L.J's red jumper chronicles.

FORGET YOU NOT  To a friend, when they say friendship between a girl and boy can't work, we made it work!   When l think of how it all started, l reminiscence at the beginning:  'The first time l noticed that loud, noisy and quite chatty guy in my computer class. N ever knowing we will ever be friends  Fate or not we become closer and formed quite a close bond as friends  You just out of a relationship, while l feeling relationships are just a volcano waiting to  erupt;  I put you off when you confessed your feelings-ignoring you and avoiding you  There are times l did miss the long chats we used to have… or how a smile would be  plastered on my face when my phone beeped and it was you  But then l remember you need me in another way l cannot give to you. I hurt you so bad, but you still came back and told me you valued our friendship’   Day in day out we have always tried to rebuild our friendship… you holding the rope at the  end tighter while l never was certai

Click this to check part 2  'So what can you eat?' Jolly asks as she looks over the menu to me.  We are seated at Java for a catchup and for the first time l can say l know what exactly l can eat. 'I'll have a Grilled chicken sandwich with brown bread please' I say to the waiter as he approached our table.  Knowing exactly what l was to eat hasn't always been an easy sail. I had many fails. I still remember the times l ate something then afterwards realized  wasn't supposed to. My guilt afterwards would make me put the Beyoncé 'freedom song' then embark on a 15-20 minutes exercise to 'burn' the forbidden. 'Singin' freedom! freedom! Where are you? cause l need freedom, too I break chains all by myself Won't let my freedom rot in hell Hey! I'ma keep running Cause a winner don't quit on themselves' Beyoncé's Freedom lyrics    'Kasanda...come we make a shopping list on what you eat' These were the first first d

Click this to check Part 1 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...'                                                                  -Kelly Clarkson The first song in my playlist as I clicked play in the maximum insanity workout video . I wanted to start strong. 'Burn burn burn!' being my mantra for my weight loss journey. It took me almost half a day to create the perfect carefully crafted playlist for my exercise routine, kinda like creating a playlist to motivate one in doing the dreaded house chores. For house chores I often like to start strong with hip hop especially with the likes of Tupac, Notorious BIG, Kendrick Lamar...then mellow down to Beyoncé , Gloria Gaynor, Rihanna..etc. That is when sing along starts especially with my all all time favorite ' I will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.' My exercise playlist for that day had a lot of motivational upbeat songs from the 90s to the 2000s. I was ready! I did the exercise alongside the instructor in th

 Love beats to the heart Triggering a sync rhythmic 'boom! boom! boom!' Spelling out love Mr. Pulmonary vein answers to its call And Mrs. Amygdala stands alert! Love triggers all emotions Happiness, sadness, Anger Its surplus causes happiness A reduction causes sadness And its lack thereof leads to anger To Love is to live It is in the air we breath It moves through our blood It elates our system Signifying life.

Have you heard of the Messenger? Sent from HIS Mansion With a spear in his hand? He whispers when he calls  His voice is like that of the wind His ambiance shines as bright as the sun Darkness is afraid of his stride Uninterrupted as the waters when he moves He has a message! Listen and listen well He may not repeat again Quiet the noises to hear his message

Who's to say? I remember that thought running in my mind throughout that day.   'So this means you have to lose some weight Eat healthy Reduce unhealthy carbohydrates Exercise Am sure if you google you will get more of what needs to be done.'                                                                                     said the Doctor 'Okay okay Kasanda we got this, it doesn't seem hard I mean...it doesn't seem hard...right?   ...my internal monologue as l sat there looking at the Doctor as he tried to explain my scans to me. Radiology is definitely an interesting course! Just from how one would look at an imaging/scan and say enlarged liver for example and all the rest of us see is pure blackness. Kudos to the medics who study for that tirelessly.  Funny thing that am embarrassed to say...i did a unit in Radiology but up to now l don't get how i passed it, and frankly I passed it well with a score of 80%. I guess it was a case of this unit is compuls

"Mama is it raining at home...how long has it been since it last rained there or is the rain too much over there?" This is a common question in the African setup especially when calling family in the village. In any language it will have to be part of the conversation and one can dare not end a conversation without finding out.  In one of my native languages l will ask , "Bendi dala koth chwe? (is it raining at home)" to my grandmother Nyakoyugi. Nyakoyugi will also do the same when talking to her brother in Suna to ask, "Jasuna, bendi...." It goes without saying that rain is significant in the African culture as its adequate presence shows livestock are fed, food for household grows in the farm well, homes are constructed, meals can be cooked, people can bath after a hard day in the farm..etc So next time you call home, whether village or town don't forget to ask "Is it raining at home?"

  S When corona virus was first announced in China, my first thought was that it was going to be like ‘Ebola an African disease’ – so Corona will be a ‘white people thing’. Forgive my racist statement, but I know it was in most black people’s minds that Corona will not affect them, which was quite a relief I must say, especially for those of us living in African countries, we have had our share of diseases and 'interesting leaders.' Ok, now back to me- I can talk about mother Africa for long. I had travelled to the UK for work and was now returning to Nairobi, Kenya. Shit had just gotten real with Kenya announcing some COVID-19 cases. The government had issued a compulsory 14 day self-quarantine rule for all international travelers coming into the country; which, I obeyed not only to protect my loved ones and the community at large, but also to avoid getting arrested and taken into forced quarantine in a government facility which you had to pay for. I must admit I was quite wor

Blooming ‘I am not kicking you out of something you are not and have never been…’ These words were my kryptonite… I knew it may come to this some day after giving myself a second chance to love. I am a late bloomer when it comes to love and other romantic stuff but l learn...I told him this when we began dating and he said he is ‘Patient.’ Lets just say we broke up twice with him feeling he is the only one in love and am ‘emotionally numb ‘ for lack of a better word. For the first time i felt like my heart was ripped out and l knew we couldn’t come back from this, so i ended it. He was the first guy l fell in love with but he wasn’t patient and open enough to see that but l loved the pain - a reminder of l once loved.