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Missing Out

 Plot The story talks about a Sudanese man, Majdy, who is a PhD student in London. At the beginning of the story, he has failed the qualifying exam for the PhD.  He talks to his mother on the phone, and she would have none of his nonsense. She has had to make several trips to the Central Post Office in Khartoum just to encourage him to continue with his quest to secure a PhD.  She's a very staunch believer in his prowess in academics. She remembers how he's always done well in his high school days. In fact, he had  shaken the president's hand for doing excellently in his secondary school exam. So, she cannot fathom how he could become a dunderhead all of a sudden.  His mother embarks on a campaign to get him a wife. She believes this may help his son change his attitude and pass the exam. To her, loneliness is the cause of his resigned attitude. So, she organizes a marriage between him and Samra.  Majdy embarks on a serious redoing of his studies and, in Ju...
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Stones Bounce on Water

 Plot Stones Bounce on Water is a story written by Dilman Dila, a Ugandan writer. It details events that take place before and after the murder of Winnie, one of the Paulsons' visitors from London.  The story starts on a night lit by a full moon, and the visitors enjoy the scenery since it's one they are not used to seeing in London. The conflict unfolds when a firecracker that's forgotten on the lawns after a birthday party the day before goes off. It sets the stage for a foreboding that prepares the audience for Winnie's impending death. In fact, she lays bare her suspicion that her five friends: Tim Collins, Peter, Chelsea Creole, Meg Paulson and Joe Paulson are planning to kill her for their own varied reasons. The next day, Simon, the cook, takes Tim to the pond, where he shows him how to make stones Bounce on Water. Simon also reveals that the pound is a taboo site for the locals since dead bodies are usually deposited there by murderers. When this topic is starte...
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The Folded Leaf

 Plot A group of nine people:Bunmi, her brother Bola, Sam, Papa, Mrs. Kekere, Tunde, Mr. and Mrs. Ejiofoh and the driver, is travelling to Lagos for healing. Their fellow churchgoers have contributed money to help them go to Lagos to receive healing from Pastor Adejola Fayemi, a man known for being in possession of a helicopter, a Gulfstream jet and homes in Florida, Switzerland and the Caribbean. He always wears dark glasses. Along the way, there are many things to see, but, unfortunately, the narrator, Bunmi, cannot see them since she has always been blind. She has always seen the world through Bola. Bola has to describe everything around them in terms of colour, size, age and general appearance in order to help Bunmi draw the pictures of these items and people in her mind. They see many vehicles and people. Among the people they see is a boy who has no limbs but struggles to move in the middle of the many vehicles around him: "he's pushing hard with his hands and his single...
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Life, Career and Death of Nyongesa wa Muganda Kwasaba Kwalia

 Early Life Eliud Nyongesa wa Muganda was born to Muganda wa Kwasaba in 1946 in Karima, Naitiri Scheme. He belonged to the Abamakangala clan of the Kabarasi sub-tribe. His mother was from the Basenya clan of the Banyala sub-tribe of the Luhya people of Western Province. He was circumcised in 1962 and belonged to the Bamaina age set. His father, Mukanda wa Kwasaba, was both a vocalist and a guitarist while his grandmother, Sitawa Kwasaba from the Abangachi Clan, was a renowned singer of circumcision songs. Legend had it that she would be hired for weeks to sing in the neighbouring Kabras and would come back with loads of gifts as an appreciation for her prowess as a singer. According to Nyongesa's widow, Anne Nyongesa, he inherited his talent from both his grandmother and father.  Nyongesa's siblings included Rajabu Mafunga, Kilon'gi, Namalwa and Nasimiyu and Iswa, Wangwe, Naliaka, Alfayo and Shadrack from the wife his father married after Nyongesa's mother died. He w...
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Common poetic devices

Poetic devices are unique ways through which the poet presents the message to the audience. Some of them are usually figurative while others are related to the patterning of sounds. In K.C.S. E, figurative ones are mostly tested in paper 2 while sound patterns are tested in paper 1.  Below is a list of some of these poetic devices.  Alliteration -When initial consonant sounds are repeated in close proximity. Here, learners should pay attention to sounds (pronunciations of words) and not their spelling. Some words are spelt differently but have sounds that are pronounced the same. For example, "car" and "keep" have different letters at the beginning yet these letters produce sound /k/, meaning they alliterate.  Allusion -this is a reference to a well-known material. A good example is the poem The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats, which refers to the coming again of Jesus.  Apostrophe -happens when the persona talks to something that has no hearing ability. This may be a...
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Hitting Budapest

Plot Hitting Budapest is a story written by NoViolet Bulawayo. It recounts the activities of six juvenile delinquents: Basta, Chipo, Godknows, Sbho, Stina and the narrator, whose name is not given. They are on a routine guava stealing escapade in a rich neighbouring estate, Budapest. Though they are forbidden to cross Mzilikazi Road, on this day, they cross it in order to enter Budapest. Besides, despite having better responsibilities at home, they abandon them and have to go to Budapest. For example, Basta is supposed to babysit his sister, Fraction, but is not bothered. He must go to Budapest. They take advantage of their parents' irresponsibility to easily file past them and go to Budapest. Their mothers are busy with their hairs and talk while their fathers are too busy with draughts to even notice them pass. Chipo is pregnant and her grandfather, who has already been arrested and detained, is responsible for it. So she can't run as fast as she would before she was pregnant...
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The Legend of Wanda Wambulwa Wakharara and Cherita Namalwa Siakama

All the nine villages around Marobo and Luuya knew about them. They had heard about them and seen their deeds since they were a boy and his girlfriend to today when they are a grandmother and grandfather to a whole clan. From Luuya to Mabanga and Nalondo to Kabuchai and Bokoli to Khachonge, Sitila to Ngalasia and the entire Luuya-Bwake Location, everybody talked about them. Cherita Namalwa and Wanda Wambulwa  khwa  Nabai aka Lutilo aka Khabukulu. Who didn't know about them? They were a couple like no other in the entire Bukusu region-South Bukusu, East Bukusu, North Bukusu, West Bukusu and Central Bukusu.  Looking at them in their old age, you would not see any flashes of the characters you hear in legends about them. They looked innocent and too holy for such epic activities. Many of the times,  mzee  was barely audible enough even to somebody standing or seated two metres away, especially whenever he addressed the matriarch, whom we fondly referred to...
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