Obama, My Uncle.

By Samuel Munene

It is amazing how easy it is for us to judge people by first appearances. We look at what they wear, what they drive or even how they smile and make instant conclusions. Perhaps we have so much in our minds, leaving us no room to dig deeper before making any assumptions.

Hand in hand with this is the distrust we have cultivated between us. The very first minutes of any conversation are filled with suspicion, doubting every word being said. It is as if the truth no longer exists. This is not surprising considering most of us are dishonest and think everybody is the same. There are some of us, however, who still treat the truth as a virtue, and dare not tell a lie.

Take me for instance. If I told you that I am Obama’s nephew you would surely not believe me, but that is the truth. Barrack Obama, the US Democratic presidential nominee is my uncle, my maternal uncle. I won’t waste time telling you how I dug up my family history and discovered one of Obama’s great grandfathers had an affair with one of my grandmothers, that is too rudimentary a method to prove my linkage to Obama. Read the story »

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“I learnt about the Kwani? Litfest through a friend who is at the University of Nairobi.I registered for the creative non fiction writing course.By enrolling I sought to know whether what I write fits non fiction since I felt displaced as a writer. I did enjoy the whole week because I learnt the types of creative non fiction, unknown to many. Read the story »