Mish's

Mish's

WHAT’S IN A NAME

Maybe this should actually be titled what’s in a nickname. So I figure most of us pretend to be too cool for nicknames but then, when we create some of our email addresses (those first ones before you needed to sound grown up, sane and professional). Those more affected by ‘shadiness’ probably added their year of birth, for some unfathomable reason.

Most of us outgrew these but majority are stuck with the painfully embarrassing reminders since our social networking sites were unfortunately opened with the nicknames (read email addresses). Go ahead take a look at the contacts list on your email and you will see that, you and your friends had them.

In my case mine came of us a horrific blend of my favorite book’s character (at the time and half my name, I have no idea what I was thinking). In my defense thought, my favorite character was an awesome woman, at least by the standards of those times: pre-ice age. Let me tell you a little about her maybe this gives someone some insight into my psyche. She is Ayla the main character in a series of books by Jean M. Auel.

This character moved me, and maybe it is because my first encounter with her was a bit like the forbidden fruit. I mean the content of the ‘The mammoth Hunters’. It is a rich epic tale set in pre-ice age. Which I would suggest was a bit too grown up for me the first time I read it at 15. I always had my nose buried in a book somewhere and consequently read all the age appropriate books way ahead of my time. I mean I read the sweet valley series, Tin Tin, Famous Five and the like, before I was 12,this is my excuse for the too grown up book i read at 15. My nickname is a tribute to the truly phenomenal character named Ayla.

I like to think that what you chose as a ‘nickname’ before you knew better can give you unfiltered insight into who you were because the world taught you to be ‘appropriate’. Take a look at your first email address, pen name e.t.c. and see what’s in a name.

I WAS HERE

I am seating here watching Kenya and the world mourn a true hero. I know we throw the word about more often than not when a person dies. But I truly mean it, Wangari Muta Maathai, is undoubtedly one of Africa’s greatest daughters. I am watching her memorial and I get to thinking. How did an ordinary Kenyan girl get to become such a hero? It took her 71 years but she sure made a mark, it’s not enough that she was the first woman in sub Saharan Africa to earn a doctorate, she also went on to be the first woman Nobel laureate. The way I see it, She was really was ‘unbowed’ to the end.

I often get inspired by everyday occurrences, be they ordinary or extraordinary. Lately thought, it seems we are leaning more towards the extra ordinary, with heaven getting a major facelift I mean they have gotten 3 amazing people that would transform any place into wonderland. I’d bet Wangari is already saving the environment up there,  Steve Jobs is probably  already working on the next generation of the iPad while Margaret Ogola another great heroin is writing another epic tale that will change the way heaven sees women forever.

Having said this I would say it has been a sad two weeks as I feel that these 3 people have gone too soon. This may not seem so to most people, but I marvel at the thought of what more they would have achieved with a little more time. I will however, not mourn but celebrate these greats. I pride myself on being a champion for environmental conservation and this is why I will plant a tree (just like 5000 other people) to commemorate her life.

So, here I am trying my best to find my niche and make a change and I can’t help but be inspired, by all these awesome people, to strive to find my way.  I will change the world or at least my little corner of it. I will therefore try to remain unbowed as I find my way and ensure when I am gone some legacy will remind the world that ‘I was here’

I WAS HERE

I am seating here watching Kenya and the world mourn a true hero. I know we throw the word about more often than not when a person dies. But I truly mean it, Wangari Muta Maathai, is undoubtedly one of Africa’s greatest daughters. I am watching her memorial and I get to thinking. How did an ordinary Kenyan girl get to become such a hero? It took her 71 years but she sure made a mark, it’s not enough that she was the first woman in sub Saharan Africa to earn a doctorate, she also went on to be the first woman Nobel laureate. The way I see it, She was really was ‘unbowed’ to the end.

I often get inspired by everyday occurrences, be they ordinary or extraordinary. Lately thought, it seems we are leaning more towards the extra ordinary, with heaven getting a major facelift I mean they have gotten 3 amazing people that would transform any place into wonderland. I’d bet Wangari is already saving the environment up there,  Steve Jobs is probably  already working on the next generation of the iPad while Margaret Ogola another great heroin is writing another epic tale that will change the way heaven sees women forever.

Having said this I would say it has been a sad two weeks as I feel that these 3 people have gone too soon. This may not seem so to most people, but I marvel at the thought of what more they would have achieved with a little more time. I will however, not mourn but celebrate these greats. I pride myself on being a champion for environmental conservation and this is why I will plant a tree (just like 5000 other people) to commemorate her life.

So, here I am trying my best to find my niche and make a change and I can’t help but be inspired, by all these awesome people, to strive to find my way.  I will change the world or at least my little corner of it. I will therefore try to remain unbowed as I find my way and ensure when I am gone some legacy will remind the world that ‘I was here’

WAKE UP CALL

Most of us have at one point or other heard same facts about the rapid deterioration of our planet. But, as usual, we are taking our sweet time listening and taking appropriate measures. As Kenyans we have the unique habit of taking decades to acknowledge disasters. The HIV scourge, for instance, was first seen in the early 80’s but it took us and our leaders 2 decades to acknowledge that it was an actual disaster.
When it comes to climate change and impending extinction, we simply don’t have 2 decades. We need some sense knocked into us, NOW! It is time to act and I don’t mean feeble attempts to reduce plastic use. I mean real changes. Something drastic, if it may shock and seem unfair, well, it is just the price we have to pay.
Someone should impose a Kenyan environmental day, when all media unites to air appropriate documentaries and movies and all employers are decreed, yes decreed, to plant a certain number of trees on the chosen day. I suggest everyone simultaneously watch these shocking documentaries like ‘11th HOUR’ or’ EARTH’ and maybe, just maybe, we’ll finally realize that when we pit ourselves against nature, we will lose.
The planet has after all been around for billions of years and if something has to go, as the youngest species at the top of the food chain, we are expendable. It is true, we are fast wiping out 50% of all life on earth, but it is also true that earth is resilient. Wake up people and use all these advances in science and technology to make life on earth sustainable.

SOMETIMES

Sometimes I feel truly twenty something. I mean on the verge of greatness but not truly there. Having a thousand dreams and knowing that it’s not that I am fickle it’s just that life has soo much to offer and so little time to enjoy it all. So I do what I can and jump from one dream/brilliant idea. Hoping that if nothing comes off it, at least I can say 'been there'.

You feel a myriad of things most of which you don't understand and which you would never admit to. top among them is anuptaphobia or fear of being single and peniaphobia, fear of poverty. But of course you never speak of them lest you seem anything less than sure.

At this age you barely know up from down but you have a healthy, some say lethal, dose of bravado so you fake it till you make it. You strive to keep up appearances to make everyone think you know who you are and then hope like hell that whoever figures it out gives you a heads up. Then maybe you will figure out who you are.

KENYANS FOR KENYA

So, there have been a few times in my life when i have truly been proud to be Kenyan. Some of the times have been: when my countrymen/women have come together to help out during a disaster or as simple as when I listen to a truly patriotism-inspiring Advert like, EABL's ‘we are Kenya’/ Safaricom’s ‘Niko na Safaricom’ or When a major global athletic event, ends with the Kenyan Anthem.

It has been a while, however, since anything Kenyan has inspired the kind of pride the 'Kenyans for Kenya' initiative, has. The only time I have been similarly inspired was when Wangari Maathai won the Nobel. When some of Kenya's top CEO's and Media Owners managed to show our political misleaders how it is done, every single Kenyan was inspired to give to feed our dying brothers and sisters. This was mostly because the initiative was started by leaders who know what they are doing, who acknowledged that we had a problem and were humble enough to ask the ordinary mwananchi for help(burying your head in the sand pretending that Kenyans aren’t dying-doesn't exactly inspire anything ,except maybe derision).
So, here is to those great CEO’s, James Mwangi, Bob Collymore e.t.c, who showed us how to give. We have now seen that we do not have to rely on political misleaders or even international aid in order to save our country.
I salute you Kenyans and especially Abbas Gullet, my hero. Here is to ‘KENYANS FOR KENYA’

THE JOURNEY

We often embark,

On journeys in the dark, knowing we must

Having no idea, why

Yet, we take on

The missions,

The journeys,

To the unknown

With zeal, we claw,

Our way up

The road to nowhere

To see, who gets there

First, to nowhere

We are all lost

Too afraid, to admit

The journey is a circle

With a common end

And one unchanging finale.

 Consciousness

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

It was a normal day,

A bright and lovely one,

I was happy, relaxed,

Assured even,

In the calm before the storm

I was confident sure even,

I was, or I felt, loved.

I felt appreciated and cared for

In the calm before the storm

Suddenly, there was a disturbance,

I wasn’t so sure, the phone rang,

My assured confidence was no more,

You shattered my faith,

My faith and my heart

But my confidence is intact

And the storm is not quite so turbulent.

DEAR PAST

I write to you,

So as not to face you,

I rather like,

The idea of avoidance,

Prefer my chances,

If I never confront,

I beg to remain                                                

In my own domain,

Where we no longer meet,

For once was enough,

Enough to learn

To crush and burn

Only to rise

Like a phoenix

And soar even higher

So, please stay behind

LIFE

I wonder about life,

In its entire glory,

Filled with the gory,

Just when I start to think,

That I have it mastered

A new hand is revealed,

Knocking me off balance

Balance that eludes

Even the most wise,

Maybe life gets a kick,

Out of taking us to the brink

And yanking us back

So that we agonize

And beg for relief,

Relief that is eternal

Devoid of ups and downs