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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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Book Review: Dance of the Jakaranda

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When you see the ‘k’ in Jakaranda, you really want to correct it. Who writes ‘Jacaranda’ that way? Well, Peter Kimani does, and it is the name he chose for his fictional nightclub. (Ha! Had to spoil it for you this early! Perhaps I should not have mentioned that. Sorry Peter, and Bola, I just couldn’t resist!). The book is not about dancing. Yes, there’s plenty of that vividly described, you can feel the party mood, smell the sweat of the revellers, the aroma of the nyamachoma and even the stench of the urinal, and trigger whatever sense is triggered when you see, smell, and drink alcohol. The reason I loved the book, is the meticulous research that went into it. All great works of historical fiction need thorough research. In Kenya, with the political identities defined or determined by ethnic identities, and the question of identity being pretty much the determinant of everything in an individual’s life, more so in political participation and public service, such re
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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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