Whats in a name? Days of the week..

 Names have always fascinated me

Here's a sample of names derived from days of the week

• Sunday /  - Sunny /  - Sunne /  - Kwasi
• Thursday /  - Alhamisi /  - Hamisi
• Friday /  - Kofi  /  - Juma / - Mwajuma 
• Saturday /  - Kwame

Others?

Guard the starting point!

Reflections on Life!

I heard this quote once and it stuck with me...it doesn't go wrong, it STARTS wrong!

This is so true for so many circumstances

Whereas I do believe that all things will eventually work together for our good (Romans 8:28), for those who trust in the Lord, the truth is that we do make decisions in life that guarantee us a long period of suffering /strife before we experience light.  But this should not always be the case!

So how does one communicate to others especially the young ones who are starting off in life?

Lets do it with an acronym

S  - Self awareness is key. Be conscious of who you are and what you are about. Take time to learn about yourself and your non-negotiables. Understand what made who you are today (you are a sum total of your past experiences), what has informed the choices you make/ will make; who are the main influencers in your life and what value they bring- all this so that your antenna can be high up on what you want for yourself in this beautiful life! 

T - Time is precious. Go through life with some sense of urgency. I remember periods of my life where I just went with the flow. No project in mind, no self deadlines...niko tuu! and with time...boom...its five years later and you wonder where the time went!

A - Adapt and Agile.  Learn quickly from mistakes (yours and that of others) and move on with it. No need to stay in one place because you feel comfortable in it. Someone once said that there is no growth in comfort, and for sure no comfort in growth!

R - Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice (Philippians 4:4) . Being anchored in the Lords word will be a game changer! Go to church! Connect with like minded people. Be challenged by the Gospel  - to do more for the Kingdom!

T - Treasury - money money money! it does make the world go round. Have a plan for how you will get money and how you will invest it! Build a culture of investing early on in your life, and there is nothing like its too little to invest; and leaving money in the bank is not an investment channel!

It doesn't go wrong....it probably started wrong...so guard your starting point!

There you go, wisdom from the MinK Jubilee corner!

Peace!

Whirlwinds that swept Oct/Nov 2024

 What a period...October & November!

On 9th Nov I was at a funeral in Muranga - just less than 90min drive from Nairobi, in solidarity with a friend from high school as she laid to rest her beloved Mother. The ceremony was filled in song and dance (characterized by lots of jumping) from the Church of God congregation adorned in colourful long pleated dresses/skirts and equally colourful headgear. I honestly assumed they were Akorino but seems it is different. Either way, it was sad and I can only imagine what loosing a matriarch feels like....May God rest her soul in eternal peace

Across Kenya, in rural Siaya, another friend from high school was laying her beloved husband to rest. From the live stream, and also press updates, the ceremony was huge and had so many political honchos present. I pray that amidst all the hype around the circumstances of his passing, that for sure justice prevails and her and her family find peace in this whirlwind!

Just days before this, a lady I got to know when we went to Rome for CWA in May 2023 succumbed to cancer...a battle she had fought for 10years! Dear Lord have mercy....she was laid to rest on Nov 6

and while that news was sinking in, another lady, also in the Rome entourage, collapsed and died! ai ai

For sure all this cannot be understood by our mortal minds!

May our Good Lord show himself to all these families as only HE can.

November is the month we remember the faithful departed

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God,

rest in peace

Amen

So what was the world like in 1974?

 I checked the internets

and here are some interesting events that happened in 1974

1. President Richard Nixon resigns following the Watergate scandal - becoming the first American president to resign from office

2. George Foreman & Muhammed Ali boxing match in Zaire dubbed Rumble in the Jungle - Foreman was knocked out in the 8th round. Oct 1974

3. Riara Group of Schools was started in 1974 - the site for Riara road primary was once a kindergarten that catered for the European population that had moved to Nairobi before Kenyas independence in 1963. Prof Eddah Gachukia acquired the school and renamed it Riara Kindergarten

4. Post-it notes were invented in 1974!

5. The Rubiks cube, one of the most popular toys of all time, was invented in 1974 by Hungarian architecture professor, Erno Rubik. He used the cube to present info about spatial relationships to his students in a more interesting and compelling way!

6. The famous People Magazine hit the stands for the first time in March 1974

7. World Vision Kenya began operations here in 1974~!

8...others?

--end--

This is 50!

The day is here!

I am 50; 50 whole years

imagine that!

thanks be to God for allowing me to reach this my big age

My prayer for the next decade of my life is

Philippians 4: 4

Rejoice in the Lord always

and again I say, REJOICE!

What does rejoicing mean to me

 - i choose JOY

 - radical acceptance

 - self care

- to delight in my present moment

- inner peace

 and 

 - deeper connection to God

Amen!

Happy birthday to me :)

 - 

Reflections to 50 - How we got to be in Miami!

So years ago (2009 to be precise) when my twin & I turned 35 - we stumbled upon a (highly subsidized) trip by Standard Chartered newly launched pink Diva Debit card to South Africa! it was amazing and we were like 70 women from different walks of life. The trip was basically touring various parts of Johannesburg and shopping shopping shopping....my kind of trip! 

and with that we caught the travel bug!

My sis and I agreed there and then that we shall travel again together when we turn 40. This time round, we were joined by 4 of my sisters friends and we found ourselves in Dubai in 2014; i really enjoyed Dubai...

At the end of Dubai trip we agreed again that when we turn 45 we shall mark it in the BIG APPLE! and for sure we did it! but we were only 3 who made it for that trip.. (Life happened...) 

and in New York we once again discussed where next when we turn 50 and agreed...we plan for an experience that we have never had..and so the idea of a CRUISE was put on the table; and I roped in Chox gals -and they ran with it, and there were 11 ladies this time round!!! EPIC

who knows where next......

**oh, and one minor detail....we don't just get up and pay for a trip! we save intentionally for each and every experience :)

Thanks be to God that all these plans are laid by mere mortals and God allows them to happen right on schedule!!

Reflections to 50 - Cruise trip, a logistical marvel

 So we went on a cruise

Yes!

Imagine that...all the way to Miami Florida and we sailed for 7 days!

what an experience...loved every moment

so much to write about!!

as someone who is in Operations, let me just start with the sheer logistics of running such a tight ship....literally!

I can imagine that they sat down, identified all the point which would have bottle necks and resolved them!

 - at the point of entry, the large suitcases have to be tagged with tags that had already been emailed to us, which we were required to print so that once you get to the entry point, you simply just drop off your bags and they will get delivered outside your cabin within 2hrs - for all 4000 passengers!

 - when you enter the ship you are given a card that is the one that will help you deal while inside the ship. The card will be used to access your cabin, when purchasing drinks/refreshments, when exiting the ship when it docks..with this one card, they can have real time intel on so much information regarding movement of people (they will for sure know immediately who has been left in one of the stop overs!) and stock of drinks etc

 - the food was available in huge quantities from 6am to midnight! to prepare such quantities of food and it remains interesting and fresh till the end of the cruise is really something! Cant imagine the number of chefs and kitchen staff they need to have - they seemed to be everywhere..replenishing the food, clearing tables, bringing in new cutlery etc - no long queues to the delicacy one desires...amazing!

 - the ship is clean - I mean the rooms are checked twice a day and towels replenished, the corridors and other common areas are clean - all this is made possible by the staff - the brief must be  - clean continously!

 - the entertainment was so varied and planned for each night - from jazz songs, to large concert performances, to karaoke, to silent discos, piano music..to put together various performances  fit for every night and happening in various corners of the ship is just wonderful!

 - not to mention the sheer size of the ship...19 decks (floors)...weuhh!!

So many logistical angles that as we were enjoying ourselves, I wondered whether any crisis occurred while we were at sea....

Wow!