memoirs of a kangaroo in the sun.

  I want you to imagine a person who has everything that you are currently working towards in your life. Imagine that they have the dream house, the dream relationship, the dream job, the dream friends, the dream life and a perfect personal brand and reputation. Picture the kind of person that has over 5000 friends on Facebook and each time they post a simple selfie, within an hour they get over 300 likes and 100 comments . Visualize a person who is always dressed impeccably, and speaks so eloquently, even when caught off guard in an office meeting. They are always seen at the hippest events, and let’s not forget to add the fact that they have   a feature column in the national newspaper to share their latest escapades.   Imagine this person is always posting pictures of themselves and ‘bae’ on some paradise island trip, while you are busy sunbathing at home in your garden reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book ‘ Eat Pray Love’. They have told people that “bae” is amazing...

I sat across the table rubbernecking at the couple that had strolled into the Cafe; to everyone who cared to watch, the lady was deep in love while the gentleman seemed just a knee in. He appeared not to pay attention to what she was saying but afforded an occasional laugh to keep her going. He had a lot on his mind and time was no longer his ally. The lady was elegantly dressed, a blue dress top; vogue they called it, black leggings and a cream sweater,and for the cold weather; the scarf sufficed. Temperatures were dropping by the hour and a few days later winter would be knocking at our doors. The ring on her finger was definitely aesthetic; to match her jewelry and the watch on her arm, it must have been bought for her as a gesture of his “love”. Dressed in a white polo shirt tucked into white khaki pants with a white kangaroo cape and white moccasins; the young seemingly corporate and averagely tall gentleman strolled majestically with his lady, arm in arm, across the caf...

“So I fall in love, With the ones that run me through, When all along all I need is you.” Switchfoot “Poets that rhyme together Stay together” At least that should be in the rule book But the book has no specifics No special instructions based on Vocation, location or temperament. It even says nothing about disease Or disability. She is no poet And I’m no rock star; I love the quiet getaways Where the waters crush on the rocks And the silence that speaks with my soul She loves the wild water Where birds make noise in a flock Where her voice must get to the top. I’m in love with her sunshine She’s in love with my rain And it doesn’t cause rainbows Just cats whose spots won’t change; I want more for the cold She wants more for the heat There’s not yet been a place Where we travel at peace. And the book has no specifics No special instructions, Doesn’t care for exceptional languages Or self-immolation There is a man that must die And one that mu...

Young girl, why are you so sad? Why are your shoulders stooping so low? Is it the burden that you carry, the one that you guard so fiercely from the prying eyes of those around you? Is it because you think needing others is a sign of weakness, an invitation to pain? Does it feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders? Does it feel like you’re walking this road alone? Remember the days when you had a skip in your step and a smile on your face? Remember when you would dance by yourself in the middle of a crowded or empty room? Remember when you believed that a problem shared was a problem halved? When you winced at phrases like ‘Every man for himself, and God for us all’? Remember when you trusted enough to share that load with your nearest and dearest? When you believed in holding hands? Dear love, why is your heart so heavy?  Why are you so detached and guarded? Why have you put up walls as high as the sky, and as wide as the ocean? Is it because you know...

Hebrews 12:1 ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…’ For starters, I’m really not a believer when it comes to lucky wins. Either I’m not so lucky or the system is completely corrupted; all I know is I would never spend a single dime on a lottery ticket or take the time to purposely take part in any sort of draw unless I had no choice. However I must say that my faith in these systems has been given a positive nudge this weekend (Thanks Colin). A friend of mine won a shopping voucher in a draw organised by one of the banks here in Uganda. Since he was not going to be able to use it, it was passed down to me (Yey! Thanks again Colin). It was a trolley dash, where you’re given a very VERY little amount of time (think less than 2/3 of a minute) to dash through a s...

When I was younger,I was always one of the children who just shriveled and died whenever there was a long exchange of not-so-nice words. Because of having been brought up in a rather conservative family(to put it nicely), I never really had a come-back ready whenever the neighborhood bully/ cool kids threw a rather mean word(s) my way. It always bothered me and I'd stand rooted in one spot, still at a loss for words but shaking with anger because somewhere deep down, I believed I had to be better than that. I would then lay awake in my bed later than night thinking up of all the possible come-backs I could have used, but in the end dismissing them all as not good enough. At around 3:00am, it would finally come to me: the perfect come-back. I'd barely be able to sleep and all day the next day, I would wait for the cool kid to try and pull another fast one on me. Talk about too little too late; I would never get the chance to use my perfect come-back because he/she would have al...

As you grow up, everything about you becomes more defined and clear cut. It’s no longer easy to be undecided, in the gray or to switch from one side to another. Every move you make seems to have consequences ten times its size.  I’m not talking about turning sweet sixteen or finally being able to legally take alcohol or have a driver’s license. The kind of growth I’m talking about is less of an event and more of a realization, epiphany you could say.  It’s the kind of growth where you finally see the world for what it was, not the movie you imagined it to be. You finally realize that your parents might have had a point and maybe you should have considered their opinions more regularly. You realize that most of the time, you’ve got to take care of you because no one is willing to drop all they are doing to come and bail you out of a rut anymore. Mostly you realize that life is unfair, it’s not a straight path where if you follow steps A, B and C then you will definitely...