Author: Joan Masinde
-
Grief, Gin and Love
I was almost an hour late for the funeral service. The church was filled with people dressed in black suits and dresses with purple fascinators. For the first time in a little over a decade, my high schoolmates and I were in the same room. The last time we were this close was in the…
-
Loving My Father After Heartbreak
A week earlier, everything was business as usual between him and I. It would be wrong to say that everything was fine because things were never truly fine. I had met him at my best friend’s birthday dinner where he sat in his blue coat and khaki pants and told loud stories that I could…
-
How Not To Bungle Your 2023
At the beginning of 2021, I was determined to change my habits and emulate that of a Fortune 500 company CEO who is up by 4:00 am taking his morning jog, and who will be seated at his desk by 6:30 am, ready to embark on the day’s business. I used a good chunk of…
-
Rest Is How You’ll Survive 2023
The headaches came and went like the current melancholic Nairobi weather. At first, Mara Moja pain pills did the trick and allowed me to work peacefully with ‘Time Flies’ by Burna Boy acting as a soundtrack to my creativity. But as time progressed, my body needed something stronger. That was how my addiction to Tramadol,…
-
It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, Or Is It?
We all know what Christmas is about: the pomp and the colour, family, sumptuous meals, the games and the laughter – the most wonderful time of the year. But not if you are the one cooking, and scrubbing, huddling your younger cousins together and simply being turned into the errand girl. That was me in…
-
Voting in Sleepy Karen
0645 hrs: the streets of Karen look abandoned. Roads are quiet and deserted with one or two matatus and tuk-tuks seen. As I approach Karen C polling station, many cars are parked on the roadside beside the school. 0719 hrs: there are barely people at the polling station. Those here are orderly and quiet. Policemen…
-
The Choice Of Motherhood
Few things elicit sharp reactions like discussing a woman’s body and what she can or cannot do with it. From how a woman wears her hair to how she does her toenails, to how they walk, sit, stand, eat, talk, laugh, to who they love and how they choose to do so, there’s always something…
-
Cervical Cancer, The Female Killer
The World Health Organization reported in 2018 that every two minutes a woman dies of this preventable cancer…
-
Leadership ≠ To Being Male
The story of a woman disguising herself as a man to attain her goals extends further than the legend of Mulan. Margaret Bulkley may mean nothing to most people, but the name Dr.James Barry to historians may remind them of a story cocktail of fiction and fact.
-
Gender Based Violence: A Shadow Pandemic
Gender-Based Violence is one of the most persistent violations of human rights across the globe and has been reported to be much higher within marginalized populations.