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Tuko Pamoja
I am honestly so pissed and emotional right now that I could blow up. I am trying to gather my thoughts and feelings because I don’t want to lose it. It’s not worth it. I have witnessed firsthand how depressed some of us are over here. Far away from loved ones and the ties we have with family are what keep us stuck sometimes. The entitlement. The deceit. The blackmail. The ingenuity. Name it. Most of us not only went abroad in search of greener pastures for ourselves but also to be able to give a hand to our families back home. We want to be in this together. We…
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Unappreciated efforts
You do try. You use everything in your reach to make your life livable. You often juggle to make the lives of those you care about „easier“. You make a lot of sacrifices for others. You give back to people you don’t know and have never even met. You extend your resources over and over again to those who feel entitled. You want to be accorded respect for that. You want your name in everyone’s breath. At times you feel unappreciated, taken for granted but you still do it again. Think of all the good you have done. Oh, you can’t stop. Think of all the times anyone appreciated…
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Life taking its course
It has been a few months of so much unraveling before our eyes. Like literally the whole of 2020 has given us a lot of aha moments. I have had my share of struggles which seem less daunting when I compare with other people’s struggles in different parts of the world. But a struggle is a struggle. Big or small, right? A lot of times we disregard what we are experiencing in our personal spaces because it seems not to measure up to other people’s definition of problems. It sometimes becomes clear that you are struggling when someone points it out to you, or when your body sends you signals…
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Filling my tank.
Whew! Even I hit a block. Geuss who is back? I am. Can I explain? Well, we make plans, God laughs. Anyway I’ll get to the point now. I discovered that writing was my safe haven. Writing has literally saved my life. (I wish I can say that out loud) I cannot imagine not being able to write. I am very intentional in what I decide to put out there however unconventional a topic might be. I believe in the wholesome of every article I publish and in every sentence, there is usually a deeper meaning that I hope resonates with someone. I am always overjoyed when I put up…
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Did you turn out just fine?
I do not have children of my own yet, yet I find myself vexed by this topic of mercilessly beating children. Some people ask me to wait until I have children to see if my standards based on this will shift. But how can I wait for this unpredicted time to speak on something that affects, has affected and continues to affect a lot of us directly or indirectly. I honestly can’t ignore how I feel when I learn of a child being abused in the name of discipline. Maybe I am trying to speak out on child abuse because I am very passionate about children. Maybe I am trying…
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Cruelty or Love?
I have wanted to write about this particular topic for the longest now and finally, here I am sitting by the riverbank, taking in the much needed fresh air as I watch these beautiful unbothered swans swim. Near the water are these two doves hungrily feeding on the leftover crumbs as if they haven’t had food for days. It is calming to watch the little waves on the water and feel the wind on my brown skin. “We turned out alright” they say. But did they really? I ask myself. A question only a victim of physical abuse could answer by being completely honest with themselves. Digging deeper into my…
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Resetting and finding perspective amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
Am I even a blogger if I don’t post a lockdown related article? It has been a roller coaster the past weeks. Most of us if not all of us are already going crazy. It is one thing to choose to stay home and it is another thing to be asked to stay home. And because it seems like the hottest topic in town that almost everyone wants to talk about is this damned COVID-19 crisis, here we go. Allow me to share a bit of what I’m on to and my take during this whole mess. I’ve witnessed how rebellious some of us can be and I wonder…
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A struggling sister
Being an elder sister to my younger siblings, I’m not sure if I should be forever grateful to the higher being for awarding me this role or to sulk in the overwhelming duty I feel attempting to measure up. The responsibility that this role entails for me is sometimes too much or maybe I take it too seriously than I should hence why I have decided to write and share this. Maybe I have it all wrong and your insights or perspectives on this might lessen what I feel at times. I would very much appreciate your advice/comment/input below if you resonate. One of my major challenges of growing older…
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When loneliness kicks in and you miss home.
Things are completely different to what you were accustomed to. The air smells different too. When it rains, you miss that earthy smell in the air. It seems like forever since you last smelled it. This is something you never paid much attention to. And you dread to forget that smell. The streets are lonely. There are people yes, but everyone seems too absorbed in their own thoughts. You can’t tell really if people are too slow or too fast. But somehow there is that liveliness that’s missing. That liveliness that ascertains you of home. One of the little things you like to do is watching people and trying to…
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“Go where you belong!” Where?
Thinking back, I never thought about racism the way I do now. I wasn’t exposed to that before moving to Europe and so I didn’t fully understand what it exactly was. I was very naive, contrary to all the praises I got from people I interacted with when I moved to Europe. Countless times I was told how brave I was to just board a plane all by myself and move to a whole new country, a whole new culture, a whole different language and to top that with no family at all. I always dismissed that because to myself, it didn’t seem much of a big deal (the way…
true storytelling from personal experiences and inspiring stories from my perspective