IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES

May the sunshine on your soul

And scorch all soul's fouls

May the angels watch thy steps

Let me bless you whilst today,

What if tomorrow never comes?

Let me write you the best songs

Narrate story's, poems and things of the time

Let me show you the path I chose

The path from which my soul springs

At least if tomorrow never comes!

Give me a chance,

I'll listen to your joys and sorrows

Allow me,

I'll play my hathoric harp

Let me,

I'll do what I can

Whilst I can, beyond I can

If tomorrow never comes!

I will thank you in days and nights

In peace and fights

I will uphold this gift of a friend

Till the relocation of my soul.

Let me acknowledge you today

For ain't sure about tomorrow

I will today, I will today,

Who knows?

If tomorrow never comes!

by Joash Nyaundi

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WHY CHUKA IS NOT YET A UNIVERSITY

The last time I checked, a university is defined by an institution of higher learning, and this has kept me wondering how my university, Chuka, fits into this definition, and the only answer I keep coming back to is that maybe it’s because it offers education beyond high school. In any case, how is learning in Chuka University higher?

I am a student at Chuka University, and I have not at any moment regretted having Chuka as my first choice. Chuka is certainly a nice place to be, but not as I thought, probably not as anyone else thought. Maybe everything may not always turn out as we expect, but it is always worse when we can’t do anything about it, but when we can, we have to. That is why, while so many are oppressed and cannot speak out for themselves, I take it upon myself to speak up for my fellows.

Chuka, as a learning institution, has no social responsibility to anyone; not to the students, not to the society, not to the country, not to the government, and not to the shareholders. The Vice-Chancellor, however, as the head of this institution has a social responsibility, first and most importantly, to the students, without which this institution would be inexistent, then to other parties like the staff and the society. Therefore, it is for the Vice-Chancellor to ensure, above anything else, that the welfare of the students is upheld to the uttermost, before considering what pleases the university council and what doesn’t.

Definitely, the council will be pleased if fees are paid in time, many buildings, regardless of whether necessary or not, are constructed, many lecturers are employed, and if many students are admitted. But the students won’t be at ease if both male and female students have to squeeze themselves in a queue just to get a gate pass. Mind you, no one cares the delicacy of the female students’ bodies, and no one even considers the possibility that there are always some minions of folly who, despite being in the university, have clung to the lowest rungs of intelligence, and do not see the intellectual gap between campus and high school, who keep unreasonably pushing their fellows in the queue.

Despite how it may sound, I am not condemning the gate-pass system, that is no longer an issue, at least it motivates people to work hard to be able to raise fee on time, the issue is getting the gate-pass itself. Even so, for anyone to have access to the fundamental right, for which we come here: tuition, this is what they have pay: mentorship fee, for which a public lecture is organized maybe once per academic year and on a Saturday, caring not about those who worship on Saturday; activity fee, for which only 0.5% of the students, who participate in sports and co-curriculum activities benefit from; material development fee, which I suppose means such things as Wi-Fi-which is utilized by only 2% of students because it is only efficient 1% percent of the time, and lighting, yet some lectures are cut short due to improper lighting in lecture rooms. I am not saying these should not be included in the fees, I am saying that failure to pay for them on time should not deny us the right to attend lectures, even after paying the tuition fee.

Maybe the Vice-Chancellor is not aware of the conditions under which the gate-passes are issued in this university, and I don’t know if this should be called irresponsibility. I don’t if he knows that male students are forced to squeeze one another in the same queue with female students or if he knows that students are forced to stand in the sun for hours before they can get a gate pass. While there is a possibility of developing a system which automatically generates a gate pass for whoever clears the required fee, the option taken is the one that is totally insensitive to the welfare of the students, certainly because no one is willing to spend on the former, yet there is an easier option.

This is why I am saying that before the university council, or the society, the Vice-Chancellor has a social responsibility to the students first, and that is to ensure that above everything else, that their welfare is upheld to the uttermost, which he has certainly failed to do. I don’t know if this is the case in every other university in Kenya, but it should be for the learning in any institution to be termed as ‘higher’. Now, you tell me, is Chuka an institution of higher learning? Hold onto your answer, I will be back with more proof. Yea, there is always room for improvement, and it is an improvement that we plead for.

by Vincent Owino

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A LETTER TO MY DEAR FUTURE WIFE

Dear future Wife,

Hey there future wife, It’s me again, your loving future husband.

Uhm, I was just checking on you, you know how much I would give just to see you,

Though I have never really met you, except in my dreams but I guess you can call that faith.

Faith that one day i will get to see my lady.

How is your boyfriend though?

 Is he cool and good, treating you like a queen?

Does he treat you to lunch?

Calls you every hour because he misses you, surprising you to dinner?

Not in a local diner but an exquisite five star.

Does he tell you how much you mean to him?

I hope he doesn’t do all of the above, not that I wouldn’t want him doing that but,

Because it will be the fastest path for you and him to part and I will be waiting for you

Because you belong to me, even God knows that, so my wishes girl,

Are no crimes, my love.

Well am not perfect you know, i refused to be 100% perfect

Because having such a man, is a dream farfetched. I like watching cartoon

Tom and Jerry is my favorite. I love movies and music

Psst! I hear they say music is medicine to the soul, I guess am always sick he! he!

I have a penchant for cuddling you know i always dream of holding you in my arms.

In bed when with rain we are blessed and its soft pat on the roof feels like a lullaby

And I cuddle you like how I hug my pillow, not letting go and nothing separating you from me.

Ok, I know that’s too much but, i thought you should know that about me.

I have to go for now, though I hope we will get more time to talk,

Laugh all night and crack jokes. By the way I have a special request for your boyfriend,

Please ask him to go slow and soft with you. Oh! And please,

Could you not give everything of you to him? If he asks why, tell him the future is big and bright.

Tell him also that you are a jewel, a jewel that should be handled with care.

 And please, take care of yourself, my patience and I will wait for you as long as it takes.

 As long as neither my patience nor I give up.

So don’t take long dear.

By Githinji Kiiru

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I AM RETURNING HOME

I am returning home brother

Yes, I am returning from the university

From campus: where we all wanted to be

And believe me brother

I have earned a title

We are now called ‘intelligent people’

And I will kill you if you don’t call me that

Because I have worked so hard to earn it

And you can tell even from how I speak

I have forgotten our mother tongue

Even from how I dress

I have forgotten the meaning of decency

But it doesn’t matter;

Because that is for the villagers.

I am returning home sister,

After many years of toil.

I heard you never made it to the university

Don’t cry, because you are lucky.

Here the girls are unlucky

We use them like toilet paper

To wipe away the shit of our lusts

And then throw them into the bin of forgotten

They don’t know how to say no

Because we don’t know how to tell the truth

But we have words; words that move them

And when we have taken away their value

We move on to those with more value.

I am returning home mother

And I believe I have made you proud

You taught always to go to church

And for sure mother, church was my best friend

But there is somebody who told me

That dance is sweet on Saturday

So I decided to alternate

Only to obey your word mother

You told me to be a good boy

I sure was, I never failed you

I never failed my peers either

The ones who smoke weed and bhang

The ones who drink alcohol like water

I never failed them mother

I really was a good boy

I am returning home father

You have waited long enough for my degrees

Indeed, I bring with me two degrees

I am sure I did not really fail you

The first degree is in economics

And the second is responsibility

Responsibility for the choices I made

So I can live with the lasting consequences of them

I evaded responsibility for the babies I sired

For the pains I caused

For the discords I soared

But I had to bring this one with me

Because the alternative is my grave

And I bring with me a disease

A disease I worked so hard to get

A disease I desperately looked for

And I am going to keep it for the rest of my life

I would also have brought a third degree with me

But father, the campus girl is not a wife.

Now open wide your arms and embrace me

Because after so long here I come

A little more different than I left

And I am a good person

I am not returning to steal away your poverty

I hope you won’t mind sharing it with me

Because, thanks to you, in the university

I never had a taste of it

And I have a job, o family

I was recently made the group admin of our class WhatsApp group

So prepare to provide some bundles for the job

I am returning home; home sweet home

Cheer up; put a smile on your faces.

by Vincent Owino

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MY LOST KEY

I saw it again,

And felt it strike me like a cane,

But this time it was bold.

But still it felt okay,

Though I couldn't find the key.

My heart ached for more

But I had no floor

For I had lost my ground.

I saw it flow,

And watched its terror grow.

The rains threatened to destroy my skin,

and the lightning dared to break my bones.

I tried opening my eyes,

with an attempt to watch as time flies.

But the night was too dark,

And I wished I could build my own ark.

With fear creeping in,

I could feel my worries cling.

I stretched out my hand,

desiring to feel the warmth of the sun,

But the sun had melted,

and the sky was bare.

My fingers ached to feel the coldness of my key,

but it was out of reach. 

by Gloria Ronoh

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TO MY PARENTS

A princess is what I have become.

Glancing at the memories to come. 

Everyday, everytime, I get better

And my future gets brighter. 

I have the greatest gifts;

I never want to let this go.

I know that I have not reached the end.

I am not fully grown yet.

But yours are the voices of love

That show me the right way.

I have the greatest gifts;

I never want to let this go.

At times, I set my foot on the wrong path.

I let my hopes fall apart.

I join the wrong crew.

But with every mistake I make,

Comes your scolding like a cake

But rather a cake of bitterness.

And through the bitterness, I find your love.

I have the greatest gifts;

I never want to let this go.

You are the audience that always listens to me,

Cheers and applauses with pride.

Help me to straighten my path.

Your words brightens my heart.

I have the greatest gifts;

I never want to let this go.

For all that I am,

For all that I have become,

I owe to the greatest gifts ever,

The greatest parents in the universe.

Thank you God for this gift.

by Gloria Ronoh

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GIVE ME A BREAK!

Am I the only one who often encounters these fellows from the village (not always from the village, but literally out of campus, or never actually got to one) to whom campus is perfectly imperceptible as an institution for learning? To them, campus is the home of all debauchery, where boys only go foraging in better pastures than the ones they leave behind in the village. 

Yes, to them, we go to campus to unlearn all the morals that we were taught while growing up, and to do away with all the Christian ethics we ever knew. Campus is not a place they want to be in. They ‘hate’ it passionately just as they ‘hate’ those who go there. They look at us like campus has totally brainwashed us and as if we remember nothing of our past.

Neigh, brothers and sisters. Campus is just a learning institution, not a lurking place for the villains you see in us. We do not go to campus to evolve into the scamps you think we are, neither do we go to campus trade our dignity for dishonour. It has never been our intention to demean ourselves in the manner you think we are. 

If we changed our closet, we have only changed how we look and it doesn’t imply that we have changed how we look at people, or that we have let go of our respect for elders. If we changed our diet, then you must know it is not to give room for any alcoholic substances or for drugs, it could be for our academic well-being. 

Just because I don’t use my mother-tongue while conversing with my friends doesn’t mean I have forgotten it, or that I’m ashamed of it, not every conversation is enjoyable in any language, you know... You should know that just because my contact list is majorly constituted of females doesn’t mean that all I do is crave for their tastes in bed.

The world is changing and we have to change with it. My morals are no longer written in my outward appearance, but in my heart and in how I handle myself. Dreadlocks are just a hairstyle. Skinny trousers are just fashionable. If I come to church in a t-shirt, never mind, I just find it easier to wash t-shirts than shirts, and I know to God, shirt or t-shirt means nothing. 

The language I use is just an application of everything I’ve learnt throughout school, haha. From this moment, I guess you will not look at me in the face and quickly make conclusions on what a minion of fleshy passions I am. Well, I could be, but it is not what you are looking at that will prove. Okay, sociopaths? 

by Vincent Owino

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