Munene, the journey...

I was born in Kenya; I even have a birth certificate issued by the government of Kenya. I was raised in Kenya, and my passport says that I am Kenyan. My parents are Kenyan, and my family is Kenyan. Naturally, everyone thought I would become Kenyan, and I must have passed off as one. Well, I think I have managed to fool everyone, because, well I do not think I am Kenyan. What have I become? photo courtesy of kyusho.com I have spent the majority of my last 5 years outside Kenya. I have traveled to various countries on the African continent, worked and lived there. I even passed off as one of the locals, with enough local language to get through daily situations. What I have enjoyed most though, is the diversity in the tastes and sounds: food, drink and music. From amala  in Nigeria to kenkey  in Ghana and sadza  in Zimbabwe, and Carlsberg Chill in Malawi, I have tasted life. But I partook in different cultures long before my traveling days. I listened to Rhumba mus...

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...