Isabel Allende - Island Beneath the Sea

I just finished reading Isabel Allende's -  Island Beneath the Sea.

I often pick books at airports or purchase them via Amazon.  Books tend to keep the boredom away and help manage the dreariness of long waits in airports especially when one's flight is delayed. Oh! What would one do without a good paperback.

From as far back as I grasped my ABC's, I always hid behind the books that I read. Was it being snobbish or a mechanism for avoiding empty talk?...  I remember with nostalgia sitting in the trees in the ridges on my parent's country home pouring through African Writers Series...The bliss...

A good author transports one away from the vicissitudes of this present life.  I travel in the books I read...going to places, I would otherwise not be able to.   Seeking to understand different people's and cultures..better than a history book. It doesn't matter that the books are subject to the author's imagination and spice.

I have also read Allende's, The House of Spirits; Ines of my Soul; Zorro and Paula. No disappointment there.  The Latin American mystic and style grips me.

For those who cannot read history books...a good paperback is worth it. And Isabel Allende is definitely worth a try.

The King is Dead...Long Live the King.

An 'interesting' occasion that happens once in a life time catapulted me back to the days when I was a child reading from 'Hallo Children - Mzee Safari books'.  I should be forgiven for being nostalgic but as  a member of the Wanga Nation, I must explain that event. Our reigning Nabongo His Majesty Paramount Chief (Rtd) Omwami William Japheth Wambani Rapando went to be with his contemporaries on the evening of 1 January 2012. There are those who would be forgiven to suggest that these rantings are best consigned to the litter bins of eras gone by....but for me they kindled as much interest in my culture and people as I have in the cultures of others.

The East Wanga Kingdom witnessed the crowning of King William Japheth Wambani Rapando when the bones of his father Nabongo Rapando were exhumed and reburied at the Shimuli shrine on the outskirts of Mumias town.

The Royal Paramount Chief (Rtd) Nabongo  Japheth Wambani Rapando's body was at St. Mary's Mission Hospital, morgue - Mumias sub county within Kakamega county. His Majesty was removed on Thursday the 12th January, 2012 from his home, Royal Garden, at Mulambo village in East Wanga off Shianda-Malaha road, where His Majesty lay in state. The royal funeral service and burial was conducted on Saturday the 14th January, 2012.

According to the Aba'Shitesetse, the Nabongo is buried seated and continues to reign from an "eshiembekho" until a new King is anointed. I read today that the new Nabongo has been anointed. Prince Maurice Rapando, 54, will be the next king of the Wanga after a council of elders endorsed him shortly before the burial of his father, Nabongo William Japheth Wambani Rapando, on Saturday. His inauguration will take place after the late Nabongo's remains are reburied at Shimuli shrine. Until then Nabongo William Japheth Wambani Rapando still reigns from the afterlife.

The late Nabongo was good friend of my family and of the same lineage and hence this has awoken some interest in me. 

The King is Dead...Long Live the King.

JMAW - Watoto Uwaleavyo Nao Ndivyo Wakuavyo

Ewe Mama Mjasiri, Sikia Niyasemayo
Si Maneno ya Adhiri, Ila Kuwa Egemeo
Siwa ache chachari, Watoto Uwaleyao
Watoto Uwaleavyo, Navyo Ndivyo Wakuavyo

Mfundishe ya misemo, Na Methali 'nazofaa
Usikuwe na muwamo, zitazompa dondoa
Usimpomfunza thumo, Dunia Tamfunzua
Watoto Uwaleavyo, Navyo Ndivyo Wakuavyo

Simzoeshe anasa, siku atakapokosa
Atageuka muwasa, nawe ndiwe wa makosa
Akifungwa kwa makosa, we msababisha kisa
Watoto Uwaleavyo, Navyo Ndivyo Wakuavyo

Sipokatazwa kuiba, 'tendelea vyo daima
Alianza kule nyumba, halafu sasa lawama
'Ngalikatazwa kuiba, ngalikuwa mzima
Watoto Uwaleavyo, Navyo Ndivyo Wakuavyo

Sipofunzwa egemeo, Kweli utasikitika
Kwa misemo ile yao, waswahili huitika
Maji yaliyomwagwayo, Hayawezi kuzoleka
Asofunza na mamaye, hufunzwa na ulimwengu