I was five years old when I woke up to a flooded house. Cloudy water poured in through the door and then through the open windows. Bearing pieces of wood, grass, and whatever else could float. And a lot of things floated. Things like our trash, [...]

What gift surpasses the treasure of a mother? Over the years, my mother has remained a constant, treating me with the same tenderness she did when I was a child. Her daily calls to ensure I’ve eaten, inquire about my sleep, and delve into the [...]

Changing malodorous diapers. Extinguishing wild tantrums. Navigating your way through a minefield of sharp toys strewn across the carpet. Paying off titanosauric school fees. Tolerating cyclic teenage mood swings. Playing the role of the [...]

“Ni msichana, aah, wewe bado hujazaa,” the plump 30-something-year-old lady glances down at the baby in my arms. Her name, she says, is Ruth. We’ve just come back from the hospital because the baby has jaundice, a week after she lands in this [...]

When the call from my brother came it was still unexpected. As always, he started the conversation with an offensive—that’s the nature of our relationship, it’s always been. “Since the surgery, she’s just been lying in bed,” he says curtly. [...]

The single-parent label clings to my childhood like a faded sticker on a half-peeling wall. It’s a term that attempts to define, to categorize, but fails utterly to capture the kaleidoscopic reality of growing up under the sun-drenched canopy of [...]

Motherhood…there is so much weight beneath this word alone. It encompasses the essence of life, the very foundation of our existence. Its meaning evokes a sense of warmth, love, and care. Motherhood is a journey that a woman embarks on, a [...]

I’m fresh from watching a video where, in an unfortunate sequence of events, a lady jumped off a roof. A rather morbid way to start a story, I know, but who am I if not your cultured purveyor of emotions; and it would seem that, after avoiding [...]

As I sit in front of my computer, I ready myself to write. The writing journey starts with me tasting the words as they pop from my mind and roll onto my tongue. They whisper, “Write me down.”  However, often, I’m like those vintage cars that [...]

Nashipae sat at Dr. Kiambo’s clinic, lost in thought. She was horrified by what was about to happen. The last jab was painful, the capsules nauseating. She looked across from her seat to where her two co-wives sat. She was the youngest of the [...]

There’s an aching for home. I’ve been working on a crochet wedding dress. I love weddings. My best friend just got a prostate cancer diagnosis. Another friend called, excited; his son just said his first word. Dada. Another just got divorced. [...]

I was only five years old when my grandmother died one afternoon almost three decades ago. I remember my uncles speaking with my grandfather in hushed tones. And then when my mom and aunties were informed, everything seemed to stand still. While [...]