Ok Just give me the news.

2012 Faith, Hope and Love

2011-12-15T06:29:00.000-08:00

We are almost winding up the year. 2011 has not been the most perfect of all the 24 years I have lived. This year has been mered by uncertainties, what with the hunger that struck our country, the demolition of legally owned houses in Siokimau the external threat from a terrorist group, the death of one of my most favourite uncle among many other things, I have asked my self a lot of questions this year regarding my destiny.

I guess this is the year when I was in the gray area, transitioning from the black to the white. I have experienced the uncertainty of surviving on a minimal salary for a job that requires full time commitment and round the clock work.

Anyway being the positive person I am, I do not intend to let these simple occurrences pull me down. I choose to look at it this way.

2011 is the year the Lord blessed me with a job just to show me the difference between full time job and a part time job. This is the year I got a real taste of living independently without depending on other people except my family of course.

2011 is the year I got an opportunity to work with the most humble staff in the country, working as a care taker for Kushee Towers in Upper Hills Nairobi, I got to enjoy the job and I made some wonderfully humble friends.

2011 is the year I met a group of 55 singers "The Orpheus Choir" from the Olivet Nazarene University, Orpheus were awesome they redefined my knowledge of the American love. Orpheus were a big group but relating to each and everyone of them was the easiest thing ever. I made a great deal of friends from that bunch.

2011 is the year I met a group of young ladies and gentlemen from Mid America Nazarene University who pulled resources to help establish a children center in Bondo Nduswe village. Staying in conditions they were not accustomed to, miles and miles away from there loved ones and doing construction work.

I hope that the year 2012 will not be a transitional year but that it will be the year I leap from the gray area of life onto the white. Speaking of the year 2012 I must mention the elections of our country Kenya. This will be one of the years I will surprise my self with regards to the person I will vote for. I will look at that ballot paper and I will find one of the names I am not familiar with, that is the name I will vote for regardless of their popularity.

During the elections in 2007 (my very first election), I was persuaded by the question "why are you voting for the angel you do not know?..." most of my friends preferred to vote for the devil they knew. 2012 being my year of hope, I want to surprise my self by doing some of the things I restricted my self from doing, things I did not do just to be accepted by the society.

I am tired of being led by devils, So I will be on a quest to look for angels. I want to be led by angels and if they turn out to be devils then, I will exercise my right to vote after four years. I will be on another quest to look for a good if not perfect angel, until I find an angel I shall not settle for any devil. I shall keep voting for those whom I think of as angels until there shall come those of whom will prove to be angels.

I have already ruled out some of the most popular people for whom I shall not vote and if they be the only people going onto the ballot then I will opt out of voting for that year. Some of my elimination criteria will include anybody who has a case in the court of laws whether local or international, anybody whose development agenda includes the name of the opponent among many others. I have a long list of elimination criteria, because I do not want a disappointing year in 2012. I know that good leadership will provide enough hope to work around regular disappointments.

I thank God for my family, friends and loved ones who have supported me throughout my four years of University education. I thank God for my brother who has always been so generous to ensure that I was (and I still am) hosted in his palace. I praise God for 2011 the highlights of the year I am so sure if I started counting will beat the low-downs of the same year.

That's why I wind up by saying thank you God for the year 2011 and may You bless 2012 for I know that this time there is hope.

Shangilia in Competition

2011-11-07T02:10:00.001-08:00

Well what is Shangilia upto? This question seems to get answers every time, the more we split up and find our own interests, the more the zeal to come together is ignited. The urge to do something together is ever present, I have just realized that my life circle of friends is made up mostly of the friends with whom I travelled over 30,000 Miles. For instance in our band, the Radically Changed or RC, as the members like to call it, four of the members are part of the team that travelled to and fro the US over two years ago (justification right there).

The Shangilia bond re-ignited just recently upon the radio announcement of the Reality TV show that would be aired by Kiss Television. The concept was a very unique one, it was meant to bring together choirs from all over Kenya into a live televised competition. All choirs competing for the price of one million Kenyan money, the competition dubbed the kwaya, a unique one in that genre. Our leader and current director heard the announcement over the radio and proposed that we try it out as a choir.

The director made his proposal through the group's page on one of the popular social networking sites and the response was overwhelming. From the response one could easily tell that the group was so eager to sing together again, especially with the enticement of a cash prize attached. Our leader and director thought that we had the potential to bag the cash prize that was to be awarded. Honestly I was a bit sceptical.

The proposal was made to the group a week prior the auditions and the required identification material were not sent till two days before the competition. The whole of the week prior to the competition was used to get members to confirm their participation and to submit their required documentations. The team never got to practice until two days before the auditions, showing how much faith the team had vested in their vocal abilities.

The team met at our leader's place on the night of practice and got to put a lot of effort in the practice session, even learning a new song on the same night for the auditions. At about midnight we ate a late supper which consisted of sloppy jo and pop. The group seemed to enjoy the meal and every body was so happy over the re-union.

We agreed to meet at mid day the following day for further practice and to help those who were not with us catch up with the new song we had learnt. The meeting place was set to be at the Nairobi Bomb Blast memorial, arrival time was one pm this time members showed up not as late as our earlier re-union. After practice that day we agreed on the type of attire we would adorn for the auditions on Saturday morning. Members unanimously agreed to wear black and white.

On the day of auditions, meeting was prompt and only one of us had a serious hard time making it to the meeting spot; reasons being the closure of major roads due to the Safari 7s game. Without wasting time we proceeded to the auditions venue and we boarded a matatu.

We were twelve in a fourteen seater matatu hence it was easy for us to practice our vocals in the public service vehicle. So upon request the driver switched off his loud blasting music and we proceeded to making music. It did not take more than ten minutes to arrive at the auditions venue. As usual due to the Operation Linda Nchi (war against terror in our country) we were thoroughly frisked just to confirm that malicious intentions, if we carried any, would not make it through to the main event location.

At the main event location we met one of our member who had made her way to the venue earlier and since we were organized, we got through the registration process and were scheduled to be the first to audition at audition spot A. As we waited to be called in for our auditions we practised more and more. Afterwards we were called in for our try outs. We made our way into the audition halls and what happened in there is protected by a contract I signed not to sell any rights about the show in which ever form, which I guess includes writing about it on my blog :(.

I felt gratified after the whole event, I was happy about us meeting, I was happy that Shangilia singers got together and we got to know the detailed whereabouts of the members above all I was awakened to the realization that Shangilia singers are a Family of Friends with ties that can not be broken.

God bless Shangilia singers.

2011-11-02T04:48:00.000-07:00

New Year's Perfect Gift!!

2011-11-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

Visualising the future :)

2010 was such an awesome year. I got a chance to travel a lot. I went to South Africa, I went to Uganda I celebrated Christmas with my family on the western part of Kenya and I ushered in the new year with good friends. That's about it for 2010.

2011 arrived and with it I felt like there was a whole load of scheduled promises. I hoped for prosperity, I hoped to get a job, I prayed for success but above all I prayed for love.

Indeed it started well and through this letter that I got from a friend of mine, I can certainly say that God knows my future, and I don't have anything to worry about.

here is a preview of the letter! I call it the ideal Christmas gift :)

Hey Charlo,
Strange way to send a message in this day and age but I wanted to just share my heart with you as we celebrate this festive season.

Charlo you are a remarkable person as a friend, colleague and as a leader. Thank you for your tireless, selfless support to me in some of the activities we shared-praise team and the mag project, your willingness to help me has been well noted and highly appreceated.

On a personal note, thank you for being my friend. You are a wonderful friend. One thing I have learnt from you is being focused at the same time friendly. I really admire your courage to step into unfamiliar teritory. You are not afraid of taking on new challanges. Instead you see them as opportunities to better a situation.

Keep it up Charlo. You are going far my brother. Your future is indeed very bright :) As you celebrate during this festive season just know that you are highly appreciated. Thank you friend for everything.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. May the Lord continue to shine favour towards you, increase you and keep you from all evil. God bless.

This was the most awesome gift I ever received for Christmas it was hand written and put inside an envelope ;)

Perceiving the future.

Shangilia ReUnion

2011-10-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

22nd October I got to meet with a few friends from our Shangilia choir group. We were seven and everything we did, reminded me of our times in states. We had agreed to meet around one pm at Tuskys Pioneer (a central shopping mall in the city center) but the people who came on time were displeased since every body did not gather until three pm. :(

We had planned for a picnic and a reunion of sorts getting together to catch up with one of our members who is currently working with the Fly Emirates as air hostess.
The picnic plan did not really work out well since every body came to town late. So we decided instead to try out a new restaurant in town called Ankara. We had pizza at Ankara, shared stories and had fun taking photos; later on just like in the US we got to sing in the restaurant except, not at the request of the management but at our own pleasure. That reminded me of our trip to the US some time ago. After the restaurant we went to the Masai market at a pace equal to that which we had always used in the US and we did some shopping, well at least Kevin and the girls did :).

We stayed forever at the market place after which we went to KICC, we had randomly thought about the plan at around six pm. We knew that the place would not be open that late but still we thought "why not try it anyway?" The feeling of liberty was all we were looking for!. We were not able to go to the rooftops but we stayed at the lounge for a while and took loads of photos after which we sang a couple of songs outside the KICC (Kenyatta International Conference Center). We wound up the day by going for shopping at a supermarket and yes Mountain Dew was bought! as tradition of the Shangilia singers dictates. A few other people got water to drink and by the time we were leaving the supermarket, it was seven forty at night so every body split up each person making their own way.

The day was a success allowing us to taste the sweetness of Nairobi city, enjoy our liberty, reunite with Njeri and remember the days of fun we had in the US. May the almighty God keep us and protect us as shangilia singers!!

Kenya Orphan Care Project

2011-04-20T02:12:00.000-07:00

The MNU experience is one that is authentically compelling, intellectually demanding and spiritually challenging. From time to time, that experience compels our campus community to respond to the needs of others in a tangible way.

MNU is partnering with Nazarene district superintendent, Peter Okinyo, to reach Siaya, Kenya. Our connection with Rev. Okinyo occurred when an MNU ministry student spent a summer in that region and witnessed the overwhelming need to assist vulnerable children. Many of these children survive day-to-day in Siaya living in precarious situations without basic necessities and protection. Upon returning to Olathe, the student proposed that we, as a university, develop a plan to help meet the needs of these children.

The campus-wide plan of action meets not only the physical needs of safe residential facilities and healthy food, but also includes adult care givers who will foster mentoring relationships and a support network for the children.

The project costs include the acquisition of land, construction of housing, the purchase of a vehicle, and start-up costs for various sustainability initiatives such as a community garden and chicken coop. Rev. Okinyo, along with his wife, Grace, will provide leadership for this project and ongoing oversight. MNU also plans to send students to the site during the summer of 2011 to assist with the implementation of the project.

Every gift makes a significant difference in our efforts to make a transformational impact on children’s lives in East Africa.
Thank you for sharing our vision and for your personal commitment to our Micah 6:8 Passion to Serve Project for 2010-2011.

Interested in giving towards the project?

Visit the Mid America Nazarene University Website

HOPE

2011-04-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

It is a real good thing if you find hope, but there is danger which comes when you wake up on hope, eat hope for lunch and then hope to have supper. The headlines in my country has been: the radical increase in food and oil prices. The country keeps going on with hope and people keep hoping that tomorrow will provide as long as they can do their best to survive till the next day, which is kind of positive to some extent.

Yesterday I unfortunately broke my brother's heater and I felt the tension, I was not quite sure whether I was the one who messed it up though but I felt sorry. I wanted to give back something; at least to enhance my apologies but hope is all I could give. I knew I had nothing at all in my pocket and I knew he was hoping I would. The event kind of reminded me when I was young and I would break stuff at home then run cos of fear but any way that's besides the point.

The persistent need in my country reminds me what one of my best friends who visited from the US used to tell me about climate change. That the effects of climate change would be so intense in our country, judging by the fact that there are no measures taken to curb the situation, but everything that there is, is the cause of climate change.

I feel we must be careful even in these hard economic times since people are spending beyond their means. Consumerism is high and there is hyper commercialization, comoditization and all factors being incentives to purchase.

It is not a surprise to find people walking around in designer wear, driving high end consumption vehicles, eating in prestigious restaurants but a at the end of the day having to go back to their small humble aboard. Some live in huge houses and big compounds but are masked with debts all the way.

Globalization has prompted middle income earners in Kenya to live like what they see and spend but the culture of saving has not been commoditized at all; people are slowly finding them selves on the spendthrift but living on hope. Hoping that they will close that business deal, hoping that a brother, sister, friend or relative from abroad will send them something.

Kenya is currently taking hope for breakfast which is not a bad thing, they are slowly beginning to consume hope for lunch which is allowed and on the danger of taking hope as supper, now that is dangerous. It is time I started saving, it is time I realized the intensity of the economic pressure, it is time to be realistic.

Interview with Larry Wall In Africa

2011-03-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

Larry Wall originally created Perl while a programmer at Unisys. He now works full time guiding the future development of the language as a researcher and developer at logic micro systems, Inc.. Larry recently gave a speech in Africa Nazarene University concerning programming and ministry. Here is an interview I had with him.

Charles: How do you use Perl programming language as a tool of ministry?
Larry Wall: Well a programming language is not really necessarily spiritual of it’s own, you know I can do some little things in the language like there is a bless operator but of course there is also a kill operator and die and all sorts of bad operators, so a language itself you can not call it a Christian language, but it has more to do with how I think the community should work and the fact that I as a believer can hear what people’s needs are and meet them.
I can sort of be a technological Jesus to them and save them from there problems on a mundane level, when someone sees someone else who is interested in helping other people and they ask them selves why do people want to do this and they ask themselves why does this community work pretty well and why are they tying to each other? Most programming communities are kind of mean and they tend to fight a lot, we are a kind of a kind community so modeling a sort of heavenly community is one way we show a picture of God’s kingdom and beyond that just making people know that the philosophy of the Perl community is based on my theology so when people are looking for somebody who they trust to talk to about theological things then people can talk to me. So it works on so many levels.
You know you can not divide the world into secular and priestly things. God is a God of everything; things that are true are true because God is the truth so it’s not a matter of trying to separate things out as trying to make it all work the same way.
Charles: So in some sense Perl just acts as a bridge to reach a certain culture.
Larry Wall: It is a bridge; it is a picture of a bridge in the same way that we as a church are to be conveying Jesus to the people around us. Perl community is a picture of serving the community around you and bringing them into a relationship. I do not want to make a bigger thing of it than it is. I mean Perl community is a secular community and most people in it are not Christians but it’s one of those places where we are watering seeds and sometimes it blossoms.
Every now and then I get a message from somebody saying “hey am a Christian because of what you said” you know that’s all I can ask for am not a Billy Graham.
Charles: How did you get it started Perl programming language? I know you have talked about it over and over but do you mind just telling our viewers how it started?
Larry Wall: Well sure. I had an itch to scratch, I had a problem to solve but the tools that I was working with were really not up to it. I had written some languages before that, when I was in college. I was also a systems administrator at the Jasper Persons Laboratory and before that at UNYSIS and had a problem that was sort of a text processing problem and I wanted a better text processing language so I came up with one, it was very small at the beginning but it grew over time just as many things that grow to be large start out very small like the parable of the mustard seed, the kingdom of God starts out small and gets big.
So too Perl just started of with a beginning of an idea and as people started using it and wanting it, we started recognizing what the real need was and developed Perl into that need that people had for a text processing language to also do other things.
Charles: I attended your workshop and you talked partly about how Perl works but to a layman how does Perl exactly work? To somebody who does not understand programming languages how does it work?
Larry Wall: Well if you are not familiar with programming language, in normal terms it’s like following a recipe or writing a recipe you want to cook up a meal and you know how to do it but somebody doesn’t, so you say here is what you need to start off with; the materials, the bowls you need and what to do, do this several times and then put it in the oven and cook it.
It’s just really…, programming is the same sort of thing you know: it’s just that the person cooking up whatever it is just happens to be a computer and computers are very kind of stupid. The problem with computers is that they kind of tend to do exactly what you tell them so you have to be very clear in your own mind to tell the computer step by step what to do and Perl is a particular kind of cooking – if you will – like there are different kinds of cuisine where you might bake bread and cook a roast or make noodles, you know different genres of cooking.
Perl as a programming language is kind of like cooking text files, my text files need just a language or files of text that your computer might spit out that are logging information and the events that happen, people who log on to the computer or anything that is happening periodically, produces this log and you might want to just scan through that and do something with it that’s the sort of thing that Perl was initially written to do and it’s still at it’s heart a text processing language it likes words and sentences and lines of text and makes it very easy to deal with that type of food. There is a book called “Perl cookbook” written by a friend of mine and it has recipes on how to do different things.
Charles: What exactly earns your living? Given that Perl is open source software, how do you make profit?
Larry Wall: If you wanted to write free software - open source software – you can not sell it. There is various ways you can make money: in my case, I wrote a book about it and I get a few royalties, sometimes a company will pay you back in terms of stock offers or something like that just because they appreciate what you have done.
Mostly there are other business models, you can offer to support people so you can have support contracts or you can sell things that are associated with other people: sell T-shirts and goodies of various sorts that are associated with various open source projects.
Mostly though; people make a living by just persuading a company to higher them to do open source software and I actually do this mostly myself, I work for a very nice company called net logic Micro-systems and mostly they pay me to work on Perl and that’s because they use Perl a lot and so it helps them. I can tell them how to program Perl better and when they have ideas, I can feed that back to the program in ways that will help them so that it is a two way street, in biological terms symbiosis and so it’s often in the companies’ best interest to have some experts in community software if you can learn one of them as well enough to an expert then that company will be interested in hiring you just to take cart of that relationship.
Charles: So it’s just like you said you create a beneficial relationship kind of like a win – win situation between you and the company.
Larry Wall: Yes and it’s actually very difficult for a company to give money to a project, it is difficult for a company to give money to a project, it is difficult to set that up, it’s very easy for a company to higher somebody to work on a project so that’s what usually happens.
Charles: Is that all that you do? Do you have other programming languages coming up? Or is Perl your sole baby?
Larry Wall: Perl is my big baby, it’s probably my life work and have done other things, other programming that I have given away some of them somewhat successful but you know there are two kinds of writers, there are those people who write this story and put it away, they write that story and put it away Like Christie, every story is a different story and in a different setting, maybe she has done some character story and that’s very negligible. Then there are writers that are more like token where everything they know ends up going to the same story more or less.
I am more like that so instead of making more new projects out there, I tend to find ways of attaching it to what I already know.
Charles: To build it up right.
Larry Wall: Yeah to build it up and make it an aspect of Perl. But, that being said, I am interested in too many things, so you know, I play in the worship band of my church, I play drums and I do not know how am going to hook that up to programming but one of the ways that I hook a lot of things is that I give talks at the open source conference every year and I usually talk about Perl and something else: so I have had to talk about Perl and Chemistry, Perl and music, Perl and games, Perl and this and that and other things, so often if you can’t figure out a way of writing a paper or something, pick something random and then just look at the relationship of that to what you have and that’s a very interesting way of coming up with ideas at least it works for me.
Charles: What is one of the greatest comments that you have received in regards to your fame?
Larry Wall: Well every now and then somebody in a surprising location will give a comment. We went to a movie once at Cupertino and the guy selling the tickets says “you are Larry Wall!!! Sometimes people ask for autographs and photos and am quite happy to do that because it’s meaningful to them and it’s not a problem to me I think the time that made me happiest didn’t actually happen to me, it happened to my mother and she got the “You are Larry Wall’s mother!!!” you know when that happens to your mother she is really proud of you so am glad that it happened to her.
To me it’s not a big thing, fame is just another thing that happens when you look back into your life and see that it’s been God that has been putting you in that position you can not take credit yourself.
I mean God made me somewhat competent in some things but am more happy that am doing what God wants whether or not it makes me famous and I will use fame as one more tool to try and do things that I think need doing but it is certainly not a thing to celebrate for it’s own good, its just there.
Charles: What are some of the benefits that people have gained as a result of using Perl as a programming language?
Larry Wall: Well it is said that every computer language teaches you to think differently and so at that level it has taught people differently.
I think that the sort of comment that I appreciate most is when they say, I used to hate programming and then I started using Perl and now I love programming and now I love programming again some of that is because it is just fun and some of it because the language it’s self makes it easy to do certain kinds of things that sort of on a psychological level that it is a benefit.
On a financial benefit, many people actually do make their livings programming Perl for whatever company they are working for, a lot of people web designers use Perl this days still and there is a lot of people to whom it’s just sort of a hobby, if they want to do some wholesome animation, turn on the lights around the house or something like that they just write a little Perl script or if they want to write some games they might use Perl or they might use some other language but I think just the fact that it makes some things easy that no other language makes easy is what makes people like Perl
Charles: Do you have any last comment to young programmers out there? Something you would like to tell?
Larry Wall: If you spend a lot of time studying how to do various things but you really learn it well, find something that you are interested in and make a project of it.
Also continue growing in finding things that are interesting maybe you might grow old in doing that but just keep finding something that’s interesting in the real world that can be solved with programming and you will become a programmer.

Open letter: To Julia Gillard, re Julian Assange

2010-12-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

Jeff Sparrow and Elizabeth O'shea
ABC

Well here is an article from the ABC broadcast that shows how much more of the elite and the open minded folks are coming out in numbers to support Julian Assange The editor of the famous website Wikileaks. I think the word wikileaks should be officially incorporated into the english dictionary too.

The authors write: We wrote the letter below because we believe that Julian Assange is entitled to all the protections enshrined in the rule of law – and that the Australian Government has an obligation to ensure he receives them.

The signatures here have been collected in the course of a day-and-a-half, primarily from people in publishing, law and politics. The signatories hold divergent views about WikiLeaks and its operations. But they are united in a determination to see Mr Assange treated fairly.

We know that many others would have liked to sign. But given the urgency of the situation, we though it expedient to publish now rather than collect more names.

If, however, you agree with the sentiments expressed, we encourage you to leave your name in the comments section.

Dear Prime Minister,

We note with concern the increasingly violent rhetoric directed towards Julian Assange of WikiLeaks.

“We should treat Mr Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him,” writes conservative columnist Jeffrey T Kuhner in the Washington Times.

William Kristol, former chief of staff to vice president Dan Quayle, asks, “Why can’t we use our various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are?”

“Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” writes the prominent US pundit Jonah Goldberg.

“The CIA should have already killed Julian Assange,” says John Hawkins on the Right Wing News site.

Sarah Palin, a likely presidential candidate, compares Assange to an Al Qaeda leader; Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential contender, accuses Assange of “terrorism”.

And so on and so forth.

Such calls cannot be dismissed as bluster. Over the last decade, we have seen the normalisation of extrajudicial measures once unthinkable, from ‘extraordinary rendition’ (kidnapping) to ‘enhanced interrogation’ (torture).

In that context, we now have grave concerns for Mr Assange’s wellbeing.

Irrespective of the political controversies surrounding WikiLeaks, Mr Assange remains entitled to conduct his affairs in safety, and to receive procedural fairness in any legal proceedings against him.

As is well known, Mr Assange is an Australian citizen.

We therefore call upon you to condemn, on behalf of the Australian Government, calls for physical harm to be inflicted upon Mr Assange, and to state publicly that you will ensure Mr Assange receives the rights and protections to which he is entitled, irrespective of whether the unlawful threats against him come from individuals or states.

We urge you to confirm publicly Australia’s commitment to freedom of political communication; to refrain from cancelling Mr Assange's passport, in the absence of clear proof that such a step is warranted; to provide assistance and advocacy to Mr Assange; and do everything in your power to ensure that any legal proceedings taken against him comply fully with the principles of law and procedural fairness.

2010-12-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

Over the April holidays 2010 I got another rare opportunity to visit South Africa with a band of singers from my University The Radically Changed. The trip was an amazing gift.

The group flew in to cape town through the Oliver Tambo airport in South Africa. This gave me a chance to see the development opportunities in Africa. A friend of mine once told me that development of a colonized country does not fully depend on the gain of independence rather it does more so depend on the type of leadership that takes over soon after independence.

The Oliver Tambo airport is almost comparable to the Indiana International airport in the US, keeping in mind that my comparison may be biased given that I visited Indiana airport about a year ago, South Africa is much more developed country is all I could say when I landed.

I felt quite elated to know that I was still in Africa looking at the supper high ways and the nice smooth roads. God bless Mandela!!

Anyway from Oliver Tambo we made our transit to Cape Town through Kalula Airlines whose pilots just put a new definition to piloting with their jokes. I felt at ease traveling in Kalula airlines with the services of the hostess who surprisingly enough managed to master the names of almost all crew members.

The Cape town airport was also another surprise landing for me. The beauty of Cape Town and it's raged terrain could be told from the sky from the windows. On landing we were received by Regan, the NYI president of the South African region. He came to pick the team with a Volkswagen combi and a friend of his was driving a saloon car.

Regan's reception was quite warm and was a clear indication of the type of friendliness that awaited us at the intended camp. From the Airport we were driven to Regan's place to take late supper and to show some of the members where they were supposed to be spending for the two weeks we were bound to be in South Africa.

From Regan's house we went straight to a youth camp in Stellenbosch. this was also a token and we got to meet a lot of youths who were dedicated to serving Jesus Christ and we also saw the vibrant growth of the church of the Nazarene in Cape town.

The morning that followed in cape town was the token of them all. I woke up to brush my teeth and there I was surrounded by majestic hills looking down at me with such awesome beauty with their picks slowly revealing as the cloud started moving away from the grass.

The ministry at the camp was powerful that night and the following morning youths got to accept Christ in multitudes. The youth in Cape town were pretty excited to meet the team from Kenya and the excitement was evident in the way they danced and enjoyed the songs that were done by the radically changed members.

The ministry was long and we toured several places and different churches in Cape town. We got to see "Kayelitsha" stayed in Mitchell plain made frequent tours to Blue downs, visited the strand beach where we had our first KFC in Africa, visited the water front where we were able to see the migration of hundreds of whales, we got to see the penguin nesting areas at cape point, rushed in time to see the final parts of the sun set over cape town from a spectacular view point, The highlight of all the trips was the trip to the table mountain where we got to walk on the mountain top and even shot a video for one of our songs.

All this provided me an opportunity to view my continent from a different point of view and I also learned to appreciate my country. Developing a zeal to fight more for the basic rights that we neglect every day. It gave me a zeal to come back home and take on the politicians who are self acclaimed leaders how far they think their heckling will take the country. For some reason the hope I had lost was drastically revived and I believe I will forever be Kenyan and some day I will participate in the development of this great nation.

God bless Kenya and bless the people who work tirelessly to ensure it's growth. May my children live to see a prosperous country in the future.

Here is a clip of one of the songs the team did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyHlJTuicoY for more information visit http://kentunes.com/product.php?productid=383&cat=0&page=1

When I was sad

2010-11-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

I heard of rumours from my friends, they were malicious, I didn't want to believe them. But at the back of my mind I asked what if. One of my friends on the Africa Nazarene University campus was speculated to be having a drug problem. My best friend came and informed me.

I have had friends with all sorts of problems including drugs but this was different. This was somebody I had known since I was a freshman somebody I thought was reputable. Somebody who attended all the Christian functions on campus and possibly helped organise them at times.

My best friend thought we needed to do something about this situation before our friend would end up in a very bad state. I didn't know what to do. I had never done counselling before, I had nothing to say because all I knew in my life was that drugs are bad for your health and you should not consume illegal drugs. I could decide to tell him to stop but how does that help an addict.

He had just lost his father who was dear to him. His family members were fighting over his father's possessions, neither of his rich uncles talked about his education he was left with responsibilities everything was looking up on him while he had very little to control these issues abound his life.

Well my best friend, a few other good friends on campus and I got concerned so we decided we were not going to sit and watch, we decided to take action. So we plotted, we were going to attack this issue like the men we were or at least we thought. On a Friday evening during a planned Christian Union overnight prayers we decided we were going to talk to him.

Like we had agreed we would meet up in his room and talk to him there. Surprisingly enough I was the first one then another friend of ours came in later so that made three in a room that was field with disparity on our friend's computer Hill song music (I will be still and know you are God) was playing on the loop. Mastering some courage and with a bit of the skills I had acquired in my counselling cases I started an enquiry that would later on lead me to a pool of questions, this was a good person why was he going through this why was the world being so unfair to him?

All in all society treats people with no respect at all. Our institutions of higher learning should start reconsidering their counselling departments at least people should care more. But hey that's just what I want. I hope to participate one day in a forum that creates equality and justice for all. I promise my self to be an agent of moral autonomy.

The Kenya National Prayer breakfast Part 2

2010-11-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

Finally on the 27th of May the big day as was marked to be, the prayer breakfast at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi. Our delegation was picked from Jumuia resort as early as five am to avoid conflict during the entry of the president. The security at the entrance was tight and nothing was left to chance. Every body was frisked and had to be double checked by the president's security entorouge.

The jambo ball room which is the main conference center had been planned in such a way that it would easily accomodate six hundred people and more space was still provided for on the outside with extra monitors for those who never got the chance to sit on the inside.

The serving was excuisite and the food was simply delicious. This was an event full of dignitaries and delegates I personally got an opportunity to look at Hon. Beth Mugo and nod at her, I shared a table with Mr. Shep William the Chief Executive Officer of an NGO known as FH (Food for the Hungry) I sat a stones throw away from the speaker of the National assembly Hon. Kenneth Marende and even took a photo with the advisor to the president Hon. Kivutha Kibwana.

The president's address was one full of hope since he tackled the issue of unemployment "We are making progress in creating employment through out the country" he said "let us continue to seek guidance from God at this crucial moment in our national history..." he continued.

I enjoyed listening to every thing else he said and I liked the fact that his speech was God centered. After the breakfast we went for a lunch break and then we came back for an evening session known as the National conversation that was chaired by the speaker himself.

Facilitators of the National conversation included people like Mugo Kibati, Ken Njiru, Sam Owen, Samuel Kirugi, Leonidus, Kibi Kareithi among many others.

The Kenya National Prayer breakfast Part 1

2010-11-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the Jumuia resort in Limuru after a long trip from Ufungamano House in Nairobi Univeristy on the 26th of May 2010. We were booked into the Jumuia resort courtesy of the AYLF. Jumuia hotel is a very prestigious hotel with facilities properly taken care of.

Upon registration I got pretty disapointed when I realized that I was bound to be sharing a single room with two othe people.

Upon entry into the room I was not as disapointed as I thought I would be, since I got to realize that all my roommates were international, one was known as Erick Kreuttler and Chris a law student at the Light University of Bujumbura.

I got an opportunity to interact more with Chris than I did with Erick and I realized that we shared alot more than just a room, to start with he knew a couple of students from Burundi who were studying in Africa Nazarene University, he had a passio for dancing and he was also a student leader at his University back in the capital city of Burundi.

So the Idea behind AYLF is to create forums for training leaders and making small families of friends before attending the main event of the National Prayer Breakfast so after a day of interaction and training with leaders like Hon Mzalendo Kibunja, Prof PLO Lumumba we go to bed late on the 26th waiting for the main meeting on the following day.

LONG TIME NO WRITE!!

2010-05-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

Well of late I have been on the lime light less!!. I have been focusing more on my studies since the last time I traveled back from the US I even forgot I had an online journal 8).

Recently, I was invited as the chairman of ANU student council to the National Prayer Breakfast. I didn't have a clue of what this was until I presented the invitation letter to Our deans office requesting for reimbursement of equal proportions to cater for the simple logistics of my trip including registration fee, that's when I realized the magnitude of the event Prayer breakfast.

Without breaking the ice, I am inclined to leave you my readers on suspense until after I attend the occasion to come and present to you the full details of the unfolding of the event.

I am also interested in making up for the long times I have stayed silent and narrate to you about the elections that saw me being elected chair of the Student Council of ANU student Body, the friends I have made since the US trip, the lessons I have learn and the crazy life of a college student on the verge of attending ISFiT the greatest student organized event hosted in Norway.

Exciting Huh well wait for it :)

So stay in touch for just the news as it unfolds in my life Ciao

Did it meet your expectations?

2009-06-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

This is about our fifth week in the US. By the help of our Chaplain and his wife we have had so much fun. We have visited the six flags in Kentucky, gone to three planetariums, gone to a huge aquarium in Tennessee, visited a live base ball game in Georgia, Taken a tour of three Nazarene Universities, slept in the dormitories of one of the Universities (Mid American Nazarene University). We have done so many things this far, that is why I will dedicate a special post to update about the basic fun stuff we have been doing.

People in the US have always asked me if this place has met my expectations. This question always confuses me and every time I am asked I don't have an answer to it. Right now I feel obliged to write down a couple of the things I have observed in the US that I thought were new and different from what I have always known.

The first time I walked into JFK New York I was Impressed when I saw two teenagers walking around the airport. They did not seem to be in much hurry because they walked slowly as they chatted, but surely they seemed to have a clear objective, they knew exactly what they were doing there because after a while they would stroll into the laguagge collection area from the check in point with wheel chairs. This teenagers in their probably 18 and 20 of age were doing their jobs in the airport and that is simply how they earned their living. Many times in Kenya jobs like these would be done by old people and some times people who seem to have completely zero interest in the job they are doing.

People in the US get engrossed in what they do and they do it perfectly. Truly the people in the US may not have a proper social life as people say, but the specialisation and the order of organisation that people have in the US screams perfection.

My dream in all this is not to have Kenya or Africa turned into a system like the US, but to have a passion for perfection but retain the community life that we all have had through out life.

TOUR PLAN (WHERE WE HAVE BEEN AND WHERE WE WILL BE)

2009-06-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

MAY 27 - Leave Nairobi Kenya
MAY 28 - Arrive in New York, Stay at Holiday Inn courtesy of the fly Emirates
MAY 29 - Arrive at cmpgrounds 0700pm, sound check and supper prepare for Northeastern Indiana District Missionary convention.
MAY 30 - Northeastern Indiana District Missionary Convention (8:25 am (15 min)perform high energy music for ten minutes; finish at1200p.m., noon. After noon of swimming& fun at Mary Jane James' sisters' place; Birthday party for Randy's Mom at Southdale Church of the Nazarene. After the party go home with families for the evening.
MAY 31(AM) - Anderson, Indiana Southadale Church of the Nazarene 0930 am 1030 snack time & Sunday School, leave at 0400 pm head back to camp ground for service.
MAY 31 (PM)- Northeastern Indiana District Campmeeting
JUNE 1 - 700AM Drive to Georgia. Will stop at Battlefield Parkway to spend the night at the church of the Nazarene.
JUNE 2 - Arive at Adrian Camp Ground outside Dublin GA. At 0430 p.m. got to Dublin First Church of the Nazarene for evening meal and service at 0700pm for Georgia district missionary convention.
JUNE 3 - Breakfast 0800am at campground; 0900am leave for Gallatin, TN
JUNE 6 - Eduacational Foundation Breakfast 0815 a.m., Nashville, TN Lunch at Travecca Nazarene University. & to recording studio 0600pm. Cook out at Gallatin, Travecca Nazarene University performance here.
JUNE 7 (AM) - Gallatin, Tennessee First church of the Nazarene Be at the Ch
JUNE 7 (PM) - Louisville, Kentucky Farmdale Church of the Nazarene 600pm. (full consert) Spend the evening and have breakfast with families.
JUNE 8 - Sightseeing, Shopping, etc
JUNE 9 - New Albany, Indiana
JUNE 10- Selma, IN for lunch and then to Hartford city, IN Church of the Nazarene
JUNE 11 -Rockville, Indiana First Baptist Church 0700pm (full service then go homes of church people to spend the night.
JUNE 12 - Lunch at ONU and tour 1100am then 0700pm Chicago Central districtMissionary convention.
JUNE 14 (AM) - Kansas City, Missouri Church of the Nazarene 1030am
JUNE 14 (PM) - Olathe, Kansas college church of the Nazarene 0600pm
JUNE 15 - Lenexa, Kansas Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry center.
JUNE 17 - Nashville, Tennessee Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene 0700pm
JUNE 21 (AM) - Leesburg, Florida First church of the Nazarene 1030am
JUNE 21 (PM) - Fort Myers, Florida Church of the Nazarene
JUNE 23 - Clearwater, Florida Church of the Nazarene.
JUNE 24 - July 1st - Orlando, Florida First church of the Nazarene. 0700 pm
JUNE 25 - 0745am Prelude Music and lead morning worship NMI convention.
JUNE 25 - SDMI Convention Worship service 1000am
JUNE 27 - Educational Foundation breakfast 1200 - 0200pm ANU Luncheon Rosen Center GRand Ballroom A
JULY 1 - Head to Pompono Beach Florida, from Orlando (Time TBA)
JULY 5 - (am) Pompono Beach, Florida first church of the Nazarene 1030am
JULY 5 - (pm) Venice, FLorida Church of the Nazarene 0600pm (concert)
JULY 8 - Redlands, Florida Church of the Nazarene 0700 pm (concert)
JULY 9 - Leave MIAMI, Florida fly to New York and back to Kenya

Curently I have had the pleasure to enjoy ammusment parks, I have been to New York, The interstate Highway has been part of my home for the whole journey, I have had good laughs, met old friends, met a couple of new friends but above all I have had a faithfull father (God) He has been instrumental in the whole trip providing peace, comfort, strength, health and good driver :-), the best choir director. I am looking forward to blessing someone's heart.
For the schedule above I take the priviledge to thank Mrs Mary Jane James or aunt Jenny as we have goten used to calling her since all of it was prepared by her any errors be it gramatic or spelling I am responsible and I will take the blame for them.
God bless you all and expect more from this blog.

GOD THE PROVIDER

2009-05-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

From what people have always said, I understand that the United States of America is one of the most comfortable continents in the world, hence I have always been interested in paying a once in a life time visit.

The Lord God almighty, my father, has provided this oportunity miraculously (I gave up trying to describe Him and His deeds) He has made ways and now I will be travelling together with the Shangilia choir team of ANU to the United States of America as I had mentioned earlier. Ironically I have not been feeling all that enthusiastic about having this oportunity of a life time, but today I got a simple humble wake up call.

A friend of mine actually a freshman asked me about the details of our travell and quite different from every body else who always finish by asking the cliche question "what are you bringing for me?" He told me that this was a really big thing and he wished me best of luck. He was genuinely trully honest and I was blessed by this.

As simple as these words may have sounded, they made me realize again that all this had not been acomplished by my ability or powers but by the great power of the Lord. I realised that this was a reward God was giving me. That I am going to travell in ten different states in the world's super power (USA), am going to live at some point in my life in a condemonium and meet great men of God in their dutty, leaves me awestruck and amazed.

I know I am going to miss Africa and my beloved country Kenya and all my friends and familly, but it would be a pure lie to say that I am not excited for the trip ahead on Wednesday 27th of May. I still pray that God may continue opening doors and showing His love even during tough economic times.

Though I have not really done thorough packing I am thrilled and can't wait to get on that plane for my first time. Am looking forward to meeting lots of friends and having a great experience this one month.

No Sex In Kenya

2009-04-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Kenya is now one of the most interesting states to live in, a group of women called the G20 that comprises groups like the Maendeleo ya wanawake and the FIDA have joined hands together to fight against politicians behaving badly.

The measure these women have taken is quite right and I agree with it. But just the way they are enforcing it leaves me wondering how will we ever fight AIDS in Kenya and win, the women decided to call for a sex boycott for seven days. Does this mean prostitutes are going to get a pay rise and a high pick season? just a thought.

Now if you are a man planning to come to Kenya from wherever make sure you are well aware that your rights have been stopped for the next seven days. Ha and that advert still calls for you to avoid mpango wa kando. Kenya and it's dramas. Tell me what you think about this re-enforcement method. will it work at making our politicians think much better and wiser.

Kenneth Marende and the right oder.

2009-04-29T00:17:00.000-07:00

I know, clearly these are not the updates of the conference as I had promised earlier, but something has happened in Kenya that needs an applause. And that is why I go political again today.

I had made a vow to my self never to give any ear to our politics until the day one or all of the leaders in government's deeds would display a sense of care for Kenyan citizens. I am pleased to inform all my readers and followers of my blog that this day has arrived. With the kind of decisions we had seen the speaker make yesterday, I can comfortably advice my friends to invest in Kenya. That was wisdom in action.

Let us give the speaker of the National assembly a second chance to join the list of the few most sane leaders in our government after his wise decision on parliament. On the 28th of April the house speaker did something that proved that there is always a way out for Kenya's political problems, the only problem is our political leaders. The house speaker dramatically stepped in as the temporary chair of the house business committee in parliament, tension had built up over the issue and just before his decision had been reached, The country was almost feeling as if all that had been gained by the mediator Kofi Anan was going to crumble then. President Kibaki and Prime minister Raila Odinga had made it seem as if the only solution was to follow their way or take the highway.

Displaying great wisdom and thought in decision making, Marende clearly showed us that the problem is not the normal Citizen but the bickering executives. Marende hinted that there are times we can do without the heckling political leaders.

The house speaker made this decision and decided to await for the two feuding parties to resolve their issues. But in a surprising twist of events the Vice president was not pleased by the decision made by the house speaker. "This is an assault on the powers of the president," reported Kalonzo "The president is the appointing authority. We may have to seek Interpretations elsewhere in the constitutional court," He added. This only clearly drove home the point that our political leaders do not care about our interest, but about their own. Marende has shown that at least he has the welfare of Kenyans at heart.

Well all I can say to all this is that The speaker has saved us Noise and lots of headaches. We might have just woken up to square zero again.

2009-04-23T04:59:00.000-07:00

I have experienced so much during this week since the conference started. Just being around great speakers like; Jerry Potter, man I admire the way this man commands attention. Yesterday he dazzled us with his message presented in a musical format doh rey mi fa so la ti. This is completely awesome thank God for this opportunity to be here.

Oh that beautiful singing that we had yesterday, lifted people to praising and worshiping and I was personally touched by that. Yesterday was a powerful day for the whole of the congregation at the conference this was quite a revival.

If you realy wanted to be hear at Africa Nazarene University for the Africa Regional leadership Conference but you never made it here do not worry I have a summary of all the teachings and most of the workshops. So don't worry I will share with you the experience.

ANU SHANGILIA CHOIR JUST RECORDED THEIR MUSIC

2009-04-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Africa Nazarene University Shangilia choir just recorded a music CD. The recording was done on Friday the 6th of March 2009 at the mass communication studio with the help of Mr. Wainaina. The 30 minutes CD contains 10 different mixtures of Africa's best songs. They are in random order: Sesithi Bonga(zulu for let us sing), Bawo(also a zulu hit), Atiyo ne ruodha(Dholuo song meaning I am working for my Lord), You were there, Ride the Chariot, You are there with me, More than enough, All the way to Calvary, The Kenya National Anthem and Higher ground.

The CD producer Mrs Mary Jane James said the Cd's will be used as a means to support the shangilia music group's tour to the United states. "We will produce a good number of copies which will be sold to ANU friends and churches around Nairobi, this will do much better than just sitting around the streets and begging for money. At least we will have earned the money" Mary Jane said.

She also said that the singing was fabulous but the microphones were not 'telios' :-) i.e fulfilling their purpose. "We know that the extended recording we might do during our United States tour with better quality microphones will capture better talents of our Shangilia group" she said.

Dr. Randal James The University chaplain is involved in planning the logistics and transport cost that will take the group around several states in the US and end it at the General assembly of the Church of the Nazarene. Dr. James hopes that the group will impact many lives through the tour songs and ministries. "Guys this is not only an opportunity to show case your talents and provide great openings but this is a ministry and every thing you do must display true Christian character." He said in a debriefing session with the Shangilia group.

This team has great potential and for more updates you can visit www.anu.ac.ke and enquire through the religion department. The team will appreciate any kind of support that will be provided.

2009-02-16T05:21:00.000-08:00

Kenyans are proud because we have found a new sport that our boys play very well and are good at, It is of my opinion that all of us drop or quit football and start watching rugby. The boys have been hitting us with surprises all the time they go out to play, I remember celebrating the fifteen aside game where we beat The great South African team and just last Sunday the 15th of Feb 2009 we also thrashed the New Zealand team I must say I am very proud of our rugby players and kudos to all of them.

2009-01-26T03:38:00.001-08:00

Our politicians have proofed to be some of the people you would love to call either ignorant or just defiant. They have displayed great ability in reducing Kenyans intellectual status, first they refuse to pay taxes then they attack the media which is our only ear piece, they play games with us and deny us any chance to express ourself. People like The Prime minister Raila Odinga have shown great interest in wanting to exploit the ignorance of the people. Just on Sunday the 25th of January 2009 The Hon Prime minister of Kenya went to his constituents in Langata targeting specifically the poverty stricken Kibera slums. His Intentions clearly being to Raise a squabble between the people and a specific media group. Given the prime minister's knowledge about how eruptive the residents of Kibera can be it is only justifiable to state that the visit was not on any developmental grounds, Hon Raila clearly knows that it is his reckless statements about housing that led to the eruption of conflict between tenants and their landlords during the former president Daniel Moi's vist to Kibera. A conflict that saw the death of many innocent lives.
He might have talked a bit about infrastructure but clearly given by the fact that he has been in office for that long and has not brought any change that was not his main agenda in that particular gathering. The prime minister, judging by his action, could have only gone to his constituency to cause havoc. The statements he made were obviously to instigate violence, pointing fingers literally at a specific media group in front of a charged crowd only gave the implication of a call to battle.
I think it is about time Kenyans really united to show politicians that they are no longer the fanatics like the politicians think, but that we are one independent people able to make decisions appropriately and able to live without the lies of the politicians. Kenyans need to take charge of their country, it is time for them to tear down those walls like Ronald Reagan said, they should stand up and declare no to ignorance. President Obama has done his part, he has shown that power does not require pride, greed, riches or a strong political linage, to our youths today he has demonstrated that money has nothing to do with being an effector of change, that change comes as a result of personal will and not genealogical support, that any body who is determined to reach higher grounds can do so if he/she believes in the will to do right. So I urge all people of Kenyan descent those who have natives attached to Kenya arise come let us show our leaders of today that it is all in our power and we are no longer slaves of their corrupt era. Like Mahatma Gandhi once put it "let us be the change we want to see." This is our time to rise beyond greed, tribalism, corruption and all the ignorance. Let us see young people emerge and effect the right kind of change we want to experience.

Welcome

2009-01-24T04:50:00.000-08:00

This is an interactive way to let you know what is happening around the world. In this way you will get an opportunity to talk to the world give feeds and share with friends what you really think is salient. Y0ur comments will be treated with the greatest regards and anything you say will be treated with th highest esteem possible.