Illegal immigrants!

When I travelled to Kampala in October last year, I was very disturbed to discover a number of illegal immigrants crossing back and forth from Kenya to Uganda without any immigration checks, no passports and no travel documents. As a matter of fact, they had not even paid for their transportation yet they were happy enough to edge us, the paid up passengers, off our seats and were threatening to help themselves to our water and snacks!

The strangest thing about these stowaways is that they were content to just go back and forth between the two countries, never disembarking. At some point I remember wondering whether they are originally from Kenya, or from Uganda.....or perhaps from neither. Perhaps they were from a different country all together.

My greatest worry however was that one of them might take a fancy to me and decide to get off the bus and follow me home. So as I got of the Akamba bus, I picked my luggage gingerly, looked it over and shook every item thoroughly to make sure I did not inadvertently go home with one of the border crossing, freeloading disgusting cockroaches that had infested the bus!

Wild Animals aren't wild!

Last month I spent 2 nights in the home of a friend who is absolutely "tree-hugging" crazy about the environment has created a perfect retreat for anyone who needs to "get away from it all". She has made every effort to ensure anyone who spends time at the camp comes in touch with nature and appreciates the beautiful balance of life that exists in the wild. I had to drive 3 hours away from Nanyuki to the middle of Laikipia wilderness to get to Suyian Soul camp. The further I drove, the freer I felt and when my phone lost transmission, I knew it would be a unique 2 days, absolutely gadget free.

My room for my time at camp was a beautifully built "banda" whose design revolves around the principle of creating as little disturbance to nature as possible. All the posts and beams in the hut were taken from trees that had fallen naturally and not a drop of cement was used to put the walls of natural stone up. Every piece of furniture was handmade and the decor with an odd feather here and an old warthog tusk there reflected the "born-free" living of the camp. Its compound was undisturbed bush and my neighbours were a pair of shy dik diks browsing close to the verandah and a swallow that roosted in the makuti roof and seemed to take pleasure in startling me at night by swooping over my head when I turned out the solar charged lights.

The most amazing feature of my room - the view from a "walk in window"

The most amazing feature of my room was the view. As I settled in and unpacked my bags, I noticed the large, almost "walk-through" window with the most amazing view of a rocky hill in the distance. The window had no glass, no wire gauze, no nothing! It was totally barrier free. As I looked at it in horror, envisioning a visit by the neighbourhood leopard, my hostess was quick to reassure me and told me that the wild animals always kept their distance from the human-inhabited areas. To make me feel safe, I left one hurricane lamp burning just outside my hut because, she said,  wild animals generally stay away from fires and lamps.

At the end of my stay, I realised that it was true, wild animals observe a code of conduct. They have their area and we have ours and generally keep it that way unless they are provoked or their lives threatened. A simple hurricane lamp shows them where their limits are and they oblige.

Wild animals are unlike human beings who cut through fences, break down walls and crash in windows, totally disrespecting each other's personal space. Wild animals do not kill within their own species for sport or food. They jealously protect their young, unlike human beings who abandon, molest and sexually abuse their young. When they are designed to live in pairs, as the dik diks are, they mate only with their partner and are constant companions, separated only by death.

“Wild” animals are not wild!

There's an Elephant in My Room

There's an elephant in my room, a very large elephant, I might add...actually, she is really quite humongous. She is not only taking up all the space, she is taking in all the air as well. It is getting really hard to breathe.

There's an elephant in my room, but somehow, only I seem to notice her. You come in and go out as if she weren't there. So I thought, if I ignore her, if I keep very still, if I pretended she is not there, then maybe, she won't be there!

There is an elephant in my room. At first, I didn't mind her all that much because she didn't take up too much space, and also, I thought she looked sort of cute – an exotic addition to an otherwise drab room. But last week, as I tried to leave the room, I noticed that I had to press hard against the doorpost. That hurt a little, so I begun to get worried and mentioned her to you, but you still couldn't seem to see her, so I ignored her and thought perhaps she wasn't there.

Yesterday, I wanted to go to bed, but I couldn't find the bed! The elephant has grown so big lately, she has covered my bed, my favourite chair, her trunk has no space, so now I have to leave the window open throughout so that it can hang through there. But still you don't see her and every time I start to talk about her, you get up and leave. You walk right through her as though she weren't there!

There's an elephant in my room. But it is only I that seems to see her.

Read me my Eulogy Now!

I've been waiting a long time now to  craft this entry with perfectly, but that time just doesn't seem to be coming around so I will just get on with it!

Last week, while I was still in the "waiting for the perfect words" period, I got an email from a number of girlfriends sending me virtual flowers and lots of good wishes. The email starts off by saying

"
I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend 
while I'm here,
than a whole 
truck load when I'm gone....

...and since this pretty much sums up what I had been thinking all along, I take it as a sign that I am supposed to write it right away, perfectly or not.

Late last year, I celebrated the 50th birthday of a dear cousin (who doesn't look a day older than 20) and one of  the gifts her long-time friend gave her was a reading of her eulogy. I thought that was really sweet and totally appropriate. After all, who wants people to say all the good things about them when they are dead and gone, and all that's left of them is their lifeless body that cannot hear a thing that is being said?

If you have something nice to say about me, say it to me now. If there are things I do that inspire you to be a better person, let me know. If my life's little victories spur you on to greater accomplishments of your own, share that with me. If there is any way I have impacted your life, tell me now. Don't let me go through life thinking that I may never have made a great difference in any one's life or that my life is lived solely for me. Don't let me die not knowing that what I have struggled through has been worth the while because it gave strength to you.

Read me my eulogy now!

And also....I would truly rather have a single rose from you now, than a garden-full of them when I am gone.

I want to be just like my mum!

Although she may not know it, I think about my mum a lot. She is the absolute best mum in the entire universe, so much so, that i want to be just like her!

My mum is creative. Although I never wore the trendiest clothes, I always wore the best clothes my mother could afford and I felt smarter than any other child alive. I find it hard explaining to my daughter how stunning I looked in a sun dress especially tailored for me from fabric left off from my mother's own dresses, with white socks pulled to the knees and my highly polished school shoes, the one good pair of shoes I had.

My mum is a great and adventurous cook. Whenever I manage to burn water or over-salt the tea, I think of the disgrace I am to this amazing woman who has always taken great pride her cooking. Left over rice or bread was amazingly turned into a delicious, sugary pudding, and it is from my mother's very own kitchen that I first tasted meat pies that actually have meat in them and a yummy crunchy crust.

My mum knows the value of time and she passed on this very important lesson to me. She is never late for an appointment – in fact, she taught me to always plan my travel and arrive 15 minutes early, a lesson I find that really handy since it means I don't turn up panting and sweating for important meetings, but rather have time to compose myself and have an advantage over everyone else.

My mum never has an idle moment. She is constantly on the move, making sure this is done and the other is planned for. Organising farm activities, household chores, travel time, meal menus, charity and social events. She runs lives life so purposefully, even her recreation time doesn't just "happen"!

My mum is full of love. I cannot think of a place I am more assured of love and appreciation "no matter what", than when I am with my mum. Even through my stormy teenage years, I never once felt less loved by my mum, regardless of what I did or said. If there is one thing I have learnt from my mum about mothers, it is that a mother's love never gives up!

The greatest lesson I learnt from mum, however, is to believe, love and respect God. Growing up, not going to church was never an option. You just went! And I might add, you never turned up at church in any old clothes – you had to go in your "Sunday best" and carry yourself with decorum. It is my mother's constant prayers and firm faith in God that set me on the path to discovering a faith of my own and now, just like my mum, I know that I was created for a very special purpose by a God who loves me and who always watches over every detail of my life.