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THE POWER OF THE TONGUE     Morris mwenda, the trending name at the moment. The boy is a street kid with a good command of the English language. He spoke and became famous in an instant. Your tongue can really take you places.     The renowned motivational speaker and author, Pepe Minambo recently gave us a talk and explained how most  people who talk end up having their way. Of course we all talk(believe me I do, people are yet to perceive that I do) but other people tend to talk a lot. He illustrated how a magistrate  told him that many people who are behind bars are innocent but are in simply because they couldn't talk to defend themselves  and the ones supposed to be in are free simply because they talked. I don't know how true this is but at least Morris, the kid has elaborated some facts.     Some people talk much and yet make little or no sense, others tend to talk less and they make lots of sense. There is also another...

NOT YET THERE     There was once a hardworking farmer, he was an inspiration to many. It was a struggle for him to take his farm produce to the market, since all he depended on was his donkeys, which were at times slow.      The man kept on praying that he gets a pick up so that he could easily take his farm produce to the market easily. A foreigner who was visiting the town was impressed by the man's large tract of land that was well utilised. The foreigner came to the man and asked him to make one wish. The man said he needed a pick up. The stranger asked,     "Do you have all it takes to have the pick up?" The farmer said yes and started explaining how he had already reserved the parking lot and how he knew how to take good care of cars.      The stranger went away and came back after a week with a brand new pick up. On seeing the pick up entering his compound the man started jumping up and down. The strange...

CULTURE SHOCKS     New era, new terror. I guess we are still evolving. some put the blame on advance in technology, others say lack of parental guidance others have no idea what the fuss is all about. Everybody has his/her own understanding on right and wrong, not like in the olden days where fixed principle were applied.     It is a normal thing to meet men with all sorts of hairstyles, trousers sagging accompanied by weird walking styles.Woman are not left behind, of course its a world of "gender equality." you'll find "us" bleached, wearing clothes that give the unwanted exposure and we justify ourselves with the slogan; "my dress my choice" but I think we should respect our privacies, nowadays we can even extend our backsides and all it takes is an injection.  It is good to put on what makes you feel good but we should put other people into consideration too. Dress to the occasion and be decent.     Chris went to her fiancee'...

HATE SPEECH     When we are angry we tend to say things that later make us wonder if we were the same people who uttered such words. It gets worse if one is a leader.     Leaders are role models, even though they are not perfect, they must try hard not to spoil their image. During election campaigns, we get to really know what our leaders are really like. Some of them even forget to give their memorandum and instead speak ill of their opponents. In Kenya it is nothing new. From Aladwa, Moses Kuria, Johnstone Muthama, William Kabogo, the list is endless. Most of them say absurd things not good for me to write.     I must say that Donald Trump(USA presidential candidate) is very good at this, his mouth works on an automatic, whatever his brain sends to his mouth it's what comes out. He had the audacity to say that if Ivanka wasn't her daughter, he would be probably be dating her. He probably has a lot of shit to say about women from Hillary Cl...

INFERIORITY COMPLEX     Everybody is good at something and no one is good at everything. One cannot possibly improve himself beyond his means. people should put their energies where their strength lies instead of trying to do what others are good at, by not doing so, so many people risk losing themselves.     A young lady recently joined a new class and the lecturer asked her to introduce herself.     "My name is Mercy Sasha, I came from Utawala city(a posh city in that country), my dad is the mayor of Utawala and my mum is an ambassador," the young lady said an sat down. The rest of the class was in awe. After the class, the lecturer called the girl aside and asked her the name of her father.      "He is called Steven" the lady answered.     "Steven Msitu?" the lecturer asked and the girl nodded in approval.     "Steven Msitu is my brother and he doesn't have a daughter." the lecturer said.   ...

CAMPAIGN MOOD     Campaigns have kicked off in many parts of the country, for the by-elections and even the main elections(though not on a formal way). The pacesetters being the president, Uhuru Kenyatta and the leader of the opposition, Raila Odinga. The president toured Mombasa and Kisumu and offered goodies to the citizens in terms of projects.      It takes all sorts to make a world. Huh! Some people use funny criteria to choose their leaders. The other day, some guy came to campaign for a university post in our class. The guy said what he had to say and was off, then the chitchat started,     "He is not that cute," one of them was saying.     "Yeah, the other tall dark guy has my vote," another chipped in.     "Hell no, the tall, dark one has a funny accent," another offered as she demonstrated the funny accent and the others had their ribs ripped.      Others said the money will decide where thei...

SAME SEX RELATIONSHIPS- ARE THEY CHOSEN?     Why do gays and  lesbians become so? Why are prostitutes prostitutes? Why are thieves thieves? They always say there is a reason behind everything.     I know of thieves and prostitutes who become so just for the fun of it but I don't know much about gay and lesbians. It is hard to understand how one becomes gay for fun. It is said that such people have very different experiences regarding their sexual orientation.     Is it a disease that has a cure? Is it something that people do willingly? Would we as Africans embrace this union if it would have not been known in other continents?      people have and are coming out to say openly that they aren't straight when Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya author and winner of Caine Prize 2014) confessed that he was homosexual, I hated him, despite him being one of my favourites. I thought evil of him but after evaluating my hate fo...

STEALING FOOLISHNESS (2) About this mwakenya (leaked exam) thing , what does it really do to students? 1. A mwakenya makes me live a lie , it makes me think I am who am not. Using it will make me not understand my weakness, and understanding my weakness makes me work hard to improve on it and became better.  2 .A mwakenya makes me lazy , why should I read when I know the mwaks will do the thing for me? I will just lazy around doing things of little benefit to me. 3 .It is degrading to oneself, a mwakenya makes me look foolish. (ouch! That hurts)The moment I use a mwakenya, it is like I am telling myself that I am not smart enough to think for myself, especially if I am coping someone else's work "Ni kama kuiba ujinga." (it's like stealing foolishness) since I can't be sure if that which I am coping is indeed correct. 4. It instills corruption in oneself, using a mwakenya is a corrupt act in itself and once it becomes a habit to us, it will be really ...

STEALING FOOLISHNESS? (1)     One day a hunter went into the forest to hunt for meat for his family. That  early morning the forest was calm unlike other days, no roaring of lions, no scary sounds and funny enough plenty of the animals he wanted to hunt were just coming to him  pleading to be hunted. so he did not have to go deep in the forest that day. The hunter was suspicious and he picked only one since he was suspicious, he killed it and took it home,  he surveyed the meat before his family started eating. The meat was good but the hunter did not enjoy it.Why?     The next morning while it was still very dark, the hunter embarked on another hunting mission. The wind was blowing hard and the trees seemed to be falling down. The  hyenas, lions roared and other scary sounds were heard from a distance. The hunter's heart throbbed but he was brave and went in to the forest, he went deep but there was no sign of game, he continued going de...

THE REAL MAN IN AKUKU We as Africans feel proud being associated with our people and that is why it is common to meet a stranger and he/she starts tracing his/her lineage.       "Your grandmother's cousin was the mother to my uncle's father, so we are related." Though it is always hard to gauge what they mean, it is somehow good to acknowledge the "relation" which might not be there in the first place.   " Some things irritate me a lot, the other day while on holiday, I was walking, minding my own  business . Then this woman pops up and points to a young girl coming towards our direction. The woman goes ahead to tell me that the girl is my sister. the striking resemblance of the girl with my father betrayed the fact that I could not believe." my friend was narrating his holiday experience to us. there was a tinge of anger in his voice. He said that this was not the first time this happened. His father was probably a generous man. My f...

                        NO GATECRASHING Valentine's day is not just a day or season for lovers or whatever they are. Everyday is love day. It is a time to accommodate other people's love and to spread it far and wide but not to dangerous extents. Some people are planning to "dandia" (gatecrash) other people's dates, well there are many ways to spend this day without necessarily "dandiaring" dates. One can organise a group of friends and visit a children's home or a prison and have fun with the kids or those behind bars. If one feels like being alone, a walk in the park taking lots of selfies will do. Others will spend time with their families or friends.   Others will buy flowers and go to the streets and distribute them. This valentine's being a Sunday, in all we do let us give God lots of love. Happy Vals once again

                                                             LOVE  Love.this word arouses lots of feelings in people. Back in the days love was a tradition especially in Africa. People used to love one another regardless of the circumstances. There was no need for one to love somebody from the mere fact that they knew them. In those days, the phrase "I love you" was used genuinely. I once had a friend, at the time of this incident am narrating, she was about seventeen years of age. It was valentine season, flowers and those three words were trending. My friend's crush saw this as a nice opportunity, to convince my friend.  He came with his confidence all refresh...

                                               UNDER CONTROL There was once a little girl named Amani. She was born to a clan that was well known for oversleeping. To them oversleeping was a tradition. Most of the clan members knew it was their custom and so they slept even when they had no sleep, they just had to force it. Amani's mother was among the few exceptions. She tried to instill the value of waking up early to all her four children but they were all hard on her advice. After all, almost everybody was sleeping so why would they have bothered. Amani saw some sense in her mother's advice and she tried it. At first it was not that easy. One day she said a different prayer and went to sleep. In the prayer she asked God to wake her up early. The next day early in the morning she was up early but still s...

                                            CULTURE Culture by popular definition is a way of life and it incorporates morals, beliefs, customs, law and habits. Different countries, people and groups have different cultures. Adherence to certain cultures give people a sense of belonging. Apparently, cultures are changing, some for the better and some for the worse. for the case of negative culture change, we have no one to point fingers at rather than our own selves. Let us sail together as we learn more on cultures.