Mama Shujaa

Photo credit Vipi marafiki? I've been inundated with our fifth grader's homework assignments these past few days. And truth be told, I am definitely not smarter than a fifth grader. Last night I spent two hours trying to help him finish his math homework - Problem Solving Strategies - six problems consisting of three sentence questions involving the division of decimals. The problems were so confusing, I was convinced they were trick questions. Thank God we have a recent college graduate now living and working in NYC. I told her I would just have him ask his teacher for help at school and she said, "No, mum don't give up so easily!!" Then his Dad came to assist and further progress was made - this was about 9:50 pm last night. After reading the questions a few times, he used a strategy of elimination and with our daughter on a conference call, the two were able to come up with the correct answer. Wow. All this time, I've been admiring his looks, you kno...

I couldn’t wait to tell Nadia. She lived on the other side of the bougainvillea lined path that separated our properties. I had not talked to her for a few days. And once or twice recently in the evenings, I caught a glimpse of her through the hedges as she walked alone towards the main road. I wondered where she was going and made a note to ask her, then decided to follow her the next time I saw her pass by and surprise her with the good news. The opportunity presented itself easily enough, right after an early dinner that Saturday when she made her way through the path behind our house. I gave her a few minutes to get ahead and then set out after her. It was not long before I realized that she had turned off the main road and was heading towards Sir Michael Blondell’s coffee farm. What was she doing? His was the colonial ranch to be feared, avoided. I followed stealthily behind, the double dose of excitement almost too much to bear. It wasn’t long before I came upon her, s...

Photo credit This young man could very well be a college graduate or a high school graduate. He may also not be a graduate at all. Regardless, as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention . Believe it or not, this young man is a tailor. And balanced on his head is his workstation. Due to the inability to find employment he has resorted to fulfilling a need. In all likelihood, his place of business is somewhere in Lagos, Nigeria. What does he do? He walks the streets looking for customers that need this or that stitched, a button here, a button there, pants hemmed, a skirt stitched. And on a good day, he may be hired to design and sew trousers, a shirt, or a dress. He has steady customers you know; it may seem an odd career but he is fulfilling a need. If he was in America he could have a bunch of uniformed tailors walking the street like him, or driving brand name trucks – franchised! Mama Shujaa.

This post is dedicated to our ex. Have you ever had the opportunity to tell someone, "Go jump in a lake!?" It's a plus when you can tell them exactly what lake too! For instance, Lake Magadi , back home in Kenya's Rift Valley would work perfectly because in the dry season it is 80% full of soda ash, a.k.a. washing soda. Our ex can just jump in there and be cleansed thoroughly of the senseless behaviour that has been the source of such negative energy that has caused the untimely death of our vanpool. Photo credit When someone sets out to kill a van, containing a load of professionals trying to get to and from work expeditiously, stress-free, while reducing traffic congestion and fuel consumption, that person needs to go jump in Lake Magadi!! Photo credit In Lake Magadi they can scrub the toxins off the flesh, and then maybe, just maybe, they can return to reclaim their self-ascribed "salt of the earth" status. I don't think we'd ta...

This old man and this old woman, they played knick knack on my drum this weekend. And with the knick knack, they paddy whacked me. So much so, I ended up without a bone ! I had to settle for a measly nanosecond of an opportunity to rise up; to beat my drums the way I was taught by Mama. African-style with rhythm and flair in remembrance of Bibi's [grandma's] teachings. This old man and this old woman, played knick knack on my drum this weekend, in Greenville, South Carolina, whose State motto incidentally, is the Latin proverb, Dum Spiro Spero , "While I breathe, I hope." It was our first visit to the city; our kitindamimba [last born] was playing in an elite youth soccer tournament. And play well he did; he turned it on, gave his team the striker mmpphh! they needed up front, for four convincing wins and a terrific Final Championship game. Kudos to the boys for winning, through the rain! The rain was like a dance, this weekend. It came and went, and except...

An English grammar session in the Nigerian House of Representatives. Listen keenly to the third politician, you might need your dictionary...:-) Enjoy the weekend.

Lovers of soccer, fanatics, Africans in the Diaspora, there is an outlet for your pent up demand for the good game. It is crunch time, qualifier matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and CAF's Cup of Nations (Angola 2010), are on this weekend. And AllSoccerAfrica in partnership with Sport Five and My African Football presents the matches to you LIVE online. Will both Cameroon and Nigeria (the giants of the African game) get kicked out of contention? Can Ghana and Ivory lock-up their spots? Click HERE for all the action this weekend as Africa's finest do battle. Saturday Sept 5th. Malawi v Guinea 8.30 am EST. Rwanda v Egypt 9.30 am EST. Gabon v Cameroon 10.30 am EST. Ivory Coast v Burkina-Faso 1.00 pm EST. Sunday Sept 6th. Mozambique v Kenya 9.00am EST. Benin v Mali 11.00am EST. Togo v Morocco 11.30am, EST. Nigeria v Tunisia 12.00 noon, EST. Ghana v Sudan 1.00pm, EST. Algeria v Zambia 5.00pm EST. All matches streamed live at AllSoccerAfrica....yeah! Check your local listi...