
Today Is an Interesting Day Because……
….behind the scenes I have about 4 or 5 articles I am working on that are on their way to being done but need elements out of my control to come into place before they can be complete. I have a podcast that I am yet to edit and I have sent out quite a few invitations to interview people over the past week.
The End Result
The end result is that I have a wonderful back log of articles and podcasts and things in process, too much for me to want to move forward but little enough that it shouldn’t take me too long to clear up.While this vacuum exists I thought I would give you all some more thoughts as I have continued along my spiritual journey.
Why I’ll Never Leave the Church
One thing that I can predict with a fair level of confidence and certainty is that I will probably never grow disillusioned with the church and/or with Christianity as I did in my teenage years and I will never leave the church. There are a couple of reasons for that:
1) I never got taught, or rather never had sink in, the consumer mentality to Christianity: Growing up, I was taught about the immutable, unstoppable, never changing power of self-determination and that all through my life, I should always use that power to create my destiny. I guess I am one of those people who preachers would label, “That arrogant young man who thinks he can do everything himself.”
I don’t know if I can but I certainly know that I am going to take responsibility for the results I achieve in my life.
2) Christian people are hands down, the most loving and silmultaneously nicest people I have ever met: A lot of people who become disillusioned with the church do so because they feel condemned, judged, unloved and unwanted by Christian people. I have never ever felt that. Until I was an adult, all my real-world (as opposed to celebrity or fantasy heroes) were Christian African women.
If you look through my heroes list, you’ll notice that one of them is Erwin Mcmanus (if anyone knows how I can get an interview with him….do share) and I just love to consume and reflect and act on his podcasts and his ideas.
To put the full stop on this point, I don’t know if I have told this story before but what the heck, I will tell it again
She Listened, Really Listened
It’s amazing how one moment can mean so many different things to different people. I don’t think my aunty knows just how special that day was for me, and whenever I tell my mother the story, she always remarks:
That’s nothing special
Or something similar, but that truly was, one of the greatest days of my life.
Disposable Teen
So there I was, 16 years old, scared and angry. I remember walking into my aunty’s home for a visit. My aunty did something that no human being had never done before. She didn’t try to advise me. She didn’t try to give me solutions to my problems. She didn’t engage in discussion or debate. She just listened.
She listened as I talked about my crazy plans about buying a fleet of matatus (a fleet of mini buses) and using the revenue generated from this venture to fund a school where the poor and marginalized youth of Africa would learn not only about the political process but would be equipped to answer the question:
How can I use the current global and political system to the benefit of my community and myself?
I don’t remember if that was the exact thought I told my aunty so many years ago, but whatever it is I said, she listened. I remember she fed me delicious sandwiches and tea and for a couple of days just let me talk. It’s amazing how the Angel Gabriel’s love for Mary can be felt just by his merely sitting next to her………..
Don’t worry if you read this and don’t see what’s so special either, just know it was truly one of the best days during one of the best periods of my life, and she was there.
She was in that moment, the salt and light of my world.
Where this Spiritual Journey is Going?
I know I am not alone on this one, but I often fantasize about being interviewed. My favourite platforms are either a town hall meeting, a speech I am making to thousands of people or an appearance on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, and many a time, I have fantasized about being asked that very question in the sub-healdine.Here now is my smooth-as-Taye-Diggs-eloquent-as-MLK answer:
The way I see my life headed, I will probably end up the born again founder my own church dedicated to two things:
a) The upliftment and dignity of young African boys and men
b) Taking action: Every sermon will end with everyone either doing something to improve their lives or the lives of the members of the community or it will become compulsory with attendance that you must take action after every service and are accountable to other members of the congregation.
I would weed out all the passive watchers and remain with just passionate people committed to taking action and being angels among men.
Hey, I have been asked to lead my bible study group this Thursday so that might be the begining of all of this…….watch this gap in the time space continuum.
My oddly tired brain is telling me those are enough ideas for now.
Have a fantastic week,
Mwangi
Number8 (Dann Mwangi), a spoken word poet who also participated in the last Slam Africa Poetry Competition last month is inviting you to a Spoken word poetry performance on August 8th, 2008(08/08/08) at The Kenya National Museum from 6pm, entry is free. This will primarily be a Spoken word concert-alongside a live band and back ground vocalists. It also doubles up as a Mission Driven pre-album concert as there will be performances of some of the songs that will be in their sophomore album set to be launched early December 2008.He is also currently compiling his po8ry into a book that will be launched on the same day(8th,Aug) at the Museum.
Finding Your Voice – Internationally acclaimed Gambian author Dayo Forster on Finding your Voice. Plus interviews, mingling with authors and a chance to purchase books
Revisioning Kenya After Party together with Authors in Conversation - Join the speakers from the conference and a roster of international writers including Ishmael Beah, Aminatta Forna and Chimamanda Adichie for readings, performances, networking and superb bitings. Official launch of Kwani 05
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Also published today in Kumekucha: Deadly mother-in-laws
Small Business Kenya: The most important small business secret
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Two men will be judged harshly by history for what has happened in our beloved motherland. The first one is Mwai Emilio Stanley Kibaki who ignored advice from several quarters, including the church, to postpone the referendum until tribal tensions cool down. Instead his blundering administration has continued on a steady path of taking Kenyans to the slaughter. The second man whom history will judge harshly is the director general of the NSIS, Michael Gichangi. Of all spy chiefs in the history of the region the man has made too many mistakes and Kenyans should now be asking themselves why he is still in office. His remaining at the helm of the NSIS is a threat to national security. See the long list of deadly blunders Gichangi has made (it is FREE) that have brought the country to its’ knees.
Most people fail to appreciate that one of the advantages of having a free speech zone on this blog (although some folks have badly abused the privilege to further their own selfish agenda) is that one gets to see a clear reflection of what is happening on the ground. Complete with the emotions and prejudices. If this is true (and I have plenty of evidence to prove that it is) then the comments here tell you that the country is very far from being healed. So why should anybody discuss 2012 and the presidential elections when clearly the country will never be ready for another general elections at this rate? More so when our so-called leaders are ignoring the clear danger signals that tell us all is NOT well.
Am informed that in the ongoing spate of secondary school strikes, disciplined schools that have previously had excellent reputations like Machakos Girls, Machakos Boys and Hospital Hill high in Nairobi amongst others have now joined the rapidly growing list of schools where students have gone on the rampage destroying property worth millions of shillings. As usual the government is busy treating the symptoms rather than the disease by arraigning many youngsters in court to face criminal charges.
If there ever was a clear and obvious hint for our leaders to prove that all is not well countrywide, then it is the current spate of school strikes. But still they ignore all the fires being lit in schools all over the country. The latest statement from the duly elected president is that parents will have to pay for the damage their children have caused in schools.
You see the truth is that Kenya currently has no leaders. What we have are some immature and very selfish men and women thinking only about themselves and others jostling for power and the presidency ahead of 2012, even as the country continues to spiral dangerously towards disaster.
Now is the time for a new generation of leaders to emerge. Their time and their chance is NOW. Currently the younger people of Kenya, born after independence are busy chasing money in various corners of the world. Many of them read this blog on a regular basis. And sadly many of them have been dragged down into the ongoing silly and primitive “tribal wars.”
The young people of Kenya need to come back to their senses now and take back their country from the hands of “the wolves” that now have it firmly held in their grasp for selfish ends.
One man whom I see as vital in getting Kenyans to rally around this noble cause irrespective of their party or tribal inclinations is former ethics PS John Githongo. We need somebody with a track record of saying “NO” to corruption and John is exactly that person. I mean the guy risked his life when it would have been easier to take the money and look the other way. We also need somebody whom we are sure will never fall back to his tribe in a crisis. John is that person. The guy cannot even speak Kikuyu properly. For all intents and purposes, he is tribeless. Above all we need somebody young and born after 1963 and yet somebody who has the experience to make things happen. John has that and already works with various worldwide organizations and lobby groups.
I stand to be corrected but I cannot think of any better qualified person to rally all Kenyans from all tribes to do something like yesterday for the motherland before it is too late.
I am of course keenly aware that this post will upset many of my dear readers who are staunch supporters of the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga. These guys don’t want to hear about any other president for 2012.
But my dear beloved brothers and sisters, please let us reason for a moment. I need to ask a very simple question. Will a Raila Presidency unite a country that is badly torn right down the middle? The answer to that question is NO. Raila is a great man, but he cannot pull this one off. Let him prove his greatness beyond any reasonable doubt by making the greatest of all sacrifices and stepping aside for a new generation of Kenyans to take over.
I must also ask if a Martha Karua, Uhuru Kenyatta or George Saitoti presidency is capable of uniting the country. The answer again is a resounding NO. We need a fresh start and that that start needs to have its’ foundation in fighting corruption.
My dear fellow Kenyans we need to start thinking outside the box and it needs to happen NOW. This is very very urgent.