The Ones Who Steam Off: Keni Kodjo

Three words, just three, make a lot of difference, at least to me. They mostly stir an unknown emotion in me and, hard as I try, hearing those immediately corrupts the impression I had earlier made on the individual who uttered them. Sometimes it’s just unexpected, but of course, it’s immature to merely form opinions of someone holding their mien as the only map into their very being. “I hate reading”, I hear those and immediately I’d look at you askance! The temptation to believe one of these pops out; you do not know the weight of those words or you don’t mean them.

Often we receive promises or rewards for reading which seem rather cliché. if you are striving hard to earn a good foot with regards to your future, you’d certainly become a leader along that way. What has reading got to do with it?  Wait a minute, How are you striving hard? Which strive could be too technical as to exclude the tendency to read? Believe it or not, the world revolves around letters, words, statements, paragraphs, and exclamations. More precisely, the world depends on it as a little offspring sucks on breast.

The ability to write is not granted to many. It’s a calling. A deeper calling that has the potential to rob one of his comfort for another person’s sake. It dawns on you the obligation to steam off without delay, relaying a message to the world like a soldier to the rescue while breaking bounds to rise as a vapor out of a steam simultaneously. A steam of our own shells, a steam of our own comfort zones, a steam of the worlds restrictions, straitjackets on race, gender, religion, a steam of our own myopic views on our potential and greatness.

Reading is the way we learn; learn to communicate, learn to understand life, avail our minds to greater possibilities we never knew existed, speak in eloquence and if we’re lucky get too big for our britches.

To write is one thing, to write beautifully and yet remain firm in your religion and leave an impact regardless of opposing views in an ever-skeptic world is another. Maukeni Padiki Kodjo is more than gifted.

Known in blogging circles as Keni Kodjo, she has come across to many as an inspiration. Her blog, kenikodjo.com, is home to the most amazing short stories I have ever read. She writes about daily situations, life and getting through it with faith and hope. A  blog started mainly because of a promise she made to friends, who seemed to enjoy her Facebook statuses, to do something more concrete with her writing skills. These stories are posted in episodes in considerably agreeable period of time. They are exciting and thought-provoking. You cannot get on to the next episode without a good laugh from the previous and the impression of her beliefs formed around you as air in a subtle way. The characters she presents in her stories are hilarious, lost, indecisive and boisterous. Iain Banks once said that characters do what they are told to, Keni’s characters are no exception. I believe disobedience is not an option for them. They are captivating! Her blog is one of the best remedies for insomnia and you would probably wake up still excited.

“I’m an unrepentant romantic and an unashamed foodie”, she describes herself. I can try very much to make meaning of the latter but the former is……complicated..  I must admit her staunch beliefs make her nothing less than admirable and lovely. On February 13th this year she wrote on a rather personal topic- a purity vow she took on 30 July 2011 in the presence of her parents. She wears a ring with the inscription “true love waits” to that regard.

Currently clutching the Best Blog Award for the Ghana Blogging and Social Media Awards 2016, Keni promises to fill our hearts with the warmth her characters deliver. It’s been barely two years and her story reigns!

Cheers to everyone who wants more than one life! May they never hesitate to steam off in our interest.

Pixie sprouts!