Miss Kangwato

Q: Has a homeless/street person ever refused food you've offered them? If so, did they provide an explanation? Well, well, well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my fellow repeat readers or repeat clients, if you may! Today I have a short story to bless your eyes and ears. Will it blow your mind? Maybe. Will it give you reason to come back here and check out more stories? Definitely!  I assume that most of you my readers are Nairobi residents and if not, you've been here at one point in your life. This is a notably great city with beautiful people, a people with a culture so rich everyone outside it wants to come have a taste. It is a hub of 'unity', or so they say. It's here that the assorted bunch of the various tribes come to link up, all forty two of them. Our relatives from the rurals are fascinated by this city, no wonder they gather around to hear tales of its craziness every time  Nairobians visit home for Christmas. The streets, as usual, are ever buz...

Can’t lie, this one took me longer to read because it’s not my typical read. From high school days, I noticed that I lean more on fiction storytelling books; novels - mystery/crime, African affairs, etc. and less towards biographies, memoirs, self help books and history books. The former take me days to finish unlike this one which took a month (plus). Halfway through I contemplated giving it up but I think treading new waters is part of learning and growth, so here I am. This is a two part memoir, posthumously published about the life of a budding 37yr old neurosurgeon & writer, Paul Kalanithi, his entry into medicine world and exit from it - through Stage IV Metastatic lung cancer. One section talks about his entry into neuroscience, learning the ropes of it all, from being a student, to a resident doctor, to eventually a practicing one. Reading this part was very complicated for me because of the amount of industry jargon used. I had to keep checking the meaning of some word...

I'm born of a woman from the lake side, to many known as Nyar Gwassi. On the 20th day of March, a fine sunny Saturday afternoon the Kangwato household welcomed a baby girl. I never thought to ask the exact time I came out of the womb, which hospital took her in while in labour, whether the nurses were friendly or the kind of cravings she might've had while pregnant with me. I wasn't old enough to ask those questions when she was around, I bet we'll have that conversation when we meet on the other side. This day, for me, has always been more of a reflective day; a day to mirror what’s been, what is and what’s to come. If I’m not alone somewhere away from the world doing exactly that (or hiking), I’m with people I love and care about deeply, making merry and laughing my heart out. This time round I got to do the latter and it was all I wanted! The weeks leading to this particular birthday were really challenging in several ways and in my head I'd already figured I was...