Journals

  • A Large Potato

    Múturú was a precious commodity at Karatina D.E.B Primary School. If you got it, you were either lucky, or the cook’s favourite. The cook, Maina, was a slender man who always wore gumboots. Múturú was a large potato, preferably uncut, served in ‘supro’ AKA githeri with a bucket load of soup. ‘Supro’ always had hard…

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    A Large Potato

  • Wahome

    I always found my grandfather seated by the cow shed early in the morning, contemplating life, I assume. Or perhaps he loved the view of the rolling hills with tea farms. Gaithuri was, still is, a very scenic village next to the Aberdare forest. Maybe it was none of that. Maybe it was just a…

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    Wahome

  • A Girl in a Red Dress

    I had my first crush in Form 2. It happened in a flash, right in front of my eyes. It is one of the school holidays. And because I was raised by a teacher, I am sent to holiday tuition. Reading, and school work, is serious business in my father’s household. A few teachers from…

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  • Form 1 West

    Form 1 West was in the first block, right next to the staff room. It was the very first classroom right after the toilets. This is many years ago and I am yet to start calling them washrooms. The only washing that happened in those rooms was when you were being punished for some adolescent…

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    Form 1 West

  • No. You are Not Average

    It’s around the Covid years and I am seated on grass at a leased farm in Kiserian. The Kajiado sun is hot and harsh, but the wind makes it bearable. Tranquil even. The environment and the place is peaceful, but I am not. I am lamenting to my dear friend, Gakii, about my troubles. My…

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    No. You are Not Average

  • Why Do I Write? A Manifesto-ish

    Why do I write? I write to stay alive. I write to keep my soul burning. To fan the embers of fire in my soul into a flame that lights up my soul. I write to heal myself. To travel to the deepest corners of myself and exhume that which is buried. I found writing…

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    Why Do I Write? A Manifesto-ish

  • Grieving my Mum Over 20 Years Later

    For a long time, I barely talked about my late mum. She passed away when I was 4 years old. Looking back, it was some sort of denial. An assumption that my life went on and I turned out okay despite her death. Not talking about her gave me the sense that I was a…

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    Grieving my Mum Over 20 Years Later

  • Dear Mum, I Turned 30

    A letter to my late mum. Dated 30th June 2025. Dear Mum, I turned 30 today. I wonder what kind of a relationship you would have had with me as an adult. Would you have called to wish me happy birthday? Or bought me a gift? Or perhaps you would have baked me a cake.…

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    Dear Mum, I Turned 30

  • Recovering – Loss, Grief & Guilt

    Grief, pain, sorrow…weigh us down sometimes in life. When it does, it feels like a heavy weight in the chest. Like a burden in the soul that we wish to pluck out. I was reflecting on the experience of someone close and I can relate with their struggle but also imagine how hard it must…

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    Recovering – Loss, Grief & Guilt