sunset saga

  The first time I saw this image, it didn’t look as interesting. I was wandering around when it showed up on my path. Nothing really, just a random picture or rather one of those paintings you see every day. The second time I came across it, I was back in the village. I went for a detox - the city can show you bad things.   I never read it again because I was going to see my granny. I forgot about it until recently. I was with my little brother Nobel. People say in our family we have funny names, yes Nobel is one of them. He’s a little different from the rest of us. He grew up a modern life. There are games he didn’t play that we did. He’s mostly watching nickelodeon and playing games but his level of creativity and scepticism is somewhat above his age. He wants to know everything. He writes me sweet love letters, he writes his dad letters when he wants things and his words of mouth don’t play effective. He writes everyone in the family letters. He draws so fine, the othe...

  When I step into that gate - the golden gates of heaven, I'll ask Moses or Abraham whoever I'll see first, to take me to the Lord. I'll humble myself when I finally see His Highness. I'll bow my head down in submission. I won't shake his hand because maybe He's just light or a cloud as I've always believed. Fear would be smeared all over my face but I would gather courage and ask God why he gave me two left feet, just lightly. I know He won’t smack me on the face. When growing up someone taught you that God is not to be questioned. That you don’t confront God because everything he does is perfect. Well, for me I do. For many reasons I do. The long tension of the election process finally ceased. The dust slowly settling from a far and the frontrunners are having a lifetime moment. The blue litmus paper steadily turning yellow. We are here nonchalantly calm, at a corner licking our wounds under the strewn broken tables and chairs. For a fifth time, well that...

I have always wanted to visit Turkana. To explore the beautiful land from kalokol to Lomelo and the likes of Lokichogio. I want to take a break from names like Onyango and kinuthia. I want to meet Ewoi, Ekai, Deng and Tukei. When I buy my Suzuki swift, as I take it home for my parents anointing I will pass by Turkana. I will use their sandy roads and leave the tread prints of my car sketched on their soil. Later in the day, I will drive to Chorogascar. It’s a small town in Turkana that boarders northern Uganda. I will wait until it’s late and take a nice picture of the setting sun and the herd of cattle heading back home. Ng’ikadelio Marie tells a story, a story about her motherland chorogascar. She says they neighbour the Karamojong community. They almost speak the same language, just a little variation in the tones and pronunciation. Most of the folks there are Catholics. When the missionaries came to Turkana from Uganda, they first settled in Chorogascar, an answer to why most of ...

Some people are wacky or let’s say crazy. Ama let’s assume they are just being Kenyans. Certain queer characters you only meet in the streets of Nairobi. On that Saturday, I was in town running some errands. Something was trending in the bird App about Alex. I first heard of Alex in Trevor Noah's book 'Born a crime' - not long ago. Last year probably. Quite a juicy name of a place. A place that was the exact reverse of what you would envision Alex to be. A poky, poor, black township in Johannesburg. It is surrounded by wealthier white areas, which is actually the major reason it cannot expand, unlike other towns like Soweto. About the trend, there were some killings in Alex. I wanted to peruse through the tweets to see what happened.  Such happenings are not new in Alex. It's a breeding place of chaos as is known in South Africa. One killing another to survive, quite normal in poverty-stricken hoods.  After scrolling a few tweets, I wanted to read more about Alex. Th...

Something must kill a man. The type of death must not be a bother. There's a guy here, slender with a light complexion. A couple of years back he was in college studying Commerce. He’s one of those guys who believe in hard work. The you “reap what you sow” type. One who wouldn’t want to own a velar at 26 with no traceable source of income. The kind of man who yearns to do everything dead-on...  It's uncouth to ghost people then just pop up and start a story.  I should have apologized, I know. I should have apologized for keeping you for so long but sorry is just a sorry word - here we are now. You ever had a partner who made you feel like you can do anything through them who strengthens you? Well, you did no mistake. You were just being stupid because that’s what it takes to learn. Back then, life was a little cheap. You could do a lot with a thousand shillings, unlike today. Derrick lived in Nyeri where he was schooling. He balanced his school work and hustle perfectly...

Who wants some coffee? It is exactly 6.07 pm when I open this book to see what is hidden beneath the pages. Its freezing cold so I make a cup of coffee and put on a bowl some popcorns that the girl next door brought me. What do you know about popcorns apart from the fact that they pop while being cooked? Carl Tanzler is a queer character, he’s got a twisted mentality as they put it. His inability to let go of things is beyond human understanding. Pack your snack and board with me to this land of unthinkable. Put on a warm jacket and carry your inhaler. Tanzler was an Austrian-born physician who lived a relatively normal life until 1931 when he fell head-over-heels in love with a young tuberculosis patient named Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos. Elena, a 22 year-old Cuban-American woman, was taken to the hospital where Tanzler worked in Key West, Florida. Tanzler was captivated from the moment he laid eyes on her. As a child, Tanzler had visions of a stunning, dark-haired woman who was de...

  The other day I was reading about man flu. It wasn’t a random read like it was with the "late Peter’s" story. It was a writer whose stories I read quite often. There was a man with man flu. I was wondering if man flu also qualifies as an illness. An exaggerated cold... ? Alongside the man flu story was another embedded; a tragic short story. It left me wondering how too much life can be for someone.  I haven’t left my father’s house yet, I still have a bedroom at the furthest end of the house. Whenever the dogs bark at night it hits my ears first before it lands on the rest of the family’s. Sometimes I ponder, the world within vs the outside world, and I feel like I’m not ready.  I know that’s lily-livered, a man dies in the battle field. A man dies trying. Out in the cold, in the wilderness at the claws of man-eaters. Nevertheless, a man needs help too. When life becomes too cruel a man goes back to his family to rejuvenate. To his wife or to his mother. I would still ...