A Stellar Woman's World

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...

Allow me to do two things today. First, I'd like to wish you, my dear reader a happy new year! Have you already taken in the fact that despite the mess that was 2020, you still made it to 2021?! Crazy, right? We're a month into the year so we should probably start with normal greetings as opposed to 'Heey pal, happy new year!!' but I had to do it for the blog (1st post of the year tingz! 💥💪). How are you? No, really, how are you? Pandemic and all. I really do hope that things are fairing on okay with you and yours, but if not, don't you worry, God's got it under control and soon, soon my friend, you're gonna be more than good!  Second thing, allow me to reintroduce my hustle; a hustle I love and enjoy doing. Before I do that though, I'd like to tell you how it started, how it's been going and what it's been like over the years. Kitenge World by Kangsy started off in 2014 when I was in 2nd year. The initial name was Kitenge Bracelets by Kangsy. ...

I'm just now done clearing my desk and putting all my work stuff in order, safely in boxes, deleted some folders I feel have become redundant, in preparations for the Christmas holiday that is finally here with us. While doing this I just thought of how happy packing to go for this particular holiday used to make me feel. The excitement isn't as intense now as it used to be when I was a child, with parents who back then took the burden of ensuring that we had a good time. We are now the parents! We now gotta worry about everyone else and ensure they get Christmas memories worth holding onto. Who'd have thought this would happen? Too soon perhaps? Growing up is a scam, right?! The Pandemic year!  YOOO! This has been a year an a half! Not only has it been confusing, it's brought with it loss, grief, sadness, you name it! It's just been one hell of a funky year that started well, got worse, then now ends with uncertainty still lingering in the air. The menace is still ...

Body insecurities. ​Do I have any? YES. Despite now being the time I feel the sexiest and/or healthiest, I’ve still got major body insecurities. I feel like I’m insecure about a certain part of my body every day. One day I might be worried sick about how long my arms are, another day how wide/big my head is, lol. The one constant and probably long struggle I’ve had is my skin. I don’t know whether calling it sensitive fits the whole situation but my skin is pretty delicate and it’s got a lot of things going on. It being the largest organ worsens the situation because it’s all I see and while I don’t give much thought to other parts of my body that aren’t aesthetically pleasing, this one I think about pretty often. We don’t pay much attention to our bodies until some changes start to actively show, like say hitting puberty. I was a very late bloomer. Stuff like breasts and having periods happened to me way late into High School days. While my peers were experiencing cramps I was sil...

Today felt like a good day to take stock, so here I am with my open heart, mind and spirit: MAKING more time for exercise. This has been my most active year, physically. Quarantine days made it easier, especially in March when all we did was stay home for the most part. For several months now, since then, I made a weekend workout routine which involved an early morning run and some easy exercises after the run. I do this on Saturdays and Sundays. Some days I go hard, some days it's really tough but I'm glad I haven't given up on it. It's become part of my life and I think I'm gonna do it for as long as I'm here. People exercise for many different reasons; losing weight or building muscle being among those reasons. For me working out has proven to be one of the main ways I keep sane. After all the noise and activity that the week comes with, I like to just take some time for myself, a good hour, where I just go do something that gives me peace of mind and a kind ...

Janet Mbugua (love her!), an extremely eloquent Keyan ex-news anchor, a mother of two and a champion for menstrual health has this series on her Youtube Channel where she occasionally talks about 5 things that are on her mind. She talks about anything and everything without limiting herself to a certain area of life’s happenings. I love her content but especially love the fact that she is championing for normalization of conversations surrounding menstrual health management, a conversation that is long overdue. I believe that we’re in a era where topics that were previously considered taboo are no longer to be shied away from. I have become more open to such conversations, sex education topping the list because I have been part of a community that turned a blind eye to such talks for as long as I’ve lived. Anyway, here are the 5 things currently on my mind. JANUARY CRAZE is the no. 1 thing on my mind! At this time of the year everyone’s become a motivational speaker, lol. I scrol...

In 2019, I turned 26 , visited & kissed a giraffe at Giraffe Centre, hiked all 7 hills at Ngong Hills – twice, went on several nature walk escapades at Ololua, went zip-lining at Machakos w/girls from my former High School, travelled to Voi then later to Mtwapa for a girl’s trip, learnt how to ride a bicycle at Karura Forest, went on an exciting ​​road trip to Hells-Gate Naivasha for my birthday, improved on my writing (Blog) & maintained consistency with posts, facilitated team-building activities w/Trio Magik at Arboretum, Limuru & TGRV Mai-Mahiu. I applied & got my EAC passport – which I hope to one day use – inshallah, participated in the Mater Heart Run (4th time in a row), missed my annual StanChart marathon coz I was broke like a burukenge, consistently worked out & tried drinking my fair share of water – so basically I stayed hydrated for the better part of the year – or not , did some outreach work – not as much as I’d wanted & want to do this year...

This is a kid whose had major struggles growing up. When he was in nursery school, he made it clear to everyone. That books weren't his thing. He hated school. Early mornings were a thing he detested He'd stay in bed a little longer. Reluctantly took up assigned duties like they were a burden. He hated homework, man, he really did. He'd bribe his twin to help him do it. He was the first one to come back home from school. And last to enter its gates. Teenage-hood came and all hell broke loose. The struggle to embrace books continued. The rage, the energy, the disinterest that this phase brought about. All these were ingrained in the habits that he formed then. The bittersweet teenage juice that flows through everybody. The juice that comes in doses, in this phase. Filled him in a way none of us could understand. We got worried. I might add Excessively worried. 'This too shall pass', It did! Little did we know that things would turn around. The a...

Picture this: It’s home time! It’s time to stop pretending that you’re busy working on your computer when your supervisor makes their routine end-of-day sluggish walks across your workstation – you really were just waiting for the clock to tick 5.00pm, weren’t you? Your stuff’s already stuffed in your work-bag but you don’t want to be the first person to clock out. “That’ll make the boss think I hate my job & to make it worse, I haven’t made any sales this week…I REALLY shouldn’t be the first one to leave. That way they’ll think I’m putting in that extra effort & working an extra minute! How industrious!” You conclude as you wait an extra 5 minutes during which you lock & unlock your side cabinet seven times in a row while stealing a glance at the biometric machine waiting for 2 colleagues to clock out then you follow 😂😂😂…. After what seems like 40 years & 40 nights in the desert, the coast clears out and Plesdent Kingston can now clock out. Two of your ...

I don't like how & why I skipped a month of writing on here 😟😟. I'd told myself that this year & this space in particular would get the best version of me. I'd said that I'd try so hard to put up a post (if not two+) on here every month. Sadly, last month was really just a shitty month and I wasn't the best version of me hence the lack of a story 🤗.  Look who we have here today though?! I realize that for me to have great flow of ideas, I have to be in the right headspace. September gave me none of that!! ☹ So, where's my head at?  Dear Mercy, what's the one thing you want addressed by you? Well, now that you asked. I'd like to actually tell myself something I consider very vital to general life progress.  Mercy, breathe! INHALE. EXHALE.  Things can occasionally go from zero to 💯 real quick. You're gonna find yourself taking up more and trying to handle more than you probably can tackle. Relax. Brea...

So jana I'm going about carrying out some assigned duties in this our place of work then send some document to print. As I'm going to pick the doc from the printer that's at the Reception, I find this young beautiful girl seated on the far end of the one 3-seater Equity Bank-like visitor chair we have. With her is a handbag, a brown A4 envelope and a smile, brighter than the diamonds Rihanna spent 4 minutes and 42 seconds singing about. I smile back and we kick off the smiling contest but add onto it some words to make the whole experience spicy. "Hi, sorry to bother you 😒- -" she says. "No, no..it's no big deal, I'm just printing something - actually it's the machine printing it, so I'm just here to pick the documents...haha 🙃." Off i went with the lame office jokes. She giggled anyway so, that's something🥳. She then quickly retrieved the contents of her envelope and gave them to me and as she was doing this she asked (se...

How are you? Really... How are you doing? Don't take this as the typical 'how are you' that's casually thrown around with the person asking it having no intentions of knowing how you really are doing, in which case you never tell the truth. You always just give a casual answer for the casual question.  Well, ask yourself that genuinely, today - How are you ?  I don't think I'm the only person who's been asked this countless times. It's become so casual such that even when someone wants to genuinely know what's happening, it feels odd to open up. It feels, in your mind before you say it, like you're shifting a burden over to someone else so you opt to keep mum, and deal with your 'demons' alone. There's this YouTube Channel I really really really like. This girl goes to a recreational park ones in a while, meets strangers and asks them random questions or tells them to do certain challenges while she records them, of...

'Do Better' Every year I have a slogan that I come up with that guides and keeps me in check throughout the year. I have the phrase on my screen savers, phone and laptop. In 2018, I had ' positive vibes only ', this year my catch phrase is ' do better '. The reason I chose this phrase is because I've made mistakes that I don't want to ever repeat. I acknowledge them but haven't let them define who I am and who I get to be. 'Do better' means I forgive myself, pick a lesson and welcome gradual personal growth. Today I take stock in the most open, vulnerable and honest ways possible to me. Having a pretty high drive for working out lately. I love when my body is active. Spending time on a field running is among some of my best life moments! Other than it being a healing process, it's taste is like that of cold water flowing down your throat after a hectic hike or aimless walk on a desert - refreshing! I enrolled in a gym late last ...

1. The year is 1993. Kid so small, soft & sassy everybody probably wanted to carry me at this point but I was always like... "Naah, Nebuchadnezzar Oludhe, talk to my mama first! I don't roll like that...Chill...🧐🙄😈..." Kid is less than a year old but kitambi already showing like WOTAHELL?? 🤣👨‍🎤 I wonder what those people were feeding me. Kid looking like Tinky-Winky the telly-tubby. Who even does that to their own child? God's child in fact! 🤔🥵🤟 Photo-man said 'abujubuju...gimme smile Toto' and kid was like "YUP, I just pooped a gudu one but let's keep thing moving...mama needs family portraits!🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️" 2. The year is a number I've forgotten but it's somewhere on the calendar, teenage years. Christmas Day! Schools closed kids taken to reserf for the holz az-in holidayzz. Holiday with a Z, sound cool with that, yes? 🤩🤣 Baby girl has on her best dress - she'd almost slept with it on but mama's eyes said ...

I am a happy girl today - I have been for a while now! Here's why: 💪 You see how people say "From my mouth to God's ears", that could never have been me for sometime! I felt for a long time that things I said, prayers I directed to Him, all just went unanswered. I felt like he didn't care at all, plus also the famous phrase, 'He has three answers - Yes, No, Wait.' weren't doing anything for me. I was just always getting a resounding No. Every time I tried talking to Him, I'd picture that this was how our conversation went: Me: Dear God, I'm just so tired of putting in work where I'm not appreciated for my input. Please open a door for me?! 😭 😭  God: Nah, not you 🚫 . What else you gat? 🤔 🤔  Me: But I called you DEAR!!! I don't call people that! 😞 😲 ...Okay, Please go ahead of me and especially send favor my way in that appraisal meeting kesho God: Ooooooh wait, didn't I tell you that the company is proba...

'Can you all hear what she is saying?" "Noooo!" the class retorted, jokingly.  "My assumption is that you have all thoroughly done your research, prepared well and now ready to convey to us - your audience - a well thought our presentation, right?" All three of us gave a synchronized nod in response to the Lecturer's remark. "Good. Now, speak up!" ******************   There's introverts - cool, calm, collected and then there's extroverts - the opposites of all that. I read on the internet(s) that you can be both, but one will somehow  override the other.  On the extreme, I'm extroverted - I'm as lively as they come. Right now I can say that I am socially confident but I cannot say the same for my years pre-campus. A former colleague once told me that I'm unapproachable. "Who? Me? How now? Are you for real-z?" I asked her with my big eyes wide open in disbelief.  I took to Google to find out...