AN OPEN LETTER TO AL SHABAAB

Dear Mister Terrorist Sir,

RE: WE CAN DO BAD ALL BY OURSELVES


Mr Terrrorist,

I hope this finds you well, and I hope you’re having a blast. No pun intended. Okay maybe a little pun. Please don’t blow me up. I know as you read this, you were probably mixing some fertilizer in a plastic bottle for a bomb or trying out a nice camera for you to make a threatening video and upload it on you tube. Put down the bottle and read this. Put down the bottle slowly. Don’t blow yourself up just yet.

See, Mr Terrorist Sir, I know you take great pride in your workmanship as you thoroughly enjoy your job and always have a blast while at it. Now, Mr Terrorist, there is a little matter I would like to bring up with you. It involves the way you execute your duties. I know you have recently expanded your portfolio to include buses and hotels and shopping malls and pubs and restaurants and churches. And believe me you’re doing a hell of a job. We are all very terrified. No doubt that was your goal.

Mr terrorist, i am however concerned that as much as you’re trying to be the bad guy here, unfortunately Kenyans are outdoing you. I mean, we can do bad all by ourselves.  I know you’re probably wondering what I mean by that. Look Mr terrorist, you came and shot 70 of us at the Westgate mall. In retaliation, we killed over 3000 of our own in road crashes. 3000, sir. Then this year you decided you felt a craving for churches and shot up babies in a church at the coast. Do you know, Mr Terrorist, that while you were busy shooting the milk bottles off the hands of toddlers and infants, we were letting thousands of them die of curable diseases like malaria and cholera? Come on, Mr Terrorist, even you have to admire that.

Mr Terrorist, can I call you Mr T? No?  Okay.  See,  recently you played around with some grenades and killed ten in buses on their way home. And the following day we outdid you. We killed 90 using illicit brew. Pure ethanol. Can you believe that? In less than 96 hours! You can’t beat that, sir.

Mr Terrorist, I know you hate us. But the evidence here suggests that we hate ourselves more. So I would suggest that you just leave us alone. If you want us dead, trust me we can accomplish that all by our lonesome self. Our university students can be relied upon to block roads and rob and harass motorists whenever they deem fit. Our power company can be relied upon to throw the entire country into blackouts at their convenience. Our bus drivers will happily crash their buses without the aid of grenades thrown into their windows. Did you notice, that of all the buses that had grenades thrown at them, none crashed? And that of all the buses that crashed, none had grenades thrown at them?

 Mr terrorist whenever we feel like getting shot at, our police are always very eager to comply and they shoot all manner of projectiles at us. From live bullets to tear gas cannisters to rubber bullets. Or is it our economy that you would love to see destroyed? We are doing a splendid job of that already. We are paying off anglo leasing companies amounts of money that we cannot afford. And have you seen the wage bill? Or the way we are taxed? How did you not notice all this Mister Terrorist while you were doing your research? Have you seen how our matatu conductors extort money in the name of bus fare? Especially when it rains, El Terroriste. You would be forgiven to believe that it rains money. La Terrorista, imagine we are worse than you. And I do not mean that in a competitive manner.

Don’t blow this out of proportion. Just that we can achieve and exceed your requirements just as we are. We use less dramatic means to achieve bigger results. That is called working smart, Il Terroristi. The rainy season is almost here. I know that is a foreign concept where you are from, sir. But we shall have floods. I mean huge masses of water from the heavens flowing furiously in one direction. Wait and hear how many we managed to wipe off the face of the earth without firing a shot. So, if it is death toll you are looking for, we out toll you, son.

Go home Mister Terrorist. You are tired. And sleepy. We shall only frustrate you. Instead,  go home and watch from a distance. Given enough time, we shall destroy ourselves. We are already on self-destruct mode. Or better still; send your people here for training. We make much better terrorists than y’all. Don’t wish us bad things. Like I said, we can do bad all by ourselves.






 ~~~~Stolen from Mr. Benson Kabugu Wamwea

Where It All Began!

 This is a series of why Africa needs to wake up!

First: Some history....

 

 

Beginning around 1650, the British government pursued a policy of mercantilism in international trade. Mercantilism stipulates that in order to build economic strength, a nation must export more than it imports. To achieve this favorable balance of trade, the English passed regulatory laws exclusively benefiting the British economy. These laws created a trade system whereby Americans provided raw goods to Britain, and Britain used the raw goods to produce manufactured goods that were sold in European markets and back to the colonies. As suppliers of raw goods only, the colonies could not compete with Britain in manufacturing. English ships and merchants were always favored, excluding other countries from sharing in the British Empire’s wealth. 

 

Between 1651 and 1673, the English Parliament passed four Navigation Acts meant to ensure the proper mercantilist trade balance. The acts declared the following:

• Only English or English colonial ships could carry cargo between imperial ports.
• Certain goods, including tobacco, rice, and furs, could not be shipped to foreign nations except through England or Scotland.
• The English Parliament would pay “bounties” to Americans who produced certain raw goods, while raising protectionist tariffs on the same goods produced in other nations.
• Americans could not compete with English manufacturers in large-scale manufacturing.

The Navigation Acts severely restricted colonial trade, to the benefit of England.

The colonists initially complained about these strictures on trade. In New England in particular, many colonists evaded the restrictions of the Navigation Acts by smuggling. But although relations between England and the colonies were often full of friction (as in 1684, when Charles II revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s charter as punishement for smuggling), the two sides never came to any real conflict. Instead, England developed a policy of salutary neglect toward the colonies, which meant that the trade laws that most hurt the colonial economy were not enforced. 

 

Threatened by the presence of the French in North America, British officials knew that at some point they would have to clash with the French over the domination of the continent, and they needed the colonists to support them when that time came. The British did not want to alienate their much-needed allies through aggressive trade restrictions.

With the prospect of war against the French looming, the British employed salutary neglect to maintain the colonists’ loyalty.

The Triangular Trade

British mercantilism manifested itself in the form of the triangular trade. Trade routes linked the American Colonies, West Indies, Africa, and England. Each port provided shippers with a payoff and a new cargo. New England rum was shipped to Africa and traded for slaves, which were brought to the West Indies and traded for sugar and molasses, which went back to New England. Other raw goods were shipped from the colonies to England, where they were swapped for a cargo of manufactured goods. 

 

Mercantilism and the triangular trade proved quite profitable for New England tradesmen and ship builders. But in the Southern Colonies, where the Navigation Acts vastly lowered tobacco prices, economies suffered. The triangular trade also spurred a rise in the slave population and increased the merchant population, forming a class of wealthy elites that dominated trade and politics throughout the colonies.

 

 

 

On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand!

Hello Friends!

I sincerely apologize for taking so long without updating my blog. Lately, I have been unusually busy with school and examinations. I thank God it's all over (for now).

This hymn that has been occupying my mind in the recent past... I thought I might just share it:

"In Christ Alone"

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand. 

 

 

God bless you, muchly!

 

I Belong to You!

My will wants to be god and have life in itself- to be self-made, self-defined. It seems a blow to its pride to think that I am created- that the source of my life is You, that I receive from You all that I truly am. To myself, however- to my eternal self- it is the greatest delight- to live only in You, that You are my Creator and that I belong to You.

It is humbling and exulting at the same time- to think that my Creator should come down to me and become like me- suffering with me in all that I suffered, living and dying for me and raising me with Him into His own life; that I should be able to know Him made manifest.

I long to let all the love in me flow up to You. I have nothing in me to give You that did not first come from You. It came from You and returns to You, but through me and is therefore precious and delightful to You, because I am the creation of Your desire- I exist because You desired me to exist.

I do not have life within myself, as You and Abba do- the life I have within me is Yours. You could take and receive life and love only from within Yourself, but You desired to so through others, who are delightful to You in themselves and in this way, the love is even more delicious to You and so I return myself, my life, to You, my Creator- Jesus! I give myself back to You. I live only in You and only for You- I am only for You and no one takes of me but You, because all that I am is only Yours and consecrated to You and sealed by Your Spirit to You.

          *  *  *

Not angels, nor demons, no power on earth or heaven
Not distance, nor danger, no trouble now or ever


Nothing can take me from Your great love
Forever this truth remains


I belong, I belong to You


Not hardship, nor hunger, no pain or depth of sorrow,
Not weakness, nor failure, no broken dream or promise,

Nothing can take me from Your great love ,
Forever this truth remains!

I belong, I belong to You!

~ Kathry Scott

Take Time to Be Holy

Take time to be holy, speak often with thy Lord, 

Abide in Him always, and feed on His word.

Make friends of God’s Children, help those who are weak

Forgetting in nothing, His blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on,

Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.

By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shall be,

Thy friends in thy conduct, His likeness shall see.

Take time to be Holy, let Him be thy guide,

And run not before Him, whatever betide.

In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,

And looking to Jesus, still trust in His word.

Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,

Each thought and each motive, beneath His control.

Thus led by His Spirit, to foundations of love,

Thou soon shall be fitted, for service above.

Funny moments in class

Today (28/02/2014) in management class:

We were learning about how to prepare departmental and organizational budgets and how manage your subordinates with regards to budgets.

Instructor: Make sure that your employees put their figures in the budget.

My lovely and beautiful desk-mate was absent-minded… but she managed to hear this statement. The problem is that she heard the instructor say: Make sure that your employees put their fingers in the budget. She interrupts the instructor and here’s their conversation:

Desk-mate: Excuse me sir, why should they put their fingers in the budget? Shouldn’t it be their minds?

Instructor: (Deeply concerned that he probably didn’t hear what she said). Excuse me?

Desk-mate: I think they should put their minds, not their fingers in the budget.

(The whole class bursted in laughter.)

My desk-mate was shocked, she was wondering why everyone was laughing. She tried asking me why we were laughing, I couldn’t tell her with all the laughter that was in class.

About 20 minutes later after the incident, she asked me why we were laughing. When I whispered and explained  it to her, she bursted into uncontrollable laughter: alone in a quiet class, everyone looked at her and wondered what was wrong with her.

You made my day, desk-mate!

I love you.

Another funny moment:

Earlier this week in a Micro-economics class, some guy interrupted our lovely lecturer to correct a mathematical expression she had written on the board. The problem was that his correction was “1+0=0”... that was what he thought. Of course our beautiful lecturer was right: "1+0=1"

Beautiful Love!

It is slightly over a year now since I thought of writing about this.

 I had just completed my undergraduate studies when I first went to my church. One conspicuous thing that I could not fail to notice was one of the ladies in the praise and worship team. She had an angelic voice that was inspirational. She played, and she still has been playing, a key part in leading us to the worship throne. Her name is Peris.

Peris has always sat next her husband, Jeremiah, each and every Sunday without fail. She has always looked at him with lots of love. She always holds his hand through-out the service when she’s sitting next to him. Sometimes they whisper into each others’ ears and smile at each other. They seem to have been married to each other for about a decade and they still love each other like newly-weds. I see the beauty of their love from far every time I see them.

I don’t want to be judgemental but man! I don’t know what they’ve been through but they MUST LOVE EACH OTHER. I would love to have such a marriage someday.

May God bless Peris, Jeremiah, and their marriage.

May God bless all marriages. May they blossom with love.

Amen!