Diary of a Mjengo girl

Losing a mother hurts no matter the age a person is. Ask any motherless kid or adult they will tell you. And unfortunately the phrase "time heals" isn't as practical as it is supposed to be. There are days when the grief is small, sometimes medium and sometimes it hurts to the core. The concept of time is sometimes applicable in terms of the intensity of the feelings but basically, there are no rules in this grief thing. For my case, everything I was afraid of when I was growing up, came to pass in July 2016 when I lost the psychology professor. More than six years down the line and the pain is as fresh as it was the day I saw her lying lifeless at St Luke’s. I still yearn for her voice, her smell, the sound of her laughter and the food she cooked. I talk about her to anyone and everyone who cares to listen or ask, not because I am stuck or because I haven’t moved on but because I am hers and she is mine. And no amount of time will ever change that fact. New comers in the...

Every parent dreams for their children to study medicine, pharmacy or law or something corporate-ish . I guess this is the construct of the out dated mindset that declared these careers prestigious. Most parents will have satisfaction seeing their children being called doctors and lawyers even if they tarmac for four years or more. This mindset unfortunately has blinded our teachers in schools today. From the instep as a form one student, all the ‘gallant’ teachers tell students is to study and become doctors, pharmacist and lawyers. Most of them, not all. The bitter truth is, not all students are meant to be, like to be or even dream to be these titles. With the fast-changing world of economics, information and technology, a child could be anything and be successful. Again, success is idiosyncratic. Parents and teachers should understand that the old guard world view is not the millennial’s or generation Z’s view of life. A quick survey with our Kenyan institutions of higher education...

My landlord rears chicken and ducks. The ducks are a bit laid back than the ones I know from back home. One of my mama's friends keeps them as security because they bite people. Literally. So when I first moved here, I was so scared I could sneak in and out like a thief so as not to startle the ducks with the fear that they too, were biters. A few months down the line, we came to know each other, understand each other and I even apologized for my underlying presumption of duck nature. I have even named the male one Joey Tribbiani like the one from friends and two of the female ones Suzan and Yasmine. The rest of them we don't 'talk' as much. Now, the ducks and the chicken have been living in harmony for the time I have known them. The rooster however has a habit of a typical Kenyan married man, leaving home early and coming back late at night, probably drunk. We cross paths by the river when I am headed to the campsite at quarter to 7am EAT. I have never had the courag...

One expatriate driver Moha had a mild heart attack today at the Maskani . He was accosted by a black snake while sitting under the mango tree. It fell out of the tree. I guess snakes really do fly, don't they? And this one in particular that had a grown man screaming like a little girl and the rest of the men running for their lives and others running to get stones and logs so they can work on the serpent before it works on them. This isn't a safe work environment, one may think. But snakes are common in this place especially during the masika seasons. Talk of working in a village.  Now,  Maskani is a place in the campsite parallel with the workshop and directly opposite the administration and engineering offices. It is where people go to unwind and 'catch up.' Light vehicle drivers kick their heels here as they wait for their bosses to sip coffee from their tiny cups and smoke cigarettes outside the administration office. Heavy trucks drivers on the other hand pass t...

Now, you all remember how  Wawire’s stomach did him a while back? He had healed from that until he stepped on an insect. Most people are not aware of this but in some areas of Tanzania, there is this insect that nobody knows the name but when you step on it you forget home. Literally. Most people just call it dudu . A few years back when I was doing my undergraduate , I came across  an article about insect having feelings and I was shocked by the fact that scientists had evidence and studies that indicated that they actually do. But this story isn't  about insects and their feelings, is it? Two days ago Wawire forgot his home. He was walking from the site when all of a sudden he lost his kinesthesia senses and started walking around like someone who is lost. No, a zombie. Or just a thing. People who saw him thought he was on his usual  'things.' Or that he had eaten something free somewhere and had been rogwad . Well, all of that wasn't  the case. He had ...