She Dug Two Graves by Wifred Kiunga

Themes: Terrorism, Plight of the refugees, extra-judicial killings, revenge, family, media, revenge, arbitrary, xenophobia.

In 1991, the Kenyan Government opened its doors to the Somalian nationals. Children, women and men. This is after the upheaval of the civil war in the country that resulted from the collapse of the Somalia Government which led to humanitarian crises. That is how Ahmed and his sister Fawzia, Fartun the CNN and many other Somali’s nationals found themselves in a war torn country.

The story begins with the death of Ahmed; his body was found in the dark alleys of Eastleigh Section one or what others like my mum call Eastleigh ya Juu. His torso is described to be having a collage of torture marks, bruises which were dark blue in color. Clearly, he died one painful death.

Nairobi Noir

For the next thirteen days, I have the pleasure to introduce you to Nairobi through the eyes of awesome residents cum de le crème of Kenyan authors. Accomplished is the word for them.

This book edited by Peter Kimani (I am tempted to say Wa Kimani to sound more Nairobian) Out of the chaos, emerged the beautiful Nairobi, the city in the sun as the late Julius Nyerere christened it.

Enjoy the ride, share your own stories and most importantly get the book Nairobi Noir, ION no one has paid me to promote the book. Kizuri cha jiuza!

Confessions of an Uber driver

We had missed the SGR train so we had to go the next day. You know how we say everything happens for a reason ? Yes, when I look back, at that Sunday,we missed the train, I now know why.

Let’s call him Baba Violet.

He looked tired. We assumed that it’s because he had been driving through the night. We start small talk of Moi. He went like, “wacha huyo alale amemaliza safari yake “.

He was quite for the rest of the trip. We were all present. I mean dad, mum, the three of us as sisters and Terrence.

Happy 5th The Writers Guild Kenya!

It was July, a very cold one in 2016. I asked a friend how to write for Writers Guild Kenya and get published. It had always been my dream to get published. She was gracious enough to introduce me Gabriel Dinda. I sent him my article but he thought he could write it better and that is how the next morning I woke up to a hanging phone buzzing with texts messages. He had written my story ‘ The Campus Mum‘.

I will need more wine!

I know my ancestors are looking at me with faces I can’t tell if are frowned or they are generally ugly. Their wrinkled faces are giving me a look that can only show disgust that their blood runs in my veins. Their minds I am sure are battering with the thoughts of how everything about me is a joke and a waste of their precious time. I have been begging them from 3 am to allow my hole a rest. They spit on my despicable personage and the fat one that has a mouth which looks like the ass of a lizard shouts at me, “a fatal miscalculated blunder to our lineage,” the rest of them nod in agreement.

Kidneys for the Queen

The previous night was one of those I didn’t open my whatsapp messages. Most of them were from Arsenal fans rubbing embarrassment on our once proud faces. The chest thumping we had done along the streets of social media was more than what Hitler did when he conquered twenty -two countries during the Second World War. This was me as Manchester United fan accepting humiliation,but under my own terms and conditions.

Somehow, I slept through the night and made it to work in a jovial mood until I opened my mail.

Ramogi..!

Ramogi…..

The universe that I call mine ceases to have a sun when you sleep.
I hate men who snore,
But, but for you, your snore reminds me that you are a programmer.
So I allow you to transition your coding to meticulous words, because, you are my forever Poet.

The bulls of Kakamega no longer fight,
The tears of my mother’s heart are heavy like nimbus clouds,
They say Ramogi has been sent by the heat of the equator to burn their daughters heart with sweet words like Nyuka.
They say he was seen carrying an Agwata full of words that nourishes their daughters soul.

The spirit of Mikayi that you pay homage to,
Says that we got a fetish to for poetry.
Besides, whether poetry or pottery,
They both start with letter P and end with Y.
The Chemistry is permised on our previous words we call beautiful.

Ramogi,
Lift me up with the winds of Nam Lowle before the sun goes down and our souls become entangled with the juok of poetry.

Under The Stars

He is a Goodman,
He needs a good woman;like you.

Yes, I like him,
He is an ice though,
Held strongly by the bonds of the past,
I see him everyday,
We talk everyday.

What kind of love is that one?

One that tells you to close your eyes,
Walk through the darkness and trust that you won’t hit a stone.
What do I do?
Be with whom you can see.

But the tirades of wrong choices hold me, tight.

31-Day Blog Challenge!

On Saturday, my son Terrence was sick-thanks for the quick-recovery-mesages- and in bid not to think about his sickness, I decided to play catch up with Eunniah.

She is an Electrical Engineer based in Malindi. Eunniah reads alot, dresses to kill, writes well and has a killer-smile!

Here is our talk about her challenge,please follow her journey on her blog: https://mbabazi465.wordpress.com/day-18-disrespecting-parents

Rumona: Hey
Rumona: Why did you start the 30 day blog challenge?

Eunniah: Hello there
Eunniah: First, I wanted something to keep me on toes. But most importantly, I wanted to write wholly about me. And it gave me just that.

Rumona: So after the 30 days? You stop writing?

Eunniah: No. I don’t stop. I continue to write. Maybe about me. Maybe about other people. Maybe about other things.

Rumona: So what time do you write? Like do you have a special time to do it?

Eunniah: I just squeeze an hour between my schedule to type the whole thing out. I usually scribble small notes about the topic on my notebook as I go about my activities. Then use the one hour to type it out, edit and post.

Rumona: Any warm hearting comment from your avid reader so far?

Eunniah: Heart warming? I am not sure about that. Each piece receives different reactions. But the ones I love, are the ones who say they derive strength and inspiration from some of the pieces.

Rumona: Okay, so would you recommend the challenge to any one who blogs or writes?

Eunniah: I would. But only of one is ready to handle the pressure that comes with writing on a daily basis, on some of the most not-so-comfortable topics.

Rumona: Wow, I thought it’s an easy ride. Mind telling about the pressure that comes with writing on a daily basis?

Eunniah: Well, sometimes you might have such a busy day that finding just an hour seems impossible. Or you are just not in the right mood to write. Or the day’s topic isn’t striking any of your thoughts. Or you write, but then feel like the whole piece is crappy.

Rumona: What do you hope to achieve after the 30 day writing challenge?

Eunniah: When I started, I only wanted the thrill. But right now, I hope that by the end of it, I will have learnt more about the things that lie unsaid within me. And how to handle negative criticism, because there is quite a lot of that

Rumona: And how was Valentine? 😅😅

Eunniah: I was down with cramps…haha

Rumona: 😅😅😅. Thanks Eunniah this ‘ambush’ of a conversation has been great!

Eunniah: Hahaha. You are one of the few intellectual minds I admire. It is a pleasure😀

Rumona: Now this is what I call heartwarming ❤❤

Eunniah: You are welcome.

How to Convert Your Non-Reader/Writer Partner into a Reader/Writer

I was just wandering along  the streets of facebook when I came across this lovely article by Munira Hussein. She calls herself Moon. I call her the Desert Rose. She is an author of Unfit For Society (read the review on:https://veraomwocha.com/3171-2/)which goes for 700 Kenyan Shillings, also, it will be up on Amazon very soon.