I hope that wherever you are as you read this, you are safe, well hydrated and if you’ve got an elderly person near you- you’ve checked in on them. Called in to say hello, or helped share some essentials you stocked up on that they don’t have.
I have been writing mostly and simply trying to get myself in motion in the house- so here are two things that I learned help:
30 Day fitness challenge App: the 5 to 10 second workouts are great energy boosters
Drinking lots of water and listening to music.
So, I was in Nairobi this past weekend and the Kenyan government’s call for self quarantine came in right after I’d done my book shopping and I’m glad I got to get these titles to keep me busy.
What are you reading?
Whatever you do, stay hydrated, wash your hands frequently with soap and call your loved ones…neighbors, colleagues, just check in on people.
The Old man’s wife reached out to brush away the single tear that made its way past the gates of Naima’s eyes.
She nodded and took her arm and led her to their home. As they walked on, they caught up with Shoka and in looking at the Princess now in close step with the man and woman, Shoka could only nod for he too knew what it felt to have everything taken away from you.
If there was one thing he held onto was the fact that the Princess would never stop fighting. He could not tell whether it was the best gift from her Father or the best spirit she inherited from her Mother. He only knew that for as long as she fought, the world would keep hitting her and what a sad life for royalty! The four walked on, each step articulating the silence that filled their thoughts. When they got to the Elder’s home, Naima and Shoka were led to a hut right behind the animal shed. It was dimly lit and Shoka could not purge the stench of goat urine from his nostrils as he accepted the seat he’d been offered. Naima was closely watching him. He leaned back in the seat, closed his eyes and attempted to sleep away the stench that would be his companion for the night.
As the old man retreated, he opened one eye, glanced at Naima and she was still looking at him, “you do not know how to hide your discomfort Shoka, for a man who was declared mad, you are worse than royalty.”
“Ei, I never thought in my life that I would accompany a Princess in the dark into a dark hut where the goats pissed in our mouths as we slept.”
Naima threw her head back the laughter exploding from her attracting the attention of the Elder’s wife who came rushing with two blankets. “Are you alright my child?” she asked, looking from Naima to Shoka. After a while, Shoka stood up and asked if he could watch the stars, leaving Naima in the company of her concerned host.
He shook his head watched his palms and gently placed his hand on the left side of his chest. He was alive. He was still whole and there had been a moment where he forgot his place, she was a Princess while he was an outcast, doing a favor for a friend.
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His eyes traveled the sky, glancing from one twinkling star to another before settling on the full moon. His parents had worshipped her. The sound of his mother’s singing to the moon, asking her to watch over her husband and his friends while they were out on the lake, filled his ears.
The kind of ringing he drowned with wine. It was the good memories he drowned…for they assailed him more than the bad ones.
I am ready for March! It’s my birthday month and I am here for it simply because I hope I can catch a break from being in my feelings and out in the field.
In line with this, I thought I’d share some of the insights and experiences I gained in February. When it comes to reading, some of the titles I enjoyed reading this month are:
Some of the articles I’ve enjoyed reading include:
The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance: I was particularly drawn to their report on “Agendas 2063 & 2030: Is Africa on Track?” because I work closely with public primary schools in improving infrastructure with the end goal of seeing to increased attendance of pupils in schools while improving the quality of education. I was sad and not surprised that the quality of education has since 2014 reduced in Africa.
I am also in love with Tarot readings and this new obsession/fascination has had me closely following three wonderful humans:
On writing: I reached out to the publisher who saw to the production of copies of SIFUNA, to have my books ( Fire, Water, Wind & Earth) printed for the readers here in Kenya and we are still working around the costs and number of copies.
I know it’d be a great read this April.
The progress on my latest work, “Zuri: The Chronicler of Enzi” is taking longer than I’d hoped and this is my fault because I killed my main character and the villain and now I don’t know what to do with the story. I have not written anything for two weeks.
My favorite song in the month of February:
Life lessons learned in February:
Rest, eat well and most of all, rest…you can’t get anything done when you are worn out.
Do not take things personally…if you do, you’ll be bogged down by the wrong things everyone has done against you and that is a heavy burden to bear.
Books I’m looking forward to reading into the first week of March:
So, that’s it for now, I truly hope I can clear my mind, get some much needed rest and focus on writing and making the much needed updates to my work in progress.
Have a lovely weekend,
Stay safe. Live. Love. Laugh and Call the people you love 🙂
In the kingdom of Kale, long before the gods came to dwell among men, and the waters of the beautiful lake graced every home, there were those who knew what an abomination was. These were the men and women who could look into your eyes and behold the lives of your great grandchildren. No one was allowed to visit these men and women. If your farm was dying and your children wandering even then you could not visit them. They only answered the call of the gods and it is because of one of these gods that I am here today.
Her name, Lando, meaning the fair skinned one. She was the sun and the moon, an ever present beauty at dawn and dusk. Those who beheld her say that she had the eyes that could sink nations, drown fishermen and uproot trees. My people are known to pepper their words. No one has ever held up a picture to my face to prove these things and until then I will agree that she was simply a woman and to any man, a woman is a thing of beauty if he’s not lain beside her.
Lando was the first god to arrive in the kingdom of Kale. It was the season of the full moon where the fishermen prayed to the gods to help them catch some fish, if not a net full at least a handful so they could feed their families. They loved the sun and feared the moon. When the moon was in her full glory, all the fish would never come to the surface and the deeper they went into the lake, the less certain they were of making it back to the shore.
It was in one of such seasons, at the break of dawn when Lando appeared on the shore. The people say that they heard beautiful singing and when their ears led their legs they found themselves before this beauty whose skin glowed like the sun.
When she finished singing her song, she rose and her feet led the way to the King’s home. No one followed her that morning. Later in the evening, the King summoned the people and they feasted on the delicacies prepared by Lando as she sang into the night. For many harvests and seasons, the kingdom of Kale prospered until one evening when the skies could not help but lash out in anger and after the storm, walked in Dichol.
Whereas Lando was sunshine, Dichol was darkness. She was as dark as the night and those who picked a lump of soil from the earth claimed that even that was nothing compared to the god, Dichol. Dichol too upon arrival made her way to the King’s home and she was welcomed by the Queen. It is often said that the Queen had the heart of the Lake, wicked and wild, in everything she did. The people whisper their assumptions because rumor has it that wicked Queen’s spirit still roams the earth ready to strike down anyone who speaks ill of her. Now, they say that she was jealous of the attention the people of Kale were giving Lando and as such, she cried to the lake to send forth Lando’s rival to the land. The Lake being the mother of all souls, mortal and immortal, heard her cries and sent Dichol.
No one has ever described Dichol as they did with Lando and it pains me that they only referred to her as “dark night.”
Daughter of Dichol is a short story I submitted for the Afritondo Short Story Prize. So, since it didn’t make the cut, I thought why not share it here 🙂
I loved January…and where it seems like it felt like a century for everyone, it rather breezed by me and now that I think about it, it was simply because I was doing lots of planning, meeting various school communities and prepping for February.
So, now I’m dreading February because everything I had been planning in January has to be actualized in this first week and precisely between the 4th and 7th!
So, looking back at the events of January, some of the things that stand out for me on:
Reading:
I got and read 8 books in January. These are the 5 titles that got me thinking afresh, so, if you’re into poetry, then Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace is a must-read for that 21st Century spin on Cinderella and self worth!
On Writing:
I struggled with the point of view of my work in progress. Torn between writing in the 1st and 3rd points of views had me re-writing the whole manuscript and if you’ve been following this blog closely- you may have read two chapters of it. [Zuri: The Chronicler of Enzi]
One of my writing goals for 2020 was to join a writing community and also engage with many more writers and so far, I’m learning a lot more through the #WritingCommunity on Twitter…like how to create an animated book cover…so, I tried this:
To celebrate the start of February and get me focused on writing more, I bought some stationery…let’s just say 2 sets of a dozen pencils each, 3 sharpeners, 1 eraser and 2 cute stick notes.
On the blog:
I love how some of the content I post here just comes to mind…and some of my favorites to create and share were:
I listened to a lot of music this past month because of how late into the night I had to work on most of my projects. So, in no apparent order, I’ll just share some that I kinda loved…or had on replay
[From top left- clockwise: Awake by Hillsong, Fine Line by Harry Styles, Songs for You by Tinashe, Sweet Insomnia by Gallant, Always in Between by Jess Glynne, 8 Letters by Why Don’t We]
It feels like there’s a lot more for me to do this month and I cannot help but feel like it’s going to be great, and I am opening up to all the endless opportunities coming my way this month.
How’s your February looking?
I feel like this is my get up, get moving and strike that off your to-do-list month! So, here’s my quote for this month with regards to work:
We walked for two days along a narrow path, never greeting anyone we met or stopping to rest. Naima believed that the warriors from Enzi would catch up with us if we stopped and I did not believe her until we came to the boundary between Enzi and Yajayo.
There we were stopped in our tracks by a warrior, on him were the marks that showed he belonged to the King’s court of Enzi. I stepped back but Naima walked up to him and bowed. It was a simple gesture but before I could follow her she kicked him off his feet with the next thing being her dagger on his throat.
“State your mission.”
“Mercy…your Majesty. I came to warn you, hear me out.”
“Speak and know that you are in presence of a Chronicler, if you spew lies, I am allowed to shed your blood and send you to your ancestors, however if you speak the truth and do not do us any harm, then this act of bravery will be rewarded. I promise you.”
“Thank you Your Majesty. The King has indeed joined his forefathers. All is not well in the kingdom and your people weep for their leader, however, since there is no Chronicler, the Seer cannot recommend the future leader until he receives word from her. The members of the royal court sent the warriors in search of you. We were directed to one man’s home but there was no sign of your presence there and we tracked you following the scent you left in the wind, asking any trader or traveler we met until we got to the stream, and there I did see you cross and take the turn towards Yajayo. I asked the team of warriors to go ahead and wait for you there, but as I was crossing the stream, something held my feet under-water and I could not move. It pulled me into the raging stream and as I struggled to catch my breath, I heard a single voice telling me to warn you and let you go, for your destiny is tied to what Meichi believes is right. I do not know how long you have but you have to go to the kingdom of Oba, stay there for a few moons and when you can, you may travel back to Yajayo, by then the warriors shall have left and you won’t be in danger. I know a Seer in Oba. Go find him, he will host you until it is safe for you to come to Yajayo.”
“Who are you?”
“Your Majesty, don’t you remember me…let me take off my mask, I promise you I will not harm you.” Naima stepped back, withdrew the dagger from the warrior’s throat and we watched as he slowly took off the mask and lifted his face to look into the eyes of the Princess.
“Zola! You!”
“Yes Your Majesty.”
“Why?”
“I made a promise to the wise Chronicler Zubeda, Zuri’s mother that I would protect and live to serve you, my Princess. I am sorry.”
“What is wrong with all of you thinking that I need protection?”
“Your Majesty…”
“I see specks of gold around your wrist Warrior Zola, you who stands when the world wants you to kneel, you with the heart that yearns for what makes your soul sing will be rewarded and in kindness you shall find love, and in love you shall find truth and in that truth, you too shall have to fight the greatest battle of your life…”
When I opened my eyes, the two were staring at me, “what happened?” I asked
“You don’t know?” asked Naima as she shook her head. “Will you utter nonsense like that every so often when your eyes turn white?”
“Nonsense? What do you mean?”
“I am only joking Chronicler I believe you just narrated a vision to us and it means that Zola here will be well rewarded for his courage today. So, can we go to this Oba kingdom and maybe get some place to lay our heads for the night, and what is the name of this Seer?”
“He is not to be sought by name, but here…wear this necklace around your neck and follow where it leads you.”
“You want me to be led by something around my neck? Never,” said Naima and she turned to take the path leading to Oba, but Zola held her hand.
It’s almost ten o’clock and it’s been raining here since four in the morning.
I’m on my fourth cup of tea this morning as I read Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan.
The past few weeks have involved a lot of supervision on my part at work given that there are ongoing construction projects in the schools I’ve been visiting here. It’d be awesome to have pupils resume learning in January 2020 and they move from studying in tin houses to permanent brick classrooms with proper ventilation.
One of the biggest highlight of my writing life has been meeting friends, strangers who become family and a host many more as I sell copies of my book. I still struggle with making my writing a bit bigger, however, it’s always a thrill to write something personal on each copy that I sell to people.
friends who support my writing
I am learning that writing, publishing and selling books are three very different processes and whereas I may be comfortable with one or two, getting the experience of all is far much better.
It’s made me more understanding or tolerant of book publishers 🙂
So, here’s to more writing opportunities and experiences in the coming days.
nilichoandika 