Besides reading more, I also decided to get back to writing for newspaper (after 5 years). The following story was published by The Star Newspaper on Father’s Day, June 17 2018. The names have been changed to protect the identities of the actual characters.
Over the years, Father’s Day has carried so much hope for me: to know my father, understand him, learn from him and love him. This hope has since been shattered and this year, I am packing it away.
In March, family and friends gathered to celebrate my father’s 46th birthday and short visit to Kenya from the United States, where he lives. He treated his guests to a frivolous surprise: his 22-year-old concubine.
On that day, mother drove me and my younger sister to my grandmother’s house in Ngong Hills. This was the venue of the party. Following closely was my mother’s cousin, let us call her Aunt Jane, and her husband. Earlier on, I had told my mother how every time I met my grandmother, she complained about us forgetting her. Consequently, we stopped by Karen shopping centre and bought gifts for her and the birthday man.
We arrived in the evening and found all my father’s sisters and their children present. None live in Kenya but them flying in for the party was no surprise since my father is the last born. My mother had not seen some of them ever since her relationship with my father ended 17 years ago, but smiles were managed and hugs extended.
The party was everything father had promised: plenty of food, club bangers from the 90s, variety of beverages and a grand reunion. A stranger would have found it hard to believe that some of us were meeting for the first time.
Towards 11pm, some of the guests had long transmuted into dancers and musicians, flowing off-tune and singing absolutely misplaced lyrics. Sitting on the only couch in the house next to my 22-year-old sister, let’s call her Diana, looking across the room, I spotted this odd young girl.
“Whose daughter could that be?” I asked myself.
Seconds later, she stood up and approached my father and laid her left hand on his arm then whispered into his ear. Now she had my full attention! For the next 30 minutes or so, I watched her like a hawk, noticing her guzzle whiskey, shot after shot.
“It cannot be what I’m thinking. She appears younger than Diana,” I thought to myself in distress.
A few drinks later, their fondness for each other was what I would call ‘a city on a hilltop’: it could not be ignored. Anxiety set in. Everyone else was noticing their theatrics.
I went over to my mother to check temperature.
“Enjoying the party, mum?” I probed, praying she would not ask me a question I would be too embarrassed to answer.
“I’m okay! If I may ask, who is that girl?” she leaned in and whispered.
“I’m asking myself the same question!” I responded, folding my arms across my chest. Mother waved at Aunt Rita, my father’s eldest sister, signalling her to head over. She staggered her way to us and bundled herself next to my mother.
“Whose daughter is that?” mum asked.
“That’s Wendy’s friend, called Judy,” Aunt Rita said. Wendy is my father’s second-born sister.
This version of the story was believable until a few minutes later, when my father and Judy disappeared into the corridor that led to the bedrooms. A few minutes later she appeared wearing his oversize T-shirt.
“Is she that much of a friend to the family?” I asked myself, clutching at my flickering hope for decency.
I looked across the room to check for Aunt Wendy, only to spot her seated at the furthest corner of the room alone, fixated on her phone. This is when I knew that Aunt Rita had fed me and mother a cock and bull story. I recalled a conversation father had brought up the previous weekend over a nyama choma session about what I would think of him dating a campus girl. I dismissed him, thinking he had taken one too many. I remembered asking him why in the world he would want to do that.
“A friend of mine told me it’s the in-thing now in Kenya,” he said.
“You need new friends,” I responded.
He complemented his question by showing me videos of campus girls wiggling their behinds like they were auditioning for a dancehall music video. The clips were taken while at a popular night club in Ngong town.
“Siz, we shouldn’t have come here,” said Diana, interrupting my flashback.
I went over to my mother and told her we were ready to leave. We signaled Aunt Jane and her husband. My father requested us to drop him and Judy in Ngong town. My mother refused to give Judy a lift and asked for her to be directed to Aunt Jane’s car. The next stop was at a lodging in Ngong town, where we dropped my father and left. A few minutes later, Aunt Jane called my mother to gossip that they had dropped the girl there as well. Judy had also told them that she was a university student who had been in a relationship with my father for a while and had met him at a club in Ngong town.
“She must have been one of the dancers in the video!” I growled within myself, feeling disgraced and dishonoured.
Well, having a sugar daddy is a big part of the society now, and even settling comfortably amidst our conversations. I have been one of the master enablers of this unacceptable social behaviour, enjoying it at conversation level on the radio shows on my way to work, until it was my turn. This is the harsh reality of our society today and it has trickled into successive generations.
I carried the shame with me for a good number of days that followed, but I have been freed by the power of forgiveness. I believe that this is not an isolated case, so for me and my ilk, may forgiveness grant you freedom on this Father’s Day.
With that said, I celebrate all the decent fathers in the world. You are the first man your daughter ever loved and by your fervent love, every other man has been chosen in the image of what you taught love to be. The unique lessons that only you could teach her remain the light through which she guides herself and her children away from self-sabotaging paths. Kings, Happy Father’s Day!
I’m back ladies and gentlemen! Early 2016, I decided to go back to school and pursue postgraduate professional courses. Like many Kenyans, I presumed that because I was joining a college; not one of the grande universities, I would have an easier time. What actually happened-through the better part of the year-was the clock ticked into the witches’ and thieves’ hours of the night while Whitney stayed up reading. Anyway, I’m alive and still sane (which is what matters) and much love to all those who wrote to me asking when I would put up my next post. Well, here it is!
Selflessly helps their colleagues out. It could be offering an IT solution or helping set up an advocacy message to offering you a snack. In one of the organisations, a boss from a different department asked me to improve some graphic design work for her. Afterwards, she sent me chocolate and a post card on which she expressed gratitude. Being an intern, this obviously set me apart from the other interns, socially and professionally.
Individuals in the habit of borrowing money. The ones I’ve come across are usually support staff e.g. the cooks, tea girls etc. As money struggle is real, you really don’t want to follow the cook around reminding him to pay you back. Bottom line: They rarely pay back. They continue to borrow staff after staff. Some debtors turn to managers and even the CEO to ask for money. These tend to be women and usually target men and compassionate women and use pitiful stories of not having money to feed the children at home. Faced with this situation, I’d prefer referring the debtor to my financial advisor.
They know what’s popping in the current age of entertainment evolution. They aren’t necessarily people who club a lot but they are out going. They come in handy when planning weekend getaways, team building, corporate events, weekend office bonding gigs, end of year party etc.
Smart, confident and super stylish. Her work is up to par and so is the standard of neatness on her desk. She tends to be loving and lovable as well and sort of gets along with everyone including Becky. Her smile is genuine and refreshing which makes her easy to confide in. She’s rarely alone and tends to have followers like those in high schools. Which brings me to the next and last group.
Just as the dead fish in the sea are swayed in whichever direction by the tides, so are these followers of Queen Bee. They lick boots and kiss ass all day. They are usually quiet, timid and have nothing interesting going on about them. You’ll notice them taking up traits of Queen Bee. For example, if Queen Bee likes to wear red lippies and rock six inch heels to work within a few weeks of time spent in QBs circle, she’ll be grasshopper-walking in 6 inches as well. Team Dead Fish tend to be the most overworked employees and probably low earners.
Let’s face it: You have met many more types of employees where you have worked. What am I missing here? Let me know in the comments and I’ll surely add it in! Also, what type are you and how is it working for you? It’d be swell to hear from you as well.
Let’s pay attention to ourselves and how we respond to the lives around us. No more murder of the uniqueness planted in each one of us.
I also learnt that if it was written in our destiny that we’ll go East, whether we opt to go North or South, one day we’ll have to go East and that’s when our lives will truly begin. It all boils down to accepting that, too often the short cut, the lie of least resistance, is responsible for evanescent and unsatisfactory success |Louis Binstock|.
After work, I would pass by the park on my way home to entertain myself with a few of 
At the end of the trip, I felt different. More like I had a new set of eyes. I had also grown to love someone from Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Serbia, Taiwan, Tunisia and Turkey. I miss you guys. When the project was coming to an end, we had to set ourselves up in groups and prepared short films. During the gala night, my team’s film won the Most Creative Film Award. I am enormously grateful to everyone who gave me the experience of a lifetime; the MMF’14 organising commitee topping the list.
The highlights of my trip reside in this picture. I met someone who changed my whole perspective of love and true connection between human beings. You…yes you, will always be a part of me. And I hope that everyone who gets to be with you every day, loves you as you deserve.
Christopher Poindexter, one of my favorite poets, wrote truth. Mmmh…pen or gun?
Anna was introduced to laced marijuana by her boyfriend. When she realized that the drug made her resilient to the sadness synonymous with being at home, she made it her comfort zone. Five months into smoking, she became violent and withdrawn. She would not return home for days or even weeks which worried her parents who took her to a psychiatrist. Here, not much was established so they took her a hospital for blood sampling. It was discovered that she had taints of bhang. She became defensive and even more rebellious.
So when you wake up tomorrow, will you pick up the pen or the gun?
She made her first debut in 2006. Till now she has done Kitu Kimoja, Mama, Chokoza (featuring Marya) and Najivunia (featuring Trapee). She has also won several awards which include Chaguo La Teeniez Best Female Artiste (2011 and 2012), Nzumari Best Female Artiste 2011 Award, Kisima Award and Boomba Artiste of the Year 2012. In 2010, she was nominated for the Channel O Music Video Awards. In that category, she was competing against Nameless, Wyre, Shaa Khan (Tanzania) and Obita (South Africa). She did not win but felt entirely proud of the nomination.
“Love is care, honesty, trust, security. I can only settle for a man who gives 100% of these. Marrying a man with an incompatible chart is acceptable for me only if there are things to learn from each other and talk about as well,” she said.
“Positive attracts Positive. This is why I like optimists and people who add value to my life. I usually monitor posts on my social media accounts and block the pessimists and abusive followers.” She also believes in the superiority of family and respect for one’s home. This is why no one enters her home except her very close friends and family. Other principles she lives by are highly influenced by her icons Oprah Winfrey, Tyra Banks, Chris Kirubi and Richard Branson. Altogether, they inspire her to help the youth and teach her how to blend business and fun.