Items by Juliet Maruru

She Blossoms...

• If life lets you live, what is your business killing it?

  Posted: August 7, 2009, 2:58 am by Juliet Maruru

  I’ve been making new friends at the clinic I go to for treatment. For a few inutes every day, when I am waiting in line, I stop thinking about my pain and see other people who are in more pain than I am. The clinic is run by Kenyan doctors and staff but funded by foreign [...]

• Kenyaimagine Updates – Our Ass and the Mau by Eric Ngeno

  Posted: August 7, 2009, 2:40 am by Juliet Maruru

  I wish I were Sammy Mwaita. Then I could tell you the genesis of the entire rigmarole. But I am not, so I will just tell you what might be in the public domain — what is, and is not, cannot be said for sure, since our unthinking journalists and commentators have done a [...]

• My husband and I

  Posted: August 4, 2009, 8:57 pm by Juliet Maruru

  My husband and I are not talking right now. That may not be a very good thing considering the tension in the homestead. See, we live in his parents’ homestead with his parents and two unmarried sisters who have children. His father is the local Redeemed Church Pastor. Everyone knows that my husband’s father is [...]

• Hanging upside down

  Posted: July 30, 2009, 10:36 pm by Juliet Maruru

  So I will not be attending the Storymoja Hay Festival. Yeah, I’m kinda lying in bed with my leg hanging up on a stirrup, and my mind sort of rearranging itself without my permission. I am sad, and angry, and I envy everyone else who will be attending the Festival. I hope you all go and [...]

• Manuscript Doctor Session at the SHFK

  Posted: July 28, 2009, 2:50 am by Juliet Maruru

  You no doubt understand the frustrations and challenges of getting your work published on print. Storymoja has arranged a session at the SHFK which will help writers which will not only help writers perfect their writing but also help them understand the intricacies of the publishing world. Saturday 1st August 2009 at 10am – 11:30am [...]

• When the chill sets in…

  Posted: July 24, 2009, 4:53 am by Juliet Maruru

  I grew up on a street, where I could come home from school, and play kati, bladda, and a weird kind of tennis – played with a piece of flat wood, and a tennis ball. The grown ups on the street looked out for each other’s kids, sometimes even disciplining their neighbours kids, but mostly [...]

• Coz I had nothing more constructive to do

  Posted: July 23, 2009, 4:09 am by Juliet Maruru

  Posted in She will be a woman someday...

• Oldest woman in Kenya dies

  Posted: July 21, 2009, 12:19 am by Juliet Maruru

  Rahab Wangui Ng’ang’a died peacefully in her bedroom at her son’s house at Thakwa in Githunguri on July 11, 2009. Her year of birth, registered on the ID card she received in 1979 indicated that she was born in 1884. Her oldest child was born in 1917, and her youngest in 1936. Her year of [...]

• The Queen

  Posted: July 21, 2009, 2:58 am by Juliet Maruru

  Hush… Whisper to the wind, Sigh to the wave, Flutter with the linen, Caress like the silk, Sigh, Groan, Old wood, Coral, Jade blue The queen of my dreams. Posted in She will be a woman someday...

• Kenyan poetry goes North?

  Posted: July 18, 2009, 3:08 pm by Juliet Maruru

  The literature magazine Komma is based in Lulea, on the northern coast of Sweden and not far away from the Arctic Circle. Komma publishes newly written poems and prose. Among those who contribute the readers will find both established writers and those who are in progress. It also happens that Komma reviews foreign poetry. We [...]

• Keep Growing – As a Writer

  Posted: July 16, 2009, 3:52 am by Juliet Maruru

  This is a response to an email I received a few days ago from a young woman looking to launch her writing career into higher orbit. Dear C, I am very honored that you would consider me for advice. I’ll tell you how I’ve been able to get a measure of success. 1. I make a point to present [...]

• Kenyaimagine Updates – hadn’t we heard those words before

  Posted: July 16, 2009, 3:39 am by Juliet Maruru

  Do you think you, and many other Kenyans, watching Obama deliver his speech in Accra, would have reacted differently to what he said, if he was say, George Bush? Does it matter that Obama is ‘african’? In his article, Ombuya E. Okongo writes: ‘Because Obama is of African blood, no one stood up to tell him that [...]

• She calls me Jose

  Posted: July 13, 2009, 11:33 pm by Juliet Maruru

  She calls me Jose. That’s not my name. But she calls me Jose, and pronounces it with a ‘h’, so it sounds like ‘hosee’. I wanted to tell her my name. But I got distracted by the voices. The voices don’t like her. But I like her anyway, so they torment me. She gave me bananas and [...]

• You can… if you take responsibility for your future

  Posted: July 11, 2009, 5:38 pm by Juliet Maruru

  US President Barack Obama has just finished his Speech in Accra, Ghana. In it, he very clearly lauds Ghana for upholding democracy, and expresses hope that Africa is capable of rising above historic injustice and poverty. ‘The people of Africa are ready to claim that future. In my country, African-Americans — including so many recent immigrants [...]

• This is dedicated to that guy who thinks I have too many cats…

  Posted: July 8, 2009, 6:40 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Posted in Animals Tagged: funny cats, pets

• Daddy’s little girl.

  Posted: July 8, 2009, 3:06 pm by Juliet Maruru

  What did you learn from MJ’s daughter’s words yesterday? That every man is someone’s son, brother, husband, father. Sometimes, writers, journalists members of the media fraternity forget that the people we write about, report are human beings and they have family who love them. While we do have a responsibility to provide true information about current [...]

• Storymoja Story of the Month Contest – Win Tickets to the Storymoja Hay Festival

  Posted: July 3, 2009, 3:57 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Your votes are in and the story of the week is… Rendezvous by Chrispus Kimaru, he wins again! Read it here And now a little bit about the scheduled Storymoja Story of the Month. All stories that will be submitted by Sunday 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th of the month of July then published on the blog [...]

• Kenyaimagine – Mental Health Care in Kenya; The odds…

  Posted: July 2, 2009, 3:59 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Every Kenyan talks about counselling needs whenever tragedy occurs, but when they seek these services in our public hospitals, they end up getting a raw deal. Many of the so-called counsellors have no qualifications to carry out this demanding job. Additionally, many counsellors do not appreciate their roles on the frontlines of the war against mental [...]

• Slumber Party

  Posted: July 2, 2009, 3:31 pm by Juliet Maruru

  It is official, I hate all-girl slumber parties. Sure I love to blog and post online stuff about me that no one in particular wants to know about. But I hate to sit around with too many girls, too much wine, very likely chocolate and topics that revolve around the ‘men’ in our lives. Now where would [...]

• Write, Judge and Win Tickets to the Storymoja Hay Festival

  Posted: July 1, 2009, 10:26 pm by Juliet Maruru

  How would you like to judge the Storymoja Story of the Month contest as well as win tickets to the Storymoja Hay Festival? All you have to do is send in a 600 word essay on the importance of reading and literature for economic development of Kenya. This essay must be submitted by Wednesday 8th, [...]

• First case of swine flu [H1N1] confirmed in Kenya

  Posted: June 29, 2009, 5:03 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Kenya’s minister for Public Health and Sanitation Mrs. Beth Mugo held a press conference this morning in Nairobi to confirm the case. The new case is different from a false suspect which had been reported last week in Nairobi. The patient a British national jetted into the country from the UK over the weekend. He presented [...]

• Soul, Pop and Michael Jackson, I’m suffering from celebrity mourning

  Posted: June 26, 2009, 4:17 pm by Juliet Maruru

  I don’t watch TV in the morning, but I’ve been glued to this couch all morning, occasionally getting up on my feet and breaking out into the moonwalk. I didn’t even know I can moonwalk. I would say I love Michael, but I can’t even say I know the guy. I have loved his music ever [...]

• I do…

  Posted: June 23, 2009, 11:22 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Do you even remember? I do… Sitting in the back of your red truck? I do… When we talked about everything? I do… And about what I was going to be? I do… And what you had to be? I do… Don’t you remember what you said? I do… That I was never going to be good enough? I do… That I was damaged, ruined, not quite right? I do… That [...]

• Some fun

  Posted: June 22, 2009, 3:47 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Posted in She will be a woman someday...

• Kenyaimagine – The Discussion this week

  Posted: June 20, 2009, 3:16 pm by Juliet Maruru

  In recent press photographs and TV images of President Kibaki – the primary modes through which most citizens see the president – one notices his obvious pained fatigue. Also unmistakable is the blankness of an elderly man contemplating a world beyond the cameras, as if to project the boredom he finds in the terrible tedium [...]

• Bar & Bakery: NGO made in Heaven

  Posted: June 15, 2009, 8:46 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Perhaps my discomfort was augmented by the discovery that the people we met, and the children we worked with, were completely convinced of their inability ever to find their way out of poverty and hardships. To them the NGO and the CBO was sent by the Lord from heaven. Praise the Lord. Amen.

• The family

  Posted: June 15, 2009, 8:12 pm by Juliet Maruru

  I finally managed to photograph my kitties, but the camera phone was kinda off and Boy George got testy. Samantha knows she is beautiful, and Nikita does not feel too good. Sparkie and her baby Ginger were too bored. Hmmm...

• Ki-Rion

  Posted: June 13, 2009, 11:06 pm by Juliet Maruru

  “The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it is only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.” I [...]

• Friendships

  Posted: June 10, 2009, 9:27 pm by Juliet Maruru

  There was a time when I was a teenager and thought I did not have any friends in the world. It was a lonely phase, but I seemed to have grown out of it. Soon I was 16, and I had a best friend in the whole world. Makes me smile sometimes when I think about [...]

• The cycles of life, and death

  Posted: June 2, 2009, 12:09 am by Juliet Maruru

  I found out today that a friend died on Sunday. I t was not totally unexpected; she had been suffering from cancer of the jaw which had metastised. She was in pain in the end, therefore heavily medicated. I almost felt relief, that she was at peace, but a little sad because she was a [...]

• ROLE PLAY

  Posted: May 30, 2009, 6:16 pm by Juliet Maruru

  No, not that kind. I am talking about children’s play. The particular episode I am talking about happened in Kakamega, but I have seen so many more. The star of the show is a young girl, about eleven years old. The show has been initiated by my teaching assistant in an effort to help the kids [...]

• Writer’s Bloxx

  Posted: May 26, 2009, 1:26 pm by Juliet Maruru

  I have writer’s bloxx, must write three articles before Friday, cannot think what to write about. That cannot be good. I need my salary at the end of the month. Help… Sparkie gat no ideas either… Posted in She will be a woman someday...

• Sophie’s Log – A book review

  Posted: May 22, 2009, 11:45 pm by Juliet Maruru

  How do you motivate a young child to voice his or her feelings, hopes, dreams and opinions in written form? How do you help a child grow from tentative expression to creative heights as a fiction writer, a poet, a script writer or even a journalist? How do you get a child to understand that [...]

• The Beauty

  Posted: May 15, 2009, 1:58 pm by Juliet Maruru

  I sincerely apologise to you all for the delay in posting more stuff about the Kakamega kids. The pictures are not of the absolute best quality but here they are. As you may have gathered from previous posts, the trip had its downs, but the ups were extremely rewarding. After the initial shock, Wangui and I regrouped [...]

• The Blemish 2

  Posted: April 30, 2009, 4:35 pm by Juliet Maruru

  After an email from Lindy that seemed to change our previous terms, I got a bit worried. The dates had changed and so had the allowances we had agreed on. I wrote to her. Hello Lin, I am not certain if I understand. 1. If we travel to the center on Friday to arrive on Saturday, will that be [...]

• The Blemish 1

  Posted: April 28, 2009, 4:58 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Wednesday Today, one phone call threatened to mar the beauty of this experience. Sure things have been going wrong for a while, but I wanted to focus on the girls and what we could learn from each other. But now it seems I must go over some of the things that have gone wrong. Lindy Wafula, Founding [...]

• Blocked WC’s, Ngo Speak, and HOT!

  Posted: April 21, 2009, 7:06 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Tuesday Okay, it has been quite a long day. I am not feeling very well, and there have been a few frustrations during the day, but I must say that the girls we are working with make it all so worth the while. I woke up at 8am. I know, I should have been up at 6am, [...]

• Bedbugs, red wine, midnight velvet.

  Posted: April 20, 2009, 7:06 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Sunday So here we are. In Kakamega. Wangui my travel companion is absolutely certain that Uganda is down the street. She may be right but we will get up and go buy a Map first thing in the morning. Oh yes, the bus ride from Nairobi was quite traumatic. We really should have taken the train. Oh [...]

• What a girl wants…

  Posted: April 18, 2009, 1:43 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Ah no, this is definitely not one of those relationship advice articles written by women for men. As a matter of fact, you, my dear probably don’t need me to tell you what your girl wants. This is about all the girls in the world no matter their age, creed, nationality or race. This is [...]

• Edge of the Cliff

  Posted: April 14, 2009, 3:41 pm by Juliet Maruru

  On March 27th, this year, on a Citi Hoppa Bus from Ongata Rongai to the City Centre, I suffered a severe attack of pain that started about ten minutes after I boarded the bus and lasted the entire 1 hour and 20 minute ride. I got off the bus and pretty much crawled to my [...]

• Psycho… Strangely Happy… Sadly bedridden

  Posted: April 6, 2009, 6:36 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Okay, I just made a decision that is freaking me out now that I have made it. No, I am not sad freaked out. I am strangely happy. Very strangely happy. I guess it takes a bad experience to help us see things in a whole new way, a wonderful new way. Enough about the getting freaked [...]

• Scrutiny

  Posted: March 26, 2009, 5:03 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Born of a conversation between me, a friend, and the Senior editor at Storymoja, the topic of which also landed on a certain blog affiliated with the above people, I went into a personal scrutiny moment. I’d tell you it was about my growth as a writer, except it is not. My writing world has been [...]

• There’s a Coffee House around the corner…

  Posted: March 24, 2009, 4:04 pm by Juliet Maruru

  A few months ago, a friend read one of my pieces and wrote to me. She said that it seemed that I was not afraid of voicing my opinions. I responded with one of my goofy answers. But wait… I am afraid of voicing my opinions. That is why I will hide them in goofy comic [...]

• True Beauty

  Posted: March 20, 2009, 4:58 pm by Juliet Maruru

  So, I am stuck in the development of my children’s book, I am pissed off at being blamed for other people’s mistakes, and I am not doing very well with the ultimatum I mentioned last week. Blue Friday. But since I am very good at telling people that it is not always about them, and I [...]

• The ‘ Cut off my Tongue’ show rescheduled

  Posted: March 18, 2009, 12:16 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Storymoja introduces “Cut Off My Tongue”  by Sitawa Namwalie, again.  Is it a play, is it dramatized poetry, what is it?  Whatever! What we can confirm is that you will be entertained, challenged, invigorated and even understood.   Until now “Cut off My Tongue” has been one of Kenya’s best-kept secrets.  Yet in 2008, after just two [...]

• A Poetry Soup Finalist- Gold Digger by Juliet Maruru

  Posted: March 17, 2009, 11:23 am by Juliet Maruru

  I don’t usually write poetry, if I do it will be about something that shakes me up pretty bad. This one was inspired by a ‘fight’ with someone who has since become very dear to me. I cried, I wrote it, and then I submitted it to the September 2008 Poetry Soup Contest. Surprise! It was one [...]

• On an average day…

  Posted: March 13, 2009, 4:08 pm by Juliet Maruru

  So yesterday was my day to moan. Which reminds me of the time I was so pissed by a friend’s constant complaints that I wrote a piece based on his moaning. Actually, my title when I submitted it for publishing on an online magazine here, was The Anguish of a Kenyan Man. A certain editor [...]

• Blue Thursday….

  Posted: March 12, 2009, 6:46 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Well, Thursday, usually an intense day on any week for me. Today by far more than any other thursdays. I am pissed off and anxious. Pissed off because some people seem to think that no one else matters except their own selves. Anxious because someone gave me an ultimatum and I do not do very [...]

• Cut off my Tongue Show cancelled due to riots will be Rescheduled

  Posted: March 11, 2009, 4:34 pm by Juliet Maruru

  To all ‘Cut off my Tongue’ Friends, Due to the demonstrations last night, we were forced to cancel the Cut off my Tongue performance at the French Cultural Centre, yesterday, March 10th, 2009, at 7pm. We were concerned about the safety of the Cut off my Tongue audience in view of the uncertainty in the city. The [...]

• Writing Someday -The Novel

  Posted: March 4, 2009, 10:42 am by Juliet Maruru

  Someday is the title of my very first novel. I wrote it during the NaNoWriMo of 2004. I had always wanted to write a novel. Actually, I had written a few of them in my teens which I promptly destroyed when I read them after they were done. This is the very first novel that [...]

• S-T-O-O-P-I-D

  Posted: March 3, 2009, 10:44 am by Juliet Maruru

  Well, I have several definitions for the word, along with the other spelling. Stupid. 1. Any man who believes that women have lesser rights by virtue of being women. 2. Any woman who believes men have no rights at all by virtue of their being men. 3. Any person who judges and discriminates against other people by virtue [...]

• S-T-O-O-P-I-D

  Posted: March 2, 2009, 5:54 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Well, I have several definitions for the word, along with the other spelling. Stupid. 1. Any man who believes that women have lesser rights by virtue of being women. 2. Any woman who believes men have no rights at all by virtue of their being men. 3. Any person who judges and discriminates against other people by virtue [...]

• Cut off my Tongue - A Poetry Production

  Posted: February 27, 2009, 4:10 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Storymoja introduces “Cut Off My Tongue”  by Sitawa Namwalie.  Is it a play, is it dramatized poetry, what is it?  Whatever! What we can confirm is that you will be entertained, challenged, invigorated and even understood.   Until now “Cut off My Tongue” has been one of Kenya’s best-kept secrets.  Yet in 2008, after just two public [...]

• Beyond the Veil

  Posted: February 24, 2009, 10:32 am by Juliet Maruru

  I live in the land of the veil. A veil which insists on hiding the beauty of diversity. I insist on seeing the beauty, so I keep finding myself beyond the veil, alternately alone or with a few defiant souls who might not quite see things my way.So here I am, standing at the door of the [...]

• On Bikes and Dear Mum

  Posted: February 20, 2009, 5:09 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Just because I’ve never owned one does not negate the mad fascination I have with machines. Mean motorbikes, raw power vehicles, 18 wheeler trucks. I probably can’t tell you all the technical stuff about a motor bike, but I will stop to gawk, at the high power bike, the turbo powered sports car, and all vehicles [...]

• Superbikes… I hit my head on something at Lunch time :)

  Posted: February 18, 2009, 5:41 pm by Juliet Maruru

  From Ducati  www.ducati.com                                                                             http://www.webbikeworld.com/ducati-motorcycles/monster-1100/ Posted in Fun Reading, She will be a woman someday... Tagged: ducati.com, monster 1100 S, sportclassic, streetfighter, superbikes

• Love is…

  Posted: February 16, 2009, 3:39 pm by Juliet Maruru

  A day to celebrate love. Hmmm… you have your opinion, I have mine. Not that you are asking but I will tell you anyway. Besides I waited until after you had your weekend before telling you what I think. February 14th, 2009, I was flat out on my back. A combination of an acute attack from [...]

• Angsty

  Posted: February 12, 2009, 4:03 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Okay, so I am not going to write about a certain person, and the thoughts going through my head with regards to him, especially after he specifically said, “Sure, but do not scare me.” If you ever come across this, well, what can I say, except, “Little girls (read big) have a way of seeing [...]

• A STORYMOJA WRITING FOR CHILDREN WORKSHOP

  Posted: February 11, 2009, 11:58 am by Juliet Maruru

  Do you dream of writing but hesitate to start? Are your drawers full of manuscripts you dare not show anyone? Do you tell your kids wonderful bedtime stories and wish you could write them down? Here’s the chance to turn your dreams into reality! A writing workshop is the best way to hone your craft under [...]

• Success, the definitions and the anchors

  Posted: February 10, 2009, 5:21 pm by Juliet Maruru

  So I was kinda taking a break from editing three of a few dozen books that need to be developed before June, when I landed on this site here. The author of the blog, Daniel Ngari, has chosen to focus his entire blog on success through positive actions. It was a bit preachy for me but [...]

• Ongoza Njia Kids

  Posted: February 3, 2009, 2:14 pm by Juliet Maruru

  The kids at the Ongoza Njia Community Centre Homework Club, in Huruma, a slum town in the outskirts of Nairobi, have bright smiles, mischievous expressions and an eager need to explore, discover and learn. Poverty interrupts their childhood in various ways. But the volunteers and workers at the centre give of their time to bring [...]

• TJ crisis, Daddy’s Comics, My Country’s Woes

  Posted: February 2, 2009, 5:24 pm by Juliet Maruru

  Okay, so I’ve been in full panic mode. I even wrote a poem, which is a sign of the times, if you know me. I am not in love. I am melancholic. I miss my home town. I am beginning to hate my city. And yet, I am in love with love, with the idea [...]

• Wonder Woman - Power of a girl

  Posted: January 28, 2009, 12:42 pm by Juliet Maruru

        Don’t I wish! But first I have to get past the ‘little tomboy’ (not so little, as Daddy pointed out, *sigh*) phase. Actually I think the ‘growing into a woman’ phase is harder. Which is why I keep running back to the little tomboy phase even though I don’t quite fit into the cast I [...]

• Deja Vu

  Posted: January 28, 2009, 10:22 am by Juliet Maruru

  Deja vu, not quite, but close this week I turned 17 again just one phone call is all and I’m back in time Deja vu, quite close, but not all the questions in between what has been, has not yeah, I’m back in time Deja vu, almost, just not quite, the same puppy dog blindness heart racing, tongue hanging out darn, I’m back in time Deja vu, [...]

• Off Zippers and Shebeens

  Posted: November 30, 1999, 3:00 am by Juliet Maruru

  Monday I have no idea why Wangui set the alarm for 5.30am. If she had not made it shut up, I would have kicked it to oblivion. But she was faster than me at reaching the bedside table between our beds and hushing the damn thing. We then proceeded to sleep for two more hours, until [...]

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes