Craft It · 2013–2023
Archived stories
Ten years of Kenyans and the things they make by hand: makers, Nairobi and Kampala, motherhood, dusty rugs and the conversations in between. 300 stories, brought back online.
2014Craft ItCraft ItSizzle, no steakI am mighty fatigued. I was in Machakos over the weekend holding my kid brother’s hand as he wed then married. The…2014Craft ItCraft ItGentlemen of the Round TableWomen. Women are horrible creatures. We seesaw on the extremities of love and peace, war and hate. Women don’t sit on the…2014Craft ItCraft ItTrade-ins for a lifestyleLet me first tell you a story before I get into today’s story. Before I joined campus in 2004 (do you hear…2014Craft ItCraft ItEight simple rulesDear Miss LaMore, As I write to you, you are probably still unpacking your suitcases and lining up your closet with the…2014Craft ItCraft ItThomasEvery girl has a pocket of mischievous secrets. And every girl has the one boy who will spill his own blood before…2013Craft ItCraft ItHis memoirBinyavanga Wainana’s memoir ‘One Day I Shall Write About This Place’ was published by Kwani Trust in 2012. Binyavanga is the founder…2013Craft ItCraft ItThe Art of SoliloquyIt’s 2354hours. Tuesday the 31st. I keep throwing a cursory glance at the clock on my laptop, five minutes to beating the…2013Craft ItCraft ItOne for the roadI was lucky to get my first job before I graduated. Besides the job, there was plenty to thank my lucky stars…2013Craft ItCraft ItAn hour’s conversationThe literati of Nairobi hopped about with geekful glee all of last week. Kwani was celebrating ten years of growing the creative…2013Craft ItCraft ItMy head was pounding from a terrible headacheThe book of Exodus chapter five to fourteen weaves the tale of Moses rescuing the children of Israel from the captivity of…2013Craft ItCraft ItStuff of yellow post-itsLast week, for the first time since I started to write for the blog, I approached the blank page and the words…2013Craft ItCraft ItSaturnEvery day, three times a day, I will get an email update from LinkedIn announcing that one of my connections has endorsed…2013Craft ItCraft ItAmericanahEveryone in Nairobi is reading now Chimamanda’s Americanah. Let me refine that. Everyone in Nairobi who considers himself the rightful ratio of…2013Craft ItCraft ItI want to believe“One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic.” Joseph Stalin. I admit: I do terribly with grief. I timeout without…2013Craft ItCraft It10,000’th viewIt’s 1530hours. Tuesday. I write this from a table on the shaded patio of Tamasha Hurlingham. I have just solely devoured a…2013Craft ItCraft Itthe Ol’ ManI look at him bent over the table; intently completing the dailies Sudoku puzzle and the adage ‘I am my father’s daughter’…2013Craft ItCraft ItPaydayI continue to wear the new girl tag around my neck. I continue to wear it because I haven’t quite settled in…2013Craft ItCraft ItRicky Na MarafikiIt is wrong for a woman to decide a man’s pleasuring prowess based on the first kiss only. Maybe his cardboard lips…2013Craft ItCraft ItMental. Spiritual. PhysicalThe voice on the other end of the line is gentle yet coaxing. I have reached her office. I am speaking to…2013Craft ItCraft ItAt the altarMy girl Annette got married. Hold on, this was no ordinary wedding. I was not one of those guests who attended the…2013Craft ItCraft ItBaiskeli, and nothingStephen King’s memoir, On Writing, is a book I have read more times than my niece can count. The memoir was recommended…2013Craft ItCraft ItWhere to next, dear sinner?My old audit office had adopted this policy it called hotelling. Hotelling. Neat word, aye? The first time I heard that word,…2013Craft ItCraft ItDog-ears and librariesLike most girls in Nairobi, I have a shoe guy. And a blouse guy. And a dress guy. But I pushed the…2013Craft ItCraft ItJudithHave you ever heard of Judith Njuguna? Well, neither had I until earlier this year. I first read about Judith in a…