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Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka Kata Kuni Weka Tabut... The phrase leaves a smile on my face. It has got nothing to do with the politician but I still wonder who taught me such.  Such an innocent gesture for a kid who was barely 7 to have such a long name. That was me.  Whenever I could be asked to spell out my name,  that was what I said. The innocence of a young child had overwhelmingly engulfed me. Whenever I see kids these days in standard one converse in fluent English I am amazed.  I remember when I was at the same class or probably higher classes,  when schools would close and my cousins would come over for Holiday at my grandma's place in Signore.  'Stephen how are you', my Aunt Selinah would enthusiastically try to exchange niceties and gauge what I have been learning in school concurrently.  My response would always be marred by inaudible utterances which when explained by my Cuz Kip, I just can't help but laugh out loud at myself. 'ish lush jush iguyt '. I bet it was something like the aforementioned.
When my cousins visited during the holidays,  my status in the village quickly elevated. I spontaneously metamorphosed into a cool kid. The village,  Singore,  was a good place for them to take a break from their busy schedules, hustle and bustle plus the confines of their urban lives.  It was also my time to brag around and get to consume goodies they brought with them.  There sere some sweets and biscuits that I could only eat during such holidays.

My beloved grandma is a disciplinarian.  Anything we did,  we did it caution.  Breakfast I can say was a bit funny.  Having ate ugali(Mogoriet) and 'Morik' which I still do, the entire term, introduction of bread was a complete luxury.  That was in the same league with chapati and rice. But that did not pass out to be that easy. In the grass thatched hut,  all the grandkids had their specific seats and there were conditions attached before we could be given bread.  Bread could not be served unless the 'mogoriet ' and 'morik ' were over.  While trying to beat the target, we could always see the older members of the family take three or four slices stacked together and we were kind of fearing the depletion of the bread, knowing that if it gets finished we had to wait for more than a week to have such an experience.  After we were through with what we were tasked with,  each one of us was given a slice of a bread...  To us that felt like a slice of life,  very crucial

MARIKITI EXPIRIENCE

The alarm rings and I ignore it, thinking I am in a dream. It becomes louder and louder and of course I get irritated. Before I snooze it and go back to sleep, I force a glance through my heavy eyelids. “Did I see something like 0431hrs?” I tried convincing myself but at the back of my mind I knew I had to wake up to go to marikiti. Marikiti? The thought of the place got me tired instantaneously. Before I resorted to other options, I quickly made calls to the marikiti envoy. “Sorry, you do not have enough…”.  Excuse me lady did you have to have to tell me that? I already knew it.  Uuuhm clearly I did not know that. It was just and understandable outburst. Hope you understand it too.  Of course I had many options. I redeemed my bonga points. Tamana did not receive my calls and I got so determined to go heckle him out of his room forgetting that of course he was locked in. I was just left standing at the door begging him out of his bed. He heeded to my call. Colo thought he was in a dream when I softly banged *really?* his door, after which I witnessed him cladding his warm attire for the cold we were about to experience.

We merged with the choir entourage at around 0530 hrs after we took Eve from Stella just opposite sonu office to board a matatu. Just then we debated on the chances of various possibilities of sonu elections which were just concluded the day before. Some matatus passed without stopping and people had different speculations on why that is happening headed by Muhoi.” Hawa hawawezi simama, wanajua tulifanya elections jana na wanadhani tumeanza kuriot”. That is apparently our image.  His Kiswahili intonation always comes out with a funny attachment.  Before we finished reacting to the allusion a car came and we boarded. 10 bob to Kencom.

We alighted and found our way through the fully streets of Accra road then though Githurai stage and there we were, besides KPCU building where it was supposedly our meeting point. The choir envoy was divided according to what they were to procure but for us, the prolifers, we remained together thanks to our small number. It was now dawning and we headed for the fresh farm produce in marikiti. The entrance itself was eye-soaring. It was analogous to cattle boma back at ‘ocha’ during a rainy season. We wondered how we would pick our way through. Anyways we were dressed for the occasion so we soldiered on. We had to keep up with driven mikokotenis and people in haste through the tiny pathways between the stalls. “ muharakishe ama niwagonge”, “ kwani kuna nini hapo mbele”.  We had two options, either to bear the verbal ammunition or quickly assimilate to the pace. We tried settling for the latter.

Our first stop was at Mama viazi, or is there a conventional name for that?. Apparently she stills remembered Tamana a year after they were in the same place. Damn, I envied her memory.  As she was getting a bag for our goodies, a group of people seemed to be shouting heading towards the market from the gate. She started narrating how they have been mistreated and that is why they were trying to champion for their rights.” Hawa watu wametunyanyasa sana, wameongeza rent. Kwani unadhani hawa magovernor watalipwa na nini?” It was clear it was all about the county government and its many employees. But I was not sure what she insinuated at.  Was she okay since the extra money they are paying for goes to the county staff or she did not want the county government? Or even if she dint approve of the county government there is nothing they can do but just riot to try reduce the rent a little bit? That was not my business. We did all the shopping and headed back to the meeting point.

After everyone returned, Muhoi being in the last group returned we journeyed back to St Pauls. There was a lot of hustle and bustle and I wondered why, it being a Saturday morning. I had to carry and extra load after Tamana disappeared but rejoined us halfway through the journey. We reached st pauls and Makuu helped us store the goodies. Of course he was happy knowing that his lunch and supper was sorted.

NEW CREATIONS

“Blessed is the God that forgets my sins of yesterday”.  Those were the words of my classmate Samuka. Through lengthy deliberations and discussion, I can say we almost meditated; I personally stumbled on this overwhelming quality of God, Grace. Often we let our associates do things to a tolerable level. There are certain limits that, even with whichever intervention, we cannot go beyond, since practically that would be going over the top. As humans we reach a breaking point that we can no longer stomach anything that comes our way. What comes after that breaking point is resentment, anger, enmity which dissociates us.

Well, enough of that, that’s human nature.  Our God is a complete opposite of what we are. He always shows us love, even when we really do not deserve. That is the overwhelming quality I am talking about. Contrary to humans, as you sin more, and you repent, He forgives more. “Where sin is, grace abounds more”, let me continue reiterating my friend’s God given wisdom.  What we need to know more is that you are never lost in sin, you can be redeemed. God does not focus on someone who is saved and sins but He is more delighted to see one surfacing from sin and does the little good he can.

God is patient with sinners. You cannot be told about Christian’s teachings and transform instantaneously. It is all about stages to your full recreation. There are many dimensions in one’s life and each time one gets changed for the better in a certain aspect of life, then that is a creation in the eyes of the Lord. When other aspects follow suit, there will come a period in time that you will be fully recreated and that is treading the way of righteousness.

People are ignorant since they lack knowledge. For a full formation into a righteous Christian then one has to be equipped with knowledge.  Take this instance, when you are sold an electronic gadget, you are always given a manual with which you refer first before you start using it. You do not tamper first with gadget until you get stuck somewhere is when you remember about the manual. The same analogy applies to us as Christians. When God created us and gave us a freedom of choice, of course he would not have just let us loose. We were equipped with the word. It is from the bible that we siphon knowledge that helps us make right choices in life.

If you make a wrong choice and you suffer the consequence that is not punishment from God. Rather it is a consequence of your bad choice. Get equipped with the word of the lord. From there we will never lead a blind life but rather walk under the light of the lord. We are creations of the Lord and each day we do something in his Glory we get recreated.

PRO-CHOICE?

God created Adam in His own image and he told him he has dominion over all the plants, creatures, birds and beasts of the earth. In the same way we have dominion over the creatures of the earth but for our lives only God has a say. We are called to preserve the sanctity of life right from conception to natural death.

People are cruising in ignorance over prolific matters despite being inculcated with the knowledge to choose what is prolific. The information they have seems ceremonial. Even with fundamental biology education one is made to know that a fetus is a living creature with multiplying cells, just saying.

Let us take full responsibility of our actions. Whatever consequences arise because of certain wrong choices we made, we are not allowed to use wayward ‘simplistic’ avenues to buy ourselves out of those compromising situations. You engage in pre-marital sex then you get pregnant then live with it, it is a choice you made.

We should uphold chastity. We should not shy away from the truth. We all know that sex was instituted only in marriage to serve three things concurrently; recreation, unity and pleasure. The moment we separate and try to use one that is where we go wrong. In America, a study was done on marriage. It was noted that 50% of all the marriages fail, that’s obvious. Out of the99% of the marriages that succeeded was because the couple upheld chastity. It is as easy as that. But is hard to go by that considering the current trend in which many people are subscribing to. But in Christianity, sacrifice is our day to day obligation.

Abortion is never right and will never be right. Even in our constitution it is prohibited. Other atrocities like genocide, mercy killing, suicide should be heavily condemned. Homosexuality by itself is a vice. It goes against the natural law and also Gods laws of recreation.

We should at all times desist from activities that are non-prolific. Getting overly drunk and driving is in itself non-prolific. Use of contraceptives, bearing in mind that others are abortificients is wrong.  If there is need for family planning then natural planning is the best option. We do not need to ingest chemicals whose contents may tamper with the functioning of our bodies.

Whatever is happening is all attributed to the metamorphosizing society, amidst technological advancements, is also trying to get an easy way out in some aspects of Christianity by using the wrong methodologies. Let us not turn a blind eye on these issues affecting us and help each other return sanity into our society and Christianity. JOIN PRO-LIFERS in St. Paul’s Chapel Every Thursday as from 8pm in St. Thomas hall as we tackle the above issues, family life and relationships.

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AS CHRISTIANS

We were given freedom of choice. Through our experiences and maturity we are expected to use the wisdom we have to try choose what is right. What is right or wrong is a question of morality. Many may want to argue that what is good or evil is relative. Let me make it clear morality is the same throughout the world, and even if you are not subscribed to any religion, we are still governed by the natural laws from which many of these laws and norms were born from.

As I narrow down, I would like to base my article on the case of taking responsibility as Christians. We are in a stage of formation in building our Christian faith and still we are in it. We are partially versed or maybe totally versed with the doctrines and teachings which are bound to follow for us to inherit the kingdom of God. Taking responsibility may be viewed as sacrificing yourself in any dimensions to bring out the good in the other person. Being in some positions in the society may necessitate someone to take responsibility; a classical example is a leader. Through what you have acquired and also from your followers you are supposed to make decisions for the common good of those whom you are serving. Christians are also supposed to take responsibility by proclaiming what they say, though it might be hard. When we talk about chastity, hypocrisy, friendship, almsgiving we are then supposed to live the talk. Jesus took responsibility by sacrificing himself so that we could be absolved and salvaged from our sinful nature. Whatever Jesus went through was not a ride in the park, and we whom we call ourselves followers of Christ should emulate Christ. We are not asked to be literally crucified or such but what we are asked for is to show love to our friends, neighbors and all that need love.

Our society is dynamic as we say; many aspects of life are changing. But this does not warrant us to change how we live as Christians. We appreciate the technological advancements but this does not mean on Sunday morning or whichever time you sit down on your sofa and listen to the sermon. I am not saying that that is wrong but let that be an addition, there is a need to commune with other person which is one of the fundamental reasons of going to church. We are trying to get an easy way out as Christians but that should not be the case. There is no laziness in Christianity and as Christians we need to take full responsibility of being tagged as Christians, it is high time we evaluate our spirituality and also pray hard to grow stronger each dawning day. Shalom brothers and sisters.