So one fine morning my lovely daughter is watching me getting ready for work....and then she asks....Mum...why dont you put on makeup when going to work??
taken aback, i ask...why?? Mama so-and-so always puts on makeup and she looks nice
woahhh....pressure..
...so today i put a little lipstick on my way out :)
Wednesday, 29 July 2015
Restless Soul
my soul is restless
cant seem to keep a thought for long
interest levels are down
my soul is restless
not sleeping well
more sensitive to comments
my soul is restless
feel urgent need to make a change
to make the change now
my soul is restless
i have more than me to think of
so cant just walk away from all this 'comfort'
my soul is restless
BUT, i have to be still
and trust my soul will rest
rest in HIM alone
....amina...
cant seem to keep a thought for long
interest levels are down
my soul is restless
not sleeping well
more sensitive to comments
my soul is restless
feel urgent need to make a change
to make the change now
my soul is restless
i have more than me to think of
so cant just walk away from all this 'comfort'
my soul is restless
BUT, i have to be still
and trust my soul will rest
rest in HIM alone
....amina...
Philipians 4: 6-9
Philipians 4: 2-9
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
8And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.9Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
This is one verse i have known for a long long time....why?? flashback to when am in class 2 - and our class was chosen to do the reading for the mass. This was a big deal and so the girl who was to read this verse read it for us in class for the WHOLE term and by the time, the day for the mass rolled in, we were all saying this verse with her!!
Power to teachers, gives a new meaning to making lil ones be prepared :)
Its beautiful verse, and am glad i memorised it that many years ago
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Obama weekend!!
Hayawi Hayawi, mwisho, huwa.....meaning we have waited for so long for this visit and finally the historic day arrived!!
Yes the one and only President of the United States of America and son of Kenya (but do we say) jetted to an anxious Nairobi on Friday July 24th evening. It was rumored that the roads would be closed by 2pm and so we were thankfully given the day off!! Spent the day listening and reading on social media about Obama that even my youngest one by Friday could identify Obama in the newspaper!!
My middle one asks....Obama is from Kenya?? no he is from America......so will people in America miss him when he comes? ...me, no I don't think so....he normally travels around the world
Older one was just obsessed with The Beast and Marine 1 - asking question after question about what these equipment can really stand in terms of pressure.....
The excitement was for everyone!!!
He jetted in, made a small girl take a picture that will hopefully mean to her that even SHE can become whoever she wants to be!! and made his already accomplished sister Dr Auma Obama, famous by the warm hug and of course the envious ride in his official car. Had family at Kempinski with 36 members of his extended family - waaa.....am sure that one will cause problems for them later.....how to choose 36 from an extended family for such an occasion???!!!!!
Saturday rolled in and he attended the GES2015 summit (the reason why he was here)....a visibly excited Julie Gichuru gave them a warm welcome.....complete with an ariririririririririri...heheheh......Obama gave a short speech and the part I liked was of course reiterating the women are POWERHOUSE INVESTORS....CNN had earlier tried to rain on our parade and our President rose to the occasion with an apt rejoinder that Kenya is a hotbed of culture...and something else....well in Sir, well in - and of course Uhurus speech was on point!! His people stepped up to the plate on this one!!
Obama of course laid a wreath at the 1998 bombblast site and zoomed to statehouse for bilateral talks...I often wonder how these talks are done.....they look so formal.....the two sides are seating far apart, and even have microphones?? do they discuss, or just give each other positions and the rest take it up? do the others speak or only the Presidents?? are they timed, or go one until a compromise is reached?? I wonder....mmmhhhh.....
A press briefing followed and President Obama admits that he didn't know many of the family but will be glad to reconnect with them as a private citizen. Then in response to a journalist question on LGBTI he gave his view that he doesn't believe in discrimination on basis of any kind - this he had mentioned earlier to BBC in an interview that preceded his visit to Kenya......President Uhuru gave, I must say, a diplomatic and firm rejoinder....that for now, that is not a priority, we have bigger issues to deal with and focus on.
Evening was state dinner, nice seeing them dancing to sura yako mzuri mamaaaa......by Sauti Sol...and of course the wide smiles given when taking a lovely photo with Raila and Idah....
Sunday, he was off to Ethiopia, but before that....he addressed the nation via live broadcast and he was introduced by his sister Dr Auma Obama who said she waited 27 years for him to return the favour of riding in her VW Beatle, and now a ride in the Beast!! It was a warm speech - I loved it....and then a few hrs with civil society at KU - big lessons in making a pitch and I think Fauziah Ali and Linet (future Cardiologist) of Pangani, nailed it!!!
ehhh back to the grind....obamahangover!!
Yes the one and only President of the United States of America and son of Kenya (but do we say) jetted to an anxious Nairobi on Friday July 24th evening. It was rumored that the roads would be closed by 2pm and so we were thankfully given the day off!! Spent the day listening and reading on social media about Obama that even my youngest one by Friday could identify Obama in the newspaper!!
My middle one asks....Obama is from Kenya?? no he is from America......so will people in America miss him when he comes? ...me, no I don't think so....he normally travels around the world
Older one was just obsessed with The Beast and Marine 1 - asking question after question about what these equipment can really stand in terms of pressure.....
The excitement was for everyone!!!
He jetted in, made a small girl take a picture that will hopefully mean to her that even SHE can become whoever she wants to be!! and made his already accomplished sister Dr Auma Obama, famous by the warm hug and of course the envious ride in his official car. Had family at Kempinski with 36 members of his extended family - waaa.....am sure that one will cause problems for them later.....how to choose 36 from an extended family for such an occasion???!!!!!
Saturday rolled in and he attended the GES2015 summit (the reason why he was here)....a visibly excited Julie Gichuru gave them a warm welcome.....complete with an ariririririririririri...heheheh......Obama gave a short speech and the part I liked was of course reiterating the women are POWERHOUSE INVESTORS....CNN had earlier tried to rain on our parade and our President rose to the occasion with an apt rejoinder that Kenya is a hotbed of culture...and something else....well in Sir, well in - and of course Uhurus speech was on point!! His people stepped up to the plate on this one!!
Obama of course laid a wreath at the 1998 bombblast site and zoomed to statehouse for bilateral talks...I often wonder how these talks are done.....they look so formal.....the two sides are seating far apart, and even have microphones?? do they discuss, or just give each other positions and the rest take it up? do the others speak or only the Presidents?? are they timed, or go one until a compromise is reached?? I wonder....mmmhhhh.....
A press briefing followed and President Obama admits that he didn't know many of the family but will be glad to reconnect with them as a private citizen. Then in response to a journalist question on LGBTI he gave his view that he doesn't believe in discrimination on basis of any kind - this he had mentioned earlier to BBC in an interview that preceded his visit to Kenya......President Uhuru gave, I must say, a diplomatic and firm rejoinder....that for now, that is not a priority, we have bigger issues to deal with and focus on.
Evening was state dinner, nice seeing them dancing to sura yako mzuri mamaaaa......by Sauti Sol...and of course the wide smiles given when taking a lovely photo with Raila and Idah....
Sunday, he was off to Ethiopia, but before that....he addressed the nation via live broadcast and he was introduced by his sister Dr Auma Obama who said she waited 27 years for him to return the favour of riding in her VW Beatle, and now a ride in the Beast!! It was a warm speech - I loved it....and then a few hrs with civil society at KU - big lessons in making a pitch and I think Fauziah Ali and Linet (future Cardiologist) of Pangani, nailed it!!!
ehhh back to the grind....obamahangover!!
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
Family tree
The other day I set out to see whether I could chart out a family tree for my kids
The connections were so many the diagram made no sense at all..and of course, since for such dilemmas one promptly turns to Dr Google and sure enough there are so many templates available. I was looking for the free one to download but kept being taken to trial pages...so I have abandoned this mission for a while! but note to self....I really need to do this one of these days!!
The connections were so many the diagram made no sense at all..and of course, since for such dilemmas one promptly turns to Dr Google and sure enough there are so many templates available. I was looking for the free one to download but kept being taken to trial pages...so I have abandoned this mission for a while! but note to self....I really need to do this one of these days!!
Saying No
Saying No
is sometimes easier said than done
needs to be said at that moment
else, its construed as a Yes
and oh that bad feeling you get
when you loose that
that moment!!
is sometimes easier said than done
needs to be said at that moment
else, its construed as a Yes
and oh that bad feeling you get
when you loose that
that moment!!
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Maralal
Maralal
Am told that it means mirage
That once long ago, given the location, always had a mirage of water, and herders walk their animals towards it, in the hope of finding this precious liquid.
I used to come here often from 2005 to 2010....but this stopped when project ended and now in 2015, am back again. I write this from a guest house room near center of town....
When I came back in Feb this year, the 'development' were quite evident.....especially the street lights running through the main street, that was a pleasant surprise. Many buildings are coming up and this for sure will change the face of this town. Now in June there is tarmac being made as you enter Maralal....next time maybe there will be a 5 star hotel here!!
Am told that it means mirage
That once long ago, given the location, always had a mirage of water, and herders walk their animals towards it, in the hope of finding this precious liquid.
I used to come here often from 2005 to 2010....but this stopped when project ended and now in 2015, am back again. I write this from a guest house room near center of town....
When I came back in Feb this year, the 'development' were quite evident.....especially the street lights running through the main street, that was a pleasant surprise. Many buildings are coming up and this for sure will change the face of this town. Now in June there is tarmac being made as you enter Maralal....next time maybe there will be a 5 star hotel here!!
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Searching for that CPA!
So today I sort of went for a career fair for secondary
school girls as a mentor, but as luck would have it, I completely missed out on
the news about the diabetes walk, so was stuck on the road and arrived a cool 2
hrs late…the guest of honor was quite inspiring, and I was looking forward to
the afternoon one on one sessions. I had to leave earlier than planned for
another event, but I digress…..
Anyways, during Q&A, one girl
asked what happens when you are not sure what you want to do. What do you
choose then?? And this was deja vue to me…you see, truth be told, I never was
very very clear about what I wanted to pursue, but since my twin was clear she
wanted to work in a bank (translate, doing finance), she was signed on to a CPA
class and I tagged along. So that’s how I found myself in (the then brand
new) Strathmore college at Nairobi West in early 1995. I did CPA section I and
II pretty fast…so I had 4 more sections to go.....but then joined university in Eldoret!
After joining campus doing something totally unrelated, I took my
time to clear section III and IV. Basically it was self-study and it took a lot
of will power to read for these sections!! I remember one of the papers I sat
for the exams in Kenya Polytechnic – I was on campus break - and after that
paper, I went to the bus stage to get matatu to Langata. Wacha its starts
raining hizo za fujo. I don’t know what convinced the driver to short cut
through the pot holed ridden South C! Needless to say, the matatu coughed and
coughed and finally stopped! We all had to alight in the pouring rain to push
the matt….all this at around 8pm and the next day I had two more papers….never
felt so sorry for myself like that day….and to think I passed that set of papers
despite the transport hitch!
I also once sat for one of the exams in Eldoret town and
that morning we were several of us standing at the campus gate waiting for an
early matt and this guy came in a pick
up and asked if we wanted to ride to town. Of course we did as it would mean we
also save on bus fare…Eldoret air is normally crisp….Eldoret air as you seat at
the back of a pickup is more than crisp….waaaa…..si we froze!! Haha…and at
least I made new friends from that experience. So after section III and IV… I took
a longggggg break
After several years I told myself I simply had to finish
these papers (2 remaining sections). At that time my MBA was also at the ‘ongoing’ status and so this
was not a good picture. Since I had been out of reading for a while, I joined
one of the packed colleges in town that offer CPAs so as to be able to increase
my chances to passing the papers. I was expectant with my second born and these
stuffy rooms were not so conducive for my light tummy…several times I had to
ran out of the room because of the sheer ‘smell’ in the room given my heightened sensitivities….arrggghhhh…I
don’t even want to remember! I sat one of the final sets of papers in KPPCU - that place near Muthurwa...the dust!! and since the students are seated as per admission numbers, after all these years, I was certain I would be placed as first one in the corner, can you imagine there were 4 people with older numbers than mine!! hii CPA lazima imalizike!
So in 2007 when I finally cleared CPAs and got my results, I
was so excited I immediately signed up as a member of ICPAK and AWAK, just so
that finally I can say for sure I am a Finance professional!!
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