Love and Protest

We love our country
That’s why we protest when some run it like it’s their own,
This ain't a shamba,
Where you make all the decisions,
We are not cows and sheep to be lead to the slaughter,
Although you do behave like pigs so it figures,
That you think this is animal farm.

Our parents, grandparents, and family didn’t suffer,

Oppression, murder, economic sabotage, treason charges etc,

So that you could get a cushy ride,

Sleep on the job on those comfy cushions in parliament,

Or sleep around outside of it ruining young girls with money.

We did not vote for a new constitution,

For you to change it as often as you change your shirt.

This is our country, Kenya ni Kwetu,

Its time you knew it,

You take us for granted,

But we don’t take the constitution for granted,

You have buried our dreams and hopes,

But they still live.

49 years after independence,

And we are dependent on others,

Because of bad decisions you make.

Its time,
That love protests
That love says enough is enough,
This is our country, our home, our future,
And you cannot behave like it belongs to you alone,
Its time for love to plot the course,
The young to tell the old enough is enough,
This country is our future, our hope and holds our dreams,
So if you won’t join us to build,
Then you must leave,
We will bury your legacy when you leave,
And not look back.
Its time
That love protests out loud.

To all the guys who went out today to Uhuru Park and to parliament Thank You for standing up for what you believe in. You represented us well. Thanks for all the guys who supported the movement even if they weren’t there in person. And even if they didn’t cover it much on the news remember "the revolution shall not be televised but it shall go out on social media.  We shall overcome.

Mr. Hot Chocolate Man

We were having a debate about this post. potent ash: The taste of you! http://raylitpoems.blogspot.com/2011/09/taste-of-you.html?spref=tw  Some guys said it is about a guy not about chocolate but about a guy. its not about a guy though it is a play on words and its supposed to play with your imagination. If I had written about a guy this would be it.

Mr. Hot Chocolate Man,

Come out to play,

It's cold and I need some warmth.

Come warm me up,

With those hot lips,

Let me taste that chocolate sensation,

My hot chocolate man.

I need a Cadburys hug,

Hold me tight and don’t let go.

Let me kiss those lips,

And let me melt when I taste your sweetness,

You got me high,

You got power over me,

I am helpless against you,

And I want more and more and more.

Mr. hot chocolate man,

You make me so Hot,

I want to drink you up like you’re a chocolate sundae,

Or sip you slow like a cold chocolate milkshake.

Either way you’ll hit that spot,

So come make me melt,

The way only you can.

Runaway smile!!

 

My smile has run away
And I don't know where she went.
I think it's because she and my heart had a fight.
My heart was hurt,
And my smile tried to cheer her to no avail.
So my heart said some nasty things
And my smile ran away to a far off place.
Now Mr. Frown is here and I don't like him.

He gets annoyed at simple things.
Mr. Frown is such a downer.
I miss Miss. Sunshine, my smile.
I'm asking, have you seen her?
Please tell her if you do that I miss her
And my heart is not the same without her!
Tell her to come home where she belongs,
Then Mr. Frown will go away.
Come home smile,
Come light up my face. 

 

Raylitpoems June 2 2010

Deitrick Haddon -- He is able (lyrics)

I love this song. It has gotten me through bad moments. Thought I would share the lyrics. God is able. Dont give up on God because he wont give up on you. Its true!


Exceedingly
Abundantly
Above all, you can ask or think According to, power That worketh through you and me (yeah)
God is able to do just what he said he would do
He's gonna fullfill every promise to you
Don't give up on God, cause he won't give up on you
He's Able
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/deitrick_haddon/hes_able.html ]
Chorus (2x):
God is able to do just what he said he would do
He's gonna fullfill every promise to you
Don't give up on God, cause he won't give up on you
He's Able (2x)


Oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh
He's Able

Bridge (3x):
Oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh
He's Able

Vamp:
He's Able


Don't give up on God (2x)don't you give up I don't care what the devil brings on your way he brought you out before, he'll do it again
He's Able

Ending:
Oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh, He's Able
He's Able (til fade)

Deitrick Haddon He's Able lyrics

Mr. Politician I am so mad right now

Hallo Mr. Politician.

No pleasantries today. I am so mad. You have betrayed me and this country. I cant believe that you are that selfish. When we voted for the new constitution we were looking forward to things changing in Kenya. Including how you politicians act in and out of parliament. We were trying to make sure that no one president or politician would act as if Kenya is their personal playground.

After the last election let me tell you I was not excited about voting again. But I did believing that the new constitution would change the political, social and economic landscape for Kenya. But guess what I forgot that there are people who care more about their careers as freeloaders on taxpayers money then about the country. What was the point of me voting for change if you would then change the law back to favour you and your friends?

You and your friends have refused to pay tax. Then hide behind some law or other to protect yourselves. Now you want to change the constitution to allow you to run for as many posts as you feel like in the next election! Then you can choose which one you will accept or which one you will be forced to take if you don't win the one you want. And who is going to pay for those repeated elections. Me. Me who pays taxes. Me who breaks my back every day to go to work six days a week including holidays.

I am angry. Actually I am more then angry. I want to take action. No more talking. Talking is for the civilized and since we have established that you are not civilized its time for action. I am hearing that people are going to come and protest outside parliament. I think I will come there and do so too. You cannot make this country suffer because your scared to go home and do a nine to five job like everybody else. This country is bigger then your political ambitions. This country belongs to millions of Kenyans not just 210 MPs'.

It's time you learnt that this country doesn't belong to you. It belongs to us the common mwananchi.

YOUR OPPONENT
THE COMMON MWANANCHI

Heroes Wanted.

Heroes wanted.
I was discouraged,
After all i am not a hero,
Sina super powers za kufight mavillians.

I am just a kawaida mwanachi hustling to make it,
Trying to save bobs so that one day I can be wealth off,
Lakini saa hii mi ni sufferer.
I haven’t done any big things,
I am just trying to survive.
Trying to make things meet,
Ata kama ends zilikatika,
So they never do.
I was walking away when i felt a tap on my shoulder,
God akaniask "where you going"
Nikamshow God mimi si hero,
MI hufeel ka zero,
nacha space ndio hao wazee wanaeza do Mission Impossible waingie Area.
God laughed,
and asked me about David, an ordinary jamaa,
Musee alikuwa anachunga sheep,
Lakini alikuwa ameannointiwa kuwa King.
Akanishow Disciples a bunch of wananchi ordinary sana,
Na all the Christians who spread the word of God.
He asked me,
Unataka kukuwa part of the change,
Ama unataka kuka ukizuba,
Wasee ka wewe wakichange city, country Na Africa.
All i need is a willing heart,
And for you to use what’s in your hand.
I am willing to use you if you’re willing to step up.
Well hi story sijui vile itaend,
Lakini mi destiny yangu iko kwa God,
So here's me a kawaida mwananchi,
Nikisign up for mission impossible.
I am going to change Nairobi, Kenya and Africa.
We je? God amekucall,
Decide kama uta accept missioni.

Any errors of sheng or Kiswahili are mine. I am Barbie like that Kiswahili writing is hard. Lakini God is calling us to change Africa. We can be heroes if we choose to take the challenge. Let’s use our gifts and talents and our market places to turn things around. Let’s have a vision for ourselves, our country and our continent. God bless Africa.

As Pastor M of Mavuno says in a quote from May Kay Ash "There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.

Puppet!

I am not a broken toy,
So don't try to fix me.
Don't use your psychology to tell me I am depressed,
Or your biology to tell me my heart is broken.
Maybe I am just a puppet,
Maybe I have no heart at all,
Maybe i am just like Pinocchio,
A girl who is made real by magic,
But I am not really real,
Maybe I am just dangling from invisible threads,
Manipulated from above.
So maybe I am a broken, confused mixed up toy,
who knows?
Ask the puppeteer pulling the strings.

Make my heart laugh

Don’t speak,

I don’t want to hear no lies,

About how you love or like me.

Been down that road before,

And I don’t believe them, those words,

So overused are they,

They are like bald tires,

They can no longer run on this road of mine.

If it’s true,

Show me,

I don’t want big gestures,

Like a bunch of flowers,

Straight down from Limuru or Naivasha.

I don’t want the token bar of chocolate,

Though there’s a disclaimer,

No thing makes me sweeter then chocolate.

Find out the things I like,

The things that make me tick,

The things that make me giddy with happiness,

Then do them times 5.

Don’t add to my sorrows,

I already had enough for two.

Remove my frowns,

And replace them with smiles.

Don’t try to figure me by a formula,

Passed down by the “geniuses” who know woman

Because I am unique,

I am not any other girl,

One part Bitch, two parts Angel,

I am me.

So tease me, and make me laugh,

Let my heart remember how it feels to be happy again

Let me smile when you make me crack up,

And I promise you tomorrow,

When I say I shall not,

Will not, absolutely will not fall in love with you,

I may be wrong.

Be good to me,

And this angel may show you her heart.

love letter to God - Trouble in the garden of Eden

Dear God.

How have you been keeping? This is supposed to be a love letter but to be honest I don’t feel in love with you right now.  Guess what, I am hurting but I guess you already know that.  I am in the valley.  I feel like I am praying but nothing is happening.  Pastor talked about closed doors and open doors but all I seem to see are closed doors.

I think I am spiritually depressed.  I try to pray and read my bible.  But right now it doesn’t feel right.  I am going through the motions, doing the things a Christian should do.  But my faith is down; it’s taken too many blows.  I don’t have the psyche and right now I am not feeling the hype that in every cloud there is a silver lining.

I wonder if this is how job felt when he went through his trials.  Or Jonah when he was in the belly of the fish.  How did Joseph get through the days in prison, knowing that he was righteous yet everything was going wrong?  How did Paul feel when he was in prison or shipwrecked?  How did Esther feel when her people were condemned to die?

Seriously God I want to finish well.  I want to be a hero of faith in my generation.  But how do I get past the feeling of being at zero right now.  Of feeling like everything around me is going wrong.  All the dreams I had have turned to dust.  All the hope I felt now feels like salt rubbed on a wound.  How do I go on when the person who understands what I am going through is silent?  I feel like you are so far away and I can’t reach you.

Honestly the only thing that makes me not turn away from you is knowing that even if I feel this way your love is real.  Without you I am hollow. It’s like eating food without salt.  But then again I miss what we had.  How I felt about you and feeling excited to meet and talk to you.  To give thanksgiving and praise.  I don’t know how to get back there.  I know the things I need to do but I don’t want to just feel like I am going through the motions.  Holy Spirit helps me because you’re the only one who can help me get through this.  Give me joy to get through today and tomorrow and the next day.  Help me get through this.  Help me rise above this and emerge victorious.  Help me carry my cross because right now it seems so heavy.

I love you GOD.  Please don’t let go of me at this time when I can’t see my footsteps and you’re carrying me on your shoulder. 

Be my shepherd Jesus as I walk through the valley of the shadow of doubt.  Be my guiding rod and staff; help me to walk even though my feet are weary of this path.  Be my light in the dark so that I may not stumble.  I am weak so be my water of life and my bread of salvation.

Thanks for listening.  I feel much better now. 

BUILDING BRIDGES OF PEACE

Drums

Runners

Artwork

Cloth designs

Interpersonal communication

Dance

Story telling

Music

These were traditional ways in which messages of peace could be passed across the villages.  Then mass media came.  The message was owned by a few, and transmitted to the masses.  Now internet use in Kenya has exploded.  Many people now either use social networks or interact with material on blogs or podcasts.  Here is a platform for the citizen to articulate his issues, have discussions, and grow in knowledge through interaction.

Citizen media can help spread the gospel of peace and peaceful elections.  Some of the ways citizen media can be used include using podcasts, twitter messages, status updates on facebook, digital storytelling, blogs, and vlogs.  As part of sensitization of the effects of violence some of the videos and photos of the 2007/2008 violence should be put up on the internet.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  We need to constantly remind the public why we need to fight for peace.  It’s easy to get violent and not think about the consequences.  Put up articles, photos, and videos of victims of the violence saying how the violence destroyed their lives. 

As children we learnt the national anthem and loyalty pledge.  This gave us a feeling of nationhood and made us feel proudly Kenyan.  I think we should make videos of children from different communities singing the national anthem and saying the loyalty pledge and post them up.  Remind us that no matter where we come from we are Kenyan and that the future belongs to those kids.  If we destroy our country we destroy our children’s future.  We can have videos of children saying why peace is important.  There is something about a child speaking that can make even the most hardened heart turn around.

We can use dance and music to teach people about peace and reconciliation.  We can video these dances and put them up on the internet.

Photography and artwork.  We can show the beauty of our communities and show us that we are one people.

We need storytellers to tell stories that bring people together to laugh and dialogue.  This can be done through stories in blogs, short movies put on YouTube and community radio shows.

We hold the destiny of our country in our hands.  We can use social media to be a bridge of peace or a road to war.  The decision is in our hands in what content we put up.  We can use our social media platforms not to settle personal or communal scores but to heal and to draw bridges between communities.  We can use it to encourage people to look beyond stereotypes that made us fight each other.  Social media can be used as a tool for dialogue, discussion, and building friendships.  Let us be citizen ambassadors of peace.

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.  John F. Kennedy

This post is a post for Global Voices on how citizen media can help ensure peaceful elections in Kenya in 2012-13.

sticks and stones will hurt my bones, but words will never hurt me (it aint true)

Murder

Violence

Rape

Neighbor against neighbor

Houses burnt down

People displaced.

All of this because of words.  Words that were said casually then became a weapon to turn communities against each other.  When I was young we used to sing sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. We were young and foolish then and we believed it.  Now that I am older and hopefully wiser I know that’s not true.  Words can hurt more then sticks and stones.

The violence in Kenya in 2007/2008 didn’t start with the person who drew the first weapon to hurt another.  It started with words.  Words were used to differentiate people.  We are such and such a tribe and they are not.  They are the enemy.  Seeds of hatred were planted a long time ago and they were festering in the minds of the people.  They germinated, grew roots, and grew into trees.  Words were used to encourage people to fight for what the “others” had taken away from them.  In whispers and shouts words were used to devise plans to take down the others and get back what belonged to “our people.”

In Kenya we all have biases and stereotypes.  Some were created by the colonialists in order to divide and rule.  Some we created ourselves.  We say this tribe is like this and this other tribe is like that.  Many times we say it as a joke but many times we believe it because we heard it said from the time we were children.  So we grow up with those words and gradually they acquire meaning and we take them as normal.  Then when our leaders state them they become reasonable.  Then they are used to turn us against others and take up weapons to hurt others.

The tragedy in this country is that mainstream media has been compromised.  Our politicians use the media to pass across their garbage and the media laps it up and broadcasts it.  After all it sells newspapers and makes people watch the news.

Social media in Kenya has become an alternative voice to mainstream media.  It can be a sober voice in a world where hate sells.  But that’s if we choose it to be.  Social media will not suddenly become a magic ward that makes everybody love each other.  But if we can use our presence in it to bring people together and show them that we are one people we will have gone far.  We can use our social media platforms like facebook; twitter etc not to hurt or wound others but to heal and to draw bridges between people.  We can use it to encourage people to look beyond stereotypes.  Social media can be used as a tool for dialogue, discussion, and building friendships.  Let us be social media ambassadors of peace.  Because we do understand the power of words.

Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs. --Pearl Strachan