The Next Chapter

The varied sounds from downstairs echoed around the upstairs landing: overexcited aunts cackling raucously, the beeping of text messaging cousins’ phones, the phlegmy coughs of grandparents wilting from the previous night’s festivities, the pacing feet of an anxious father accompanied by the bolder strides of bravado-filled uncles syncopated by the frantic cries of a woman [...]

Snobbery and Afro-Lurve

“My Sister! Where are you from?”
The overly eager voice cries out to you as you walk through the shopping mall.
Surrounded by expensive dress shops, beautiful people, mannequins strikingly posed,
You can’t help but focus on his ill-fitting pants; the overly eager face, his almost drooling demeanour.
You debate which country to choose in this moment.
 
“Somalia!” You reply. A [...]

The Woman Who Forgot

Striding purposefully along Moi Avenue, Christine’s thoughts were focused on the meeting she had just left. Her client had agreed to a new contract for her services. Desperate, he had hardly quibbled about her fee, or the delivery schedule. Christine enjoyed earning the money, but the challenge of each job was the most satisfying thing [...]

Good Fences…Good Neighbours

The decline of any neighbourhood is gradual, slow, mostly unnoticeable until a new ‘normal’ is established. In the average Nairobi housing estate: first, homeowners tack on ‘extensions’ to their homes, so that each home stands out. A little castle or testament to the owner’s pocket depth and taste (or lack thereof), following which a ‘local’ [...]