Mama Shujaa

"Are you okay?" The usually tranquil eyes are chaotic. "Are you okay?" No Good Morning, nothing. Her voice is earnest, startling. Her eyes urgent, fixed on mine. My eyes waver, and land on her glossy lips, they compliment her red sweater. Heavy women usually wear dark colors to the office. She never does. She flaunts her colorful busty body on a daily basis. The entirety of her attention is focused on determining my state of mind. "Is your family okay, honey? Are you okay?" She's Mama Bear and I'm the cub. Three thoughts float through my mind: Sometimes we have uncomfortable feelings and we project them onto others. I’ve been told many times, that I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I am used to occasional inquiry from coworkers whose misery finds company. My heart aches for the people of Haiti; have I internalized and projected my anguish to this extent, to elicit such compassion? Mama Bear senses some confusion. "You are fr...

These days my favorite reading space is on my front porch, in a fading white wicker chair, tucked in the corner. I think a mama bird is building a nest in the eaves of the porch. I try not to disrupt her early morning ritual on Saturday and Sunday, when I come out to read, and to listen to all of those songbirds singing songs of sunrise. The two gold variegated Leyland Cypress trees flanking the entryway are running out of room to grow; but they look beautiful at Christmas time. And I like the way the two giants (Kibo and Mawenzi) dwarf the space, reaching beyond limits to a world of unlimited sunshine and red clay. As a child, one of my favorite reading spaces was under one of the three large windows in our living-cum-dining room in the home that doubled as Paa Ya Paa Art Gallery . Imagine what it looked like before the fire ... I also thoroughly enjoyed laying outside on a blanket under one of the many Jacaranda trees. I did not visit the Nairobi Public library much back then, as my ...