THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
Rain comes down
in flash floods
and in torrents
and we look in fear
as what was meant
to be a kiss of life
that makes dead grass grow again
becomes a touch of death
as our lives
are swept away by the water
diseases
spread their ugly frog-like tentacles
stealing away
our lives and our joys
laughter fades away
in Turkana
and only the sound of weeping is heard
as worn-out bellies
groan and ache for food
in Nairobi
our lives collide
minds frustrated by the corporate world
collide with lives
frustrated by selling mitumba on Tom Mboya street
women enter into matatus
and men grab their breasts
as if they are picking mangoes in a basket
oh the same matatus
how they rush and run
quickly, more quickly than the wind
squashing Moi Avenue beggars
into permanent blood-stains
on the pot-holed tarmac
and in all this desperation
we sit back and ask in anguish
God, where are you?
are you really there?
do you really exist?
why have you stopped caring?
then,
Christmas comes along
like the sound of a distant bell
and lifts up our hearts
to make us smile
it rides softly on the shoulders of the old
till they too walk faster
on this day when the saviour was born
Christmas trees and lights
decorate our homes
in Kakamega
kilos and kilos of chicken
roasted and fried
in Kibera
a father buys chocolate
for his children
in Lower Kabete Campus
a girl gets a card
from her boyfriend
oh for the first time
since Valentine's day
yes,
miracles do happen on Christmas
for the almighty does comes down
to sit with us and to give us peace
not peace that comes
from a lot of gomba-drinking and boza-smoking
but the true kind of peace
the one that blossoms in our hearts
like a thousand roses
making the angels so envious
that they look upon us
and start gossipping
the wind stands still
on that day
as peace works its way
into our homes
peace for the believer
and the one who does not believe
peace for the Hindu, the Muslim
and the Sikh
peace for the Straight, the Gay,
the Lesbian and the Masturbators
peace for the saved
and peace for the yet to be saved
peace to all of you
as i wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year 2007
yours lovingly,
mdkims
Friday, December 15, 2006
Friday, December 01, 2006
africa resource bank conference, simba lodge
from sunday to wednesday i have been at simba lodge naivasha discussing with all these cool peeps on how to turn africa people into a resource ... i attended the conference courtesy of SIFE (students in free enterprise) and i immensely thank James Shikwati, the country director and a dear friend for that
it was more like a think tank kind of thingy and oh, i was like the youngest and the like the least educated because almost everyone carried scents of Phds and Masters ... i learnt a lot about the african situation ... and that africa is the only continent that is going to note an increase in its population by the year 2025 therefore the eager need that these people be turned into an asset or risk them proving a major liability ... if you consider that 50% of the population is under the age of 17 with many of them facing an uncertain future in regard to poor governance, disease, poverty and unemployment some serious considerations have to take place ... our workshop was such an attempt
let me go back to less serious issues ... simba lodge was the bomb ... i would wake up in the morning and run towards the lake so that i could view hippopotamuses grazing ... there were beautiful waterbucks also that held no fear or awe for the humanity surrounding them ... a friend had a digital camera and we took some major snaps ... i tried downloading them but there was a hitch so i will try to do that some other time ... the lake ... there is something incredibly fantastic about standing close to a lake ... it reminded me of the time i was in high school and we went for a major hike down kerio valley to touch the waters of lake kamnarok ... lake naivasha is just the same ... only grander ... and with all these beautiful birds standing and wading around ... and in the distance where the sun rays shimmered over the lake, one could spot a fisherman or two trying their trade
the hospitality from the lodge staff was great, the only tragedy is that most of them seem averse to smiling ... which is not necessarily bad but a smile does not seem to cost that much, does it? ... i met all these peeps from south africa and tanzania ... shared a lot about our cultures ... learnt some afrikaans and plied it on a south african lady who laughed her socks off when i told her that she was a beautiful girl in Afrikaans
the best part was the mbuzi choma we had ... never tasted roasted goat that was half that good ... i was rather full from an excellent dinner so i missed somewhat on that delicacy but there were other rewards like in being around all these interesting peeps doing all these interesting things that you had no idea that they could possibly be done
most folks there were exceptional in that each person seemed to have in a certain way chosen the road less travelled ... they all took exception to conventional wisdom and followed what was in their own hearts ... and i was like caramba! that must have demanded a lot of courage
there were poets, writers, businessmen, social workers,researchers, proffessors, idlers who did not like working but had saved money to attend all manner of conference ... and each person was very confident about their position in life and were not attracted in any manner to what any other participant might have had on their side of the fence
i met this lady who scored straight As in highschool ... her father had insisted on choosing the most complicated degrees for her so as to effectively utilize her load of brains ... you could imagine the list ... doctor, lawyer, rocket scientist, astronaut ... or something that would involve her shutting herself in a lab for good watching a paramecium reproduce in the hope that such an observation would earn her a nobel prize
instead, this girl did philosophy and theology in the states and came back immediately afterwards ... there was some form of career assurance in america but the country sucked culture-wise and she hopped on plane back to africa ... she is like very jobless right now ... oh, she did a stint in strath but thought that a teaching job sucked so she is just at home travelling around the world with the money she saved ... she is thinking of working for a cruise ship, hmmmm ... my mind could not adequately correlate her decisions but then she told be a beautiful thing ...ALL WE WANT IN THIS LIFE IS TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED ...period ... she has already achieved that and sees not why we should have much hullabaloo about life
this is critical if we a too look at the education system in africa ... there are those who say that a developing nation needs more scientists than it does guys in the so called liberal artistes ... do we force children to become doctors, engineers and accountants or do we give them the free will to explore their God-given talents ... are the students who fail pro-science examination necessarily weak or are they just victims of an unfair system ... the whole talk challenged me to really look at myself in the mirror and see what i really am and what i really want ... which of course is a difficult task for any human ... but i guess that at the end of it all we have to make choices about our lives and we have to be ready to live by those choices and not blame anyone if anything goes awry ...
TO BE CONTINUED
it was more like a think tank kind of thingy and oh, i was like the youngest and the like the least educated because almost everyone carried scents of Phds and Masters ... i learnt a lot about the african situation ... and that africa is the only continent that is going to note an increase in its population by the year 2025 therefore the eager need that these people be turned into an asset or risk them proving a major liability ... if you consider that 50% of the population is under the age of 17 with many of them facing an uncertain future in regard to poor governance, disease, poverty and unemployment some serious considerations have to take place ... our workshop was such an attempt
let me go back to less serious issues ... simba lodge was the bomb ... i would wake up in the morning and run towards the lake so that i could view hippopotamuses grazing ... there were beautiful waterbucks also that held no fear or awe for the humanity surrounding them ... a friend had a digital camera and we took some major snaps ... i tried downloading them but there was a hitch so i will try to do that some other time ... the lake ... there is something incredibly fantastic about standing close to a lake ... it reminded me of the time i was in high school and we went for a major hike down kerio valley to touch the waters of lake kamnarok ... lake naivasha is just the same ... only grander ... and with all these beautiful birds standing and wading around ... and in the distance where the sun rays shimmered over the lake, one could spot a fisherman or two trying their trade
the hospitality from the lodge staff was great, the only tragedy is that most of them seem averse to smiling ... which is not necessarily bad but a smile does not seem to cost that much, does it? ... i met all these peeps from south africa and tanzania ... shared a lot about our cultures ... learnt some afrikaans and plied it on a south african lady who laughed her socks off when i told her that she was a beautiful girl in Afrikaans
the best part was the mbuzi choma we had ... never tasted roasted goat that was half that good ... i was rather full from an excellent dinner so i missed somewhat on that delicacy but there were other rewards like in being around all these interesting peeps doing all these interesting things that you had no idea that they could possibly be done
most folks there were exceptional in that each person seemed to have in a certain way chosen the road less travelled ... they all took exception to conventional wisdom and followed what was in their own hearts ... and i was like caramba! that must have demanded a lot of courage
there were poets, writers, businessmen, social workers,researchers, proffessors, idlers who did not like working but had saved money to attend all manner of conference ... and each person was very confident about their position in life and were not attracted in any manner to what any other participant might have had on their side of the fence
i met this lady who scored straight As in highschool ... her father had insisted on choosing the most complicated degrees for her so as to effectively utilize her load of brains ... you could imagine the list ... doctor, lawyer, rocket scientist, astronaut ... or something that would involve her shutting herself in a lab for good watching a paramecium reproduce in the hope that such an observation would earn her a nobel prize
instead, this girl did philosophy and theology in the states and came back immediately afterwards ... there was some form of career assurance in america but the country sucked culture-wise and she hopped on plane back to africa ... she is like very jobless right now ... oh, she did a stint in strath but thought that a teaching job sucked so she is just at home travelling around the world with the money she saved ... she is thinking of working for a cruise ship, hmmmm ... my mind could not adequately correlate her decisions but then she told be a beautiful thing ...ALL WE WANT IN THIS LIFE IS TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED ...period ... she has already achieved that and sees not why we should have much hullabaloo about life
this is critical if we a too look at the education system in africa ... there are those who say that a developing nation needs more scientists than it does guys in the so called liberal artistes ... do we force children to become doctors, engineers and accountants or do we give them the free will to explore their God-given talents ... are the students who fail pro-science examination necessarily weak or are they just victims of an unfair system ... the whole talk challenged me to really look at myself in the mirror and see what i really am and what i really want ... which of course is a difficult task for any human ... but i guess that at the end of it all we have to make choices about our lives and we have to be ready to live by those choices and not blame anyone if anything goes awry ...
TO BE CONTINUED
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