A Strange Poverty
There’s a kind of strange poverty in a place billed as the world’s wealthiest democracy,…
Sit a While With Me
Hello there! Thank you for coming by. Mkawasi.Com is a place of familiar confessions and self-discovery. I hope it stirs you up sufficiently, entertains you profoundly, and surprises you with new knowing. Share it freely as you journey on. About Me I am a storyteller, a teacher, writer, thinker, agitator. These are my chosen life assignments –…
A Strange Poverty
There’s a kind of strange poverty in a place billed as the world’s wealthiest democracy, where mass shootings are so easy and frequent. It’s the kind of poverty that runs a cold chill in the mind, even when goodness and opportunity is common, and running into human kindness everyday is heartfelt. It is not a…
Somos el Barco
There’s a story about why brides carry flowers, a culture carried on from the tribes of Europe, I believe, and transferred to us through the collision of cultures. The story goes that the scarcity of water caused the poor to go many days without washing, and that a bride’s flowers were to mask the whiff…
Still Here
If I were standing on the map of my life time today, I would be standing smack dab on the equator where exactly half my life was lived in one country, and the other half was lived in another. I arrived in this country precisely half my life ago on this day. I’m still here…
Adam
Just before the year’s end, I was on the phone with my father wishing him a happy 85th birthday. Somewhere between how-are-you and have-the-rains-come, he went into story mode- A tale is told of the man Adam- dad said. He was given land as a gift by his maker. It was fertile land, capable of…
mkawasi@mkawasi.com | FB, Li, X – @mkawasi
One of Baltimore’s best art is its street murals. Surprising and meaningful and inspiring. This one rises above streets when you’re not looking, right off the promenade by the Fells Point. Something about it comes home to me… Alright then, if you want to find me, use the email on the header– isn’t it a…
The London Milkman
Back in the mid 90s, we had some in our rika who had graduated college and soon after started employment as Nairobi’s young professionals. As was habit, one evening a group of us sat around in a friend’s living room examining life as the aroma of masala tea wafted from the kitchen. Then one of…
Redeemed
Listening to Kasmwel McOure’s talk on Engage left me raw. I’m so sorry kid. I’m so sorry for the assault and soul mutilation a generation goes through– our generation choosing silence, the present youngest generation choosing revolt. I do not wish to diminish this charismatic young man’s personal trauma by applying it to an entire…
Emerging- /Nairobi to Atlanta
Seeing Mark Smith’s “Emerging” in person was an absolute treat. Inspiring is an understatement. Two things set my mind on fire as I stood there transfixed: 1- the revolution underway in the land of my birth as the sounds and images stream in; 2- the fresh reminder of the shocking scourge of homelessness in cities…
You are Free-
A Juneteenth Memoir It’s not enough to be free. It’s more important to know you are free. Something happens in captivity situations. Could be any place where your wings feel clipped, where your spirit hangs dark and low like a rain cloud that just can’t shed its load. It took me years to see the…
