I want you to love me.... like I never left!
This is me acting like it hasn't been seven years since my last post. Kind of hoping we can pick up from where we left of and act like all is hank dowry! Can we please? Great thanks!
So the longest bridge in Kenya is over the Kilifi creek in coastal Kenya. It is also probably the most picturesque site. Below it the creek waters ebb and flow never running dry, never rising too high either. If you think about it it is probably the same water that has run below it decades. Unchanging and yet never quite the same.
What's the relation you ask? Well when we want to say how much time has passed and that things have changed, they call it water under the bridge. The assumption being that it is an entirely different water body that is flowing.
So time has passed but I am still me. I am still the same individual I was a few weeks ago (52*7 weeks ago!). I have changed and yet remained the same. I have grown and yet shrunk. I look the same but I know I have aged.
The best part of this analogy...... I actually live close to the bridge. I will be writing more about it in the coming weeks but again thanks for the unconditional forgiveness!!
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Friday, May 27, 2011
Lords of impunity
By now you have established that I have little or no respect for politicians and Kenyan politicians especially those made in Kenya. Unless you just crawled up from under a stone, you know of the hardships Kenyans are experiencing a very difficult period as a result of the high cost of living. All manner of reasons have been given to attempt to explain what might be happening. I have my two cents worth of opinion about it but that is for another day.
Today I desire to to talk about impunity and selfishness, and no I am not taking about politicians. I am talking you and I. How often do we go all self righteous and condemn those we think have committed acts of impunity, all the while ignoring the everyday acts of impunity that we ourselves perpetuate.
If you have ever driven against traffic overlapping everyone else because you thought you were in a hurry you were no better than our politicians. You did something that was clearly illegal because it would benefit you with little regard for what it would do to everyone else.
When you cut into a line at the bank or at the supermarket, you are doing so because you think you are better than everyone else and your time is more important than theirs'. It is no different from when a VIPs security detail drive we lesser beings off the road so that royalty may pass unhindered. They are saying that what they need to do is more important than what we set out to do. If that annoys you when it happens then the same feeling is felt by people you cut into.
This same attitude is seen when people, who have no visible physical impairment, walk up to you in a Que and tell you to hold their place for them in line. They then take a seat and watch the line snake its way towards the tellers window and just before you get there, they reappear with a sheepish smile and wiggle in line. What they are saying is they are too good to line up and someone else can hold the line for them. No different from when our honorable (or not so honorable) members of Parliament say they can't/will not pay taxes off their income as they are doing national duty.
In as much as our politicians make us want to pullout our hair and scream in anger, we are also doing the same things only on a smaller scale but terrible nonetheless. This weekend as you be mourn your fate at being born in Kenya, take a minute and think. The leaders we have come from our community and were getting away with acts of impunity long before they got into power.
Fix the man, and the nation will fix itself.!
Today I desire to to talk about impunity and selfishness, and no I am not taking about politicians. I am talking you and I. How often do we go all self righteous and condemn those we think have committed acts of impunity, all the while ignoring the everyday acts of impunity that we ourselves perpetuate.
If you have ever driven against traffic overlapping everyone else because you thought you were in a hurry you were no better than our politicians. You did something that was clearly illegal because it would benefit you with little regard for what it would do to everyone else.
When you cut into a line at the bank or at the supermarket, you are doing so because you think you are better than everyone else and your time is more important than theirs'. It is no different from when a VIPs security detail drive we lesser beings off the road so that royalty may pass unhindered. They are saying that what they need to do is more important than what we set out to do. If that annoys you when it happens then the same feeling is felt by people you cut into.
This same attitude is seen when people, who have no visible physical impairment, walk up to you in a Que and tell you to hold their place for them in line. They then take a seat and watch the line snake its way towards the tellers window and just before you get there, they reappear with a sheepish smile and wiggle in line. What they are saying is they are too good to line up and someone else can hold the line for them. No different from when our honorable (or not so honorable) members of Parliament say they can't/will not pay taxes off their income as they are doing national duty.
In as much as our politicians make us want to pullout our hair and scream in anger, we are also doing the same things only on a smaller scale but terrible nonetheless. This weekend as you be mourn your fate at being born in Kenya, take a minute and think. The leaders we have come from our community and were getting away with acts of impunity long before they got into power.
Fix the man, and the nation will fix itself.!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Value of a life
All life is sacred and precious. At least that is the mantra we all chant. But what value do we place on a life. Is some life of less value than others? Does your stand in society somewhat increase the worth place on your being alive as compared to other "lesser beings".
I raise this questions, knowing full well that that death is an emotive and taboo subject in Kenya and Africa by extension. I think we sometimes must tackle the unpleasant issues inorder to improve who we are as Kenyans and overall as human beings.
Last week a prominent kenya athelete fell off his home balcony and ended up dead. There has much hue and cry about the senseless loss of a young life. It made me proud to be Kenyan to relaize that we can put our tribal affiliations aside for a moment and mourn the loss of a Kenyan great.
My faith in the humanity of Kenyans was however, short lived. It was shatterd yesterday by two independent incidents but that bore striking similarity. Our public transport system is dominated by privatly owned vans callled Matatus. This are often driven and managed by poorly trained individuals whose only motivation and driving force in life is the next shilling they can make all other human compassion takes a back seat.
Yesterday, a matatu ahead of the one I was in, hit another car. The driver had to swerve to avoid hitting a pedestrian that had suddenly jumped into the street. Probably out of fear or shock, the tout in that matatu jumped out and came into the vehicle I was in. When he finally caught his breath he explained how stupid he thought the driver must have been. He exclaimed how it was much better to hit a pedestrian and drive off rather than be involved in an accident with another vehicle. He explained how the rest of the morning would be spent in the policestation. It would have been better to be a hit and run accident!! To him the one life, was an acceptable loss in the business of making money. I will give you a minute to digest that thought.
My collegue lives along Thika road. The matatu he was in was flagged down by police along the way, (I must explian here that often the Kenyan police and especially so the traffic police are know to extort bribes from drivers for the mos flimsy of reasons. A cracked windscreen can be a traffic offence if the officer so decides.)
Back to my story. The driver knowing all to well what the police might want defied the order to stop. He instead, with moral support from the the tout, drove off at a high speed. What followed was a high speed chase with the driver engaging in all sorts of traffic violations. In the process he endangered the life of all his passengers. All this time the tout was cheering him on urging him to drive against on coming traffic or drive on the pavement. It was no surpraise when he hit a padestrian walking on the sidewalk. Not even this was enought to prompt him to stop. Not even the screeming passengers would change his mind. Thank God, eventually he hit huge hole and ended up witha double puncture. Only then did he stop and was then arrested. No one is sure of the fate of the pedestrian that was hit.
With those two episodes in mind I want to ask: what s the value of a Kenyans' life? Are some lives more vauable than others? And most important, Who makes the call of which life is worth less than the other?
Think about it.
I raise this questions, knowing full well that that death is an emotive and taboo subject in Kenya and Africa by extension. I think we sometimes must tackle the unpleasant issues inorder to improve who we are as Kenyans and overall as human beings.
Last week a prominent kenya athelete fell off his home balcony and ended up dead. There has much hue and cry about the senseless loss of a young life. It made me proud to be Kenyan to relaize that we can put our tribal affiliations aside for a moment and mourn the loss of a Kenyan great.
My faith in the humanity of Kenyans was however, short lived. It was shatterd yesterday by two independent incidents but that bore striking similarity. Our public transport system is dominated by privatly owned vans callled Matatus. This are often driven and managed by poorly trained individuals whose only motivation and driving force in life is the next shilling they can make all other human compassion takes a back seat.
Yesterday, a matatu ahead of the one I was in, hit another car. The driver had to swerve to avoid hitting a pedestrian that had suddenly jumped into the street. Probably out of fear or shock, the tout in that matatu jumped out and came into the vehicle I was in. When he finally caught his breath he explained how stupid he thought the driver must have been. He exclaimed how it was much better to hit a pedestrian and drive off rather than be involved in an accident with another vehicle. He explained how the rest of the morning would be spent in the policestation. It would have been better to be a hit and run accident!! To him the one life, was an acceptable loss in the business of making money. I will give you a minute to digest that thought.
My collegue lives along Thika road. The matatu he was in was flagged down by police along the way, (I must explian here that often the Kenyan police and especially so the traffic police are know to extort bribes from drivers for the mos flimsy of reasons. A cracked windscreen can be a traffic offence if the officer so decides.)
Back to my story. The driver knowing all to well what the police might want defied the order to stop. He instead, with moral support from the the tout, drove off at a high speed. What followed was a high speed chase with the driver engaging in all sorts of traffic violations. In the process he endangered the life of all his passengers. All this time the tout was cheering him on urging him to drive against on coming traffic or drive on the pavement. It was no surpraise when he hit a padestrian walking on the sidewalk. Not even this was enought to prompt him to stop. Not even the screeming passengers would change his mind. Thank God, eventually he hit huge hole and ended up witha double puncture. Only then did he stop and was then arrested. No one is sure of the fate of the pedestrian that was hit.
With those two episodes in mind I want to ask: what s the value of a Kenyans' life? Are some lives more vauable than others? And most important, Who makes the call of which life is worth less than the other?
Think about it.
Friday, May 20, 2011
By election woes
I am apathetic to politicians. I hate Kenyan politics and loathe Kenya politicians even more than traffic!!( Which is to say a lot if you have experienced Nairobi traffic). As I stated in an earlier post, I work in the heart of a slum in Eastern Nairobi. It is located in a constituency known as Kamukunji.
A few months ago, the sitting member of Parliament, a no good thug known as Simon Mbugua was declared to have been unduly elected as M.P and should vacate the office immediately. Few, if any people shed tears for Mr. Mbugua's exit. In the time he has held the office of M.P he has managed to set new lows even for Kenyan poitics. He has been know to be a vehicle sales conman, dishing out doses of violence to journerlists and even sent threating messages to a sitting high court Judge!!! I think even the powers that be all heaved a sigh of relief at his uncermonious exit.
A by-election was then declared would be held to elect the 'right' person to the post. In a strange but welcome twist of fate 'Simo' as he is known is this parts was barred from participating in the nomination process and thus locked out of the election. It seemed like the election was going to redeem the people of Kamukunji from mediocre leadership finally.
So what is the point of this long and possibly boring recap of Kamukunji politics? Well the clinic I work in is housed in a city council health centre and has in the past been used as both a polling station and as a tallying center during elections. Elections in Kenya tend to be a rather emotive issue and unrest is never too far off the agenda of voters and idlers.( this two groups of people tend to merge into one and making the distingtion between them is difficult if not impossible). As a result of the uncertainity of peace around elections, there was to be no work on Monday 23rd May to facilitate the exclusive use of the facility for election purposes. Anyone that is employed knows where this conversation is heading. Yap I was going to have a long weekend and an unplanned day off. (thats like christmas comming early)
Can you imagine my utter disgust, when one hour ago the high court impossed an injunction on the entire election. Appatantly one candidate from the lesser parties felt hes constitiutional rights had been infringded upon somehow during the nomination process and that he needed justice done and done soon.
So coming Monday, yours truely will truely be at work and all hopes of a long holiday have been effectivly dashed. I have decided to take a more pragmatic approach to the issue and instead of mourning the loss of a day off, immagine I have just postponed it to a time of the courts of laws' convinience!!
A few months ago, the sitting member of Parliament, a no good thug known as Simon Mbugua was declared to have been unduly elected as M.P and should vacate the office immediately. Few, if any people shed tears for Mr. Mbugua's exit. In the time he has held the office of M.P he has managed to set new lows even for Kenyan poitics. He has been know to be a vehicle sales conman, dishing out doses of violence to journerlists and even sent threating messages to a sitting high court Judge!!! I think even the powers that be all heaved a sigh of relief at his uncermonious exit.
A by-election was then declared would be held to elect the 'right' person to the post. In a strange but welcome twist of fate 'Simo' as he is known is this parts was barred from participating in the nomination process and thus locked out of the election. It seemed like the election was going to redeem the people of Kamukunji from mediocre leadership finally.
So what is the point of this long and possibly boring recap of Kamukunji politics? Well the clinic I work in is housed in a city council health centre and has in the past been used as both a polling station and as a tallying center during elections. Elections in Kenya tend to be a rather emotive issue and unrest is never too far off the agenda of voters and idlers.( this two groups of people tend to merge into one and making the distingtion between them is difficult if not impossible). As a result of the uncertainity of peace around elections, there was to be no work on Monday 23rd May to facilitate the exclusive use of the facility for election purposes. Anyone that is employed knows where this conversation is heading. Yap I was going to have a long weekend and an unplanned day off. (thats like christmas comming early)
Can you imagine my utter disgust, when one hour ago the high court impossed an injunction on the entire election. Appatantly one candidate from the lesser parties felt hes constitiutional rights had been infringded upon somehow during the nomination process and that he needed justice done and done soon.
So coming Monday, yours truely will truely be at work and all hopes of a long holiday have been effectivly dashed. I have decided to take a more pragmatic approach to the issue and instead of mourning the loss of a day off, immagine I have just postponed it to a time of the courts of laws' convinience!!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Be careful what you wish for......
I am sure you all think this will be one of those stories with a moral teaching at the end of it ment to teach the wayward to correct their ways before it is too late. No such luck! I wrote my serious article for the week yesterday and so today its a happy story with no particular objective.
By now those who follow my writing can probably guess the routine that is my life. So prizes for guessing that I often arrive home after dark coming form class. Last night was no exception. I came home and found my princess asleep. She looked so peaceful asleep and yet a part of me wanted her to awake and see daddy was home.
I didn't wake her up(partly because my wife wouldn't let me!!) and later in the evening we all retired to bed. I have not mentioned this before (quite typical of me by now you should know), but my baby has tharted all attempts to make her sleep in he bed. She will scream or just sit up in the dark if made to sleep in her her alone. So guess who sleeps between mum and dad?
In keeping with the title of this blog, at midnight or thereabout I got my wish. Her majesty was awake and there was no way the peasantry could be asleep when she wasn't. There was lots of laughter some screaming and even more laughter after that.
Any first time parent will tell you how difficult it is to pretend to be asleep as your baby talks to you or puts his/her fingers into your mouth and ears. After half an hr of pretending to ignore her I gave up and turned on the lights. That gave her more morale to play. Needless to say it was a very short night in terms of sleep.
As I left the house this morning I toyed with the idea of leaving instructions on how much she should be let to sleep during the day but I knew I'd just be overruled.
I know promised that there wouldn't be a lesson at the end of this story, but its my blog, and I do as I please so there will be a lesson afterall.
Careful what you wish for.............you just might get it!!!
Red eyed sleepy dad has signed off!!
By now those who follow my writing can probably guess the routine that is my life. So prizes for guessing that I often arrive home after dark coming form class. Last night was no exception. I came home and found my princess asleep. She looked so peaceful asleep and yet a part of me wanted her to awake and see daddy was home.
I didn't wake her up(partly because my wife wouldn't let me!!) and later in the evening we all retired to bed. I have not mentioned this before (quite typical of me by now you should know), but my baby has tharted all attempts to make her sleep in he bed. She will scream or just sit up in the dark if made to sleep in her her alone. So guess who sleeps between mum and dad?
In keeping with the title of this blog, at midnight or thereabout I got my wish. Her majesty was awake and there was no way the peasantry could be asleep when she wasn't. There was lots of laughter some screaming and even more laughter after that.
Any first time parent will tell you how difficult it is to pretend to be asleep as your baby talks to you or puts his/her fingers into your mouth and ears. After half an hr of pretending to ignore her I gave up and turned on the lights. That gave her more morale to play. Needless to say it was a very short night in terms of sleep.
As I left the house this morning I toyed with the idea of leaving instructions on how much she should be let to sleep during the day but I knew I'd just be overruled.
I know promised that there wouldn't be a lesson at the end of this story, but its my blog, and I do as I please so there will be a lesson afterall.
Careful what you wish for.............you just might get it!!!
Red eyed sleepy dad has signed off!!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Ninaomba serikali....!!
I woke up this morning feeling inspired to write. I usually think up things to write as I either drive to work or plan my day. Today was no exception. I have been agonising on something witty or smart to write about. It is now past midday and the cloud hanging over my creativity shows no signs of dissipating. I will thus write on less fun more serious issues.
I have intentionally neglected to state what I do for a living. I wanted my readers to build a mind picture of who they think I am. I wish I were a fly on the wall to hear what people think of me. Anyway today I unblind all of you to my identity.
I am a medical doctor who has specialized in public health and HIV/AIDS. I work with low social economic female sex workers.
A few weeks ago the media reported how one retired clergy man in Tanzania, named Amblikimu Mwasapile, had recieved devine inspiration on a concotion thet was curing all medical ailments. Babu, as he prefers to be known as was offering the concotion to anyone that had the stamina to get to his humble remote aborde.
Needless to say there has been steady streem, ok thats incorrect, there has been a deludge of people making the trecherous journey to the place called Loliondo to parteke of the drink. Amoung the people going there are a good number of the clientelle that patronise my clinic. One cup of the said concotion is said to clear even the stubborn HIV.
It is all very well to offer people hope in what seems like a hopeless situation, but I take exception to the commercial exploitation of peoples desperation. Before taking the drink, an individaul pays a modest fee. The fee is intentionally kept low to entice even the poorest of the poor to make the journey to Babu's house on the hill.After taking the drink one is instantly cure of all medical ailments and is required to immidietly stop all other medications he/she is on.
There in lies my real fight with Babu. In the last week alone I have recieved no less than three people that have come from Loliondo and have stopped taking their anti-retro viral drugs. All and I mean all hve been retested and all are still very HIV positive. If the trend is anything to go by this senario is being repeated in many comprehensive care clinics in Kenya. So in the next few months to a year we will have a new wave of HIV positive patients who have virus that has developed resistance to the available ARV's. What this means is that they will have to be put on what we call 2nd line medication. This is a line of drugs that are less frequently availlable in Kenya and are much more expensive to import. So there is the very real risk of patients missing out on life saving medication. I rerely subscribe to the doctrine of 'tunaomba serikali.." but this once I am appleaing to the powers that be curtail the activies of Babu. It will cost you some public relations fiasco now but will be much more expensive to the entire country in future. I will attacha few pictures of the infamous loliondo hill.
I have intentionally neglected to state what I do for a living. I wanted my readers to build a mind picture of who they think I am. I wish I were a fly on the wall to hear what people think of me. Anyway today I unblind all of you to my identity.
I am a medical doctor who has specialized in public health and HIV/AIDS. I work with low social economic female sex workers.
A few weeks ago the media reported how one retired clergy man in Tanzania, named Amblikimu Mwasapile, had recieved devine inspiration on a concotion thet was curing all medical ailments. Babu, as he prefers to be known as was offering the concotion to anyone that had the stamina to get to his humble remote aborde.
Needless to say there has been steady streem, ok thats incorrect, there has been a deludge of people making the trecherous journey to the place called Loliondo to parteke of the drink. Amoung the people going there are a good number of the clientelle that patronise my clinic. One cup of the said concotion is said to clear even the stubborn HIV.
It is all very well to offer people hope in what seems like a hopeless situation, but I take exception to the commercial exploitation of peoples desperation. Before taking the drink, an individaul pays a modest fee. The fee is intentionally kept low to entice even the poorest of the poor to make the journey to Babu's house on the hill.After taking the drink one is instantly cure of all medical ailments and is required to immidietly stop all other medications he/she is on.
There in lies my real fight with Babu. In the last week alone I have recieved no less than three people that have come from Loliondo and have stopped taking their anti-retro viral drugs. All and I mean all hve been retested and all are still very HIV positive. If the trend is anything to go by this senario is being repeated in many comprehensive care clinics in Kenya. So in the next few months to a year we will have a new wave of HIV positive patients who have virus that has developed resistance to the available ARV's. What this means is that they will have to be put on what we call 2nd line medication. This is a line of drugs that are less frequently availlable in Kenya and are much more expensive to import. So there is the very real risk of patients missing out on life saving medication. I rerely subscribe to the doctrine of 'tunaomba serikali.." but this once I am appleaing to the powers that be curtail the activies of Babu. It will cost you some public relations fiasco now but will be much more expensive to the entire country in future. I will attacha few pictures of the infamous loliondo hill.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Thus far has the LORD brought us.
This past week saw the completion of the laying of floor tiles in the house. The electrician also did the re-wiring of the house. I say rewiring since we had done wiring in March but thieves thought it better to take away the wires. Set us back thirty thousand shillings. Such are the trails of building a house.
Anyway thus far God has been faithful and has brought us to this point. Every day the house looks more and more like a home to raise my family in. God willing this week the power company will come and connect us to the power supply.
Lots of things are left to do but i believe we can do them while living in the house. We still need to put up a perimeter fence and gate and do the landscaping arount the compound. The fittings in the house also need to be done but we can do those while in the house. Here are a few pics of the progress.
Anyway thus far God has been faithful and has brought us to this point. Every day the house looks more and more like a home to raise my family in. God willing this week the power company will come and connect us to the power supply.
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