Of Books And Life

I am not an educationist and I really don't know whether our education system really delivers. But I loved school. I loved school especially because it exposed me to all kind of people. And learning about people is one major life lesson. This is because people are the main component of life.

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My mother while commenting on books would say, "people are books; letters from God. You can learn a lot from people". And true to her words, people are a vast reservoir of resources and wealth. No wonder I love observing people. I love watching people. Tracking their lives. And, I do learn a lot. 

School exposed me to all kinds of people. Little flowers budding. No one really knew what life had in store for any of us. And every time I observe how life unfolds for different people, it gives me perspective. It really hits me hard when you receive the bad news that so and so is no more. Why does it always happen that those that I never imagined dead, die? Or you meet the guy who tied the knot on the number line every end term and he challenges you to the core. Life truly is unpredictable. And when the unknown becomes know in hindsight, it humbles me. Who would have known?

I have tried to reconnect with most of the people we shared something while growing up, some were my classmates, others were village mates, others were work mates while others were church mates. All kind of people. And it amazes me that I can actually pick out something valuable I learnt from them. One day I write out my lessons from different people and I am so sure many of them will not believe. I have learnt so much from people. Lessons they may never be aware they passed to me and that have stuck with me.

Last week I was thinking about this girl I schooled with in primary school. She was so academically challenged the school administration would push her to the next class just to have her clear school now that her age mates were way ahead of her. I caught up with her in class seven and she was pushed to class eight. This girl had never really passed any test in her entire life. It was such a surprise when for once she beat us all by passing the pregnancy test and graduated to the highest education, motherhood. I wonder how life eventually turned out for her. 

And as I keep reading books, interacting with people and learning from them, I have come to understand that true success is not in getting ahead of others. True success is in getting ahead of yourself.

What would we do without Technology?

In my previous post, I came out as if I was hating on technology. I wasn't. I was actually hating on the way people are slowly neglecting very important aspects of being humans. There are things that technology cannot replace. One of them is the importance of human touch.

Nonetheless, we must appreciate the ease of life technology has brought. I wouldn't have asked to be born in another time. This is the ideal time. We are able to do so much more than we could previously. And so it would be very sad for those who are still reluctant to change and to embrace technology. If you are such a person just know that life is passing you by.

With the world in yours hands, what are your opportunities? Do not miss!

I don't Like the World in Your Hands

Now that the whole globe is accessible through hand held gadgets, how much of it do you hold? To reach out to someone, you just need to buzz them or find them online. You can hug them, laugh until you roll and slap them if they are bothering you. You can share your mind in tweets, update your status and mark your location. And the world which you connect with can access you instantly.


 But what happens to the slow ones like me who prefer a face to face chat on a street bench, a walk on the road licking ice cream or playing flute with a green maize? What happens to me who wants a hugs, and who wants to laugh out loud until no sound is coming out of the mouth.? What happens to me?


It is sad when friends are connecting laughing out loud with a blank stare.
It's sad when a phone rings to interrupt a one on one with a friend, and takes over.
It's sad when the world in my hands cannot touch me when i desperately need a human touch
It's just sad.


But this is the new world; exciting, advanced, instant and small. Everyone is connected with everyone else. The world is literally in our hands. We can do with it as we wish. And the best thing about all this, I don't like it that much.

Eyeing the Things that Count

What would you do if your needs were catered for, for a whole year?

You must agree most of us are occupied everyday in what we call work but more often than not we are just on the paper chase. We are looking for money to cater for our needs and more money to make life easier, and more money so that we can afford a few luxuries. And that is okay.

Most people in my generation are concerned with amassing wealth for ourselves. We want it big, we want to make a statement, we want to be on the top of the pyramid, we want to be up there. And that too is okay.

What happened to calling? What happened to service? 

The other Saturday I had a whole day with high school students in a boys school in Murang’a. And as we were doing an afternoon session, which I was teaching about attitude, I realized no one wants to be a teacher, or a shepherd of the people of God. And as much as no one gave a reason for that, it is evidence we have lost the sense of calling. Where people would give their lives out to serve the community and leave a mark in the lives of many generations. That is not found in us anymore. 

We don’t mind serving the community so long as they compensate for hostile conditions and provide 4 by 4 for us to ride on, no wonder we have enough NGO’s. But I wonder who they are serving more; themselves or the communities.

And as life tends to do, not all of us get to become the doctors we dreamed about, and as fate would have, some actually end up becoming teachers. And since most of us are just in OCCUPATION and not following a CALL, you can excuse the state of our current generation. We are occupied all day and night, rushing through life as we try to make ends meet. But is that all; to meet ends?

What would I do for a whole year if all my needs were catered for? I would go for a holiday. Sad as it may sound, but I have realized even when I talk about serving community and blaming my lack of enough resources and time for not doing something in my society, those are just lame excuses. I have no community sense in my heart. I want to serve the community if in doing so I get served. And that explain our leadership crisis. We want to serve our people to be served.

And as I reflect on the state of my life in regards to service, calling and leadership, I can only desire for a complete metamorphosis, to drop self interest and seek to serve where I can and to capture the call in my life. And as I struggle to make ends meet, I will not neglect my part in society to leave this place a little better than I found it. And so I want to get hold of the things that matter. 

What Am I?

While editing my life a few weeks ago, I thought about my childhood dreams. The kind of life I had dreamt I would live. I asked myself a lot of questions. One of the major question was 'what would I tell God about my life if I died and went to heaven?. This question disturbed me a lot. What is it that would be of interest to God? What is it that would tickle him on a Saturday afternoon beside the river of life as I narrate my life on earth? I then realized my life would be boring, without major events to celebrate about as such, or even with anything worthy telling Him, but just that which concerns me, myself and I. And I decided to change that, and shifted my focus on who I was becoming. I wanted to write a different story with my life. The kind of story that would catch God's attention. The kind that would be recorded in the chronicles. That’s the kind of life I want to live. The kind that would be a great story to tell my kids. The kind of story that my wife would enjoy telling of the fifty years or more of living with me. The kind of story that would make me as a grandfather make sense among my grandkids in years to come. My story of becoming.

And as I write the story of my life, I dedicate it to my generation. To the people who are struggling to become better. To the people who believe in making this world a better place. A people who are not afraid to pursue personal development. A people who believe in finishing the course and keeping on the track, and maintaining faith. A people who rise up after falling. A people whose dreams do not die. Who believe in dying empty. Who believe in immortalizing their lives. That as they look at me, they get hope and inspiration, and an example.

I believe it's not where you have been that matters, neither is it where you are, nor what you are doing, but what you are BECOMING.

And so, this is my life story, the story of BECOMING.

Kenya28Feb – Kenya Stands United

Today the grand coalition government is celebrating three years since the signing of the peace accord. Kenyans everywhere are connecting to stand as one people, one nation, one country and one Kenya. On 28^th Feb 2011, at 1300hrs EAT, Kenyans are being urged to stand up and sing the national anthem wherever they will be, just as a sign of standing united for Kenya.

Sometimes I imagine if I were the president what would I do to make the difference? To be honest, I am not sure. Power has a way of intoxicating people and its wine tends to madden their minds. For some reason, the political system in this country has a way of swallowing even the best of souls and within no time, someone who was vocal and keen on true progress either becomes all of a sudden quiet, or they join in and start sing their song.

I get encouraged when I see the people themselves taking charge and deciding to do something. The problem is, are we any different? When we speak of change what do we mean? Do we mean a change in our lifestyles when we get power? Or do we mean a change of ideologies and philosophies? Or do we mean it’s time for us to eat? Or are we just tired and jealous of the old folk? What is it that is driving us to change?

Great leaders are servants. They are keen on serving the people, making life better by fighting for peoples’ rights, enhancing equality and empowering the people. Hardly do we see that nowadays. Even when we change people in leadership position we tend to have the same problem recurring. What do we do?

I think we need to deal with the system. Our current system tends to focus on positions. So as young people we think that we can only bring change to this country if we had political positions of leadership. And as much as those positions have influence on what happens in this country, we must start shifting our mentalities from positional leadership to influential leadership.

We are leaders in different capacities. First it starts with leading ourselves. How are we managing ourselves? Within our circles what kind of influence are we making? Within our families what difference are we making? In our business and organizations what do we stand for? For example when we talk about corruption, how incorruptible is your character? If we are not doing the right things where we are now, we are only lying to ourselves and others when we say we could bring change if we got into power.

Secondly, we should focus on bringing positive change with what we have right now. We can’t keep talking about leaders of tomorrow, or someday when we get there. No. We have to start doing something right now, with what we have. And if we keep moving in the right direction, nothing is impossible.

One of my life dreams is to do social and public campaigns that seek to empower the local mwananchi so that they can be able to influence their destiny and the destiny of this nation. I know we have a long way to go, but do not be deceived, you have no idea what can happen in a week or in a month. I guess if you have been following news you can agree with me.

And so, today as we sing our national anthem let it be a prayer and a commitment to making a difference in this nation. We have work to do, but it starts with where we are and who we are. Let us keep moving, let us move in the right direction.

All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten

I was reading a book by Robert Fulghum tittled All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten and I must say it's quite refreshing. He says most of what he really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be he learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday School.

These are things he says he learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balance life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together

Be aware of wonder.

This got me thinking about what I learned in nursery school (i didn't go to kindergarten). This was July 1988 and I don’t have much memories of this. I was enrolled to a nursery school that had two streams. One class was the bright kids; those who were in their second year, and the foolish ones, those who were in their first year. Having joined the school midyear, I knew nothing. Again, here everyone was speaking vernacular and I was a boy from the city.

We used to do songs more than read. I used to love break time where boy and girls would sing together without the feeling that this is a girl or this is a boy. I remember girls would sing a song that ended with them lifting their dress to show us their underpants and we would all giggle. The boys would look for dung beetles. We would urinated inside their holes and beetles would come up and we would have them as pets. Some beetles had horns and if you had one like that, you were the day's hero. We would hunt locusts and eat gum from the gum tree

I learnt so many songs that still linger in my mind to this day. Being in school was great. We would have our exercise books cut into two and the pencil cut into small pieces. My pencil would fit in a matchbox which was my pencil case. I had a big knit bag and some days I would get home and realize I have lost the book and the pencil. But since our teacher followed the same route she would collect the book on the way and bring it home.

Alternatively the book would be collected by a villager and they would bring it home. Some of the memories are the tourist headed to mountain lodge. They would give us sweets, take us photos and such. But there was a scare that they steal kids and go with them to Europe and turn them into monkeys. And when they take your photo they add tails to it and go show the African monkey. And so we would run away every time we saw a tour van.

And class used to start at 9.00 am to end at noon. And we never used to wear uniform. I never used to like any reading that was not musical especially mathematics which was just counting. I remember this day our teacher was away and we had another teacher. I never used to know how to count and I would just gaze waiting for the first person to finish and we duck outside and play. My teacher never cared. But the new teacher was harsh.

This day she was there and when the first kid finished the sums, she took to the teacher and on marking she got everything. I closed my booklet and started walking out now that I had someone to play with. Our new teacher couldn’t understand. She denied me to go out and demanded I do my sums and get them right before I go out. You can guess what happened. Everyone did their sum and went out to play. I was left alone in class and the teacher whose desk was near the door sworn I was not going anywhere until I finish.

The sound of other kids playing outside made me want to die. I couldn’t believe I was missing break. I tried guessing the answers to the sums, only to use my saliva-wetted finger to try erase and in turn dirtied and torn the book. I wanted to kill the teacher. I just didn’t know how. So, I gathered momentum and found my way out through the window. She was not amused.

She came after me and when she got me she pinched my cheeks I bled. The next day, my mother brought me to school and gave her a piece of her mind. My mum didn’t care if I can’t get anything in class, so longer no one beats me and I am allowed to play. That was enough learning.

What did I learn in nursery school? Would I say that this is all I need to learn? I am not sure, but this is what I would say I learned.

1. You can turn everything into a musical or at least rhythmical.
2. If you are not getting it, join them for play after they are done, and celebrate life.
3. No one should stop you from doing what makes you happy even if they think it’s nonsense
4. Networking is key, join a play group. you can never do life alone.
5. Life should be fun and free, the rest comes as you go by.

Type of Rare People

The hand baggers: 
They burden their shoulders with a pouch of unnecessary accessories.

I know you should carry your own cross.
But never die alone. You are in a community.

The hump bearers: 
Forever carrying burdens in a back pack even to a picnic or a wedding

Even Jesus didn’t heal everyone at the pool of Siloam.

Pretend to be well once once.

The note bookers:  
They jot everything in church and never read those notes.

Don’t statue the living words into a death sentence
Read your notes, you will meet someone we call secondary illumination

The face bookers:  
They read people faces and they sentence on spot

 Even with such proximity you are never interest to share your life

 Why be judgmental? Stop thinking of yourself higher than you ought to.

The Motivators:     
They update very inspiring status on facebook and have a sweet tongue.

Meet them and they are hollow and complaining about everything

Kindly try and be consistent. We can tell the anomalies

The Addicts:         
They don’t drink, hangout, or smoke, they got it figured

They just can’t stop pointing fingers and pitying others

 Self righteousness is like filthy rags before God.

The wankers:      
I call them nonprofit organisms, good for nothing.

They are after everything for self gratification

We are called to serve, outdo mosquitoes and be helpful

The huggers:      
They have perfected the art of embrace and a calculated smile

Once in need, they flee like a flea. Got this and that to do
Give yourself to others. You are the greatest gift to those in need

The chatters:      

They know every dirty laundry about everyone
Now that she did or didn’t do, what’s with you?        
Shut up! Before you spread rumors, receive love.

The suitors:       
They overdress their lives with imaginary fantasies, very spooky
We know and believe we have a great place there someday

Now we are living on earth, dress for the occasion

The metaphors of this generation

We like it hot, tight, fly and freakingly casual

We live on the edge, on the chase, like crazy up there

We want it instant, jumbo, coated leisurely

We remember it if it was wicked, wild and left us damaged

We look at it if it’s flashy, artificial, made up and cosmetic

We smell it if it’s meaty, rusty, addictive and juicy

We touch it if it’s velvety, metallic, electric and intense

We wear it if it’s halved, inside out, added on or plastic,

We talk about it if it’s extreme, politically incorrect and pointing to others

We embrace it if it’s liberal, for now, accidental or the in thing

We loathe it if it’s procedural, committal, manual or involving

We connect real time, non physical and in groupies

We are open, pleasure hungry, standalones and independent

We know how to mask it together, copy paste, tag it and forward

We also pity the old, the backwards, the godly and the breastfeeding

And finally, with search engines, navigators, internet and satellite TV

We can never admit that we are confused, lonely, empty, shallow and lost.

In Love with the Idea

Falling in love is overrated. It’s equated to a new birth. And as much as falling in love is a noble thing, it’s a human process just like finding your job or even a house to live in. What makes falling in love such a big thing? I guess it’s because generally, human beings are selfish and are made to seek companionship among other physical need like to have sex and share emotions.

In my generation, human beings have become even more sophisticated. People are also more advanced in technology and in knowledge of things. There is this new phenomenon of being superficial and lacking of a capacity to endure, wait or even persist. This means the fast will survive. It¢s the people who can make decisions fast and evolve with change as fast as they can who end up getting much out of this life. And when it comes to falling in love the same thing happens.

I have met new people who after two hours of knowing each other will introduce me to other people as their great friend. Ha! Talk about speed. But in my heart am always thinking, boy, we are not great friends. This is our lives where our friends are friends because conveniently they fit in with us. What else would you be looking for?

Back to falling in love, I think most people are not falling in love with the person they say they are in love with. They are just in love with the idea of the person. The person they perceive the other person to be. Not the real person. To most people, what other people think about the person they are in love with plays a greater role than who the real person is.

And it’s not just about love, but most of the things. Most people are in love with the idea of being rich and famous. But are they in love with the life of being rich and famous. Are we just in love with the idea of a perfect community or with the responsibility of the same? Are you in love with your dreams or with reality of making your dreams true?

Yeah, in my generations, we are in love with the idea of falling in love. It’s much fun that way.