Sikiliza

One of the most biggest lessons I have learnt this year has been to be painstakingly deliberate and strategic in whatever I set out to do and that it has to count for something bigger than just me.  I would like to share some of my reflections of tenets I embraced that are helping me with my ambitious goals: 1.  Think - Support & Inspiration:  One of the most understated pillars we need as activists and as women is support. Support is the unseen companion of late night deadlines, tense and difficult moments and when our bodies and minds are at the brink of letting out.  It gives an extraordinary burst of strength to keep our eye on the ball against our body and mind sensations which are many times stretched to the limits. What cant we achieve if we know that we have someone who has our back? Act – Pass it on Over the months, two formidable feminists told me that after a brief discussion with them on how to strengthen the regional women r...

Blooms from Topkapı Palace  Museum June 2016 Over the years life has visibly had its toll on me My body bears battle scars and visible signs of wear and tear My mind murky with memories of old hurts and let downs I see new wrinkles, curves, aches and dimpled parts each day I sometimes still feel the pain of old wounds and anguish Like a battleground time absorbs some of the desolation of my banal existence But then YOU... You happened in my life Awakening long forgotten passions Created new heights of delight and feeling I never imagined This radical love you give me so unmeasured, unconditional and in bounty Heals and strokes me so tenderly each day. It restores my body smoothing over my rough edges My scabs and less nimble parts of me transformed I now radiate from the inside out, besotted in your endearments You reshaped and remolded my weary self Into an attested lovevivore! Existing only in the sustenance that is your devotion...

  Things that make me happy Today, amid all the frenzied throngs of this mad punishing world: I feel radiant, as morning sunlight creeping in; warming, lighting, illuminating I feel beautiful, like a burst of colour speckled garden and neat dewy patches of green grass I feel alluring, with rhythmic sways to sounds of ‘Let me Back In’ by  Explosions in the Sky All this beauty provokes all senses and wraps me tight and close in a warm embrace… Hiding me from pain, harshness and the bluntness of cold hard reality How then can I not feel amazing today? ... Even just but for a little while….

Kilifi Dawn July 2016 Its a day before my birthday and waking up to a chesty cough but otherwise glad to be here and mostly alive…I have always been a sucker for birthdays a childish habit I have not grown out of. Nowadays though, I spend time reflecting on stuff; the past and speculating about the future quite a bit. This year I want to share three reflections that have been on my mind: 1.      Sometimes we are so self-absorbed and focused and inanely obsessed with people around us and what they are doing to us that we forget to pause, breathe and live. I remember one particularly bad time for me circa 2003 when I was going through so many misfortunes and so much angst. I had a handful of good friends who patiently listened to my non-stop rants about all the injustice around me. One day a friend interrupted me and asked in a quiet voice,  "Is this person you keep going on and on about your oxygen because you cant seem to get by a minute w...