WE KNOW BUT IGNORE...

Apart from being segmented by climatic conditions and cultural practices, Kenya is one country that you would think you have crossed the border only to realize that you are hundreds of miles away from the No-Man's land.

Of course, all that I am going to talk about is inherent and I want us to look at everything objectively and not in any way subjectively.

When you visit different parts of this country, a thought of Somalia would come into your head. When you go to the other side, you think you are in Tanzania. I mean, we are just extreme as Kenyans.

When you pay a visit to West Pokot for instance and happen to meet their herders, you will be in great shock.

Perhaps you will see a seventeen year old boy cleaning his gun without any hurry. His fellow herders will be some few distances away also with their weapons in hands. Here, you will immediately think of what you see on TV as Somalia.

Have I ever seen this near Eldoret town except with the Boinnet boys?

It is no longer a shocker to see Maasai men in their shukas and swords roaming about town with their reddish liquid in their hands.

I once carried a knife and traversed my village with it. I don't want to explain my experience in the hands of the local chief despite my dad being a well known and respected person in Chepkoilel village.

Somewhere in coast, young slow (I hear Coastarians are slow) men will will be standing in groups with banners chanting how 'Pwani Si Kenya'.

I swear some just want to be seen on television and be the village champions.

With their soft spoken Kiswahili, you may easily confuse them with some of the Tanzanian actors you once saw on a film and for a moment you will want to imagine you are in Tanzania.

Come to Busia, here you can not challenge me. I have been there personally. Who in Chepkoilel village doesn't know that the sister to my great great grandfather died in Busia?

I am not bragging anyway. What I want to say is, when you reach Busia, all the local liquor comes from Museveni's place.

My great great grandfather I mentioned earlier is said to have Married from Uganda and the bride came of foot, and she wasn't tired after all.

In Nairobi I hear life is totally different. I have never been to Nai, but I know God will make a way for me soon.

In Nairobi - from the tales of Fidelis - it is everybody for himself and God for us all. You are mugged in daylight and nobody cares. I will tell you about Fidelis later, the guy from my village who ran away from KU the other day. He's the one who assembles us for stories from Nai.

As diverse as we are as Kenyans the more our strength is. You may be wondering why I chose some parts of Kenya and ignored others. It is not my fault. Many of these places I just hear about them. I haven't been there.

We are all under the same government with our extreme behaviours. And we are one.

I LOVE KENYA.

By C Okay

MEET STRONG MASENO WOMAN WHO DOES NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK OF HER

Thursday, January 14th 2016. Milcah Auma is seated in her self-made shade at her work place. I watch as she fills tubes with soil, I admire her strength- that encourages me to ask her a few questions.

Having been widowed in 2007, Milcah was left with the task of taking care of her two children, who are currently in Form two and class seven with in-laws who promised to support her not anywhere to be seen.

She narrates how she started her work here at her two-month old tree nursery in Maseno.

"Having sold maize on streets gave me the experience", she pauses. "Maize is however a seasonal product which means in some parts of the year, I was forced to stay without work nor money", she says.

Later, Milcah says she quit the maize-selling job and sought employment from a certain lady who owned a large tree nursery in Kisumu.

There, she would prepare tubes by filling them with soil, watering them and finally planting the seedlings.

Milcah Auma at her place of business

"This worked for me till the day my employer insulted me for coming late from my lunch break, I didn't report the following day and that was it".

It is then that she decided to come back to her home in Maseno, having acquired enough knowledge to run a tree nursery and started one.

For the two months she has been here, she says "things are not that bad" as she can not go back home empty handed.

She says she makes at least two hundred shillings daily since the business is young. However, she is looking foward to expand it.

Milcah says she prepares upto 500 tubes for planting seedlings on a single day. Every seedlings sells from Shs. 5  to Shs. 50 depending on the height and the type of the seedling.

She goes ahead to say that she is encouraged by friends in the business who tell her on what to expect in the coming times. She says that one friend encouraged her by his story of selling seedlings worth Shs. 75,000 one morning.

However, the main challenge to her is inadequate supply of water. She has to get water from far and sometimes, she has to hire someone to do it for her at an agreed rate of between Shs. 50-100.

She encourages young people to stop waiting for white collar jobs but instead put their hands on anything that can bring in money.

"You must sacrifice your time as nothing comes on a silver platter", she says adding that the current world is so competitive and there is no time for sleeping.

She says that everything one does pays as she remembers how her male colleague had opened an electronics shop in Luanda Market and is flourishing.

I get out of her work place more that two hours later feeling encouraged. That is really the strength of a woman.

By Kisabuli Caleb