if you ask me to lead the night...

For Obama's night, My dawn

Even if you do not ask me to lead the night,
I will.
With the gentle firefly,
the little village one wick lamp
the one in a tin, without a glass cover.
And the one in a bigger frame with a glass cover,
I will put it near the wires that one day will bring power
power to my village for us to see.
I will lead the night.

I will lead the night with the light of the moon,
Other stars twinkling to remind me
of African wisdom divine
I will lead the night with my skirt folded up,
Lead the night walking to hope!
Lead the night with the light of dawn,
Lead the night,
Lead the night.
Lead the night till sunrise.
Asking the sunset still for its blessing,
To lead the night still.
Lead the night of hope.

"The night is darkest before dawn!

Dreaming to the top

Listening to Martin Luther King Jnr's I have a dream in various languages of Kenya, was like listening to a peal of church bells calling us to a unique service. You might prefer a mass. A healing mass. It happened to us; a sweet surprise. The translations were done by girls from the a poor settlement in Nairobi's Eastlands. An area that Barack Obama visited when he was here in Kenya.

The reading in Dholuo, moved writer Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye to tears and all of us. We are just beginning to walk up the hill from the valley of despondence where post-election trauma has left us. Words are medicinal and powerful. That was such an amazing experience. Yes! the peals of bells that touch our humanity making us want to move to some better place. I start my journey with the youth in tow this time. I must fire them with the dreams of our fathers before Obama is declared the 44th President of America, tomorrow.. my longest night waiting for the results, till they come. Not a wink. And if I wink, I will be dreaming Gandhi. He is in the background, ever so silently, swaying the world.

Today my son and his friends will look at the dummy of "The Kenyan Boy who became PRESIDENT of AMERICA and smile. They have been telling me they love it.. .I hope you like it too.