How to talk about Africa.

I have just finished reading Binyavanga Wainaina's article called "How to write about Africa'. Here; http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1.  How true is that?! It is a wonderful article. I mean, these African Writers seem to have a grip on my reading appetite nowadays. I cannot have enough. I tend to relate more to their stories. It could be because I am now removed from the continent as most of them are and have a vantage view point.There is plenty of fodder for my reading too.

This article took me back to a day about 3 year ago when I had the privilege of attending a weekly women's Group meeting in Worcester called 'Women Together'. I had been invited to attend  when I worked as an outreach liaison for a federally funded program that supported minority pregnant women. My purpose of attending was to network with other women who may have an interest in our program. I was therefore surprised when the women started  to go round narrating  of the tragedies in their lives, getting personal so on and so forth. No networking took place on that day. That meeting was a pity party. A staging of whose story was the best tear jerker. It got quite emotional  to say the least.  Everyone had started by introducing themselves and there was no one else with a distinct accent but me.  So when the next person to speak was me, I heard one woman say, "Ooooh..I can't wait to hear her story.." and many more looked at me with anticipation and suspense in their eyes. I felt the pressure of being the one with the most horrific story in the room just because I had an accent of African origin.

I sat there and said that I had nothing to like that to say. Truth be told, I have thankfully not experienced the tragedies that occur in different parts of the African continent. That is why  of all the disappointments, I was the disappointest of all(word borrowed from King Julian, Kung Fu panda) in that room. Then there was an awkward silence and meanness in those eyes! I think they felt that I was either a liar or in denial of what most people who sound like me have gone through. I should have read Bin's article earlier and be prepared to narrate how I had fed on monkeys brain for days in the jungles of Kenya that are filled with lions and crocodiles. I should have talked of how the rebels and guerillas had raped women and killed the men in our mud village. Of the scorching sun and dead bodies all over and unending war.

Fortunately for me, I come from Kenya, in the Eastern part of Africa and I have had a fairly normal life just incase you did not know that. Oh well, there are monsters called Matatus there. And that is topic for another day.
Asante
Malken.

work life

So I have been working at a Charter School for the last 4 months. I had been out of work for about 8 months and had started to get used to laziness. I am happy with this job especially because a lot of people wanted it and I ended up with it. I love the work environment a lot. I have embraced working with parents who astonish you with questions that you would never imagine. Such as, 'what grade is my child?" is that a question a normal parent asks? or 'hello can you send my child outside to my car coz am not dressed appropriately?". Any how that does not bother me much. It is the once in a while impossible jobs that try to disturb the peace. Is work supposed to always try to mess your mood every so often?
Well, the good thing is that tomorrow is another day that I can come in and give it a fresh look and start all over again.

How is your work day going?