6 Absence

Andalusian Poetry
.
Every night I scan
the heavens with my eyes
seeking the star
that you are contemplating.

I question travelers
from the four corners of the earth
hoping to meet one
who has breathed your fragrance.

When the wind blows
I make sure it blows in my face:
The breeze might bring me
news of you.

I wander over roads
without aim, without purpose.
Perhaps a song
will sound your name.

Secretly I study
every face I see
hoping against hope
to glimpse a trace of your beauty.

Abu Bakr Al-Turtushi (1059-1126)
.
Thanks to Kulsum

I see you on the shore,
I yearn for you.
I see you in the morning dew,
I yearn for you
I hear your drops fall
I yearn for you

Your cycle continues
From the pits of the earth, so narrow.
You're lifted to the skies, so wide.
Fall you must, back into the earth.
I hear you,
I feel you
I quench myself with you.
Oh! Sweet water, how pure are you?!

6 The days of the mali mali

At a random time on a random road in Mombasa a man pushes his mkokoteni (wheel cart) and shouts 'Maaaali Maaaali, Maaaali Maaaali'. On hearing this some ladies living in the vicinity come out of their houses with a wad of old clothes. The mali mali exchanges new items (mostly crockery) for old clothes.

A typical scenario would include a lady demanding 6 bowls instead of 5 for the 2 pair of trousers and 5 shirts she gave away. The mali mali would then complain on the condition of the clothes and as they're haggling perhaps a nearby beggar runs away with anything he can grab. This exciting form of barter trade pleases all. The children even come out in hopes of persuading their parent to get a a toy as one of the returns.

Growing up it was a fascinating scheme to witness. I do wonder where they have all disappeared to. It's been forever since I last saw them.

29 Back from blogger's block and Edinburgh

I wondered how to kill the silence on my blog after the long gap and to be honest each time I started to write something it ended up with a few words forcefully put together which was a sore sight.I finished exams last month and took a trip to Edinburgh.

Shops selling lambswool blankets and kilts, Haggas being advertised on chalk boards outside restaurants and bagpipes playing in the background are mostly what to expect on a walk down the narrow cobblestone streets of the city. An Edinburgh inhabitant will tell you a Haggas is an animal which lives on the mountains which has one leg shorter then the other for ease to climb up the mountain, but one wonders what would happen to the poor animal if it wished to go downhill. lol. Turns out it's a meal with goat stomach stuffed with don't know what.

Edinburgh Castle

There is the Royal mile, which is a road that stretches from the Edinburgh castle to the palace of Holy rood house. In between is the writer's museum (dedicated to the works of Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Stevenson), St Giles cathedral, museum of childhood, Scottish parliament and others which have escaped my mind.

St.Giles Cathedral

Palace of Holyroodhouse

And lastly the city is surrounded by innumerable hills which are marvelous for hiking. I painstakingly managed to climb up Arthur's seat which happens to be only 250m. Hmm..seems like I need to hike more often.

View from Arthur's seat

5 surviving the math blues..

It's that time of the year when I try to disconnect myself from a lot of things in the name of 'revision'. Whilst studying time reversal, the quote below was the only thing that made sense, the rest all seems gibberish.

"The world around us is irreversible. If you were to run a film of a physical process backwards, you would immediately know that the film is running backwards, since you would see processes which never occur in the natural world. For example, if you drop a rock in the pond, the rock sinks to the bottom and its energy is converted into the energy of the water molecules as a result of the collisions of the rock with the water molecules. Running a film of this process backwards, you would first see a calm pond with a rock sitting at the bottom, then the rock would begin to rise, accelerating, and finally flying out of the pond, as a result of water molecules bombarding the rock. This never happens. But could it happen? Does it violate any dynamic principle? Heat flows from a hot object to a cold one, never the other way. Everyone gets older, but no one gets younger. We remember the past, but do not know the future. The macroscopic world, consisting of enormous numbers of molecules, in the form of Newton's laws or Langrange's equations, are reversible in time. For every allowed motion there is a revered motion which is also allowed. And this continues to hold in quantum-mechanical theories. So why don't we ever see those reversed motions?"

-Joel Lebowitz

....All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put humpty together again...

8 Jumbled words

'Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!'

Itnestring mial I've Riceved mnay tmeis, Thuohgt of pttuing it to the tset by wrtiing a wlohe psot in jmulbed wrods.

So fnillay smoe paece in Kneya. Lsat Week a Keyann wkleey nwesppaer dscilosed the raeson for the qiuck aecctpacne of btoh sdies of the paece dael. Condeleezza Rice snet a trhaetening ltteer to Kibaki and Raila. The ltteer aksed if they knew Saddam Hussein. Saddam had a rat hloe, she qesituenod if they had one. Kibaki was wrnaed his aessts wuold be forzen and he wuold be held aouccanbtle for cirmes of Gecinode. Fruethr a sihp of mranies was alraedy dokced in Mombasa. One wnoders waht interests tihs cuontry has in Kenya...

I nveer thuoght I wulod mneiotn rcie in 2 cnoseutcvie psots. Tihs psot, athluogh unciivllzied, was a pealsnat way to wirte.

0 Free rice

www.freerice.com

WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance...

6 The little terrorist

Jamal, a Pakistani Muslim, crosses the India-Pakistan fence to fetch his cricket ball..
[The first few seconds is blank]

0 Wimbo wa Miti - The Song of the Trees

This poem is an allegory in which trees play the roles of Women from Lamu who have some misunderstandings. It is an oral tradition translated by Joseph Mbele from swahili.

Jana niwene kisa adhimu
Yesterday I witnessed a notable episode
tena tafusirini walimu
And will you, the experts, explain it;
Miti ya li kipijana mtende tina mdimu
Trees were fighting, the date-palm and the lime tree

Hima ukaya mbiyo mpwera
Promptly the guava tree came running,
Nyuma muembe una hasira
And close behind it the furious mango tree,
Mzabibu ukisema kunyamaa ni ujura
While the grapevine declared: 'Passivity is stupidity.'

Mara ukadhihiri mtesi
Suddenly the mtesi* appeared
sura zina ushi una kasi
Its face full of impatience and intensity
Ukiwambiya mpwera kwetu hakuna rakhisi
And it told the guava tree, 'With us there is no easy way.'

Papo ukaya mpili pili
There and then came the pepper plant
Hapo ukinena kwa ukali
And it was speaking angrily
Ukiapa kwa ziyapo miti pia siijali
And swearing with oaths: 'I don't give a damn for trees!'

Punde wasiyesa kani zao
Before their fury was spent,
Nde wawene mti uyao
They saw, outside, a tree coming,
Nao ni mberemende una panga na ngao
And it was the mberemende**, armed with sword and shield:

Zita hatuchi twapo uwawa
'War we fear not, though we get killed,
Uta na zembe tume tukuwa
For with bow and arrows we are armed.'
Mbuyu ulipopita uka simama kwa muwa
When the baobab tree passed by, it stopped to mediate

Hela watani yenu mayowe
'Come, now, cease your noisy squabbling;
tela bure asiwazuzuwe
Let not Tela confound you
Kuna mti unahila humshinda kitunguwe
There is a tree more cunning than Hare

Shina la mambo haya nayuwa
The stem of these things I know;
Sawa nimezi ye kutambuwa
Very well have I realized it.
Muyungu ndio fitina waloalisha mauwa
The pumpkin plant is the agitator that has called forth these blossoms.'

---

* The swahili believe mtesi is a branch/leaf which should never be brought to the house or conflicts will arise.
** No idea what that means

11 Worthless Girl

~
Worthless girl performed by a school in Kenya.
Worth watching
~

4 Finally

Finally the tribes have come together
Realised their wrongs and repented.
The refugees have been welcomed back
by those that chased them away.

We also have a leader,
He is not Raila nor Kibaki.
A new one who hails from no political dynasty.
It is peaceful.

This is complete utter nonsense.
I must stop day-dreaming..

26 A Mother in a Refugee Camp

No Madonna and Child could touch
Her tenderness for a son
She would soon have to forget...
The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea,
Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs
And dried-up bottoms waddling in labour steps
Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there
Had long ceased to care, but not this one:
She held a ghost-smile between her teeth,
And in her eyes the memory
Of a mother's pride....She had bathed him
And rubbed him, down with bare palms.
She took from their bundle of possessions
A broken comb and combed
The rust-colored hair left on his skull
And then--humming in her eyes--began carefully to part it
In their former life this was perhaps
A little act of no consequence
Before his breakfast and school; now she did it
Like putting flowers on a tiny grave

~Chinua Achebe
in his book Collected Poems

4 Updates on Kenya

2 Mp's killed this week. 'Mugabe Were' Mp for Embakasi and 'David Too' Mp for Ainamoi. The latter's murder is termed by the police as a crime of passion. Too's death has increased havoc in the country. The traffic policeman - a Kisii, who shot him was murdered by angry mobs. The killings sparked clashes between the Kalenjins and the Kisii. Overnight 13 people have been killed in Western Kenya after clashes between Sotik and Borabu districts. A primary school was torched in Chebilat.

On Saturday, a mob surrounded a church near Eldoret and burned it to the ground on. Those inside managed to escape unharmed.

Some victims of the violence have been thrown into the deep crater of the extinct Menengai crater north from Nakuru. There they are preyed upon by wild animals. The volcano is named "kirima kia ngoma" (Devil's place) by the locals, as they claim it is under the control of evil spirits.

10 Evolving into something else..

The handshake between the 2 protagonist leaders did not help my country much. The violence continued. More people were injured, more people died. It's not like I really expected every hatred directed at the 2 men and their allies to disappear immediately. But I hoped that it would be a stepping stone to some form of sane mediation.

We later saw Kibaki addressing the people of Kenya and calling himself the duly elected president. ODM was outraged. Meanwhile Nakuru and Naivasha have been hit by waves of violence.

My take is the leaders took too much time to meet and negotiate. The hatred started filling amongst people the day Kibaki was wrongly sworn in. And it continued filling, till it blinded them. And of course, now its too late. They have lost control. I do not know what is going to happen tomorrow or in the future. All I hope is for a good fate for Kenya and its people.

ODM calls three days of mass action
Story by NATION Reporter and REUTERS Publication

The Orange Democratic Movements is set to resume street protests against President Kibaki following the collapse of talks to broker a peace deal over the contested presidential poll.

The party has announced three day of mass protests countrywide on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week, even as former UN boss Kofi Annan is expected to reopen mediation and the new Parliament has been summoned for Tuesday.

“Talks between ODM and the other side have collapsed due to the resufal of that side to negotiate with us. We are not ‘unresponsive’ at all. We worked hard, together with other parties, to come up with a just solution,” said party secretary Prof Anyang Nyong’o at a Press conference.

ODM listed 15 venues countrywide where they will hold protests beginning 10am on each of the three days. The rallies will be held in Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kakamega, Eldoret, Kapsabet, Kisii, Kericho, Nyeri, Embu, Machakos, Voi, Garissa, Narok and Siaya.

Previous demonstrations have led to riots and bloody clashes between ODM supporters and riot police, adding to a total death toll of over 500 since the December 27 vote.

The Government has previously maintained that public rallies are outlawed until the political mood in the country calms.

"Dialogue is not engaged in the streets. Dialogue suggests that people resolve their differences peacefully, over a table, not through destroying property and killing innocent Kenyans," Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta told reporters.

Yesterday's failure of African Union head and Ghanaian President John Kufuor to broker a deal has sent panic across the country with many fearing a fresh riots.

On his way back to home, President Kufuor said Mr Annan, another Ghanaian, would lead a group of eminent Africans in another push to resolve the crisis.

The ODM leaders skipped a meeting that President Kibaki had called for 2.30pm, maintaining that they would only engage the Head of State in talks chaired by an internationally recognised mediator.

The West, including the United States and Kenya's former colonial ruler Britain, has expressed displeasure at irregularities in the presidential vote count, and is pressing for some sort of power-sharing agreement.

In the latest statement from abroad, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged both sides "to engage without any pre-conditions" and "agree on a way to share power so as to reflect the clear democratic will of the Kenyan people."

At the same time, ODM-Kenya’s Kalonzo Musyoka has come out to explain why he accepted the Vice-Presidency offered by President Kibaki. Mr Musyoka came third in the disputed presidential poll but has since joined President Kibaki’s Government.

Mr Musyoka said he wanted to ensure the nation remains intact following the violence that rocked the country after President Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election.

Addressing a Press conference at his Jogoo House office earlier today, Mr Musyoka said the move was also dictated by the party’s policy to work in a coalition.

He said ODM-Kenya now has an opportunity to push for the implementation of some of its policies as opposed to common belief that its goals and principles will be swallowed by those of President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU).

“ODM-Kenya has entered a coalition Government. I am here to tell you that the party’s principles and goals are closer to being realised today than at any other time in our party’s history,” Mr Musyoka said.

2 A song for Peace

nationmedia.com

This song on being Kenyan and the Kenyan flag:

...na ishi na tumaini na jitolea daima kenya hakika ya bendera utabidi wangu
nyeusi ya wananchi
na nyekundu ni ya damu,
kijani ni ya ardhi
nyeupe ya amani,
daima mimi mkenya mwananchi mzalendo....

....and I live and hope to forever give the Kenyan flag its right,
black is of the people
red is for the blood
green for the earth
White for peace
I will forever be a patriotic Kenyan citizen...

Thanks to Sakeena for the final translation

5 Hope for amani (peace)

Things are slowly coming back to normal albeit a few commodities still have high prices tagged on them.Nevertheless things are looking brighter. Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga are finally going to talk this Friday and put forward their demands.

In Kisauni, Mombasa - a shop owner threatened to read Al-Badiri (some form of black magic) on all those that took part in the looting spree in his premise. He's given them 6 days to return his items or else they face the curse. Many returned his property and others complained of having experienced some supernatural effect.

One man said he could feel a person sleeping near him on the mattress he stole. Another complained of an eye ache after staring at the stolen mirror.

2 Situation in Mombasa

The queuing for kerosene continues in Mombasa. Kerosene is used by many for lamps and cooking.

A GSU Police patroling an area.

Sakina Mosque, a few minutes after demonstrators took to the street after Jumah prayers from this place.

The road beared stones which lay scattered. Najib Balala a member of the ODM pentagon vowed that this demonstration will continue till the governement agrees their wrong doings. In response to the protest, police fired tear gas to stop the opposition supporters from moving forward.

0 Headlines for the wrong reasons

Last week around this time Kenya was making headlines for all the right reasons, Now its making headlines for all the wrong reasons.I take back all the confidence I expressed about my country. I was shortsighted, and failed to realise that Kibaki could care less about the humans beings of this country.

Behind the car, people que up for kerosene in Mtwapa (North of Mombasa)

Kibaki told reporters that he was ready to have dialogue with the other parties once the nation is calm. Raila has agreed to talk to the president if and only if he-Kibaki resigns.
Can someone tell me what is wrong with the "Presidents"? Calm can only be restored in this country if and only if they accept the will of the people. Kibaki cannot expect Kenyans to abandon the fight for democracy so as to negotiate with him. As for Raila, he needs to swallow some pride in him!

Kenyans have been calling for the two leaders to talk to their people and ask them to stop the fighting. But with the leaders making such claims I think this is a dangerous line they are forcing Kenya to tread upon.

Town was quiet in an uneasy way. Some streets are deserted whilst many shops remain closed

A deserted petrol station after Nyali bridge

Schooling will now resume in Kenya from 13th January instead of 8th January.