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August 2018

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Baby Showers cupcakes
Date Posted: August 25, 2018
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Baby Showers are a Waste of Time and Resources

Baby Showers

Baby Showers

Recently I saw a comment on social media along the lines of holding baby showers is a waste of time and resources. The person suggested that people should have business showers to celebrate entrepreneurship Instead.

I like the idea of celebrating entrepreneurship. I like the idea of coming together to support a friend with resources to start a new venture. My question is, should one thing replace another?

My point is that being social beings, we value the different expressions of friendship. Holding baby showers is one of the many expressions of friendship.  It’s surrounding yourself with positive influencers whose attributes eventually rub off on you.

The aspect of surprising a  mother-to-be with your presence and gifts is heartwarming. It is not even about the gifts, it is more about the thought behind the whole event.

Some initiatives like Still A Mum hold rainbow baby showers. Rainbow babies are babies gotten after a miscarriage. The baby showers are held for a group of mothers who are expecting rainbow babies. They get to talk to gynecologists, nutritionists, and other specialists during the events. This promotes safe motherhood.

See what the evolution of an idea from one concept can do? Ideas are great and people need to act on them. If the idea to start business showers appeals to you, then by all means, start it. I even think that it is already being done in chamas– small investment groups. Just don’t discredit other peoples’ choices of expressing friendship.

We would be doing a disservice to our social lives if we decided to block certain aspects and concentrate on others. I think that we need to be balanced in life. Having some extreme point-of-view makes one come out as a bitter person who is not happy for others. I will talk about some reasons for women not wanting to be involved in such celebrations in a later post.

I am not discounting the fact that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and the right to express it. On the flip side, judging other people for their choices is also wrong. You don’t know everyone’s story.

Image credits: Designed by Freepik

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Discman adapter
Date Posted: August 11, 2018
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Discman and an iPod- the choice is yours.

Discman

Discman

My friend can’t stop laughing at the fact that my choice of a music gadget was a Discman when I had to pick between a Discman and an iPod. How was I to know what an iPod looked like in 2006? Before you start judging me harshly, YouTube was created in 2005, just a year before, so cut me some slack.

I had an awesome Canadian friend who had come to Kenya for an internship. She still is my friend. We clicked instantly. One day she wanted to buy me a gift to appreciate our friendship. Rafiki- as I call her, told me to choose between an iPod- a small thing that you put music in and carry along with you, and a Discman that used CDs. I had seen CDs before. I knew how to use CDs.

Smart people select the familiar, right? Yes, no? Anyways, I considered myself smart then, by gravitating towards the familiar. I was even smarter because I didn’t have electricity back then. I lived in the slum and electricity was a luxury. So, there was no way I could charge my device. Do you still believe I made a dumb choice? I hope you change your line of thought at the end of this short story.

My sleek black gadget stopped working after two weeks, and I had to take it back to Yaya Center for replacement. It was that fancy. Warranty and all, you know? It played music with a bass that would lock all your troubles away. That’s how I developed a taste for mzungu music like “Dancing in the moonlight”.

My Rafiki was generous enough to burn CDs for me from her playlist. Enough to last me a year. My Discman worked just as good as an iPod – at least I had a gadget to carry around.

An opportunity to go to Canada came in 2007. I was elated! Finally this was a chance to meet my friend in her country. Rafiki couldn’t believe our dream of meeting again was coming true. I couldn’t believe it either. I had to pinch myself to believe it.

Canada was fun! Just imagine a girl from the slums of Nairobi traveling alone to Canada. Travelling on an airplane wasn’t such a culture shock, because I had traveled to London earlier that year. That’s a story for another day. I may just tell you of my embarrassing experience in a London washroom. Just maybe!

My Canadian friend bought me a ticket to the city she lived in. Ater finishing the fancy engagement that had taken me from the slums of Nairobi to Quebec, I went to visit my friend and her family. It was an interesting two weeks. I even carried my Discman. How could I forget to carry such an important gadget?

Step down converter

Step down converter. Image source

When we went shopping, in Canada, I bought a heavy step-down converter that weighed almost 5 Kg- like a building brick. It would enable me to connect my Discman to electricity. Electricity that I did not have then. A girl has got to have dreams. I also bought a half Kg adapter which I still have. I am a keeper. I still have the Discman somewhere. Oh! I finally saw what an iPod looked like. I couldn’t believe I picked a heavy Discman over that. Sometimes I wish I picked the iPod, but I wouldn’t be telling this story, would I?

Administration Police, Doris Sabina Wako with street kids
Date Posted: August 8, 2018
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Corporate Lady Profile: Doris Sabina Wako- Administrative Police with a big heart for street kids

Doris Sabina Wako with street kids

Doris Sabina Wako with street kids

Doris Sabina Wako 36, is an Administration Police officer, stationed in Busia county. The mother of five caught the public attention from her generosity towards street children.

Police officers are usually associated with a lot of negativity. Mainstream media occasionally highlights some positive actions done by the police, but these are a drop in the ocean compared to the negative things we associate them with. This is the reason we highlighted this story. She regularly feeds 63 street children and is a mother figure to them.

In 2003, the government set up the Street Families Rehabilitation Trust Fund (SIRTF), a corporate body that was meant to coordinate rehabilitation efforts for street children. Currently, they are carrying out a census to know the exact numbers of street families. According to an article on the Kenya News Agency, the government plans to set up County Chapters of SIRTF’s in all the 47 Counties to synergize efforts of street families rehabilitation programmes being undertaken by different players at the county level.

Dorris has decided to do the little she can with her Administration Police salary. She has set up a website to appeal to the society’s goodwill, to join her in this worthy cause. Her tagline is “street kids are human beings too”.

Through her selfless act, she has developed a rapport with street children in Busia, who expect her to show up every evening to feed them. Though society considers them criminals and often considered a security risk, “they are just children in need of opportunities.” She says that the street children face challenges like lack of parental love, care, guidance, failure to get a formal education and lack of basic needs, which can make them be better people in the society.

Her dream is to get enough donors to help build a proper home and school for these kids. Even though the government’s role is to come up with programs of rehabilitation for street families, she has decided to play her part in being a mother to these children. She wants you to join her in this noble cause.