by OP | Feb 19, 2018 | Culture
FOUNDERS JOURNEY: THE MAKING OF SARACEN MEDIA OMD
In the art of war, the underdog wins by employing unconventional tactics. Courage may get one to the battle ground but to win takes something extra.
On 1st October, 2002, 15 years ago, a small ad agency with an peculiar name, opened its door to business, in a global industry that munched local upstarts for lunch and spat them out before dinner. Saracen Media came into existence as the audacious dream of 4 young ad agency men daring to create Kenya’s first independent media agency.
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by OP | Feb 12, 2018 | Simply Kenyan
Show me proof that you love me?
This is the question many unfortunate men will be grappling with on Valentine’s day, to prove to the chosen lass that, she and only she was worthy of his affection. The poor boy child will be forced to engage in an elaborate love dance, all in the hope of gaining new status as a romantic. Valentine’s day arrives with the flair of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Lord forgive the ignorant, for we poor native children in the tropics once believed that a man with a woolly beard wrapped in a red fur coat riding a sledge pulled by reindeer through the snow, would be squeezing his overweight self down our non existent chimneys to leave gifts under a Christmas tree, decorated with bits of cotton wool to represent snow. There were no reparations for this blatant lie sold to wronged children. The illusion of Father Christmas continues to get passed down, from one generation to the next like electoral fraud in Kenya.
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by OP | Feb 5, 2018 | Simply Kenyan
There is an old African saying, “Character is like pregnancy. It cannot be hidden forever”.
A young man, called Hoze, in his late 20s finds himself embroiled in running battles between the police and demonstrators in a rural Kisumu county. It is October 26th 2017, a day scheduled for the repeat Kenyan elections. In his home village, protestors have blocked all the main roads leading to the primary school serving as a polling station. They are determined to prevent arrival of the ballot boxes in the unshaken belief that the elections are rigged. He has never seen so many enraged and agitated people. Thousands, gathered on the main highway ready for battle. Word had gone around a week earlier that no one should remain indoors because stories from Nyalenda and Obunga in Kisumu had returned of police raids, involving rogue elements who break into houses targeting civilians. Even babies were not spared. When the police arrived, everyone would be profiled as guilty and served with the same brutal treatment. No one wanted to be a sitting duck.
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by OP | Jan 22, 2018 | Culture
There was a young man who wanted to be a celebrity chef. Just like the rich white men on TV paid millions for turning cooking into an art form. He wanted to be a professional, a gatekeeper of the knowledge of forgotten foods and a master of traditional flavours. He knew all the gourmet restaurants with kitchens and followed every critically acclaimed cooking show on TV. He aspired to talk about food like those chefs and master the science of gastronomy. To pick obscure spices with the tip of his tongue and identify an assembly of herbs from a single whiff.
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by OP | Jan 15, 2018 | Simply Kenyan
This is my 20th year since, I ventured into writing career. It was supposed to be a side hustle,as I angled for a real job with a corner office and a view. The side hustle became the main stay and people said we suited each other. It is a good time as any to write a short account about how I became a ‘meat wrapper’. Two decades is a long time in one line of work and I am certain I would not have traveled this far without the constant guidance of tens of mentors. The year 1998 was the turning point in my decision to become a writer.
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