LIKE PRECIOUS OIL

 LIKE PRECIOUS OIL

About Three years after Sebuleni Restaurant opened it's doors, the family of Joshua had seen a transformation of their lives well beyond their imagination. But for occasional visits to Kibera to see friends of old especially by Mike and the parents, all the family members had moved away from the vast slum. The family had established a branch of Sebuleni restaurant in Gikomba area, which had now 6 employees. This branch was being managed by Hellen and picking up very well. On it's establiment, Hellen was straight from one year maternity pause. Shortly before the birth of her son Brian, she had a painful break-up with her 2 year long boyfriend Jack. If it were not the support she received from her family all through the most painful season of her life, she came close to loosing herself in stress and regrets. She was living in Lang'ata for quite some time now. Through this period, she received immense support through visits and late night calls from her entire family, which was the main source of healing for her at the time. Specifically, Tabitha her younger sister came many times for sleep overs and weekends to keep her company. Tabitha was now a 3rd year student at JKUAT uni taking a degree course in Food Science and Technology. Joshua had since built a 5 bedroom maisonette on a half acre peace of land he had bought in the upcoming Kitengela residential area. David was living with the parents but only at home during school holidays. He was now a Form 4 student at Upper Hill School Nairobi. It was only Ruth, their last born, who was always with Joshua and the wife at home. Ruth was now 10 years and in class 4. Mike on the other hand was still working to ensure that the 2 Sebuleni restaurant had enough supplies for daily operations. He had even found ways to get supplies from upcountry areas, which worked well to increase business earnings. Mike had also settled down with his long time girlfriend Janice and the couple were blessed with a baby girl, Nyakio, named after Mike's mother. They were living in a 2 bedroom apartment in Nyayo high-rise estate along Mbagathi way. Daniel on the other hand was almost complete with his postgraduate diploma at the Kenya school of law. The family had sort of scattered with everyone leading their lives but they would check on each other from time to time. Like they used to be together on Sundays from earlier days to enjoy special meals, the culture never quite died. Many weekends would find many of them at their Kitengela home where they would story away the weekend trying out new recipes together. Every first Sunday of the month however, they had an official family gathering where they enjoyed time together, cooked together, ate together and had family Chama which involved monthly contributions, Merry-go-round and savings. They had a family account where excesses after borrowing and contributions would be banked for future helpings. 

It was like good precious oil poured on Aaron's head, running down his beards, down to the tips of his garments. So clinged the Joshua's together. 

@Stephen Mungai.

HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS

 HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS 

The talk on dead man walking epidemic reopened a can of warms as regards the subject of death.  Death is a subject many of us would rather avoid but we never really get to run away from it because, it's always around us. And just as I thought that I would do a column or two on the subject and end it, then alas!! The People's President, Raila Amolo Odinga died and we were back to the subject of death. Of course I had to do a tribute article dedicated to him because,  I still think he is a great man. But death has no manners, it took him away. Then as I was putting down my pen after writing Raila's tribute,  I remembered that I only had a few days to rush to the shops to buy Halloween costumes before the day comes on 31st October. And that brings us to another death related episode.  Halloween day is much connected to all saints day which is celebrated across the world on 1st November to remember known and unknown saints. There is unconfirmed belief that one of the two days helped to develop the other especially Halloween which may have come up because many if not all of the celebrated saints are already dead. Halloween is also attributed to the celtic people as celebration of the dead. Celtics are said to have believed that on 31st October,  the spirits of the dead returned to the earth. As sign of the dead among the living on that day therefore,  costumes like the grim reaper developed over the years and since then, they are used to mark Halloween.  We already talked of the walking dead, people in modern times who are exhibiting characteristics of the dead although they are alive. Let's now talk about other death status. One of us talked about the dead dead, that is a dead burried dead. There is also the living dead, people who we know very well, have had living experiences with us but they died and we burried them. This category of the dead still influence our lives one way or another. Then of course we have ancestors, the dead that we only hear about but have never met. If these guys still affect our lives is a debate that may never end but is still alive even in our churches with some pastors helping to break real or imaginable ancestral curses and so on. Some people are of the belief that it does not help anyone to remember or celebrate the dead and that the dead should be left to rest in peace.  This category of people want to forget a burried person immediately. They don't do memorial services for the dead. Some go to an extent of throwing or giving away things that remind them of the dead person. Some don't even do photos or videos in the burials. They simply want no association with the dead. Apart from memorial services, Halloween provides more experience in bringing the dead closer to the living and the costumes demystify the whole subject of death. Should someone celebrate Halloween or be like those who have nothing to do with the dead? What do you think? 

Could the later category be right as per Jesus in Matthew 8:22, "Follow me and let the dead burry their dead"? Or Mathew 22:32 that says that God is not the God of the dead but of the living?

What do you think?

@ Stephen Mungai

A TRIBUTE TO RAILA AMOLO ODINGA

 A TRIBUTE TO RAILA AMOLO ODINGA 

Raila Amolo Odinga, the Man, the Myth, the legend. It is difficult to pick my pen to write this because it feels heavy under the dark crowd of RAOs passing. The thought of you and what you stood for forces us back to the drawing board, to assess how well we lead our lives. It is difficult to write about a person of your societal standing because there would be so much to say and not enough words to say the much. The best way would be to highlight a few lessons we can pick from your exemplary bigger than life life. Before the lessons though, it is important to say that as per our constitution on presidency, a President is a symbol of National unity. In all your life, Raila, you worked towards a united Kenya. For that reason, you will remain the best President that Kenya had, yes, the People's President. You were the King maker per excellence and apart from the first President, Jomo Kenyatta, all the other four could not make it in their presidency without you. You either made them or could break them to take over if you wished to. But you chose peace over your personal gain. You chose harmony over a discordant Nation. You chose Kenya over yourself. For that reason, none of the presidents could reach the level of influence you commanded or the power that you wielded. Most times, the presidents or their cronies called you names, talked ill of you but you were above the insults, they meant nothing to you and could not deter your mission to realize a better, united Kenya. Above all, you extended an olive branch to them, reconciled with them because to you, Kenya was greater. That is why you remain greater than Jomo, Moi, Kibaki, Uhuru or Ruto; maybe greater than all of them combined. You are therefore the greatest President that Kenya will ever have, yes, the People's President. 

There are many lessons to learn from you, Raila, but I pick just a few below;

Lesson 1: It doesn't profit to hate. Life is too short for that luxury. We need to reach out to our enemies or competitors to make peace. If they are not willing, then we forgive them and do not harbour hatred. In line with biblical command, we need to love and pray for those who hate us.

Lesson 2: All humans are children of the same God. No one is better than the other regardless of tribe. Raila worked with people from all regions, treating them with respect and dignity. His family was made up of mixed tribes marriages which he had no problem with. Raila taught us that thinking tribe is a backward way of thinking. 

Lesson 3: Family is key. Raila honoured his wife all his days and supported his children in all difficulties of life. Hoping it does not happen now, we never heard stories of the other women. Ida the wife was the woman in his life.

Lesson 4: Life is short, so live fully everyday. Raila never seemed to stop. He was active to his last day. The day he died for instance, he got up from the hospital bed for a walk. He was not the kind to sit sad mourning of missed goals or crying over spilt milk. He always put his best effort and when it failed to work, he came up with new plans. How good if we would learn to live full lives everyday. 

I wish not to say more because Raila can never die. He is a thousand winds that blow to inspire us to live better full lives. And full lives we ought to live. Won't we?

@Stephen Mungai

CURE FOR WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

 CURE FOR WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

Marie is not the kind of ladies who lead a boring life. Not the kind to get married and be tied down to a man. Then get one, two, three kids. Mess up their shape with baby fat thing; then be doing dishes, make family meals, wash clean and feed kids....then move around the house humbly serving the man(read Lord) of the house who is always on the couch watching TV or reading newspapers!!!......excuse me!!!....Marie could not agree to such a drab boring life. She left that kind of sh*t life to her sister Marty, whose only myopic dream, according to her, was find a God fearing man to marry her and make a family. On the contrary, she is living the life. And after all, you only live once. And why not. She considers herself a woman of class and only had time to interact with them of her kind. Any time they met for a drink in one of the high end clubs in the rich Nairobi suburbs, it was either soft hugs or sounds of hi-fives and hearty laughter. The beauties are of all shapes, sizes and endowment. Talk of colourful figure-hugging dresses, swinging gaits, chick handbags, fragrance from expensive sprays, clinking stilettos, perfectly done make-ups and expensive beautiful flowing human hairs. The splendid meet-ups of pomp and beauty is where any man worth their salt only wishes to be dropped in their midst, to feed their eyes on the perfect shaped daughters of Eve. Marie's circle of friends is only of ladies who understand their worth. Of them also, Marie is beautiful with a shape to die for. Talk of the right curves on the right places. She is the kind that makes men break their necks looking behind, anytime she passes by. Let's not talk of the drinks that Marie and co. imbibe. They have no worry in the world filling their round table with innumerable bottles of Macallan No. 6 though one costs 0.75 fraction of a million bob. That is Marie for you but if you ask me where she gets the money from, I cannot honestly say because there is not a good known source of her income. What we know is that she is on endless holiday travels across the world anytime she is not visiting her expensive joints. Let's talk a little about her bro Azzy. Growing up with the girls made him like one of them. He is always seen hanging out with the sisters and their friends.  A few months ago however, he was rushed to Aga khan hospital with undisclosed but serious illness. The expert specialist who was to attend to him was out of the country for specialized surgery and could not make it on time. Everyone came to comfort the family when he died. Their leafy neighbourhood was filled with a gloomy cloud of sadness. One grieving day, the most important Man in town was around and also shed a tear for Azzy. Both his hands and feet were wrapped in strips of linen and cloth when he walked out of deadness. Hallelujah!!!...the Master had called him. It did not matter that he was stinking. Because there is hope for the sufferers of the walking dead pandemic, if they look up to Jesus, they will rise again. Marie had also come out of her deadness, sinful life in repentance as she poured oil worth a year's wages on Jesus feet, wiping her with her hair. And so runs the story of Marie, Marty and Azzy in John 11:1-44; call them Mary, Martha and Lazarus if you wish. 

@Stephen Mungai

WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

 WALKING DEAD PANDEMIC

MJs Thriller album is said to be the best selling music album of all time hitting the highs of 120 million copies. Any music lover of especially pop or classic oldies has some favourite tracks in the album. Billie Jean, Beat it and thriller tracks have sometimes done the magic for me, everytime my ears ich for some old masterpiece tracks. The thriller music video has not stopped to amaze me to date. The 1983 production was a wonder that successfully intertwined music, MJs signature dance moves and horror movie concept into the 14 minutes mark of creativity. Be as it were, criticism came in all forms. Positive was for artistry and cinematic innovation that came into it. Negative was the association with occult and satanism. Foreseen, the producers were keep to place a disclaimer as the video begins, dissociating it from any connection with occultism. Towards the end of the video are the controversial scenes of zombies kicking open their graves to surround MJ and the scared girlfriend before MJ joins them for a dance. As creatures of timeless mythology, zombies are always presented as clumsy, dirty with torn unorderly clothes, deformed faces and crooked body structures that make systematic unstable foward steps towards their destructive targets. Sometimes, the zombies just move around destructively without a particular target. With a target though, the paths towards their targets are usually dealt serious collateral damage and in the case of MJ, the target person is reached through breakages into the wooden door but finally, the target is not destroyed but awakened as from a bad dream. It was only a movie after all. 

The waiting room is almost full but you had booked your appointment online and got in well before the appointment time. After the nurses thing, you are sitting before the doctor waiting for examination but first, need to talk about the symptoms. So you begin explaining, "My alarm is set for 6:00 but I switch it off many times before I wake up. To make it to work on time, I have to run to bathe, make breakfast and run out to catch bus. Many times I get to work late." "I've had endless lateness talks with the boss" "Honestly, many times i don't feel like going to work at all but i have to. I need the money" "I take too long to complete a small task" "I feel like am 120 Kilos though am only 65" "I have no appetite for food. Nothing seems to wake up my taste buds" "I don't like to be with people or people dislike my presence as though i stink and am also scared to be alone" "A day seems like three days combined dragging lazily not seeming to end". The doctor recommends further tests but the symptoms seem like of the new pandemi or so said the doc. 'Walking dead pandemic.' Before the next tests, he recommends Job 14:7 tablets thrice as day, "At least there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail."

@Stephen Mungai

GOD'S MERCIFUL EYES

 GOD'S MERCIFUL EYES 

Eight months into the business and things were looking up. The family became even more busy as demand for food kept growing.  Mike had since stopped doing the casual jobs that he used to do and was now involved with sourcing supplies for the food business. He would go to Nyamakima almost thrice a week to collect cereals as well as a foodstuffs wholesaler that was near their home. He became quite busy but liked it because the arrangement of the family was that all of them were like employees earning more than a fair day's earning.  So was Hellen and their mother, who were doing all the cooking. By now they had added one employee to help with the cooking.  Joshua was already thinking of doing away with the cakes and sodas to concentrate on hot dishes but the idea of the family transporting food daily through public means had been a headache for the eight months of business. In good time though,  lady luck once again knocked on their door. As promised, Marcus,  one of his regular customers had a talk with his boss. He worked in a warehouse nearby, which had a large empty unused space outside the warehouse buildings. Marcus connected Joshua with his boss, who agreed to lease a space of 40 by 60 feet to run his food business. The space was at one corner of the whole land and the entrance would be separated from the warehouse entrance. The space owner was to do the construction with metal frames and iron sheet walls and roof. That would be done in the next 2 months.  So was a 10 year lease plan agreed and officially documented.  Joshua felt a sigh of relief because the daily hussles especially to transport food would now come to an end.  The 2 months went by very fast with the land owner keeping his end of the bargain. He did a good building, which was one big hall only partitioned to provide space for the kitchen area. In the third month, Joshua would source for the seats, tables and additional utensils and by the end of the third month, they were ready to move in to the new building. And so they did. Hellen,  Mike,  the mother and Joshua would thereafter religiously report to work daily in the morning to prepare lunch for the customers.  Business boomed as more and more customers came on learning of the new food point.  Joshua was forced to close down the initial joint and everything moved into the new building. The family would then begin making breakfast as the requests for the same grew. 

Things were changing so fast for the family  and becoming better. Joshua was amazed at how fast things could change.He kept telling his wife that God had looked at their family with merciful eyes.  And so believed in his heart. 

@Stephen Mungai

CHANGING FORTUNES

 CHANGING FORTUNES

Years frog leaped so fast like they had been invited to a feast. Joshua's life had not changed much three years on. Daniel had performed well in KCSE and had just begun his studies at University of Nairobi school of law. He was so focused and kept the parents hopes high that they could some day come out of the shack, out of their impoverished lives.On a particular day as he was serving his customers came Ogada, one of Joshua's regular customers. "Mimi niletee Ugali na Omena" he ordered. "Hapa sio dunga beach Kisumu bwana Ogada. Hapa ni city ya keki na soda" replied Joshua with a wide smile that signalled the camaraderie which the two had built over the years. Ogada had been ordering ugali for a long time now but today, ogada's voice kept coming to Joshua's mind even after he had closed shop. 'Why not make ugali for Ogada?' , 'How many other people would be interested in hot dishes?' 'Should I give it a try?' Questions kept coming to his mind. Joshua couldn't sleep that night and eventually, he promised himself to give it a try one day. When he shared the experience and the idea with his wife, she was very positive about it. She promised to make food at home and transport to Joshua's place a few minutes before lunch hour if that idea would materialise. It looked like they had a plan. But first, Joshua took the next few weeks getting his main customer's opinions on whether they would love hot dishes instead of the usual sodas and cakes. Many were for the idea and Joshua felt like time was ripe to give it a try. So, the day was set and the number of interested customers were noted. Around 20 people were. To make it simple, only one menu was on offer, Ugali, kales and some beef. With help from her daughter Hellen, Mrs Joshua arrived on time and found some customers already waiting. They were all served, all of them that had ordered. They enjoyed their lunch better than before to an extent that some placed daily standing orders. That day, Joshua's family made twice as much money as they would make on any good business day. It looked like the business was set to take a new direction. The order increased and so did the variety of offers on the menu. Weekends became even busier for the family. They would sit together to clean up cereals that would be cooked in the coming week. Mike, Hellen and the little ones, all got involved. Daniel would most weekends come by from campus to help because work became more and more as days crawled by. The family earnings also begun to go up and so, quite drastically. Around 4 months into the business, Joshua rented two more single rooms within their Line Saba area, just a stone throw distance away from their home. One room was where they did the cooking while the other was their store for dry foodstuffs. For the reason that there were no food joints near his work place, Joshua's new venture boomed and family fortunes begun to change. ' Ogada was a messenger from God' Joshua concluded in his mind but also told him so many times after.

@Stephen Mungai