PEACE IS INVITATION OF QUIET STILLNESS

I believe in a world of 'peace and tranquility always because we take the freedom of peace for granted most of the time until its snatched a way from us thats when we realize the importance of peace in our lives .for me the definition of peace is ' invitation of quiet stillness'' when we exchange the 'peace' each Sunday' we say peace be with you and if were to guess we might frequently understand the moment, based on my first hand experience my peace was taken a way from me when I was still a little girl with bright future that was in 2007\2008 when civil war broke up in Kenya during post elections violence the freedom of peace was snatched from me just because of my parents born from a different tribe my dad was from a another tribe same to my mother who was from different tribe each tribe often fought and disagree on many issues like who should be in power , who should rule who .the constant fight led to decline of growth and stability and the more years pass by the hate grew more and more .i used to hear my friends telling me that my parents have said we should not play with you because you were not from our tribe. being a kid i used to wonder why ? i would go ask my mother if it was wrong to be born on our tribe my mother would feel uncomfortable and tell me to stop talking. so ! my parents had invested so much in this region they were building their retirement home in a 5 hector piece of land my dad was a great famer and they were both teachers my mother like teaching kids she did not care about tribe ,most students love my mother for her hard work and bringing joy to the lives of children in school. (story for another day )..! my friends and I were playing outside not knowing what was happening hate leaflets were being dropped by anonymous people telling the community that certain tribe should leave the community and they don't care about your investment ,your contribution to the community they want you to go back were you came from my parents were hesitant to leave .. at the moment the presidential results were being announced thats when the civil war broke up and the killing started they were going door to door killing anyone that don't belong to the tribe that dropped anonymous notes . I saw my mother getting hacked to death and she was pregnant at the time my dad tried defending my mother but he got hacked to and the only word he kept saying screaming run and don't look back . it was chaos! and as I was running i would see dead bodies scattered all over the village , people screaming all I was still hearing was my dads voice to run! but then something stopped me! and I stared saw my best friend dead with no head the only thing that made me identify her was her favorite stuffed bear this is when I realize its not business as usual I need to run.....then I pass out when I gain conscious I was in a house full of other kids .thats how life changed for me it took me multiple therapy to get back to normal life I have had suicidal thoughts for years, I had nightmares it took me years to stop smelling blood I stopped eating meat because of the horror I saw unfolding on my eyes my childhood was ruined , my family were killed , my friends I went to school with , my home and community was brought to ground zero because of tribal politics that could be avoided if only people stop tribal politics that is full of hate, poverty , insecurity and death every time KENYA is going for election I have to travel to USA because the bad memories come back to me and haunt me !!don't want to go back to that kind of experience again in my life , in my future , for my children and children's, children, I'm a living testimony of how peace a cord brought to KENYA by the late coffee Annan brought back our country, he brought togetherness and freedom of peace that people take for granted. this days I listen to politician talk on tribal lines I wonder if he cares about the trauma and pain he or she is bringing back .I know people we were in the orphanage with that died because they could not take it no more . I have forgiven everyone that ruined my childhood and the moment I did it I found peace In my heart I became very successful because of it I have travel so much because of it , I have meet so many beautiful inspiring souls along my journey. I will always be on the front line to advocate for peace because once that freedom is snatched away from you , you become a target of bad things .if there is something I'm thankful for is technology ! because peace and technology goes together , this days you cant do something on the dark without being called out .somebody somewhere will see you and take pictures or video of the event and you will be busted .back in the days you could do heinous act and nobody notices thats how the killings took place and the few who saw it have been killed or died ,children like me we run with trauma for years. most kids never made it to adulthood and if they did depression caught up with them. I don't know about you all but for me peace is freedom that I will never take for granted without peace we are a target of poverty , death , chronic illness, insecurity , displacement for the rest of your life