Fattening and Sickening “During the mission period, 3 out of 4 of the coastal Indians perished. They’d lived well free, but as soon as we introduced them to a Christian and community life, they fattened, sickened and died” – a Christian missionary during the Christianization of the Native American peoples, The West (Burns). My mind…
Mohamed. Little boy back in class 4. All of 9 or ten years old. We were in the same class. He was a fast-talking little brat with a filthy mouth and loved to pick on quiet kids who didn’t know how to defend themselves. He would call them names for fun in Swahili. K***mako, macho…
Something happened on August 7th, 1998. There were two terrorist bomb attacks in Kenya and Tanzania by Al-Shabaab against the United States. 213 Kenyans and 11 Tanzanians died over a war that had nothing to do with either country. It was a foreign war brought to African soil. Kenyans had no inkling on the rising…
The disappearance of intellectual wealth in African communities is directly linked to imperial missionary work that killed professions such as storytelling, rainmaking and divination, all of which had seasoned experts, trade secrets and years’ worth of researched knowledge often dressed up in ritual for the consumer. Born-again African Christians stopped telling tall tales about ogres…
One day I was coming home from school, all of ten-and-a-half little me. Then a lone leaf just came dancing its way down from a tree and landed on my shoulder. I did not think anything strange like – this leaf has been sent! But I do clearly remember thinking – a leaf! – in…
Part 1: Triage Two nights before I met Dr. Fuller and Dr. Zhao, the pain had come knocking softly, like a shy relative in the village sent to greet the visiting city cousins. Just a soft harmless pulsation. I waved it off. In a few minutes, the knock grew relentless, rising in intensity until I…
Years ago, another lifetime it seems, I was preparing to drive from Nairobi to Machakos Technical Institute for the Blind when someone requested that I pass by that eternally chaotic country bus station called Machakos “airport” and kindly offer this blind stranger a ride. We both had the same destination, Stranger and I. I said,…
I have followed the work of Retina Foundation for many years now. At one point I accumulating several binders of articles on their progress on potential cures that I would print off of online publications. I did this until the organization got a Facebook presence which keeps followers very well updated. I never miss an…
At the beginning of the year, in the throes of the US presidential election’s woundedness, I borrowed these words penned by Rev. Frank Dunn, my former priest. Now I find myself needing to find anchor again as we go through the woundedness of Kenya’s recent elections that have come with so much anger oozing out…
Come my fellow Kenyans, let us sing a song. “Rosa sat / So Martin could walk / Martin walked / So Barack could run / Barack ran / He ran and he won so that all our children could fly.” Thanks for singing along, and thanks Amy Dixon-Kolar for music in revolution. Keywords: Sat, Walk,…
