A Stellar Woman's World

As I read through this exceptionally written book by Rawder Kidula & Florah Kidula, I couldn't help but silently laugh at one vivid memory still etched in my mind of a time in my teenage hood when I thought the world, with no shred of doubt, revolved around me. Had I had such a book, my approach to life then would probably have been different, who knows? Now, having visitors was the norm while living at Hanne Howard Fund Lenana compound (aka The Project). Some volunteers would come to either teach us art, dance, boxing, taekwondo, others would come teach us how to express ourselves in English and the ones we'd mostly look forward to were those donors, local and/or international, who'd come with clothes and food. This particular week while we were all home for the August holidays there was a donor, beautiful Miss Sonia, who'd booked to spend her week at the project. She would portion her day in a way that ensured she spends time with all groups of kids, starting with...

'Every time women gather together in circles, the world heals a little more.' The forever First Lady, Michelle Obama, in her book 'The Light We Carry' recounts how over time in the course of her life and while at The White House, it became quite hard to meet, form or maintain female friendships. This was largely due to the line drawn between the intricate nature of life in politics brought about by being married to President Barack Obama and the friends' urge to maintain and live a private life, away from the razzmatazz of a political life. She says that making friends for her, albeit hard, had to be something she did intentionally. She would either make friends at her daughter's basketball games, at a book fair, in college, etc and purposed to make these friendships last long. She brags about her small group of 12 'Kitchen Table Friends'; a dedicated group of female friends that she has journey through life with from college days to now. Female friendsh...

After exactly 3 months and 11 days, today I went back up the stairs to the rooftop of the apartment we stay at. Trembling and shaking, I kept taking a step after the next hoping to get to the top. Several times I kept thinking, …why go? …but kept at it regardless. On this rooftop, I had set a very calm meeting place with my Father. For about 3 months leading to the delivery of my darling baby girl, I'd come up here, do some simple workouts but most importantly have a daily tete-a-tete with Him. I couldn't and still can't wrap my head around the fatigue that comes with the 3rd trimester and rightly so, many times I contemplated not going up there. What made me keep up with the routine was the fact that I knew He was waiting for me and was eager to talk about how far and smooth my pregnancy journey was.   We'd talk about my hopes, dreams and plans for baby in my tummy. We'd discuss my maternity leave plans and among other things mostly just sit in the silence of dawn ...

The world didn't quite prepare me for the experience that came with this phase of my life. I boast occasionally of how easy it has been for me to grasp and adapt to changes in my life but this one, naah ...I had to readjust, relearn and extensively educate myself. What I'm I talking about, you ask? Motherhood. I am writing this while on my 3rd trimester; 35 weeks & 6 days to be precise. The once subtle baby kicks are now more defined you'd think the baby's made my womb a mixed martial art ring. It feels heavenly every time it happens and I am not joking when I say that I live for them kicks...I could be having a really crappy day but anytime I sit and the kicks intensify, my mood instantly changes!  The reason I started by saying that the world didn't quite prepare me for the journey is because with my many years of schooling and seeking knowledge, I realized that I didn't know much about pregnancy. I was never taught about what to expect in any of the trime...

Flowers, random hand written notes, nature walks, just-because cards, long ‘vulnerable’ texts 😆 are among some of the things I love and knew to be my expression of romance or love…cute, right? Occasionally, while single I’d pass by City Market after work and buy myself a bouquet of roses and go put in my nice vase at home. I should also mention that I had a fixed mind that any man who’s out there searching for a woman (me) should have basic knowledge that ladies loved stuff like these…right? …WRONG 😅 With these assumptions I went into dating & courtship expecting (without communicating) that my now husbae would without a doubt know that women liked flowers so surprising me with them once in a while sio mbaaaya, right? Lemme tell you Maina…😝 Nilingoja flowers my sister! I had assumed & had expectations that he’d just KNOW. So whenever there was a special occasion and flowers weren’t part of the ‘gifts’ I’d feel some typa way …so najipata na makasiriko while still waiting ...

Stellar Generation Kenya is a mentorship & empowerment initiative for adolescent girls & boys and young men & women in Kenya. Our objective is to EDUCATE, ELEVATE and EMPOWER them emotionally, intellectually, mentally, spiritually and socially with intent to help them acquire skills that will allow them make informed choices and decisions in their life in pursuit of becoming a stellar generation #stellargenke #stellargenerationkenya 1 of  6 2 of 6 3 of 6 4 of 6 5 of 6 6 of 6 

#MyFirstSalary Do you remember your first ever salary? How much was it? How did you spend it? How old were you and what was the job? Given the same amount of money now, do you think you’d use it differently? I was 19 years old when I got my first salary working as a Student Assistant at Strathmore Uni’s current School of Business then called School of Management & Commerce (SMC). How I landed the job and held onto it for the course of my studying there still remains something of a mystery and sheer luck. I started the job during the ever busy graduation period when ‘extra hands’ were needed to help ease the process. For about 3 weeks my job for a start was to issue gowns to the graduands from my faculty. My task included issuing the gown, the tassel, cap and the invitation cards. Each student had to then sign against their name after they’d picked everything. I had to make sure that the numbers tallied at the end of the day lest there be a deficit of invitation cards. “You do k...