They cut down the acacia trees this week at Kenyatta National Hospital. The marabou storks that had nested there for decades didn’t have anywhere to go😭😭😭. Some died. Some got injured. All because nobody thought to check what was living in those branches first.
This is what happens when “development” skips the wildlife-sensitivity conversation entirely. Nairobi keeps growing, but does it have to keep growing over everything else that was already here?
Environmental assessments before tree removal shouldn’t be optional. They should be law am speaking for them, can someone hear me please 😭😭😭
What happened to the goons who attacked peaceful Gen Z protestors in Nairobi ?
Or the goons who raided Irungu Nyakera's hotel in Kisumu...
What about those who attacked Senator Osotsi ?
Or those who killed people during Kasipul by election ?
What about those who attacked RG in Othaya or those who attacked Sifuna in Kisumu ?
My fave Kenyanism word: Rada? Depending on the context it could mean WTF? It could mean “seriously?”. It could mean “what’s up?”. It could mean “the hell’s wrong with you?” And you can understand it by the tone someone uses when saying it, and I find it so beautiful.
I opened my Netflix yesterday and my “Continue Watching” was chaos. Shows I’d never seen, weird titles, all in Hindi.
Checked the devices, someone in India was logged into my account.
Instead of kicking them off, I made them their own profile and named it “Indian friend.” Figured it was easier than fighting the algorithm.
In 1998, I was fired from my corporate job while 9 months pregnant because and I quote, “my priorities would be elsewhere after the baby is born.”
The lawyer I hired told me I didn’t have a case because discrimination like “that” was almost impossible to prove.
So I got pissed.
Took the LSAT. Went to law school. Passed the bar. Had 3 more kids.
Twelve years later, another woman from that same company was fired for the same reason. She sued them for a million dollars, and won, partly because I had kept every piece of evidence from what happened to me years prior demonstrating a systemic pattern of discrimination against women.
That company no longer exists. My law practice is thriving. And that baby they said would derail my priorities? She’s a brilliant attorney now working at my firm.
Turns out my priorities were indeed, elsewhere.
You will grow up your entire life thinking your Aunt Susan is pure evil, the sworn enemy of your household, a name you are never allowed to speak. Then you hit 25 years old and finally ask what happened, only to find out your mom hasn't spoken to her since 2001 because Susan said her potato salad was "just okay" at a barbecue. Whole generations of cousins are kept apart, completely isolated from each other, just because two women in their 30s refused to apologize over a side dish. The level of sustained, generational pettiness in family lore is unmatched. We are out here inheriting beef we don't even understand.
learning how to tell when advice is really just someone else’s regret in disguise. your divorced friend cautioning you about marriage, your broke uncle’s take on investments, your unhappy parent steering your career.
they are not advising you. they are processing themselves. once you learn to hear the wound behind the words you stop letting lost people give you directions.
If I'm being honest, half the things I went through are in fact because of me: my lack of discipline, not listening to my gut feelings, and my poor decision-making.