Mischievous Acts I Liked

A True Story
by
Copyright ©
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With permission, I have extracted this picture from StockSnap. All rights reserved worldwide.

As I was having a haircut at a barbershop in Kiserian some time back, I saw a sticker that said in Kikuyu, "Nie nyedete ciana; wana niguo itedaga. (I like children; it's childishness that I don't like.)"

Though the sticker tickled my fancy, I didn't agree with what it said because I like childishness, or rather mischief, so long as it doesn't harm anyone or frighten the weak. Let me tell you some mischievous acts I liked.

A chap called Jack befriended me when I attended church at All Saints' Cathedral Nairobi some years back. During one Bible study we had at the cathedral, he called some participants and ended the calls before they picked them - what is locally known as "flashing" but my dictionary has no such definition under the word "flash".

To see how mischievous Jack was, imagine you are in Bible study when your phone rings. And when you pick the phone, the call ends, only to find the person flashing is Jack who is with you in the Bible class. A likeable rogue Jack was!

Then one day in 2012, I visited JKUAT where I dropped out in 2009 after the engineering degree I was pursuing there became too hot for me to handle. Why did I visit the university? Just because I could. And I got to interact with the classmates I befriended when I repeated my second year in 2009.

As I was walking in JKUAT at night that day, I saw a neon signboard pointing to a hostel which was for women during my student days at the university. The signboard read "FAR HO TEL".

Perhaps finding it unbelievable that the hostel had been turned into a hotel, I asked a guy who was passing by, "You mean they converted this women's hostel into a hotel?"

And the guy was like, "Oh man, where has this dude been?"

I can't recall what he told me but I quickly pieced the story together and learnt that the hostel was named FARASI HOSTEL. Then some JKUAT students removed some characters from the signboard; that's why it read "FAR HO TEL".

It beats me how the students removed the characters from the neon signboard without fear of being caught or getting an electric shock. I liked the mischief anyway. That's why I don't think April Fool's Day was a bad idea. Or was it?
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A Captain Who Helped Me

A True Story
by Thuita J. Maina
on Jul 30, 2018
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
These were my high school classmates Stephen Lenai and Peter Omondi posing for a photo in 2005. Omondi (in red and blue) vanished without trace when our high school years came to an end in November 2005. To this day, no one in our class knows whether he is dead or alive.

When Lenai became my house captain in 2005 during our fourth-form year at Starehe Boys' Centre, he was understanding of me. Not once did he say an unkind word to me like the way some schoolmates did when they commented on how confused I looked.

During one lunchtime in 2005, he called me aside in the dining hall and asked me to be controlling my temper. Believe you me, I sometimes erupted violently like a volcano.

He continued serving in that role when we joined the institute division of Starehe in January 2006. Perhaps because I didn't want to be in the institute, I missed several 6:00 p.m. roll calls in my first days at Starehe that year. It is then that Lenai requested me to attend the roll calls.

I eventually felt at home in Starehe and acquired a life-changing IT diploma. And Lenai played a part in that. I remember with nostalgia how he occasionally asked me to address my housemates during the roll calls.

One roll call address I gave stands out in my memory because of how euphoric it made me feel. It was on a Sunday when junior boys were preparing to start sitting for their end-year exams the following day and fourth formers, their final high school exams known as KCSE.

Just before the roll call began, I instinctively knew Lenai would ask me to speak. So to prepare for my address, I wore an overcoat I loved to put on since it made me look like an American president in a winter inauguration ceremony.

My instincts turned out to be right, for Lenai did ask me to speak. Guess what I said?

Well, I encouraged junior boys not to despair since they had room for improvement. But for the fourth formers, I was frank with them not to expect any miracles in their KCSE results if they hadn't been studying diligently.

The conviction with which I delivered the short address was what made me feel euphoric after the roll call and well into the night. Lenai had made my day.

What I am however most indebted to Lenai was the way he let me join my hometown Catholic church youths on Sundays during our institute days, an exposure that made me a better person. For that, I pray that good things happen to him.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on a captain who helped me, you might also enjoy another one on "A Classmate Who Helped Me".
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Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author

Name: Thuita J. Maina
Marital status: Single
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just for Laughs

There was this drunkard named Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"



The 7 Deadly Sins

  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note

I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination; I have therefore given up the things that weighed me down and I am now living my life to the fullest because the tomorrow I had always hoped to live my dreams may never be mine.

Fun Facts

  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com

Health Tips

"So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help give you that greatest blessing of all - good health."

~From Your Body (A Ladybird Book)

Wonders of the Modern World

  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

Great Example for Politicians

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels

  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Radios
  6. Computers
  7. Anesthetics

My Supreme Desire

To borrow the words of Elbert Hubbard, my supreme desire is to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without fear, hate, guilt, worry and jealousy; to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so; to treat all men with kindness; and to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Making Peace With the Past

"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."

~Eileen Caddy

Toughest Colleges to Get Into

  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins

  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love

"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen

The World's Largest Cities

  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes

  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers

  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)