Diary of a Mjengo girl

Last December the foreman's vacation might have gone too well. Or he might have lost his phone because after that day he never posted anything on WhatsApp. Not even the new year's messages that everyone was posting. So, after resuming work on the 2nd of Jan, I had to go find out what happened to everyone's favorite foreman, Wamaku. Turns out, he had decided to 'grow up' and posting so much was a youngster's game that he was no longer interested in. But how will he ' komesha' people, I wondered. Because his statuses were mostly about his personal life or about 'telling off' people he felt had irked him. On New Year's Day, everyone with a smartphone at site posted their 'new year new me' in long Swahili sentences about how they are going to drop wanafiki and that kind of stuff. In this village resolutions were made with as much enthusiasm as the local bakery's vitumbuas . Wamaku, notorious for breaking every resolution before the...

  Working in the construction field AKA mjengo is like attending the world's most practical school of life lessons. First and foremost, it teaches the undeniable power of teamwork. Trying to build something substantial without a crew is like attempting to juggle bricks—it might work for a second, but eventually, you'll need a hand. As we dive into 2024, we must keep embracing the spirit of teamwork and togetherness. Construction sites are like giant, real-life LEGO projects where everyone has a specific role, from the architect who dreams up the design to the kagirl who cleans offices and fetches tea but somehow becomes the motivational cornerstone of the team. You quickly learn that collaboration isn't just a buzzword; it's the glue holding those bricks (and your sanity) together. Moreover, construction work is a masterclass in adaptability and creative problem-solving. You start your day with a blueprint, a plan etched in stone (well, paper), but the moment you step ...

I am delighted to have the privilege of leading the people of our nation in celebrating the important milestone in our journey to national independence. Sixty years ago, on a day like this, Kenya took its final step of the freedom struggle to become a sovereign Republic. According to the vision of our forefathers who fought for this country’s freedom, independence was intended to bestow on us the gifts of political as well as economic self-determination. This anniversary gives us the opportunity to gather as a family and reflect together on how we have fared over the course of six decades. It is clear that we have made undeniable progress on many fronts and, as a result, our nation may be said to have come a long way in the right direction. Before that first Jamhuri Day, Kenya’s sovereignty was exercised by an unelected, foreign and colonial power for the benefit of an occupying minority. We have since matured from a single-party State to a competitive, multiparty democracy and devolve...