I've Walked the Walk

I've walked the walk,

And traveled the distance,

And I've known how it feels

To be on the other side of midnight In an alien land--

Pumping gas into a tired car

In a village that goes to sleep

And no dog barks.

Yet I knew eyes were on me

As I swiped my credit card

Into a rusty old pad.

I've known what it feels

To sleep outside your soul,

For but a brief moment,

And I've resolved to blog, talk, tweet,

laugh,and get busy

For when the light goes out,

And the blog updates stop,

And the tweets cease,

And no more phone rings,

The silence becomes noisy and dissonant.

So I've resolved to think, talk, write, tweet,

and blog,and write a book online
Beacuse messages unseen, unread, unheard,...

Are but a collection of characters,

mere words left to gather dust and mold.

JR Alila. p

The Milayi Curse (a Novella)

In The Milayi Curse, Joseph R. Alila (the Author of “Sunset on Polygamy”) tells a story about a centuries-old conflict between two ancestral cousins, the Jamokos and Milayis, both members of the Jokamilayi—a fictional Luo (Kenyan) clan. The conflict is of a spiritual as well as social nature, with one early Christian Priest (Father James O’Kilghor) struggling to make sense of an alien culture and reconcile the Jokamilayi. It is a tale about spirituality, honor, betrayal, pride, poverty, wealth and uneasy kinship in fast-changing times, with Christianity and formal education breaking class barriers, bursting myths, and “turning things upside down.” Poor Charles Milayi graduates out of middle school with excellent grades. Just when his widowed mother (Consolata Milayi) has lost hope of her gifted son ever stepping into a high school, he becomes a beneficiary of “a secret enemy hand of providence” only known to Father James. Father James protects the identity of Milayi’s benefactor because a Jamoko publicly sponsoring a Milayi child could unsettle many souls on either side of the unhealthy blood divide in Jokamilayi, more so because the benefactor’s son (Thomas Jamoko) cannot graduate out of middle school. Charles Milayi excels in his studies, joins college, and becomes a lawyer, a businessperson, and a cabinet minister. Having broken through the economic class barrier, Charles marries none other than the Prime Minister’s daughter. However, back home, Hon. Milayi’s people remain bitterly divided along bloodlines, thanks to the century-old curse with origins in old wars, pillage of war spoils, and ancestral wealth. The so-called “Milayi curse” feeds a social schism and spiritual war blamed on the unsettled spirit of a fallen war hero named Milayi Raburu. The endless cold war among ancestral cousins has made Father James O’Kilghor’s ministry to the Jokamilayi a trying experience, even for a man known for his controversial “Africanized-evangelizing strategies” that allow active traditional priests and witch doctors to receive baptism. CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/3448088