The river dried

The river dried, Leaving us thirsty and dehydrated, We searched everywhere, Just for a drop of water, But the elusive fluid, Was like Gold mines, deep in the earth, And we had no strength to dig, So we sat, wondering, What had become of us? To live like savages, To struggle for a meager drop of water, Then it hit us, like a thunderbolt, Maybe we weren’t thirsty at all, Maybe the illusion of thirst, Had been created by a world obsessed with water, And we had bought in to the hype, Believing that we couldn’t survive without it, Sure enough we owed debts that needed to be paid, For we had previously drunk from the stream on credit, And now the river master stood at our door every day, Reminding us that we owed him, For bending our knees to drink from his stream

Born of a shooting star

Born of a shooting star The world thirsts for your brilliance, it hungers for your magnificence, you are this planet's most magical jewel, and your presence here, has turned these into Holy Grounds you are a potent addition to, the creative advancement of this planet I marvel at your radiance, for future generations will sing praises to your eminence, and build statues to your exuberance I see the gods in you, bubbling, wanting to rise up from within you, and be expressed forth into the consciousness of, the amazement that is all around you you hold the secrets of the universe deep within you, and the key to your own elevation to stardom is, yourself in full glamour Call forth the energy that created you, and ask for its guidance call forth the giants that, lay in deep slumber within your being and watch them raise the consciousness of, the Holiness that abounds around you Make a date with your own transformative splendour, and get to know the potential to, create entire planets that exists within you undisturbed Arise now a King, and glide through like a Queen, for these you are my fellow mortal being and if I could tell you the truth about yourself, I would tell you this: there exists nothing else, in the known and unkown worlds, that even begins to embody awesomeness, like you do

Fern Poetry is an arts organization that uses poetry to create awareness on human trafficking among other social ills amongst students in primary and secondary schools. In partnership with The Kenya Blue Heart Grassroots Initiative, Sanaelimu Art Ensemble, Consolation East Africa and KARDS, we have visited Braeburn Schools, Top Mark High School, St Hannah’s Girls School, Precious Blood Primary School (Amani) among many other schools as well as performed at the Kenya National Theatre. We also use motivational poetry to empower students to believe in themselves, in their abilities and to reach for and fulfill their dreams and heart’s desires. It is in this light that we want to engage your students and teachers in motivational sessions. The sessions are facilitated by Poet Viona Wamuyu as well as myself along with a guest motivational speaker. Each session will last an hour and will include poetry performances by Viona Wamuyu and a motivational talk by the guest speaker. For each session, we are asking the school to invest Ksh. 15,000 in the welfare of its students. When students are motivated, they easily pass their exams and parents want to take their children to a school where students pass their exams. Give us a date with your students and see them soar higher and higher.

A Blue Heart; Joy’s story

A Blue Heart; Joy’s story
Fern Poetry and the Africa Sanaelimu art Ensemble in collaboration with Consolation East Africa have come together under the Kenya Blue Heart Grassroots Initiative (KBHGI) and developed a play titled ‘A Blue Heart; Joy’s story, to create awareness on human trafficking. The play is about Joy, a young girl who goes to live with her aunt after her parent’s unfortunate demise, giving birth to a gripping saga. A Blue Heart; Joy’s story brings together narration, poetry, music and dance. Bernard Muhia from Fern Poetry has written the poems in the play while Mike Kasongo from Africa Sanaelimu Art Ensemble has choreographed the dances and the music. The music is from traditional African drums beaten to a perfect rhythm to reflect the various moods of the play.

This play has already been featured on the United Nations (UN) website http://www.ungift.org/knowledgehub/stories/february2012/blue-heart-campaign-inspiring-artists-in-kenya.html.

The title is inspired by the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which is mandated to create awareness on human trafficking. UNODC is also working to make the ‘blue heart’ an international symbol for human trafficking. The United Nations defines human trafficking as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation".
This play has been created following research done by KARDS (Koinonia Advisory Research and Development Services) in 2009 on the proliferation of human trafficking in East Africa. KARDS is also collaborating in the production process. We are searching for other partners to join us in this noble effort. Written by Luiz Nzomo, a locally based playwright, A Blue Heart; Joy’s story is going to be performed at the Kenya National Theater on 24th March and as well as in high schools and social/community halls.

Charges are Kshs. 200 for high school students with a school ID and Kshs. 500 for adults. For tickets kindly call Noella on 0751198280 or Akil on 0700393931. Advance tickets are also available at the Kenya National Theatre’s booking office at only Kshs. 400. 5% of proceeds from this play will go to the Kenya Red Cross and another 5% will go towards creating more awareness in informal schools. Our Facebook Event Page is https://www.facebook.com/events/330143027022068/ and our Twitter handle is http://www.twitter.com/ABlueHeart_Joy and the Twitter tagline is #BlueHeartKe. For more info, kindly go to http://www.bernardmuhia.com and http://sanalimu.org

Of evil corporations and sweet girls

Of evil corporations and sweet girls
This is the story of two girls
One was sweet and had healing powers,
The second one was straight forward and asked me out.

See, I was walking down the street,
When an evil organization abducted me,
And used mind-control over me,
Giving me an assignment to assassinate.

So there I was walking down the street,
In a trance, on my way to kill someone,
When I came across these two chics
The first one was sweet and had healing powers
I was attracted to her and hugged her,
And right there and then, she healed me
I was no longer under the evil mind-control spell
But the second girl asked me out on a date,
And I felt good about it and said yes
But now I feel like I owe the first chic
Coz her hug healed me from the evil spell
and the doppelganger is, they are both friends!

A Blue Heart; Joy’s story

A Blue Heart; Joy’s story

Fern Poetry and the Africa Sanaelimu art Ensemble have come together to develop a play titled ‘A Blue Heart; Joy’s story, to create awareness on human trafficking. The play is about Joy, a young girl who goes to live with her aunt after her parent’s unfortunate demise, giving birth to a gripping saga. A Blue Heart; Joy’s story brings together narration, poetry, music and dance. Bernard Muhia from Fern Poetry has written the poems in the play while Mike Kasongo from Africa Sanaelimu Art Ensemble has choreographed the dances and the music. The music is from traditional African drums beaten to a perfect rhythm to reflect the various moods of the play.

The title is inspired by the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which is mandated to create awareness on human trafficking. UNODC is also working to make the ‘blue heart’ an international symbol for human trafficking. The United Nations defines human trafficking as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation".

This play has been created following research done by KARDS (Koinonia Advisory Research and Development Services) in 2009 on the proliferation of human trafficking in East Africa. KARDS is also collaborating in the production process. We are searching for other partners to join us in this noble effort. Written by Luiz Nzomo, a locally based playwright, A Blue Heart; Joy’s story is going to be performed as a joint project between Fern and Sanaelimu in high schools, social/community halls and at Alliance Française, the Braeburn Theater as well as the Kenya National Theater. Check posters for more details or go to http://www.bernardmuhia.com and http://sanalimu.org