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LONG READ: The YALI Experience in 3,200 Words

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There are lessons you are inadvertently taught when you are a 35-year-old being forced to sit in the same class with an 18-year-old. Imagine someone who is half your age, with less of life experiences sitting by your side, being taught the things you should have learned eighteen years ago. You feel a little jealous that you were not told these things early enough; that some people are just lucky. But you also feel hopeful that a young generation is being made to learn about better ideals of leadership, and what a good society should look like. It is also somewhat shameful that you haven’t really done a lot to ‘change lives’, and in a country with a life expectancy of 61 years such as Kenya, you take a silent vow – the things you tell your heart and your mind and your conscience— to use the remaining part of your life to change the world. Your world. But when you sit in that class with an open mind, to learn not just from the lecturers but also from your colleagues, both the one
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PART TWO: KBC English Service...these were the days!

This is the second feed from the one I narrated yesterday. I was just about to tell you a little of how I spent my days --radio-wise--- as I waited to join University. For two years. Two whole years. So, Station ilikuwa KBC English Service, ndio nionekane msee nimeishia chuo. Hizo days, ma-fm stations, kina Kiss, Classic, Umoja na Metro hazikuwa zinashika huko ocha. Wazae na wasee wa kawa walikuwa juu ya KBC ‘idhaa ya Taifa’, ile ya Kiswahili, kusikia kina Leonard Mambo, Anunda Sakwa, Gladys Herude na Elizabeth Obege. Mimi msee nilikuwa nadai vile ati nimefika chuo kubwa; man uliza msee yoyote Kakamega High School, ama Kach High, na utaambiwa sio chuo ya ma-softie. Kila mtu ni hardcore. So redio ni English service, ndio nisikie John Karani na Charity Karimi wakihost Beat-Time Show, saa zingine Jeff Mwangemi , lakini sanasana Jeff alikuwa msee wa ku-bring ile show ya Reggae noma sana kila Thursday eight asubuhi hadi nine, na repeat kila Monday afte, saa nane. Hapo katikati, kuli
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Order! You two principals!

I am not a prophet. But I know two things about the President and his men: they believe they are the law, and if not, they believe they are above the law. I spend most of my time in Parliament and that is not something to smile about. A friend of mine, George, joked that I spend my time “surrounded by 222 idiots”. “How do you survive?” he asked. Being a journalist, I looked at him. Is this guy trying the ‘show-me-your-friend-and-I-will-tell-you-who –you-are’ thing on me? But then I laughed it off. But, kindly indulge me. The President submits names to Parliament. The Prime Minister makes a lot of noise about being left out of the loop and asks the Speaker not to accept the President’s nominees. So, the Speaker is harassed for sometime to make crucial decisions. He ponders about it; buys time “hoping” the President and the PM will sit and agree. The duo fail to agree and say, “On the Issue of the nominations to fill State offices currently under consideration by Parliament, the two
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