Category: Stories from the Diaspora

By Sheillah Maonga To read part three, click here Phyllis saw her mother first. She pulled out from Fiona’s embrace.“Why did you do it, mum?” Phyllis asked.“Do what?” Nafula asked.“Get back together with dad.”“You make it sound like it is a bad thing.” Nafula said. “That is what I was telling her too. That she […]

By Sheillah Maonga To read part two, click here All this while, their parents were looking at them waiting for them to finish. They had learnt early on not to interrupt the twins when they were talking to each other. Because that hardly worked, since the twins ignored any interference until they were done talking […]

BY SHEILLAH MAONGA To read part one, click here They got in the car in relative silence. None of them was talking to the other. The atmosphere between them was thick with resentment. The meeting had passed a decree that they should live together once more as man and wife, but it had not tackled […]

By Sheillah Maonga The meeting had ended. Finally. They now had to start their journey back to Nairobi. A seven-hour long drive, if they didn’t stop anywhere. Nafula had thought that she would not leave together with Wakoli. She had thought that she would leave with her parents, the way she had come. She had […]

By Sheillah Maonga To read part two, click here The next day, Neema woke to her phone ringing. She looked at it and saw it was Maina. She ignored it. He kept calling. She knew he would not stop until she either she answered him, or she blocked him. She didn’t have the heart to […]

By Sheillah Maonga To read part one, click here Neema saw Gaki sobbing, but she did not have the strength to console her. She ditched her chair and sat on the floor, in solidarity with her best friend. She started crying too. She too could still not believe it. She could not believe that Maina […]

By Sheillah Maonga He was a good man. One of the best she had ever met. He treated her well. Like something precious and fragile. At first, it had unnerved her because she was used to bad boys that treated her as an unwanted afterthought. So, Maina was a breath of much needed fresh air. […]

By Sheillah Maonga To read part four, click here “What were his last words?” Cherop asked, her voice almost a whisper. “The words were not clear. They had shot him at the neck, so his voice was all groggy and blood was coming out of his mouth when he tried to speak.” Muthoni whispered back. […]

By Sheillah Maonga To read part three, click here Looking at his body, she was reminded of the one time she worked as a live-in carer for a man that was suffering from a terminal illness. The family had needed to spend quality time with him in his last days and they had felt that […]

By Sheillah Maonga To read part two, click here Korir was her youngest brother. He was a delinquent. In his teenage years, he had fallen into a bad crowd that led him to do a stint in prison for assault. He had got into a fight with the son of a local policeman. Many had […]