though Blantyre, the commercial hub of the country is a small city, it is a melting point of many tribes; the Ngonis, Chewas, Tumbuka, Yao and so on. Some "quick facts" about Malawi: The majority of the people speak Chichewa, a bantu language akin to Swahili. In fact Chichewa shares a lot of words with Swahili such as mbuzi , (n) sima , madzi (water) etc. It was very easy for me to pick up what the people were saying, I could easily relate some words and phrases. Some people bear some interesting names like Mbuzi (goat) among others. The country has a beautiful landscape; hilly, mountainous, waterfalls and grea

When death comes, to someone close, it reminds us of our own mortality; that on this earth, we are but sojourners. And when it came to my cousin, Kimo, it taught me many things. Always bargain for what you want: Kimo loved to bargain on everything. He did not believe in accepting what he did not approve of; he would do everything to strike bargains in all matters, from getting people to do his dishes for him, to wearing their clothes, to getting airtime from them. If you are true to yourself, you cannot be false to anyone else. Kimo was himself, through and through. He knew his strengths and played to them; his "good looks" for instance. He also knew what he did not like, and he got others to do it for him. And thus I accepted him. Do what you love, with your whole heart; Kimo loved football, and the entire world knew. He loved Arsenal FC, and everyone was aware. He loved journalism and we all knew. He loved children, and the children knew it. Life is short; today I am

Today was a hot/cold day. I'm using an automatic shower which cannot be turned cold, so I am doing warm, not for lack of trying though. So, well nothing to see here ...

Today was worse than yesterday; I knew how cold the water would be, so I was both prepared and unprepared for what followed next. It was not easier, and the water seemed to have had a vengeance after I challenged it yesterday. I almost did not do the cold shower, but I could not bear the thought of an empty blog post. And I lied in yesterday's post; I do know why I am attempting this feat. Apparently cold showers help improve immunity and so on. So, yes, I do want to see by how much my immunity will be improved by these frigid mornings. And once I get through the process, I will be able to answer some questions, does "cold" give you a "cold"?

I decided, for no obvious reason, to switch from showering using hot water to a cold one. Today was day one. How did it feel? My body screamed for the first 30 seconds; all my senses were alert; my breath was short and I thought I was going to die. I had mild stomach cramps and my body shook uncontrollably. My head felt as if it was exploding, and I had a sudden ache on my temple. 30 seconds later, everything began normalizing. My body got used to the cold and I could think straight. The rest of the shower was a breeze, a joy even. But the best feeling was afterwards. I felt blood rushing to my head, I felt alive as I patted myself dry. My head was unusually clear, and I felt like dancing. Even though it was a bit cold outside, my head was exploding with rays of sunshine. And for that reason alone, I will do it again tomorrow. Let's see how this 30-day challenge goes.

Do you ever feel like people hijack all your brilliant ideas and become rich off them? If so, you are not alone. The phenomenon of idea stealing has been going on for a pretty long time; in print or written material, it's called plagiarism. But it's not existing stuff that we are talking about. It's the more ethereal ideas, the ones that come in form of brainwaves and dreams and inspiration. Other people do not actually "steal" your ideas. Ideas, thoughts, feelings and hunches all exist in the same form before they are expressed in the physical world. They are contained in what can be referred to as the Universal Mind . What is this Universal Mind? It is simply a floating and formless "living" substance that permeates all of life. It is found everywhere and everything in it is available to everyone; essentially it is omnipresent. How does this affect your ideas? Well, that idea you think is yours comes from this Mind. And because all humans have diff

I watched the Batman vs Superman movie with a lot of enthusiasm; I have been anticipating for more than 2 months after it was released. I was therefore, rather cross when in the middle of the movie, I realized it was pointless. There was not story, at all. The 2 superheroes were great individually, in fact, Man of Steel and Dark Knight Rises are my favorite movies of all time. When they clashed though, it seemed like senseless violence. I had so many questions; like at what point did Smallville and Gotham become geographical neighbors? Batman facing Superman: Image courtesy of screencrush.com That did not stop me watching the entire film though; and was I glad that I did. The final fight scene featuring Batman, Superman vs giant ugly monster had an interesting twist; the introduction of Wonder Woman. And that lady can kick ass! Played by the extremely hot Gal Gadot, the character introduced feistiness, in the darkness of the fight. Even the soundtrack changed, becoming hi

I do not care about Game of Thrones, but since my Twitter feed is full of people counting down, I decided, let's see what it's all about. The ad has been running on my Facebook profile for an entire week now, titled, Winter is Coming (in which world). But the most interesting thing I saw was a 3-D starting video of the show; I could tilt my phone side to side, and the scene was 3-D. A series full of weird people, talking weird languages; one even talks to a dragon. It's interesting how much effort goes to create these shows that keep us entertained. But why is it so important? Why do people love the show so much? Perhaps it is because of the amount of death. The screen writers kill everyone, some characters viewers have come to love are taken off air suddenly. Instead of revolting us, we are invigorated by the danger. Image courtesy: http://freshinfos.com/ What is even more interesting is the f act that we know the movie is basically a bunch of lies; a writer

We all have problems, or let's call them challenges, that at the moment they occur, seem insurmountable. I certainly do. While writing computer code to solve some of the world's most urgent problems (sic), I regularly encounter them. Those moments of absolute despair, when I cannot move on. I try google , the know-it-all  search engine, but that does not work. Then I try stackoverflow , the developer's paradise, but I still hit a deadlock. At this moment, I have 2 options. The most sensible one at first glance, is to keep searching for the solution; keep googling and so on. This is a fatal error(sic). When my brain encounters such barriers, for some reason, it goes into a deadlock. Every effort I make into resolving the issue is counterproductive. I actually make zero progress. And the second option? I leave the problem. I close the IDE (Visual studio, Eclipse etc.) and shutdown my laptop. I go make a cup of tea and watch a silly show on TV. I go for a walk, or listen t

Why do we vehemently criticise other people about their imperfections? We do know that every human has weaknesses and that each of us is simply struggling through life without crashing under the weight of societal expectation. And yet even with this knowledge, we still engage in the debilitating actions of making enemies by pointing out the mistakes of others. As humans, we judge ourselves harshly. We do not, as the saying goes, cut ourselves some slack. But the burden is made heavier by our brothers and sisters who criticise and put us down. But why do we find fault with other people? Well, for starters, it is because the faults we see in others serve as a mirror to our own faults. Yes, the reason it irritates you when someone picks their nose in public is because you do it yourself. And since you already know this about yourself, it subconsciously reminds you of something you do not approve in yourself. Image courtesy of memegenerator.net The second reason, I bel

There are 2 sets of people in the world: Those who watch TV and those who appear on TV. Those who watch the news and those who make the news. Those who want to be perfect and those who realize that perfection is something that happens with time. Those who start their own businesses, and those who wait for the "right" moment to do it. Those who say, and those who do. Those that keep doing it, and those who give up. Those who are defined by their convictions and those who let others define them. Which one are you?

There is nothing as bad as having something that does not become useful to someone else just because you prefer to waste it. Africa's biggest challenge is not a lack of resources; rather it is a problem of mismanagement of what we have. It has been said before that our Continent is rich beyond our imaginations. Be it food, electricity, water, or even our energy, we expend these with absolute disregard to efficiency. Look at what happens in our offices during the weekends for instance: it is not uncommon to leave the lights on in the entire building over the whole weekend even though no one is making use of them. The automatic flushing water closets especially in urinals also keep pumping water though there's not a single soul making use of them. Even worse is the fact that we leave lights on during the day in our offices whilst the sun lights the rooms. This is characteristic of the way we also handle food. In my village, Kathiranga in Meru County, for instance,

The family is the basic structure of the society; it is like the cell n a human body. All the functions of the society start and end at the family level. Just like the cell of the body, a sick family structure results in a sick society. Our modern society is ailing; and the root cause of the disease is the family. Violence, sexual immorality, disobedience are the common symptoms. Broken families have become more common. Cheating and adultery has become so common that those who don't engage in it are the exception. Children do not listen to their parents anymore. And how can they? Their primary source of instruction is music videos from Youtube, messages on WhatsApp, their Facebook friends and so on. 12 year old girls have sexual relations with men fit to be their fathers; and the parents look the other. Or do they? Parents do not have time for their children. They are chasing the career; they are in the rat race of life. They have left their children to be brought up by house

This is Africa, one country. My Home

Why does a mouse eat the germ of grain and leave the rest for us? what does it know that we don't? I went to a GLND session where this was pointed out to me.  I had not taken note of this before; but I then realized that in the grain stores at home, the maize grains all have an elliptical hole at the top. Apparently the mouse eats that part of the grain because of the importance of the grain germ to its body. The germ contains phospholipids; the essential oils that enable the building of the cell membrane. What is a healthy cell membrane good for? Good health. Healthy cell membrane allows the passage of wastes out of the cell and the absorption of nutrients into the cell. Nutrients help to fuel the cell and hence the body. What is  the  effect of unhealthy cell membrane? Basically disease, lethargy and lack of energy. When wastes build up in the cell, they cause disease. When the cell does not have the nutrients it requires then the body becomes lethargic. So, do

Testing, testing ... There's something about Rhumba music that makes my heart pump harder; it feels like this music was made for the African soul. Like a pot of the finest pami (palm wine), the rhythms makes the typical African want to break out into a jig. I don't understand much lingala, but that is not important when listening to the words of Mbilia Bel's Nakei Nairobi. The music is uplifting. When listening to Franco, the guitar just makes you feel one with the beats; and when listening to Sweet Elizabeth by Kayamba Africa, you just feel it deep.