Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Second Chance by Emma Okok


Recently I watched a movie titled 'The Last Holiday.' for those among us who may not have watched the movie, let me give a slight preview. In the movie, a lady is misdiagnosed with a deadly disease and given three weeks to live. The lady goes though a period of denial but later decides to enjoy her last days on earth. This lady took out her life savings and decided to go on her last holiday(thus the title).

This lady flies fist class, checks into an expensive hotel and even gets the presidential suite. She dines and wines with the who is who in society; the senator, top businessmen including her boss whom she worked for at one of the departmental stores. Surprised at the new lady in this exclusive hotel her boss sets out to find out who this lady is.

A servant at the hotel is used as a spy and discovers the lady's true identity. She brings this lady back to reality and asks her why she chose to spend her last days with the 'evil rich men' instead of the people she loved most and those who loved her in return. She wished that life would hand her a second chance, to laugh more, to play more, to love more. To cut the long story short, this lady was soon to discover that she had been misdiagnosed and that life had indeed handed her a second chance, to make things right and indeed fulfill her dream of owning her restaurant.


How many times do we actually wish for that second chance. A second chance to go back to school, probably read harder and make that good grade? A second chance to make up for all lost opportunities that were thrown at us. A second chance to turn all our failures into winning. A second chance to make up for that broken friendship. A second chance to tell those whom we love that we love them and not after they die. A second chance to forgive and get a fresh start, a new beginning? A second chance to laugh, play and even give more. A second chance to say no to drugs, early sex and violence.


Well, as long as we are alive, life does indeed offer us a second chance. It does not take a new day to make a brand new start. It only takes a deep desire within us. A deep desire to live better, and to always be forgiving. To give more and to add a little sunshine in this dark world that we are living. So never give up in despair and think that you are through. For there is always that second chance and the hope of starting new. Will you grab it?

Karaoke


Today is one of those days when everything around me is so new and I just have not gotten the hang of it yet. You see, this is the day that is meant to evoke excitement, awe and all other wonderful feelings. By this time, however, every second brings dread.

It all started when two creative brains came together and convinced the rest of us to take part in the annual karaoke competition. And we are not talking easy nursery rhymes here- this would finally reveal the diva in me, I thought.So we set up “studio” at Annie’s room… oops! crib, and practice began immediately.

Now Annie has an angelic voice-but only when singing in the shower. Pendo on the other hand would entertain us with taarab any time we met. She had this soothing voice and was probably the only musician among us. Bobo, the only male among us, would whisper away and call it singing, so he was there mostly for morale. Of course I can sing, just in case you’re wondering. Except that you might call it squealing. But rap, I can.So our de facto choir mistress Pendo started s off with voice practice (really boring stuff) for the next two weeks.

The third week when she started off with the ma-me-mi-mo-mu chorus, we opted for mass action, demanding our rights to sing a real song, failure to which we would go back to sweets, sugar and soft drinks which we had given up in pursuit of the dream to become divas overnight.We finally got singing. Pendo played keyboard and sang lead while we harmonized. Imagine our amazement at Bobo when he sang tenor for once. He used to say there’s a voice after bass and he called it chitchat. The day he sang, we threw an impromptu bash.

Annie and I also learnt to sing. We became more and more confident in bathroom singing, and then it became garden singing. Eventually, we began to blend well together. Since this year’s karaoke competition registered a large number of participants, we had to go through elimination. Round 1 was so much of a hassle, almost like the Project Fame auditions. Everyone was there, so it seemed. There was even a group of 50 year olds, the local men group (League of Extraordinary Tuxedo Men), a group of noisy teens (the majority) and quite a number of mixed groups. Even the local church had a team.

When we eventually got on stage, it was one of the best performances for the day and we qualified for the finals.Bobo had already changed his business card-it read “Professional diva”. I was busy practicing my winning speech for all the annoying questions journalists like asking. Annie made posters for us-no kidding, we were the next celebs. Only Pendo seemed unexcited, but that did not serve to dampen our excitement.

Come the grand finale, we had syk to burn. New costumes, both for stage and the press conference… I even got a new walking style. No more slouching, no funny carefree laughter. We had to be properly cultured.By the time we were called backstage, the excitement, nervousness, tension, thrill and anticipation in us could only be described with one word: stage fright. At the precise moment when we needed the more experienced person among us, the worst of the worst things that could ever happen happened. Pendo vanished into the thin air.

Now, if this were an essay, the tension you are currently experiencing would be a tenth of what we felt. Annie ran around in circles, looking for Pendo, until we pointed out that Pendo would not be anywhere near her circles. Pour beloved choir mistress and source of inspiration had just gone missing. Bobo suddenly lost is voice when we were told we would be next on stage. This was going to be a bad day.

“Can we quit?” we asked. The organizers would hear none of it. “Next on stage, it’s the Toodles!!!!” At that precise moment, we heard the most angelic voice doing our well rehearsed intro, and we quickly composed ourselves and entered stage. Pendo was truly there in person. We had a shaky start when Bobo tried to recover his voice. By now, I was confident that all would be well. And we truly cooed until the end. That was when things literally fell apart.

I don’t know if we had been working too hard, but none of us hit the last note. Even Pendo missed her keyboard finish. By the time results were being read, we had fully recovered and resigned ourselves to the fact that we were not celebs any more. We cheered for the winners and eventually wanted to leave at the end of such an unfruitful day when the guest of honor, an accomplished musician, took to the stage.

“I first sang karaoke at the age of nine. I sang for God’s ears only, but he opened doors for me to touch people’s lives through music. I watched all the talent today and couldn’t help but think that one group did it from their hearts and for God. They also are good singers, maybe average to most of you, but help me welcome on stage the Toodles!” Truly, a man’s gift makes room for him. Keep your head up, but remember, humility is the key.

June's Diary



June is a blessed girl who is part of the Good Samaritan youth family. Here goes
A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF JUNE NJERU.
Monday
Today I woke up at 5:40am, prepared and went to school as usual, came back, completed doing my homework and watched the soap opera called Pasion.
My best friend told me that one day our school bus “Queen” hit a woman, the woman’s children were thieves, so when we had closed for the August holiday they took stones and broke the windows of class six and spoilt some doors in some of the class six’s, and that they said they’d come and back and burn the school when we are still in the classes. So I just told them that if they come I’ll just tell God to let his will be done. After that I started shivering but I just said to myself, I trust in God. I was happy when my Christian Religious Education teacher gave us a story about himself when he was a very young boy of about seven years.
My desk mate accused me of stealing her rubber and I hadn’t stolen it, it had just fallen down. She was actually condemning me.
Today I prayed to God to bless the orphans and bless us all, heal the sick and cover us with his holy arms wherever we go.
Tomorrow I want to wake up early, go to school then to the library at school to borrow papers for revision. I went to bed at 9:35pm.

Tuesday
I woke up at 5:45am, went to school but nothing interesting happened although we had a maths test and I got everything, so I kept a feather in my cap. Nothing made me sad because the whole day I spent it as happy as a king.
I prayed for Jesus to help me pass the test and he did and for him to heal the sick and bless the orphans plus bless and watch over us all.
Tomorrow I’ll go to school, learn new things and do physical exercises. I slept at 8pm.

Wednesday
Today I woke up at 6:01am, it was late so I had to rush to get the first bus but unfortunately I was I found it had gone thus I had to walk to school. Nothing interesting happened, nothing made me sad though I was happy when my class teacher made me prefect of my row. I came back did my homework, prayed for our nation and other stuff. I want to do what I did today, tomorrow. I went to bed at 10pm.

Thursday
Woke up at 5:35am, went to school, came back did my homework, nothing interesting happened, nothing made me happy or sad at all. I was with the same mood that I was with from home, (the mood was happiness). I prayed for people, our nation and as usual I’ll do what I did today tomorrow. I went to bed at 9:20pm

Friday
Woke up at 5:30am, went to school, came back home, did my homework, nothing interesting happened but was happy when Daddy bought me apples and sad when Mummy told me I won’t go swimming at school and swimming was my best hobby.
I prayed for many things. I want to have fun since it’s a Saturday.

Saturday
I woke up at 9:05am we were going somewhere with mum where we stayed for a long time, nothing interesting happened though I was happy I got to carry a child where we had gone. Nothing made me sad.
I prayed for people, our nation and other stuff. Tomorrow I want to go to church. I went to bed late, at 12:00 in the night.

Sunday
I woke up at 7am prepared myself so that I’m not late for Sunday school as it usually starts at 8am, so I ran to church, nothing interesting happened I was just happy because I went to talk to my God.
I prayed for many stuff. I want to go to school and learn new things. I’ll go to bed at 9.00pm

Beautiful October


BEAUTY IS A QUALITY
FOUND WITHIN
A PART OF YOU
THAT WILL ALWAYS WIN.

People look at the outside
of a person, but the Lord
looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7