Maganjo

Maganjo -- meaning the “original land”
-- like this coffee from Velton's: Kenya Maganjo AA

Thanks to my friend Mumbi for sharing with me this charming image that she purchased locally in Wichita, Kansas. We can only assume that it is a picture of Ireland, though the print itself came without title or photo credit.

As Mumbi explains: "Maganjo means an old home, in Kikuyu, within which family members of a past generation would have lived. That's the meaning I get from the picture. It actually reminds me of a small farm that was owned by my grandparents when I was a child, but my family later moved away."

Since I have been recently immersed in Kenyan poetry, I wanted to include some poems from my reading that capture the nostalgic sense of home and homesickness evoked by Mumbi's wall art and her definition of maganjo:

She rocks!

Without her the stars are falling,
Without her the flowers are glooming
Without her the rocks just stare --

I stand before you today,
With a message to relay
About this special woman,
Who compares to no man.

It's about my mama
Sure more would say papa,
More he would contribute,
In this noble tribute.

In my life she is the rock,
The reason I say she rocks
Without her you see,
I wouldn't even be!

In her womb she bore me
Nine months -- never getting weary
She has seen me through the gloom and the bloom
Raising me up -- when I fall she raises me up!

So don't be amazed, neither dismayed,
When I say she is
Indeed my light, even when it's night
Reason I say she rocks!
That's my mama.

The drumbeats are so near,
The mist I must clear
And I fear --
I hate causing a tear,
But it's a step I must take dear
Please do bear?

~ by Margaret Muthee


The Expatriate

Unfriendly faces
Unfamiliar scents
Undefined territory
This is, foreign land

Mistreatment undeserved
Discrimination unjust
Acvusations unreal
It will always be foreign land

A land not her own
A people she knows not
Home is not safe but --
Foreign land is no place to stay

Choices made, desperate actions
To escape war, to this dreaded land
It must be hard to leave your own
It must be hard, this is -- foreign land.

~ by Grace Kamau

Both poems can be found here:

from the AMKA Literature Forum
and Space for Women's Creativity

AMKA (meaning "wake up" in Kiswahili)
is an NGO, based and registered in Kenya,
concerned with pushing and encouraging creativity,
and facilitating and nurturing women writers.

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More poems & more about this project:
To Create a Space for Women's Creativity
@Kitti's Book List