L.J's red jumper chronicles.

It is Saturday evening and I have a feeling that I recognize all too well. It comes suddenly even after I have had a lovely time earlier in the day, I call him Mr. Mood. I am writing this article while seated beside Mr.Mood so as to easily describe him because once he is gone, all I am left with is a sigh of relief to not think of him. Writing this post with Mr. Mood is not easy, he keeps pulling me and I keep trying to push myself away from him, and when we reach a stalemate, we tango till one gets tired.  Mr.Mood sometimes likes to make me feel sick giving me a headache, forces me to crawl in my bed and not to leave unless answering nature calls, to lose my appetite, or to be nonchalant when forced to interact with people. And when our fight for control begins, he holds power over me when he causes me to be stuck in a never ending negative thought process pattern: ‘I HATE MYSELF! PEOPLE DON’T LIKE ME! I CAN’T DO THIS! GIVING UP SEEMS EASY!’ But then I take the power back when I m...

  I need milk My cow is no longer producing any milk Minister Agriculture says, ‘I have a solution!’ ‘I am going to Zim, I will feed the cows there to start producing milk then we export.’ I need food This cost of living is making it hard to feed my family Minister Health says, ‘I have a solution!’ ‘If we reduce the number of deliveries, we can then have fewer mouths to feed.’ I need fuel for my car It is now too expensive to drive to work Minister Energy says, ‘I have a solution!’ ‘From now on we will use our own currency to buy fuel from Russia!’ I need sleep Am too stressed with how hard life is to have enough sleep to function at work The Vice President says, ‘I have a solution!’ ‘You just need to wake up like I do and go to work, see it is easy!’ I need a job I keep applying but am not being selected, is my name an issue now? The President says, ‘I have a solution!’ ‘Maybe if you change your surname and be my tribesman it would work!’

  ‘See those fallen shadows there Are the shadows false of life?’ ~except from poem by anonymous    When l wake up in the morning l love to hear the song of the birds, crickets and our loud chickens in the storehouse echoing to let them out before the crickets disappear from the grass. But within all that noise, a voice also echoes - a person singing, it is Meja. He has a different tune each morning and today he was singing alongside his radio a luo song.  Mornings weren’t complete until you hear a collection of these sounds…the birds in the sky, crickets, chicken then Meja. Oh and incase you overslept in the house of Wuod, my father, then you would hear also mum’s voice pulling you out from your sweet slumber. Their house their rules, in the house of Wuod everyone including our cat was to be awake by  8am . l personally hated mornings, and so any opportunities to be sent out to get something from the shop l would always jump at it, if not l would ...

Take my hand and lead thy spirit to Thine For my body thus flesh remains Give me a moment’s glance I will ask To make thy peace with no regret With no withering to salt to become.   Hold my hand to journeys’ end Where my fate lies with Thine To suffereth or to rejoice? I hope my name is in the book.   Was it worth all I did? My deeds on Earth are read to me Was my heart right Thine will ask Unto to Thine I kneel and bow With my spirit I wait in judgement.   With my judgment set on stone I walk thy fate that waitheth for me As my spirit fades away, I hope the ones I left behind Live their lives right for this day.      

  ‘Please help him…help him out!’ To date these words still ring in my ear.   ‘That food is not going to cook itself!’ My mum shouted out to any one of her child who was within earshot. The trick was always to hope you were the only one of your siblings who heard it so that you can tell the others the task was assigned to them under the false pretence that it came directly from mum. My elder sister, Lauren, was the queen bee of doing that!   But for today it was a case of all hands-on deck situation in the kitchen. Visiting that day were our godmother, mom’s friend, our maternal Aunties and Lauren’s friend. It was going to be ladies' night and we always aimed to impress with our prowess in cooking. With my sisters Lauren and Paula we each automatically took the role of our speciality in the kitchen. Lauren was the meat queen, Paula was the pastry queen and I was the worldwide exquisite cuisine, of which for that day I was making Indian naans and baked potato...

‘We found each other I helped you out of a broken place You gave me comfort But falling for you was my mistake’             - Call out My Name by the Weeknd   This is the end. Maybe is the fact that Siba asked his friend if they could exchange girlfriends or that Kasanda forgot she was dating Siba when she let another guy flirt with her. It was the word unsaid that needed to be said, who was going to say it first?   Kasanda The news of her Uncle’s death devastated her, her mother’s brother. The news came just a few days after they had gone to see him at the hospital and he had looked so much better. Maybe that is the thing about death, it likes to creep in when least expected. A secrecy it dwells upon, only sometimes known to the one with whom it owes. Kasanda was placed in charge of designing and printing the funeral programs, and the graveyard flowers acquisition. It helped distract her from feeling t...