Welcome to our  Short Stories page. This week’s featured short story is ”

West of the Rising Sun

“The Remarkable Story of Pendo”

Step into Pendo’s world.  Embrace her as your own, a child full of promise and hope.  Let this amazing young Kenyan tell you her story.  Orphaned and alienated from her family, Pendo knows what it means to be a refugee.  She has witnessed domestic violence and the trauma of losing a loved one.  There are nights she has slept in the forest with the wild animals rather than face an abusive father.  Despite the daily challenge of survival, Pendo keeps her dream alive – to attend school and one day become a “great lawyer”.

Pendo in Swahili means love.  Each day she lives, breathes and finds comfort in it.   This delightful teenager finally finds love and support at St Patrick’s Ikonyero SS.  It’s here, “west of the rising sun”  where the healing begins and where yesterday’s pain disappears in the light of a new day.

“West of the Rising Sun” will bring you face to face with the reality of the HIV/Aids pandemic in Kenya.  You will be moved, amazed and changed as you read the remarkable story of Pendo Lugalia and the anthology of poetry that describes life in rural Kenya.

West of the Rising Sun

West of the rising sun
Beyond St Patrick’s gate
there sits one alone
waiting for a sign,
a glimmer of light.

In solitude she waits,
trying to forget the darkness
of the night before.
First light, another miracle;
she delights in the flow of grace,
a never ending stream.

Stalks of bullion
stand like sentries on guard,
in reverence greet the golden sun.

She barely hears the laughter
as colleagues approach barefoot
dancing to St Patrick Ikonyero School.
Her mind transports to a distant place
far from Lurambi’s brick red soil,
to volumes of pure delight.

Pages turned, secrets discovered,
tragedy and triumph, love lost and won;
pain is dulled as the heart grows stronger.
West of the rising sun
beyond St Patricks’s gate
 there sits one alone
Pendo.