Poem: The Non Practicing Christian by Manuel Odeny

A cold misty morning- a thought of prayer
he shakes sleep from him eyes, cold from him marrows
dusty-torned-dog eared bible,
hustled, dust slapped
him leg lumbers a bored body
a hardened heart, a severed spirit
meandering the snake path
to a desolate house
on the hill.

The whole week it slept alone
now standing vigil in the cold morning mist
night dark lurks in shadows
chattering crickets fading away
who! whooo! of restive eyed owls
paving to gay chirping birds
heralding a day of worship
to the non-practicing Christian

Outta weekly drop-out Jesus is picked
bowed head humbly, hypocrisy dissuaded
hippo fat butt tendered in upholstery
moan on coarse pew
rusty nails, joints squeaking in protest.
invoked spirits hover
in amalgam of incest aroma with
sinful stench of last night indulgences!
blood of lamb- bud tantalizer
to a Johnny Walker imbiber!
body of Christ ingested with pork
of cause kitu kodogo* is tithed
as hands deft at pinching butts, tinkering nipples
folded in supplication.
Amen!

“Soon and very soon
we are going to see the King
alleluia, alleluia
we are going to see the King”

Amen!
he sashays to gyrating song
Yeah men!
the non-practsisng Christian
drifts in balling frenzy
Amen…oops
Yeah Men!

He ducks away
service over, till next week
like a coat Jesus is shed, till next week
He dashes away
hopelessly clinging to departing weekend
to nyama choma*, carousing
Amen!

Y
E
A
H
M
E
N
! ! ! ! !

Manuel Odeny © 2013

Poem: Heaven Through Hell by Manuel Odeny

Photojournalist Kevin Carter's photo of this girl in Ethiopia inspired this poem.

Pardon my retched soul,
in book of life
Atone my sins with the lambs blood
May the promise of golden streets
Hasten my wary legs home.

To Immanuel’s ground I come
at heavens door I knock
for I’m through hell!
Land of honey and flowing milk
Painted illusions of heaven in good book
Coded pulpit din on fairy-tale winged creatures
A mental prisoner of gospel
Accented talks of glory
“supplicate your dark souls to a Jewish man”
eyes closed,
land swept from our knees
bible, deadly whips on other hand
brotherly love felt in slave ship dungeon

Miles south of sub Sahara Africa
a conception of mistaken passion for love
a drop from a leaking condom.
A fraction of pleasure
summarized in years of hell
pandemic poverty
bullets whiz past my emaciated body
famine hot like a bee sting
carcasses dotting Savannah
as hunger gnaws my intestines

Hell

Janjawid spreading Kalashnikov terror
Klansmen lynch mob
Serbia mass graves
pain of child born in Gaza
shelling debris in Mogadishu heat
missing corpse tossing in tsunami
a whiff of Nazi gas

All powerful heaven God
don’t squint in my suffering
while you hold me wear gloves,
least I soil your hands with raw sewerage
hasten my destiny
my will to suffer ebbs
pardon me
be justified through hell I wonder
with a pain to lose the all world,
life,
soul,
heaven I truly desire

Manuel Odeny © 2013

Is muhadhara the best way for Christian-Muslim harmony in the world?

Kenyan US Embassy in rubbles during the 1998 terrorist attack.

Can the truculent debate on the Kenyan constitution concerning kadhi courts and the violence of Boko Haram in Nigeria be quelled by having muhadharas, a crusade involving both Christians and Christians?

Often arranged by Seventh Day Adventists and Muslims, the muhadhara have been gaining ground up country and especially in the capital. For the past two week one has been going on at Mother Teresa Road in Eastlands.

For readers new to this crusade here is a scene: in an open strategic space a Muslim cleric and a pastor seat in two opposing tables filled with religious books and a reader. Their debates aired by PAS are controlled by an agreed regulator by both sides.

Teachings from both religions are shared, questioned, argued and discussed with emotions checked by a blessing from the police, organizers and the regulator. Most common involves trinity, if Christ is the son of God or a prophet, is Mohammed god sent and the place of jihad amongst others.

An example is 1^st Samwel 13:1-2 in bibles major English versions, Kiswahili and Mother tongue which gives different years with omissions on the year at which King Saul reigned in ancient Israel.

Winning converts from across the fold is paramount without bloodshed but controlled arguments like the violence in Egypt recently between orthodox Christians and Muslims when a Christian girl was ‘held’  in a mosque against her wishes.

Though debates are heated, after a muhadhara the organizers mingle easily and even share a meal.

While still an undergrad in Maseno University Muslim and Adventists students organized a successful one week muhadhara to streamline and share on both religions.

Though it can aid to check extremism a look at it causes like poor government services, unemployment , unfair distribution of resources, tribalism and wide spread corruption can still be potent.

Considering that the high hand control of autocratic government on public life of its citizens by detention couldn’t touch religion.  Citizens looking for psychological satisfaction turned to mosques and ready hands of radical clerics.

Additionally the 1967 six day Arab-Israeli war killed the pan-Arab spirit and nationhood to terrorism, the same can be said of the 2007/08 PEV that killed nationhood and replaced it with tribalism.

This link may seem remote but a look at the 400 meters Mother Teresa Road with 3 muhadharas in past 2 months and joining four Eastlands ghetto is a replica of the country. There are 18 churches, 4 mosques and 123 witchdoctors as residents turn to religion amid raw sewages, muddy streets without title deed to their lands, clinic, council services and even a police post.

Scene on bombing scare at Kampala bus on December 2010

Tribal imaginary lines drawn by 2007/08 PEV are still evident coming to fore on tribal names on shops and music from stores. The police are yet to prosecute a single suspect to the death that claimed about 1,500 people with others still displaced.

Still not connecting the dots? Then roger this: Kenya, most failed state in East Africa with widest divide between poor and rich has produced and sheltered jihads to Somalia and its citizens arrested for the world cup Uganda bombings!

Dilemma; The Pressure for Premarital Sex

 (An article for Nuru cartoon column, in response to the dilemma of issue 33 of Supa Strikers on 22nd November 2005)

Firstly I’d like to congratulate the girl fir the action she has taken. It is good she didn’t have sex with his boyfriend and secondly, for choosing a reliable source to share her predicament.

I’d like to note that most girls are nowadays falling on the same trap.

Symbolically a girl is like a fruit on a big tree. Some are on the low laying branches while the rotten and the half eaten fruits are on the ground.

Only lazy boyfriends go for these girls for short-lived untrue love and easy sex. Meanwhile the golden fruits on top of the tree are always the hardest to get because many boys fear the risk of falling and breaking their bones.

Such girls always wait for reliable and enduring boy(couple) who knows the value of true love waits thus having sex at the correct time: when married. I may advise the girl to be the golden fruit.

If I may refer to the bible about such love, Amnon was deeply infatuated by his lovely sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1-32). Such a union was not possible.

Amnon was so vexed that he laid a trap to rape Tamar after being advised by his subtle cousin Jonadab. Ironically after the ordeal Amnon hated Tamar more than she loved her!

That is exactly what happens about boyfriends who insist on premarital sex; soon after they have got what they want they will treat the girls like things left behind in a deserted homestead.

Sex is not a receipt of love. Sex, too, is not an opiate for love.

This is a true statement! During my high school years boys had girlfriends in almost all girl schools in the district. They used to threaten girls for sex to proof their love to them.

After sex during the holidays the relationship will usually break up with the girls receiving cold-booting letters and being laughed at for being cheap prostitutes.

This paves the way for other girls who will be acquired during the interschool activities for the following holiday.

In school general knowledge will be great in schoolwork but self-knowledge is best for survival during such period because first love is always overcome by the second sight.

I also think that by having enlightened friends always help in such a dilemma. If I may refer you back to my bible quotation, When Absalom (Tamar’s brother) revenged by killing Amnon and King David thinks that all his sons are dead, Jonadab (the subtle advisor) tells King David that its only Amnon who is dead.

On the same line, in most cases friends who advise girls on premarital sex know about the other side of the coin.

When the girl will be infected by sexually transmitted infection; gets pregnant and her studies terminated they will be the ones babbling, howling and spreading the message with a let-me-tell-you tone.

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. It is only the rough time in relationship that you know about the real intention of your boyfriend. “He won’t tell everyone that I’m is chick” fear shows clearly that the outside force and not the inside define the relationship.

This shows that what the girl will have to say will not work because the boyfriend will listen to the outsiders.

If you drive your car up the mountains, you are not going to cruise to the edge of the cliff to see how close you can park without actually plunging over it. No! Common sense tells you to stay as far from the edge as possible.

You should tell the boyfriend about the value of “true love waits” but if he still sticks on his guns then the girl (Boy) should quit because she may get infected with H.I.V/AIDS, be pregnant and her studies terminated.

This may seem to be tough but the next time she is “on the edge” of the premarital sex cliff; she should look down, she will see some of her friends down there who didn’t think they would fall either but they did.

My late grandfather, a fisherman, once told me: Only the strong fish swims against the current. With all this pressure on premarital sex affecting youths we should always be strong.

But if we might have almost fallen then it is much easier to be wise about the mistakes we made yesterday than the ones we are in process of making.