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Chubot the Cursed One and other stories
Christopher Okemwa's Chubot, the Cursed & Other Storiesis a collection of stories which captures society's realities as played by characters rendered in the stories.
A recurring theme is the role of women in society and their longing for equity, their triumph often depicted by heroines catapulted by circumstances rather than deliberate action of society to engineer their success. Women's humility is felt through the stories, even in the face of courage to confront taboos and traditions with society contributing little towards their success. Indeed, women's triumphs are captured as happening where men fall short.
Many of these stories raise the question of why society lacks a systematic approach to women's empowerment.
Chubot, the Cursed One, and Other Stories was selected in the UN SDG Book Club Africa Chapter as a Club title in the Social Development Goal (SDG) number 5 - Gender Equality
The Gong: A collection of Poems
"A very good insight into the writer's perception of life - as a child, the woes of African teachers, life and death, religion, prostitution, marriage, witchcraft, love, hatred and existence.
"These poems are genuine; and convey the heartfelt experiences of a very sensitive, honest and articulate spirit. You can tell that Christopher is talented.
"Poetry is a concentrated form of expression. It's not for the prosaic or the talkative. Christopher is fortunate to belong to the class of humans who can say a lot in a few words."
- Charles Phebi-Agyekum, Author
"Christopher Okemwa is a master of mixing the voice of rapture with despair, an exceptional voice, in many ways unlike the usual voice we hear from Africa , longing to unravel the secrets of life and of love, striving to reach the unreachable, accomplished and lyrical."
- Anna Petkova Mwangi
“The Gong is an excellent work that engages the reader. Each poem leads to a journey; a weaving of Stories, Sayings and Truths, each one creating an imprint on the mind. It is an unforgettable experience and a remarkable record of the times which must be shared.”
- Estella Muyinda
Callused Hands
Kenyan coffee is renowned all over the world for its distinctive quality and hence reputation. It graces tables of the finest eateries from London to New York, and has been romanticized by those who visited the country and were enchanted by it. At one point it was the leading contributor to the country's foreign revenue. Unknown to many in the world the slavery-like conditions under which it is produced. Callused Hands explores some of these difficult conditions under which this precious 'black gold' is produced, and the unseen faces that grovel under the surface in ensuring that gourmet consumers in the West are fed.
"This is a great book! It makes me feel like it is a fresh and imaginative story that makes sense the entire time of reading it. It is well written and exceptionally compelling." - Sheena Brennan - Publishing Editor
"The novel celebrates the spirit and bravery of disempowered women who can, together, tip the balance in favour of workers and justice. This is a compassionate and ultimately triumphant story. - Linda Cracknell, Writer-in-Residence at Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital
"Stanley Gazemba's Calloused Hands is an exciting work that re-imagines hopelessness. In a sluggish almost non-committal fashion, the novel creates ground for the readers to take a peek into the lives of the 'wretched of the earth.' One feels as though he has been sucked into that bottomless pit from which the characters are struggling to come up for air. The never-ending suffering becomes a bitter-sweet element that angers and then provokes one to want to change the story- to make it sweeter for all." - Dr. Fred Mbogo, Moi University
The Trial of the GODS
The Trial of the Gods is the story of a man and his people who live in the Kalahari Desert. They believe that the land they occupy belongs to the Gods hence cannot be owned by anyone else, least of all Government. The book takes the reader through human rights Bushman activism in an environment they are considered uncivilized and stigmatized as scavengers; the wretched of earth, in the words of Franz Fanon.
As the government plans relocation and integration of Bushmen into "mainstream society" one man, Jay, and his people vehemently resist. It becomes a quest for justice, truth and conservation. They cannot listen to anyone, or get instructions from the Government, lawyers or judges. Only instructions from the Gods will do as to whether they should embrace the "dangerous" world of development and civilization. It becomes a matter of life and death as the man and his people realize that the Gods alone cannot help fight one of the richest governments in Africa. In the process their claims and demands reverberate across the land and the world, touching many human rights organizations and supporters.
Will they manage to fight a government financed by the most precious diamonds in the world?
Here is what others say:
"The Trial of the Gods is a gripping tale of conflict between modernity and tradition, old and new conventions, conservation and human rights." - Anonymous
"The Trial of the Gods is more than just a story. It's a commentary about how determination, courage and love will ultimately defeat greed. It is definitely a must-read." - Olopeng Rabasimane, Columnist, The Botswana Gazette
Smiles in Pathos and Other Poems
miles in Pathos and Other Poems is a collection of selected poems by Khainga O'Okwemba. The poet stands on the opposite ends of his contemporaries because of his faith and reverence in the traditional forms of poetry. He is intimately Augustan in craft and romantic in idealizing the poetic forms. The poems are written in three models divided into separate books, with each book sub-themed.
In Book One we have the celebratory short poems called Poems of Homage which are inspired by the poet's admiration of canonical African writers: Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Chris Wanjala, Peter Abrahams, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Ayi Kwei Amah, Denis Brutus, Christopher Okigbo, among others.
The Incidental poems in Book Two called Poems of Known Tradition , adopt identifiable forms; rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, repetition, stanza, terza rima, sonnet, and which take on socio-political themes.
In Book Three we find the mock epic narrative poetry with the title Pearls of Laughter. The narrative poem needs first to be enjoyed as a love story, and as a satire. Every piece has a life of its own. However, the work is well appreciated when the fragmented pieces are united into one, a feat generally admired by the poet
In the Murk of Life: An Anthology of ...
In the Murk of Life is an anthology written by first year students in the department of literature at Kisii University in Kenya. As its title suggests, the poets in this collection explore the murky landscape of life in Kenyan society and examines issues that are universal in content: They deal with the bitter-sweet lies evident in intimate relationships among young people. They tackle the issues of corruption, murder and betrayal that paint the rotten fabric of Kenyan politics. They also, categorically, state their fears in poems about death, cancer and HIV/AIDS. Nature and the environment feature prominently in poems about birds, trees and nights and, subsequently, unveil truths that lay beneath the ordinary understanding of this phenomenon. In essence, In the Murk of Life the Kenyan society is portrayed as “the place we call home” as the poet Mose E. Morang’a states in his poem, and as a “Disheartening Society” as the poet, Aurellia Atieno, views it.
Unscripted – The Great Rat-Race...
Learn How to Free Yourself and Your Life Through the Power of Unscripted Entrepreneurship.
By all appearances, Jeff and Samantha Trotman are living the American Dream. But behind the white picket fence, they endure an American Nightmare. With little time for each other, a pile of debt, and Ferrari taste on a Ford budget, the ruse of affluence is killing them.
Two respectable jobs and a lovely suburban house paint a pretty picture, but behind the ink the canvas tells another story of two working corpses sharing a broken marriage. And now, with an unplanned pregnancy, they’re facing a mid-life crisis twenty years early. With little time and looming bankruptcy, the Trotmans are forced to face the red-pill truth they long denied: They were alive, but they weren’t living.
Determined to resurrect their life and their marriage, the Trotmans plot a rat-race escape—only to find themselves more thickly in it. As tensions rise and hope fades, follow along step-by-step as the Trotmans pivot to a new strategy and a new career: starting a business as entrepreneurs. While they navigate their journey, you’ll learn 120 wealth-building strategies and principles that your mainstream financial guru won’t dare reveal—actionable concepts that will help you profit your way into the Unscripted 1%, an emerging economic class of entrepreneurs who enjoy a lifetime of freedom emancipated from miserly living and Wall Street's "save, pray, and wait" paradigm.
Discover how one family escapes the rat-race grind and wins a lifetime of financial freedom, leaving behind the tyranny of meaningless jobs and mediocre living— and how you can too. Here is just a little of what you will learn:
- The Bad Math Principle: Why most people will never escape the rat-race, much less earn financial freedom.
- The 1/5/10 Strategy: One this one simple exercise will unearth your ultimate dream life while establishing a decision framework for its reality.
- The Honeypot Principle: Why the financial media's "invest a $100/mo for 40 years in indexed-funds" narrative is part of the same rat-race scheme, just a different side of the same rigged coin.
- The Dual Change Strategy: The two divergent sides of change and how it can make you a fortune.
- The Value Skew Strategy: How to find literally 1000s of business ideas and why you never need to "disrupt" or invent anything new or novel.
- The Millionaire Payday Strategy: How to spot opportunities to hire yourself and earn an instant millionaire-making income.
- The Cinderella Principle: Why starting a business based on a cultural trend or a fad is horrible idea.
- The Perseverance Strategy: Never struggle with motivation again; the four necessary ingredients to tap into unlimited motivation and determination, regardless of the obstacles in your way.
- The Triangulated Value Strategy: The 3-pronged strategy in maximizing marketing yields while also and over 110+ more!
- Don’t let the rat-race and its co-conspirators proclaim your life as non-essential. Don’t let the rat-race entice you to save your life away for the promise of an elderly retirement. Don’t let the rat-race lull you into a tedious existence medicated by television, video games, and trivial sporting events. Go Unscripted, escape the rat-race, and discover your happily-ever-after.
The First 6 – A Parenting Playb...
The First 6 – A Parenting Playbook
On technology: Practically every child who is 0 to 6 years old in an urban setting was born to the presence of a smart phone. They could swipe a screen before they could wipe their noses. What’s your plan with regard to the use of, access and exposure to, or ownership of “technology” in your home? This includes all gadgets and any apps therein.
We have been programmed, with every likely action considered, when it comes to our online behaviour. The next few pages address some similarities between what tech is doing and what parents ought to be doing. We need to program or plan our children’s behaviour for them to survive both online and offline.
Eggs, Hammers and Chilli Peppers by S...
Conversations about abuse, drugs, sex, careers, friends, hobbies, discipline and family break-ups and breakdowns are all part of what must be included when raising teenagers.
Eggs, Hammers & Chilli Peppers dives into these and more issues affecting teens today, and guides parents, teachers, and mentors on the journey to understanding teenagers and connecting and relating with them, leading to a positive impact on their future.
Tips and tools that are immediately applicable are shared throughout the book in an easy, conversational way.
Ludic Activities in Foreign Language ...
Teachers of the French language in the Department of European and Oriental Language at Makerere University kept wondering what could be done to help young beginner learners of French to speak the language more efficiently and be effortlessly creative. By general observation, the teachers noted that this could best be done through games and play-like activities. This was later to be verified through French Holiday Camps or Cadres de Vie en Francais.
The initiative of the “CAVIF Project” identified a gap that the teachers were eager to fill. However, with the ending of the initial financing of the Federarion Internationale des Professeurs de Francais (FIPF) it became apparent that pedagogical goal needed several years of trial before fully responding to the curriculum needs with supporting evidence. The study took five years of organizing mini-language immersion camps for secondary school learners of French. This process, supported by a Fulbright African Scholar Fellowship at the University of Connecticut for the corresponding editor, resulted in the collective publication of this title, Ludic Activities in the Learning of Foreign Languages: The CAVIF Project of Uganda. This book is a record and an assessment of five years of experiential and collaborative learning aimed at improving students’ interactive skills through the use of word and number games, songs, photographs, proverbs, French cuisine, excursions, drama, debate and talent show. The application of these interactive pedagogical approaches will be helpful to readers not only for increasing learner motivation but also for making the learning environment in non-Francopnone contexts more conducive.
Mines and Mind Fields: The Spoken Word
"These poems especially speak to a number of related realities in Kenya and other countries in the African continent; they speak about a people with ingenuity and yet forced to make tough choices because of hard economic and political conditions; they speak of an evolving culture, shaped by everyday realities of life and the ingenuities of survival. The mixture of languages and slang also give the poems an interesting immediacy and life."
- Mwenda Ntarangwi, Sociology Professor
"She is one of the most respected female poets in Nairobi today". The Sunday Nation writer Joseph Ngunjiri says of Njeri, "Njeri Wangari has a powerful voice, and she knows how to put it to good use. Whenever she takes to the podium to recite a poem, she has her enthusiastic audience applauding all the way. "
-Sunday Nation 8 February 2009. - Kenya's Leading newspaper.
"The poems bring a lot into perspective; and give me a thing or two to think about. ... Very nice ..."
- - Cee- A Kenyan Blogger
"I have had a hearty laugh reading Maisha Ya Hawker, got the tears to prove it :-) You just topped Women Behaving Badry and I love it! Your expression is amazing Njeri. I can't wait to see you perform this one."
- Ndanu - Performance Poet
"I must admit these are lovely poems. I have been following your blog for a while and it is very inspiring and informing. I am a poet and run the blog Two Hours Before. Your blog actually inspired me to do it also and I must tell you that your work is excellent. I will keep tuned and hopefully will get an opportunity to meet you and may be attend your performances."
- Simon Mwangi Muthiora - Blogger and Poet
Facing the World from Gusii: A Memoir
Facing the World from Gusii: A Memoir, is a personal account of growing up in Gusii, specifically living along the common border between Abagusii and the Maasai. The author captures information and events as he saw them happen as an observer and participant. These include ethnic clashes with the Maasai, tracking stolen livestock, hunting and gathering expeditions, and activities of growing up with others in community spaces. Of
interest is the community security group, termed chinkororo that was once proscribed by the government. The author’s life at home captures the realities of the times! The
challenges of schooling are of historical significance as they speak to educational issues of the time, be it in primary or secondary schools, or at university. The task of teaching and managing rural community schools offers insights that may not be obvious to the naked eye. The rare opportunity to travel overseas proffers good contrast between life in economically advanced countries and that in less economically advanced countries such as Kenya.
Tessy and the School Bag
Tessy and the School bag is about how a young girl learns how to be polite when she would like something from her parents. She likes her friend's bag and she has to find an appropriate way to ask her mother to buy for her the same bag.
A child of 5 to 7 years will get a chance to learn how to use kind words like Please and Sorry when they read this story.
Moody Mood and the Red Round Ball
Ominous Clouds
Ominous Clouds is a collection of poems that have specifically been selected from previous works by the author. The collection comprises of poems with the theme of Kenyan politics. Issues of governance, negative ethnicity and political violence are tackled.
The poems have been translated to Finnish, Norwegian and Greek. These multiple translations enable the poetry to travel around the globe and beyond the readership in English, the original language in which they were written. As the translators have noted, the translations offer readership in the said languages to learn about the country Kenya as captured in the poetry.
Sakagwa Ng’iti: A Kisii Prophet
Sakagwa Ng'iti exerted substantial influence on Gusii society and beyond in the latter part of the 1800s. He was many things: a medicine man, rainmaker, an unelected community strategist in dealing with raids from the warring Maasai and Kipsigis, and a prophet whose many prophecies have come to pass, according to those that keenly follow his story.
His death was mysterious, leaving many wondering what really happened. Did he, as some accounts claim, eventually settle among the Kipsigis? Was he carried away by chisokoro (ancestors) to join them in the netherworld as happened with Jesus of Nazareth? How come that his spiritual roles (seer, medicine man, and rainmaker) that ran in the family, waned and eventually died off?
Peter Okari Nyambasora's Sakagwa Ngi'ti, a Kisii Prophet provides some answers to these questions. It traces the emergence of Sakagwa as a prominent player in Gusii of his time, even as he had no formal power accorded by clan, tribe or lineage. Compiled from oral tales, one on one interviews with family members, and written works, the book provides the most authoritative account of Sakagwa yet written.
Till I’m Laid to Rest
In this compelling novel, Till I'm Laid To Rest by Garfield Ellis' , we meet Shirley Temple Brown a young woman who has survived some of the hardest social and political times Jamaica has seen. But now she is finally tired of just surviving, she wants to thrive and she knows she must leave Jamaica in order to do so.
She makes the decision to leave Jamaica for a new start in Miami, USA. Not long after arriving in the city, she begins to see what the glare of the sun and the bright lights have kept hidden: elderly American retirees living out their last days in the warmth and comfort their youth never afforded them, while being cared for by complete strangers; drug dealers hungry for their slice of the American dream, sexual predators, con artists and murderers.
Alone in a place where standing still is sure death sentence, Shirley is determined to succeed or be laid to rest!
Presidents Pressman: A memoir by Lee ...
After President Daniel Moi’s retirement in 2002, many were not surprised that Lee Njiru, the long-serving Head of Presidential Press Service (PPS), was retained as his Press Secretary.
They had walked together through the highs and lows of his Presidency, weathering storms, including the attempted 1982 coup and strong waves of multi-partyism.
Earlier, Lee was among the few pressmen Moi inherited from Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s regime. He was loyal, passionate, and delivered on this challenging assignment.
A household name, Lee’s grasp of historical subjects and current affairs are impressive, partly explaining Moi’s firm confidence in him. He employed an optimistic approach and a persuasive technique to every task assigned, allowing him to influence positively as Mzee’s adviser. He helped the government to arm or nullify an idea, belief or attitude to create progress or preserve the nation State.
As Head of PPS, he used his knowledge and skills to pave the way for others, helping them to achieve big dreams, and went beyond the call of duty to give back to society. A number of individuals, schools, churches, self-help groups and communities can attest to his philanthropy and relief efforts.
The book, therefore, gives a rare glimpse of happenings in the corridors of power and illustrates efforts made at the Presidency to advance project Kenya. It is a useful read for everyone, but more so scholars, historians, policy makers, public policy experts, and politicians in Kenya and beyond
A Prisoner of Hope
In A Prisoner of Hope, the Reverend Augustine Rugutt takes us through an emotional spiritual journey of the life, values and teachings of his mother Pauline Cherono Taptulmat Chepkulul. It is a tale of challenges that few non-believers would overcome, but which his mother overcame in the end. Pauline believed in the Lord and was guided by spiritual belief throughout her life. She suffered but remained hopeful for a better future. As the author testifies, neither sickness nor poverty could deter the spirit that directed her virtuous existence. She was indeed a prisoner of hope, and not only was she able to see her children succeed, but also imparted on them invaluable life-long lessons that continue to shape their lives and those of their children. They are values for all generations present and future.
The Reverend Rugutt writes admiringly about his mother and the values she held through her time on earth. He generously shares these intimate tales believing there are lessons for us all as human beings on our earthly and spiritual journeys.
A Prisoner of Hope is a must read for all. It is essential for those who, faced with challenges and suffering, may be about to give up hope.
Chronicles of the Idler
Chronicles of the Idler, Volume One is a collection of short, satirical pieces on various aspects of life. In simple, straight words, the author takes a quick, but critical, look at people, life, places, situations and events and spices up the stories with imagery and unmatched humour.
What Others Say
“Many people assume that with the demise of the likes of P. K. Okoth of Drums’ Malimoto and the great Wahome Mutahi of Whispers, humour is as good as buried. Not anymore! Chronicles of the Idler is a satirical collection in a class of its own. It is original, comical and superb!” - Solomon Abayo, Principal, Riambase High School.