Some of these Bloggers Yoh!

Is our generation shallow? Like not analytical, critical or even relevant enough for our own good? Are we the generation that would rather just take pics of their babies and cute family post them on Instagram rather than actually ‘work on our relationship with those kids?’ Do we really believe that these relationships can be built this way? Are we the kind of women who simply sleep with the man we want to marry on the first or second date and hope that he will still stay? The generation that does not know what delayed gratification is and how good that feels, the generation that will pick money and travelling over love? Is there something wrong with us? I say maybe, but isn’t there something wrong with everyone? Actually no, absolutely nothing is wrong with us. We are just imperfect. Our parents have constantly taught us this, growing up. In fact, it is, if anyone’s fault, mostly theirs that we turned out the way we did. Have you seen the divorce and separation statistics? Anyway, I am giving everyone a break as we all should. It is really never that serious. I mean we take it too far sometimes. The blogs, I would like a good read sometime. There are unfortunately very few relevant bloggers to read about in this country. I am not one of them because mine is not to be known but just share real genuine thoughts. But there are these extremely annoying posts on how badly behaving Kenyan women and high school students are at parties. Each time I see it, I throw my hands up, I give up you know why? Because they are at a party why do they have to behave at all?  The worst part is these bloggers do not even type the word sex, they use the numeral 3 in the place of e like s3x and I am shaking my damn head because, how the hell are you about to investigate something you cannot openly talk about. It is really very immature if you ask me I say grow the hell up. It completely okay to be mildly opinionated if you are trying to be controversial but sometimes, a few not all, and mostly the s3xtyping kind, are just completely stupid.

I genuinely wish that some Kenyan blogs would be either realistic or reasonable and not just blindly judgmental and opinionated. Then I might just join the party and we could sit together on our laptops at two am and have an exchange. I would set some time for it I promise just to laugh with them all or share real ideas if the content falls on either of these sides and is not the result of day spent looking at people by the edge some bad glasses with poorly done eyebrows. I am sorry; I am among the least judgmental people in the world top of the list.  I swear if there was Forbes for least judgmental twenty five under twenty five, I would be up there without a parachute not ever landing. But do not do something stupid and quote this post. I have done my best to explain imperfection; I am also very good at practicing it.

The best part is that we were never meant to be perfect. In fact we human beings hate perfection so much we brutally murdered the Son of God for being perfect. He forgave us, see that’s why He’s perfect and we are not and that is why we can talk about our imperfections here and laugh about it instead of killing ourselves over it. I’m telling you; we are that flawed generation and the solution is not to lecture girls on learning how to cook and not having sponsors. I mean, do we all not make our decisions soundly? No I do not think it is in trying to change young men from who they have chosen to be. In fact, I do not believe in changing anyone. I just believe in understanding that we are already adults; hopefully that’s who’s reading this. And I hope we understand what that means, that we do not have to agree with the actions of others but we ought to respect them regardless. That we choose to live our lives despite and not because of what other people choose to do with their lives. Seriously though let us get our gluts up enjoy this ride, it is after all, a free world.

Tales of Eldoret: Baringo

A bunch of youth planned their mid placement review weekend during their volunteering program. They decided Baringo would be a good place to see. As would be expected, most of them packed a few bags, obtained a little alcohol and brought their guitars and fun along. They were travelling from Eldoret to through Elgeyo Marakwet county to Baringo. At the beginning, the roads meandered across the highlands allowing them a magnificent view of the majestic beauty of the rift valley. They all had different thoughts about the roads such as how good it would be to ride their motorcycles upon it. After driving past the town of Kabarnet however, the temperatures began to rise steadily with the vegetation changing so that they were moving between cacti bushes. The bushes became higher ironically casting no shadows and the air became so hot that they could no longer drive without their windows open. I was obviously among them, if you thought this story was about some strangers. Unfortunately for us, the wind was equally hot and this felt like desert. Baringo county is quite dry and the residents seemed to sell honey and keep livestock. This is the kind of drive you need a safari vehicle for. On arrival, we unpacked into the little tents that were located under trees of the Robert's Camp. The camp was also by the lake, probably the reason why it was less hotter here than during the journey.
 At Robert's Camp, the camping experience is quite real as the food is very expensive and might require one to cook their own meals. Our group had brought cooks and foodstuff and we would only be using the tents and take trips across the lake. The lake had hippos in it that would make noise at night. They would however, not come out at night or any time of the day. One could only see them if they went closer to the lake. There were also crocodiles that looked very similar to the rocks. The trees by the lake shore were also perched with different kinds of birds. Mornings were a great time to go by the lake and watch the birds. The night was a good time to sit by a fire and play the guitar. Some of the us preferred to sit by the couches and play games after dinner. Others would take short walks around the campsite.
On the second day, the team took a boat ride to the other side of the lake. We were able to see the hippos in the deeper regions of the lake. We also came across some fishermen that would sell fish at very low prices moving them across the lake to the awaiting market. We were  able to get to an island where the local people sold different kinds of beaded bracelets and gourds. There were also hot water springs and eagles en route to the second island. On the second island was game, beautiful giraffes, ostriches, impala and warthogs. The impalas were however in hiding from the hot sun whilst the giraffes and ostriches walked in the open. These beautiful animals however were not used to human beings and would only be watched from a distance. After the game walk, on a very sunny day, we rode back to the camp site. Here, we had a wonderful time bird seeing in a sanctuary nearby whilst others opted to go for a swim at a nearby pool. We later went out to a small bar and interacted with the local people before getting back and leaving for Eldoret.

Let the Fish Dive

I still have not found a job yet. My plan is to not ever get employed even though I have had the opportunity once or twice. It did not come easy either way. To be honest I was not sure if this is how I wanted to live my life, I mean I need experience to engage in my own business. Most importantly I need to be humble enough to learn from someone in the process of employment. I do not need to be in employment forever to attain this as I will be saving to start up my own business right? Sounds like a win-win situation conceived in an extremely smart mind. These are strategies for life.  However, I also remembered that most entrepreneurship trainings always advised one to jump in just go for it. I’m telling you this is exactly how I want to live my life. So how can I plan to begin a business then postpone it? Does that not go against the very principle of thing I so badly want to engage in? Fortunately for me, something worked in my favor. Something I had never come across just popped its cute head in my life and on my path. A conversation between my friend and I led to me being advised to volunteer. She narrated her experience which I found quite interesting but thought was exaggerated, you know that propaganda the organization must have pushed you to. Nevertheless, I had absolutely nothing to lose and I applied immediately for the program. I was not certain they would pick me. Besides so many of my applications had landed in the hands of rogue people seeking to exploit an already jobless youth and I was getting tired of this. This is why I had been home struggling with my business plan, proposals and God knows what else chasing opportunities to network like mad traffic police in a car chase.

In a fortnight, I had received my response and asked to the assessment where the enterprise explained roughly what we would be doing. I was happy to hear that this was about entrepreneurship. I had been fortunate enough to attend the Mama Sarah Obama Entrepreneurship Summit and this could not be any more guidance than I was expecting. During the conference I had met the finest young entrepreneurs in our country and was determined to walk this path. Now I was picked for the program and trained for a week within which my heart would constantly leap with joy and a sense of fulfillment and the most profound excitement in my life. The next ten weeks would be spent training real entrepreneurs, observing and learning from them. The main idea during training was not to impose in order to achieve the most natural results. At the end of the program we saw real results with some of the mere business ideas turning into small businesses. The entrepreneurs were also more confident and we were happier people to have made impact in other people’s lives and learned so much at the same time, now that is a win-win situation. That is learning and understanding the society’s problems and creating solutions for them. This alone has given me so much faith in my abilities and decisions and I am definitely more confident than ever. I am also more knowledgeable and I realize that it is not lack of humility that leads entrepreneurs to want to work alone and run their own businesses rather than be employed. On the contrary, it is the highest level of humility, responsibility and confidence.

I am not arguing that employment is wrong or undesirable; it is very much a part of learning. It does also earn us a living. To be fair, not everyone is made for entrepreneurship and employment is a completely fulfilling place for such individuals. These are ever motivated by it and will rise so fast through the ladders. But if your intention is to become an entrepreneur, the best thing is to learn on the job. Do a good market research, learn about what you want to venture, the industry, your market and your product costs and affordable losses. Do not be discouraged if you cannot achieve a perfect product at first, instead, test what you have and keep rebuilding it taking into account your market’s feedback until you have the perfect product. I am no longer for the idea that employment will give you all the experience you need for entrepreneurship. Most of the time, employment will become a comfort zone for potential entrepreneurs and they are likely to abandon their crazy dreams after a while. One has to be highly disciplined to finally leave their comfort zone back into their dreams and I mean extremely disciplined. Lastly, I know everyone’s experiences will be unique and employment might be where you find yourself but then I would vouch more for volunteering. The idea is to find yourself and I find the best place to do that is somewhere where you do not need to be pushed. For anyone to volunteer they must have a passion for the course or volunteering itself. Given that fact, they are likely to say no where they are uncomfortable and shape their future for themselves without the constraints of pleasing their boss probably for a raise or promotion.

The most beautiful thing is to learn what you are made for. Like Einstein said, we are all geniuses, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree then it will live all its life believing that it is stupid.

Tales of Eldoret

I recently took a trip to Eldoret.  A place I have never been to all my life even though I am Kenyan. I was born and raised in this country, and I have read or heard about almost every town of it but like most Kenyans, I had never been to nearly all of them. So when I packed my bags for Eldoret, I thought it was just another town like my home town. To be fair, I grew up in different towns of the same region and never saw that much difference. Eldoret was obviously unlike all of them; it was larger than Murang’a, Meru or any other town I had been to. It was however smaller than Nairobi and friendlier. Being that I was going to volunteer, I had to learn to make the most of my time and the small budget with which I was living on. My friends and I ended up enjoying a wonderful stay in Eldoret and seeing the best features and landmarks in the region. My time in this epic town only inspired me to see my country more and to write about it.

The People

 Eldoret is the home of champions and it is common to bump into these athletes in every other part of the town. Even so, the people are generally very humble and friendly. They are also always willing to give directions in the event that a visitor is uncertain of his way. The people are conscious of their culture and will constantly talk about how they go about things. Despite being a cosmopolitan town, the most conspicuous culture is that of the Kalenjin.

The Town 

Eldoret is quite a busy town. It has a few streets on which business men will be found going about their work. Most of these are taxi drivers, shoe shiners, fruit vendors and Masai traders walking about with their wares. People move about in matatus, tuk tuks, motor bikes and taxis. Fortunately, the region is home to farmers and food is not expensive. Among the places to eat are Maggie’s, Premier Members Restaurant, Nova Café and Cicada Hotel.  There are a number of resorts as well such as 64 resort and bar which is a wonderful place for an evening and night out or a weekend, Poa Place, Sirikwa, Ndupawa along Langas road has very good nyama choma and the Rosewood Cottages. Like most places in Nairobi, it does have street kids who constantly beg for money. However, the best places are in the surrounding areas for a good day trip or even camping.

Hotels 

The cheapest way to travel is couch surfing, however, in the event that one cannot do this, and then there are hotels in Eldoret to sleep over. The most common is the Boma Inn, the Clique, Hotel Comfy, Cicada, Mahindi Comfy and Sirikwa. 

After visiting Samich Resort where there is a great view of the valley, Iten for a nature trail and Baringo during my stay in Eldoret, I made a resolution to see my country even more. I learned that it does not cost as much given the right infrastructure and that I have obviously been missing out a lot. The highlands are breath taking. I will be writing more about these travels in my new blog.

Keeping Up With The Kenyans

The Lady Bug

So, here I am again, with the ladies and the drama. No, here we are again, the mini-midi skirt and dress affair. I do not understand the world well, of course that is the main reason I am flashing my newly done nails all over the keyboard trying to grasp a thing or two. Yes, I am wearing fake nails for the first time and they are awesome looking. The problem is, I can barely type and it is quite frustrating when you are used to typing with your eyes off it and you are certain you'd win some money on a fast typist bet. But guess what? even though I take longer pulling my jeans up,(I should go mini sketi oh, it is too easy to put on) and bae gets mad when I touch him with my talons. They look so awesome that I change my mind when the nail clipper is just one centimeter away. Lol. Well, he likes them, he just doesn't 'feel' them. 

 

I do it 'cause I like to. It is a girl thing and once in a while we like to be oblivious of the world around us and be ourselves, have a little fun. Don't you see mother nature getting wild and blowing herself in a whirlwind on the streets? She does that too and rarely when another girl is in a mini, oh she does that without a care in the world. I admire them short skirts and the trendy midi dresses, as a matter of fact, I have got myself a number of them three quarters down,but something will always be associated to something, right? So the midi dress and skirt is decent and trendy as it is the outfit of the socialite and the 'grown' woman. Lord, it is so Kim K and that is just funny 'cause I thought that I keep up until someone used the abbreviation KUWTK and I was clueless. Let's just say, I keep up with the Kenyans and it is a different world here.

 

So with us Kenyans, the timeless mini is no longer the bomb 'cause the clock just ticked to blow the whole place up. We were playing in the field when we heard commotion, she was screaming something about her clothes. It was the men, the men stripped her naked. 'What! team mafisi imefika hapo?' So team Mafisi comes on air later in the afternoon news. Bad pun. Their leader appears on the screen and denies the allegations claiming that the hooligans who did it are not a part of mafisi. 'Mafisi is a movement of sound people who like to play teased, around beautiful ladies. We only play along and any party that 'catches feelings' is no member or associate of Mafisi' stated the bubbly leader who later joined the campaign against patronizing our women's dress around the country. In his opinion, men are created to protect women and not to harass them and even though their nature can be provoking, women are always a joy to be around. Interesting.
 
Feminine beauty, like life and the world we live in is a mystery. We can only understand it so much. The idea is to revel in its graces with all the respect that one can muster. The key word being respect. For masculinity primarily claims respect, then it is only natural to assume that it breeds the same. It is as mysterious as feminine beauty and the controversies of feminism and sexism do not make it any easier. All I understand is we are beautiful and our beauty is in who we are. While both sexes understand decency, there is human reason to measure its extent. A woman is mature enough to understand this and knows just when she is wearing what and so does a man. A woman's beauty lies no longer in the length of her dress but in her own understanding of her actions. Since our society has reached this point then we know also the actions to take if offended by dress and that does not involve stripping. After all, our men aren't savages but the people who defend us and the people we take pride in. Kenyan men are good blokes. A topic for another day...For now I am off to trying more skirts since it is the only thing I can easily pull off. Yes, my wardrobe is full of jeans and crop tops, sweaters and hoodies here and there so I am not planning to start very high above the knee. Mwendo ni aste aste. That Mafisi leader said hi.

Why Every Lady Should Work Out

'My dreams are valid' I remember telling a friend of mine. What dream? To have a six pack.  It is not really a dream of mine, it is only a small goal I have set for myself even though I cannot stop thinking about the lean permanently sucked in tummy. See these are some of the reasons why I believe every lady should work out.

1. Goals Goals!
As long as you are working towards something you are definitely  making progress in life no matter how small your steps are. But hey, life is more dynamic now so darn the baby steps you may want to cat walk  take them strides. Aim for the sun you may land on the moon, applies perfectly for this situation. Even losing weight is a thing of the mind it helps you set a goal and work toward it. See, you become a disciplined person. They say confidence is an accessory I say hardwork and focus, fun and faith. I believe a health goal is as serious as a career goal or any other goal we like to make seem very important. A six pack.is no vanity, but that's mine, what's yours?  Why shouldn't we take care of our bodies, right?

2. Who Brings Sexy Back?

Every girl wants to fit in a certain dress and feel good in it. I don't disregard plus size women, there is a beauty in chubby. But working out has less to do with chubby or slim and more to do with confidence. If you are working out consistently, u are working hard and that is good enough don't matter how many units you lose. A woman who works hard? A woman who knows what she want? A woman who is confident in her skin? Beat that! You see, being at the gym sweaty and going may not be fun the first few times but it will yield something. Self confidence is built before it is handed on.

3. Clear Your Head
I believe the emotional state of a woman determines a great deal of her actions in her daily life. This is the one place where your body opens up to renewal and so does your mind. Whenever you want to clear your head, I've told you where you got to be. See it is also killing two birds with a stone because you channel your emotions and stay fit at the same time.

4. Damages Damages!
I am no sexist but I know how destructive an idle woman is. Never allow yourself to be idle at any time, see these are the small things that should take up your time. 'There are 12 hours in a day and enough trouble for every one of those hours' if you choose to be idle you are guaranteed more trouble so why not cause it with sexy. Now every once in a while you are bound to have a little spare time. Forget your episodes of 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' and do something constructive literally speaking, on your body.

5. Extra Curricula activities
So far, it is health and self confidence that took you to the gym but while you are at it, learn a few things. Learn a sexy dance on the mirror. An awesome flexibility stunt. Get in touch with your other side.

Well, I am still working on my six pack like that.

5 Reasons Why You Should Date A Geek

1. He is smart

Let's start with the most basic nerd attribute . They are smart, every woman is partly sapio sexual. It is a fact that the level of intelligence in a man matters when it comes to winning the ladies. It doesn't matter if all you see is his lips moving and can't catch a word he says. Learn a few things, do not overdo it, just be in a position to provide an opinion on basic matters.  Be ready to learn also from him, after all a woman should never date a man she cannot learn a thing from.Plus the only thing worse than a blonde is a dumb man.

2. Geeks Appreciate You

They are boyfriend material. See, 'smart is the new cool' will never work, more women will still parade themselves for the overrated guy, give yourself a break, trust me, the nerd is much better. Nerds don't meet a lot of women that are interested in them. Not because they aren't attractive but because most women get bored by their calculus, programming  and hemispherectomy vibe. What you need to do is show interest in what he does to the extent you can. Again, don't exaggerate and end up making a fool of yourself.

3. Geeks are the most loyal men alive

Are they tired of discovering? I don't think so. So make yourself discoverable he'll dwell on you like a fine project. I do not judge a man's ability to be loyal by the number of women he has had in his life. A man's loyalty is measured by how committed he is to what he loves. The fact that he is very committed to his developer projects is a reason to believe he will be committed in a relationship. All a man like that needs is a woman worth that commitment. I am not saying play wife, you cannot afford to be too available or he will get bored, give him something to look forward to.

4. They got game.
Yes I mean just that. It is sexual energy that drives the brain. A person's libido is proportional to his intelligence. Nuff said girls.

5. He has got good genes

Well you know how genetics work, smart, healthy and probably good looks .  In the event that your relationship takes another turn, then you know what to expect of your offspring.  In case the looks dissolved in some solution in the lab, I am  certain you are pretty honey. Lol.