A Kenyan Cry “Where is our future?”
by Audi Victor
I have lived in the street from childhood to adulthood
Once I have thought,
When will this end
My father he died
From a dreadful disease called AIDS
And now he is resting,
Resting in peace
But peace, where are you?
My mother she roamed
From one man to another
For just to earn a living
And satisfy my rumbling stomach
But at nine I could hardly wait
I had to move to the street
From where to feed, shelter and sleep was hell
Just because of my mother
Mom had followed the same same trend.
There on the street I was welcomed,
By all sorts of immorality
Glue sniffing, bhang, smoking, prostitution
And all different types of violence
But abruptly the Police men arrived
To keep law and orders from their big men,
Oh! Why is all this harassments
Aren’t we protected by the laws called rights?
Seeking help from the respected lots
Parents, Teachers, Priests and our guest visitors
Strain your eyes and peer deep into the misty distance of our future.
Then join hands and prepare us to face it with confidence
For if you don’t,
Where shall we be and where shall we go
Gone Are The Days
Gone are the days
When we went to school
In tattered clothes
When our lack of proper
School uniforms deprived
Us of concentration in class
But thanks be to God
Today we shine
In the brightly coloured uniform
Giving the school a radiant look
Courtesy of our friends
Gone are the days
When we sat on stones
When desks were far fetched vocabulary
When we trained our young ears
To get what our determined teachers taught
When our dirty fingers soiled our books.
Now we comfortably sit
On real desks. No more soiling
Of books and hands
No more uncomfort as we now
Have desks.
Long gone are the days
When we were sent out of classroom
In search of pens and pencils
A search that would end up at home
To tend the babies never to come back.
Today we have even spare pens
To write our hearts and heads out
To draw our minds out
To shade our drawings
As per our wills
