On a hot and humid day along the Kenyan coast, the clouds turn black. The signs are ripe for the long awaited downpour. Any moment now, rain will fall. The anticipation begins to grow. Hours turn into days, days into weeks, and weeks into months. But nothing comes—not even a drizzle. Instead, farmers watch helplessly …
Globally, December 9th marks the International Anti-corruption Day. Every nation renews its commitment to fighting corruption on this day, and Nigeria usually does not miss out in some of its blitz. A bit of parade goes on, with face caps, buttoned shirts and nice speeches never missing from staged government events. Most times, I hear …
Sitawa Wafula was diagnosed with epilepsy and bipolar disorder when she was just 17. Her experience of being a woman with a mental illness in Kenya has, at times, been harrowing. She once lost a job because she had a seizure, and had to drop out of university after being raped and finding nowhere to …
Now that the season of realpolitik is upon us in South Africa and the rainbow nation myth is receding we must ask ourselves whether we still need a framework of reconciliation that presupposes friendship across the races as an important and useful barometer of the health of the nation. Some will argue that the question of friendship …
Last month, a male passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Burbank called out “ooh sexy” while the flight attendant demonstrated the use of the life vest. When she told him to be “respectful”, he responded: “I’m just fooling around.” The aircraft was diverted to offload him. This was not the first time …