I have known Julian as a soft, beautiful and optimistic girl who smiles and laughs as frequent as her right thumb touches her phone. I have known her as a calm being who doesn’t absorb negative pressure from her environment but rather comforts herself with the phrase ‘it is well’ a statement I believe she got from the beautiful gospel songs she listens every fraction of a second. Her Twitter Bio matches her true self “I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil.” And her photos… A realm of bewilderment and bafflement as they set one’s soul ablaze with admiration.
Finding the correct denim was complex for me. She is a perfectionist. The stream of WhatsApp photos on what denim I was to acquire was like a millipede, co-joined pieces of graphics replied with a one word sentence of ‘No’ and ‘Next’ but finally after the struggle, I had my fine fabric. The resort was ecstatic, alluring and delirious. The golf-cart riders were in awe, most of whom asked me, “Is this Naisula Lesuuda?” You could get your 100 shots of Chivas Regal with the name, get to the spa, secure 4 or more cottages and even hit on a chic with the name Naisula. Something like, “Hi, I know Naisula.”
The anticipated birthday girl finally arrived. Wait, did I say arrived? Let me rephrase. The long awaited birthday girl finally landed. Omera but do we say? This girl has got some Luo genes in her? Who gets a private heli on her birthday? Anyway, Maasais are still Nilotes only that they don’t do sea food nor poultry! Snakes and birds. Sorry, make sure you finish you plate of omena, drumsticks or wings before leaving for that call since Naisula will finish it all.
As everyone was wondering where this mysterious girl was, I was very busy wondering when I will get to fill my stomach. You know am not used to these things of sijui the birthday girl has to arrive first before we get to the buffet etc. I get to my room and prepare a cup of black coffee to hold my rumbling intestines and then I forward my big bodied self to the diner, or whatever you rich people call a place in a party where people eat, not actually eat but do the American, Mexican, Ukrainian, Canadian and Kenyan English combined doing something we call mingling or getting to know each other and stuff.
Since am not the gorra (gotta)and gerrarahia guy, I rush to my room to get my beloved guitar. At least I choose its accentuation. If it dare weng my notes I will crash it on someones head, probably Naisula’s as she is getting much attention and not me and get another one. I get to a table with, you know… Top of the class people. The guys I see who are special and cannot be talked to ordinarily. The first person to greet was the elegant Lola, KTN’s YOLO presenter and with my casual move I say, “Hi am Siloma” in which she replies, “I am Lolo” with a smile that can awaken a dead penguin frozen in cold. Am like, “What the hell is Lolo, maybe she forgot her name because she says YOLO a lot.” I say hi to a couple of guys and I seat to my corner taking my latte as others were on Irish wines and Scottish whiskeys.
With the grace of God and the immense favor given by God, I broke the ice. Actually that was not just an ice, that was a combination of a glacier, snow and highly frozen ice, with nuts inside. I got my guitar and started making fun of Lolo and the table went rival, like a hash tag on Twitter. While others were busy, “Hi, my name is wa-njee-rooow,” we were busy making fun and going rogue in laughter. Joke after joke. The series of hunger games in my rumbling rounded belly came to a season finale. I know haters will say its because I saw Lolo. We made rounds at the buffet and came back to our sitting positions.
We continued cracking our jokes until the lady of the lady, her highness, no she is bolder than that, her excellency Julian Naisula cascaded down the runway. I mean, this chic give us crazy and complex dress codes while she wears a simple but state of the art dinner dress just to stand out. I felt like now my guitar had just wenged and it was time to smash hit not on her head, but on her face. I was amazed by the large turn out of friends. Friends from as far as Angola, Johannesburg and the rest of the world like me. I was amazed that even her MD was present. Whah? What more can someone ask for in this world if not love. And true love for that matter?
I was amazed by how her friends who had never seen me before greeted and described me like they knew me from years ago. I was impressed by how they said that my sister always talks much about me and that she is very much proud of me. I cried. With my fingers. I was overwhelmed by the treatment and my hands started sweating.
There were very big personalities in the party, “It’s not that Naisula is a celebrity, but it’s because of how she values people and doesn’t try to fit to please them, but it’s because she is real and speaks her heart out,” some said. These were people I never thought Naisula knew as she never talks much about them nor brags of how well she is connected. I can say she is down to earth. And I mean very short. I have to carry her sandals around every time we go home as she is always on heels.
It was time for speeches and I expected the MC to give the big personalities a chance first as they were maybe the pillars of the very awesome party so far but to my amazement the first person to speak was her younger brother. I was glued to my seat waiting for her younger brother to speak until someone called my name. It was then that I remembered that we are only two of us in our family. I went and took the mic and. Siloma wept. That is the shorted statement in this post I guess. The mic was so dusty on the side so I wept it. I was overwhelmed by the look on my sister’s face and was so much proud of her.
Guys here’s the catch. In the past, my sister and I have not been so close as we had no stories to talk about, we were just there. Like two slices of pizza attached to each other awaiting a gulp into a big stomach, maybe Big Ted’s. I thought due to this gap maybe we forgot about each other and maybe she wouldn’t say much of me as she doesn’t know me much. But she gave me the honor to speak in front of all her friends, including the one who was to eat us if we were pizzas, i.e. Big Ted. Of course I had something to say, not like her and many of her fellow blondes out there, ati I don’t know what to say.
The speeches about her were just amazing. Everyone was saying good things about her. She had friends dating as far as 17 years ago. And am like whaaat…. ‘Yo, Nigga please, you gotta be serious! Are you a fossil or something?” I envied the love she got from her beloved pals. I envied the honor and the respect. Her MD was in the midst and he gave his speech too. She was not the wealthiest, but she had friends, friends who could stand beside her no matter what. The sight, the view and the event in general was inspiring, yes there was the who is who in Nairobi, yes there were the rich moguls but all were there mingling and celebrating with her as she turned 30.
Many of us have had crazy encounters with people, we have lost hope as a bunch of mongrels have in the past messed up with the love we give them. Some re-appear and maybe apologize but most are arrogant. We may have pushed people away because of what they have done to us. Naisula has also experienced all these but what makes most of her friends stick to her? What makes her friends with tight schedules and those who come from far away come just to attend her birthday? It is because she has the heart, she has the will and she has the tender heart of forgiveness. It is because she is not an angel and neither is she a devil, it is because she it optimistic and positive in everything she does and most of all it is because she does not QUIT on people.
I don’t say all these because she is my only sister. I do not pamper her with sweet cherries of false praise, but I say of the little I know of her so that someone else like me will know how to value people. I once asked a writing mentor of mine Bikozulu what his great inspiration and he told me that his greatest inspiration is people, period. I have not valued people in the past but now through my sister’s 30th birthday I got inspired. Max Ehrmann says in his famous poem Desiderata that “Listen to the dumb and the ignorant, they too have their story!” and there is also this famous quote that says “If you want to go fast, walk alone, if you want to go far, walk with people.”
Sister, you are my inspiration. May you walk far, may you unravel new mysteries of love, care and success with people. May the Almighty bless you exceedingly abundantly above and beyond for the love you give and may you inspire more people than you can imagine.