It's A Kenyan Christmas!

Christmas, the celebration of the birth of our Lord, is here again. It is a season many, and Christians in particular, await in anticipation as it marks the beginning of something truly fundamental to the Christian faith. Besides the joys of all the beautiful Christmas carols, dramas, dinners and festivals; Christmas trees, shiny, beautiful ornaments, Christmas lights and the many Father Christmases, there is all the food, drinks, get-togethers, family dos and lots of love and friendliness in the air.

It seems like nothing can go wrong during Christmas. Even the weather is different over this period. After all the wetness of the season, the rain seems to halt or pause its mission, the sun comes on bright in the now clean and crispy environment. Everything is fine with the world.

It’s tradition for nearly everyone in Kenya to go back to wherever we call ‘home’ during Christmas. The cities, Nairobi being no exception, become ghost towns, deserted, free of traffic, devoid of life. Usually home means to grandparents’ home for the young, to parents home for the not so young. In other words we congregate in the home of the oldest surviving members of the immediate family; it is usual to straddle both the home of one’s parents as well as that of one’s in-laws. It’s a juggling game that must be done this way for the desired effect to be achieved as this is Christmas and everyone is in a jolly and friendly mood.

As much as many, not just in Kenya but all over the world have shunned the practice of faith, yet all seem content to celebrate this most important of all Christian holidays (besides Easter, which holds a place of equal importance, if not more.) Advent, as Christians call it, is a celebration of the fact that God the Father sent His only begotten Son to the world so that He would not only bring the Good News, but also BE the Good News by later dying and rising again to bring salvation to the whole world (Easter). So these two holidays are inseparable in their mission and value as they are the whole foundation of the Christian faith.

We will not go into the down-side of Christmas where the businesses have commercialized everything to do with Christmas to the point of airing Christmas sales Ads that are nothing short of sacrilegious. It is a crying shame that one would lure people to a sale tied to a religious festival through advertisements that corrupt the core values of that very religion. I think to celebrate a religious festival everyone should at least do the bare minimum to respect that religion, or otherwise stay away from any associations with it altogether.

And so it’s another busy season for traffic up-country in Kenya, as most of us head back to the cradle. The few who will remain behind will enjoy much quieter cities, and probably just as boring; not to mention the unending, repeated Christmas movies on TV.

Hopefully this time the drivers, both private and public, will be careful on the roads so Christmas can remain a joyful season, not a period of mourning or tragic memories for anyone.

And hopefully, in the spirit of giving that comes with Christmas, our leaders and administrators will show benevolence to Kenyans and realize how ridiculous it is for us to buy a kilo of sugar at Ksh200, a litre of petrol at Ksh120, and a gas cylinder at Ksh4800. That they will realize the meaning of ‘basic commodities’, and ensure that these are not only accessible, but also affordable to all Kenyans. In their hectic dash towards the next general elections, we pray that our leaders will not forget us entirely, leaving us to the mercy of greedy and merciless corporates, industrialists and business persons.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tribute to a Heroine - Lest we forget

The world stopped

Hearts throbbed

Thousands sobbed

Nature wailed

For the light had gone out

A stunned silence

A muted whisper

A bewildered stammer

An unbelieving stutter

Why so sudden?

Why in your prime?

Why without goodbye?

Why without warning?

You never aged,

Ever so vigorous,

Ever so enthused,

Ever so focused

But the heavenly clock stopped

‘Come home’ the Deity said

You have done enough

It’s time to rest in peace

Your voice, your work, have been heard

Daughter it’s time to rest

Wangari 

The silence at your departure

Continues yet

But your work assumes a new life

Taken by hearts young and old

Hearts that felt your work

And want to keep it alive

Wangari Maathai, A Life So Well Lived - Great Loss for Kenya and the Environment

It fills me with great sadness to have to write this, but it would be criminal not to pay tribute to one of the greatest Kenyan heroines. Yesterday we lost a piece of ourselves as a country. Today Kenya bleeds because our beloved Wangari Maathai, the heroine of the Greenbelt Movement, tree planting, saving the environment and all other things green, is gone. In our hearts and our nation she has left a void we can’t help but feel, and we pray that we will all rise up to fill that void.

Our forests, the wild, nature, will feel her loss. As much as we hope another leader like Wangari will arise and take on her mantle, I pray rather that in each of us her spirit will live and we will continue the work, taking care of our environment, bleeding and raising our voices when the environment is threatened; one at a time, everywhere, greening Kenya in each and every way possible, tending our natural resources like a delicate infant that must be allowed to mature and thrive so it can fulfill its destiny. It’s the least we can do in memory of such a beloved, hard working, tireless, sacrificial national heroine.

For most of us her demise was so sudden, so unexpected, and therefore that much harder to take. But our Nobel Laureate has done her work thoroughly and exhaustively. She surpassed all and went thousands of extra miles because she did it as a passion, was ahead of her time and labored to take us all along with her in the cause to save the environment. She has fought the good fight, kept the faith and finished the race. It is now our turn, if for no other reason, at least to honour her toil, her love for our nation, her devotion.

Rest in peace, our dearest lady.

Kenya and the Hague Dilemma

I find it difficult to make any comments or form an opinion about the Kenyan trials going on at the Hague at the moment. The reason for my dilemma is simple really: When Parliament was given a chance to form a Local Tribunal and spare us the shame and humiliation of being paraded before the whole world, it failed, thus our current predicament. Many of them who, at the time thought they were getting back at the Executive for all sorts of grievances, now find that was a miscalculation as they could never have guessed who exactly would wind up in the Hague. Granted, others are simply elated at the way things are.

Second, one can't help but wonder whether true justice could ever be carried out in our courts for the big fish. Much as we want to believe otherwise, so far the practice has been that the rich, the mighty, the connected, are always acquitted, without fail. Even with a change of guard at key Institutions the practice hasn't yet changed. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but at the moment we have no idea which direction our Justice is headed.

Of course one also wonders whether our fellow Kenyans will get justice at the Hague. We sure hope so, but there is a little nagging worry that this unbidden desire to 'make an example' of Kenya could strain justice. Why make an example of Kenya, a country that has hitherto behaved itself so well? Why not go for the real rogue nations in 'making an example', and treat Kenyans with greater kindness instead? I'm not suggesting the guilty go unpunished, just that there are other, less harsh, less humiliating ways for a model nation like ours.

And of course one can't help but feel other culprits of Post Election violence, who should also have been in the Hague, were left out of the List. And the big question is why, why, why?

So I watch the proceedings on TV with little interest, often wishing they could simply be reported instead of being beamed live, all the time wishing I could be left to watch the normal line-up of TV programmes. But it's obvious we'll continue to be confronted with the Hague trials, a scourge we can't seem to escape.

Our Post Election victims were deeply wronged by what happened to them, and they must get justice and compensation for their woes. But I can't help but feel Kenya as a nation (not individuals) was wronged too by the way in which this whole Hague issue was discussed and executed.

Well, we all get a chance, many chances in fact, to learn by experience. Hope this hurtful and painful experience has taught us all, our leaders especially, a lesson we will never forget, and that we will never repeat the mistakes of yesterday.


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Oh the Pain of Kenya

Our Athletes, Our Champions, Our Heroes

We congratulate and thank our amazing athletes who always do us so proud and keep the Kenyan flag flying high around the world. We thank them for ensuring Kenya remains a shining star despite all that threatens to tarnish its image. We thank them for presenting to the world, the true Kenyan spirit, the true Kenyan nationality. We thank them for making us believe in ourselves, and for nurturing our optimism. You are an epitome of all that is good and beautiful about our beloved nation. Please keep it up, we are counting on you... and are firmly behind you...

Another Sad, Sad Day for Kenya

Exasperation – that’s the feeling one gets at the end of the one year mandatory period for the implementation of the New Constitution. Yesterday our beloved President gave a speech congratulating our legislators for passing the necessary bills in time to beat the 27^th August deadline. But did they really deserve that commendation? Mhh, now let’s see….

Our MPs had 365 days to pass the bills necessary to put our Constitution into effect; but, as usual, theatrics took centre stage almost as soon as the referendum had passed. Side shows ensured the implementation of the New Constitution was conveniently locked away in the closet. What with the debate on whether or not the Ocampo Six should go to the Hague, what with the round of campaigns on how to help these ‘our sons’, ‘our brothers’ and all the other ‘ours’ escape the Ocampo whip.. Plus all the early campaigns for the 2012 Presidency, who will merge with who, who will dethrone who… Then there was the never ending debate on whether or not, and when, the MPs should pay tax (never mind taxation was entrenched in this same New Constitution): Not to forget the incredibly long period of time spent on infighting within political parties, some of which have now all but split up…

It was no wonder then, that a week to the 1^st Anniversary of the promulgation of the New Constitution, legislators were rushing to pass necessary bills; not all bills, just a few selected ones needed to get by. So Kenyan, so African – hakuna matata – take your time, tomorrow is another day!

So why should we congratulate them for burning the midnight oil doing in a day or two what they should have done in 365 days? But then maybe this was the plan all along. The plan so they could do what they did within those two days – mutilate the very Constitution Kenyans had worked and died for. A Constitution that was in the making for 20 some years, a Constitution for which Kenyans died, a Constitution which received a nod at the referendum at the behest of these same politicians - was mutilated as we all watched.

Practically anything in those bills that interfered with the comfort, pockets and convenience of our politicians, was scrapped. No party hopping – scrapped! Requirement to have a university degree – scrapped! No more than 2/3rds of the same gender – scrapped. Vetting – no no!

Now I know legislators are there to pass laws, but is it prudent to lead Kenyans to believe that we now have a Constitution that safeguards our rights, streamlines the behavior of our leaders, and ensures progress for this nation, only for these to be taken out of our hands as we watch, without as much as a single consultation? After consulting so much during the formulation of the New Constitution and pretending to care, how could our leaders now betray us so much, undoing the very Constitution we had believed was going to change this country? How could they undo the Constitution before it even really came into force?

Does anything really change in Kenya? We thought this Constitution guaranteed basic human rights, but our fellow Kenyans in Turkana and its surroundings starved as we watched, with several dying… and now we realize anything in that Constitution can be amended without a second thought, to suit our politicians, not Kenyans.

What really has changed in this country? So we charged and took a few big fish to court on corruption charges, but soon they were all but cleared of the same. Is any big fish ever guilty in this country?

When church leaders pleaded with the leaders to revisit contentious issues in the New Constitution and amend them, they were categorically told the Constitution had been passed by majority of Kenyans at the referendum and was cast in stone, and so nothing could be amended. But, in a single day or two, our ‘honourable’ politicians have proceeded to amend anything in the formulated bills that they didn’t like, without as much as a second glance at the Kenyans who passed the Constitution, despite the public outcry.

So then maybe this was the plan all along, to delay the passing of crucial bills until the last minute when they can be hurriedly amended and passed without any chance for anyone to cry out, or anyone to go to court. No wonder then they concluded in the middle of the night before anyone could get a court order against bills which had not been scrutinized by the committee for the implementation of the Constitution.

So no, Mr. President; I love my President and make no secret about it – but on this occasion he is wrong. He is wrong to congratulate this bunch or expect us to do so. I am deeply aggrieved and so, I’m sure, are many of my fellow Kenyans. We have been let down by our leaders; many times before have they let us down, but this time round they’ve simply brought us down, insulted us and proceeded to trample all over us. The word Parliamentary Dictatorship scaringly comes to mind…

The rushing, the mutilating of those crucial bills is a national shame, and a scourge on a document we would otherwise have been very proud to have and to implement, our New Constitution.

This brings to mind the words of one of our many ‘prophets’ (pardon me but I can’t always tell a true one from a false one) who told us all from the Bench that we would be disappointed in regard to this New Constitution. I’m sure quite a few skeptics laughed him to scorn, but not many are laughing now. For we’ve already been quite disappointed with the behavior of our leaders, but this, this that happened this week, goes right down into our guts…  disappointed, disregarded, held in contempt, betrayed, yet again lorded over… God I pray that it will not always be so, that someday soon we will indeed get the freedom which we, obviously, must continue to fight for…

African Juxtaposition

The juxtaposition that is Kenya, and indeed most of Africa, is a characteristic of all economies on the no man’s land between technological advancement and a backward existence. It is a sorry yet necessary stage as nations fight to cross the divide that removes them from ‘developing’ nations and puts them, hopefully forever, in the group of the ‘developed.’ Who would think a simple difference in the ending of an otherwise similar word, could signify so much. Develop –ing versus Develop – ed; a deep gorge divides them, you need years to cross and, from the look of things, some may never cross.

It’s a state where, for most nations, the gap between the haves and have nots is usually just as deep as that between developed and undeveloped (again, such a small difference). It’s where some live in rat infested, sewage flooded neighbourhoods while others float around in kingly and queenly mansions. Some ride chariots while others ride donkeys; for some there’s a dress for every occasion while others have one dress for all occasions.

Fellow countrymen do not recognize each other. The haves cannot believe or understand how anyone can be so poor, while the have-nots marvel at the sight of such riches and luxuries the other side enjoys. Every conceivable modern comfort is available to those who can afford it, while most others are still stuck in the dark ages from their humble,  temporary or semi-permanent dwellings, to the simple stone age implements which pass for technology and help ease their labours a little. So the rich goes to bed happy and refreshed after riding his farm tractor around for an hour or so cultivating his massive farmland, while the poor sleeps with nearly broken back after spending all day with hoe, jembe or panga tilling his little half acre of subsistence farm.

In between is the interaction that joins the two worlds together, occasionally causing them to brush against each other, making the Forward to remember yester years and the Backward to long for a better future, thereby birthing ambition.

Technology meets primitive farm appliances as mama takes a break from tilling the land with hoe, jembe or panga in order to answer a call on her mobile phone from her son in Nairobi or abroad somewhere. Later that evening she passes by the local shop to collect money sent to her by her children through M-Pesa (mobile phone money transfer).

Young adults looking for work pour into cyber cafes to surf the net after a hard day’s job helping mama in the farm, or just roaming the City streets hoping to make productive acquaintances.

 Seven star estates border slum areas, potholed roads exit from modern motorways, sprawling modern farmland neighbours poor, subsistence agriculture; hoes and jembes compete with advanced farm machinery in crop production. Well equipped, national and international, public and private schools fight it out with barely equipped shanty schools in national exams; five star hospitals coexist with make-believe clinics run by unqualified, self professed medics.

Expansive grasslands teeming with wildlife parallel well built cities or agricultural zones; scorched out desert lands meet with greened out fertile regions. Hills and mountains quickly give way to flattened plains, and land eventually melts into the expansive Indian Ocean, or Lake Victoria, or any of the other several inland lakes in Kenya.

Little, well fed spoilt kids see African images of malnourished or starving children in need of international aid on TV and ask, ‘that’s supposed to be us? We are supposed to look like that and get donor aid?’ While little, cold and shivering children in tattered clothes watch their neighbors driven to school in huge fuel guzzlers and go, ‘you mean it’s possible to live like that? That’s someone’s car? That’s a house for one family? Schools like those exist in Kenya?’

Beautiful, blue chip multinationals carve their niche alongside jua kali (informal sector) artisans and street vendors; working class masses in suits and white collars compete for a bus ride alongside contractual workers headed for industrial area, not assured of a job for the day. An even larger group makes it on foot either from Eastlands or Kibera headed for the same Industrial area.

Universities spew out talent and skills by the thousands every year, while a few other thousands drop out of school for lack of fees. Several starry eyed graduates get new jobs while yet more others are laid off in a ‘restructuring’ process. Banks issuing huge loans to lucky employees for cars, houses and all sorts of assets fight it out with informal community groups painstakingly saving their money little by little in chamas (societies), hoping to get a small loan to help out in the little business of selling sukuma wiki (greens).

Some rear horses while others rear chicken and rabbits. Some give their German Shepherds and poodles a bath in the tub while others chase their flea infested beasts as far away as possible from their semi-permanent shelters.

Eventually a country must cross no-man’s land and emerge on the other side. Many have already done so and we call them ‘developed’, a term well earned as it’s difficult to attain. No man’s land is no place of permanence. It’s a limbo that signifies pain for a large segment of the population as modernity disrupts whatever comfort they may earlier have enjoyed in their simple existence, while yet they are unable to afford the luxuries that same modernity should otherwise bring them.

Land is lost to new developments; pastoralists no longer have enough pasture as they can’t roam around wherever they wish any more. Dams drown out farmland. New and modern settlements eat into agricultural land. Traditional, nutritious foods are replaced with quickly growing, mass produced GMOs full of unresolved debate. Flower farms and irrigation schemes nearly dry out beautiful lakes and rivers as they channel the water to their red, green and white gold. Beautiful rivers turn filthy as industries wantonly empty their waste into them.

The masses, left with little or no alternative, their simple livelihoods now all but destroyed, turn to their new financial masters for jobs and casual labour, where they are mercilessly exploited with wages that can hardly buy them food, let alone any other necessities.

No-man’s land is no place to linger for a self-respecting society. It’s a place we must strive to quickly get out of, bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, and swelling our middle class in the process. We must quickly move to ensure all basic needs are available in decent form to all our citizens so we can cross this all-important barrier and have a sense of uniformity, where no Kenyan child goes to bed hungry, is unable to access decent housing, education or medical care. Policies must not only be put in place but also be implemented to ensure the haves come down from their high towers and the have nots rise from the ashes - and we all truly meet in the middle, a place we can all happily call Kenya, and ourselves, Kenyans!

Like Sheep Without a Shepherd

In case you’re wondering, I’m not obsessed with livestock or wildlife. I just happen to live at the foot of Ngong Hills, neighbouring the Maasai and all their livestock. In fact, they used to occupy this area until Nairobi City expanded, pushing them farther up the hills. 

So as you can imagine, every so often (quite often to be honest), the Maasai eye the greened estates full of drainage water and can’t help bringing their animals that way for a treat… Sometimes the dry season means the grasslands and the river beds dry out, necessitating this move to where water and green can still be found. In our case this becomes the neighbouring estates, Karen and Langata included. In fact, if not stopped, they would go all the way to the City centre!

Now just as we made to take the sudden dip that signifies our home stretch, we noticed this white truck stalled diagonally across the road. No vehicle, except the cyclists, was going to fit in the small space left on the road. So we sighed (it was raining heavily) and moved back onto the main road heading for the next alternative exit road. This particular one was quite rocky, having recently been redone and no one seemed to think it essential to beat and smooth out the rocks. Still it would have to do.

We hadn’t gone far before we noticed the large herd ahead. In the midst of the heavy downpour, two young lads clad in simple rainproof coats led the livestock along the road – and I mean ALONG the road. They didn’t even turn as we approached. It seemed we were going to have to trail behind the cattle for the 300 metres or so. But my husband and I were not buying that idea so we hooted for the lads to drive the livestock onto the roadside. I mean they didn’t need to be all over the road, did they?

One of the lads came to our rescue and started nudging the animals forward and out of the road. But then, as fate would have it, the cattle in front decided to pull a fast one and dashed sideways into a compound with a partly abandoned building-under-construction. They were after all here to look for green grass, weren’t they? And this looked like a perfect spot. So they tore into the compound and into the building. Poor lad, fancy having to drive cows and bulls out of several rooms in an abandoned building… Sounds like a scene from one of those dark treasure hunt stories!

Meanwhile here we were, hoping to be rescued so we can proceed with our journey. The lad was too busy thinking about his cattle to even remember us, let alone care. (You need to understand you can’t separate a Maasai from his livestock!) So my husband busied himself behind the wheel trying to nudge the animals along. Some of the sheep had long followed after the cows and the shepherd into the compound, but many more sheep remained on the road, now seemingly paralyzed. They stood still, immovable and immobile, not even pretending to see the car that attempted to drive through a few centimeters behind them! 

He hooted, my poor man, but to no avail. If you know anything about sheep, their folly borders on sheer stubbornness. I knew little about sheep till I moved to Ngong, but now I’ve observed them so much I’ve enough material for a serialization…

My husband had a solution for the sheep… push them a little (with the car!), and they will move - men! In the meantime I pleaded and begged as he proceeded to do just that, ‘Stop please, don’t. Don’t push them, look, there’s a little kid under its mama. You’ve got to stop that…’ On and on I went as I imagined the pretty little kids running under the car and….ouch! Never mind the wrath of the lads should we actually run over any of the animals…

By now the sheep had crowded and formed themselves into a line right down the middle of the road for a distance of about fifty metres. And they were standstill, going nowhere..! Fancy having to drive through that… There was not enough space on either side to dodge them – we needed help or we too would be herding cattle for a while here.

 ‘Just a little,’ my husband insisted and pushed a few more centimeters. Behind us, the second lad stood in the rain, as immobilized as the sheep. He had long abandoned all effort to shepherd the animals still on the road, neither was he helping his friend back in the abandoned building. By now I had had enough. Looking behind through the rear window, I gestured crazily at him to come and get the animals out of the road. Thankfully he understood and did come to help. The poor lad was drenched in rain and I think he had lost all the will to fight or help. But he did respond to my furious waving and gesturing.

Somehow he succeeded in nudging the animals to one side just enough for us to pass, and soon the chaos and animal jam was behind us. I couldn’t see the first lad anywhere, God only knows how long it took him to herd all his cattle out of that building. 

What had started out as one obstacle in way of a stalled truck had grown into several obstacles along our route home. Sometimes life is like that. Just when you think you have everything figured out, things fall apart… Our solutions soon develop unforeseen problems of their own - none more so than sheep without a shepherd…!

In the Name of Health - SuperFoods

Now I know everything God made may be considered a super food – barring the list of food items He did not recommend for His chosen Biblical race, the Israelites. For those of you who are wondering, such delicacies as lobsters and crabs did not make God’s list of super foods…  He did use a curious identification method for ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ foods such as divided hooves and chewing cud, (clean) marine life with fins and scales (clean), insects that fly and swarm (unclean) etc, but bottomline, if it scavenged, was carnivorous, dead, or generally looked ugly…, it was unclean. If it was well tamed, beautiful and had no dodgy habits… clean.

You’ll be glad to know that, contrary to all the debate, He never quite forbid wine in its entirety except for those specially chosen saints like the Nazirites… oh, and the Bishops! So do watch out. But before you go get your crate of the stuff, neither did He encourage it. What with such sayings like ‘give wine to the perishing…’ ouch! What He did clearly say, over and over, is that drunkenness is a sin that will land you in hell…. So go figure…! Wine bibbing for the God-conscious is a delicate balancing act so intricate as to be left well alone, for the most part…enough said.

So then some of today’s ‘super foods’ would never have found their way into God’s list, rather languishing in the list of the ‘forbidden’. Luckily for today’s generation God did give reprieve when He said to Peter up on the roof, ‘don’t call unclean what God has made clean.’ Thus declaring all foods clean. Still, go easy on that ‘all foods clean thing’. Clean spiritually may not necessarily mean clean for your health or stomach, what with all that fat, alcohol, toxins, cholesterol, sugars, salts… I think what God did here was to give us a choice as to what to eat, rather than a clean bill of health on all foods. So to exercise wisdom and caution, as opposed to following a set of rules…

Now back to our super foods… If you’ve consulted the internet lately you’ll have discovered that list of super foods is growing daily; strawberries, nuts, tomatoes, avocadoes, fish, salmon, olives, spinach and all leaves green, carrots, red meat, red wine, bananas, pumpkins and their seeds, melons and their seeds, sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, chocolate, cacao, herbs, spices, whole grains, whole cereals, have I forgotten something? I’m sure I’ve forgotten something… You get the picture though. Almost everything God made is in there really. 

So why not break it all down and say, any naturally produced food (as opposed to processed and man-made stuff), anything growing naturally in the farm, bushes, pens or grasslands; anything swimming in the ocean that is neither oil nor plastic; anything flying in the air that is no craft or meteor; all these eaten in moderation, are super foods! Mark you even healthy stuff if overdone will stuff your midriff, unless it’s all green or yellow.

Kenya has not been left behind in the super-food craze. Our thing here is mainly to go back to traditional foods which we long abandoned and forgot in our craving for the West’s processed, fine, sugary and fancy looking stuff. Yeah, we even borrowed their crops and forgot our good old millet, sorghum, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, arrow roots and the like, (in the process borrowing their diseases too). Plus all our original greens that we’re now made to understand are full of iron, antioxidants and all the other goodness we’ve learnt to swear by. 

It seems nowadays all it needs is to grow on its own in a farm, and suddenly it can cure cancer, common cold, asthma, ulcers and all manner of ailments; even HIV Aids!

Now I’m all for natural foods - I too have realized fatigue seems to disappear if we go healthy and natural, but I also know their role is mainly health maintenance and prevention of opportunistic ailments. But once the ailment catches on, for all practical purposes it’s time for some medical attention. Otherwise if food could cure all maladies simply because it was natural, then our ancestors would have lived longer and escaped all the horrible plagues that took so many of them away. What with all their foods having being all natural!

The other day I attempted to explain this to a friend by use of a strange metaphor. I went on and on about how eating healthy can be compared to maintaining peace in a country and ensuring cohesion so that no violence or aggression breaks out, internally or externally. But once aggression strikes, despite all efforts at peace, then it’s time to bring out those trained to handle aggression, the forces that be. Nice words will not do it. You first quell the aggression, then discuss the peace. You could do both at the same time, but you must confront the aggression.

At the end of that comparison my friend incredulously asked me, ‘Are we still talking about garlic?!’ for believe me, all along we had been discussing the health benefits of garlic, another super, super, super food, incidentally…

Still, like in all things, war and disease included, prevention is better than cure, health better than medication, peace better than confrontation. So thumbs up to all foods natural – healthy super-foods, whatever their definition… 

The extreme of this theory – that of eating everything as raw or as near raw as possible, meat and milk included - is just dodgy. Really, we improved on our ancestors by cooking our food so as to kill suspect micro-organisms in there that caused disease and untold suffering. Why go backwards in the name of new research? It’s just a vicious circle that will take us back to the days of microbes and other microscopic monsters.

Don’t even get me started on grass – drinking juice made from all sorts of super-grass to get as near the natural goodness as possible. What is wrong with letting the cow and sheep eat the grass whereupon I eat their flesh and drink their milk thereby taking in whatever nutrients in grass they already stored up for me? But then maybe it’s just me… but I simply don’t think we should be competing with livestock for grass.

Which Way Kenya?

Four years can fly by quite quickly. Four years ago it was – well, almost – that Kenya held its national elections with the resulting melee. A lot has happened since then, both good and bad. We have a new Constitution, the implementation of which is under much debate, still unconcluded and, quite frankly, not going the way it was supposed to. The necessary bills are yet to be debated and passed in parliament, less than a month to the first anniversary since Promulgation (how quickly time flies!).

Now there’s a reason for this delay. Besides the fact that there wasn’t total agreement about the new Constitution, meaning the implementation of the same is not exactly everybody’s cup of tea, the greatest obstacle is probably the fact that our leaders started campaigning for the next election almost as soon as they were sworn into office in 2008. Now, with the long awaited elections due next year (2012!), campaigns are at fever pitch. Strange when you think we’re nowhere near the officially accepted campaign period.

It’s no wonder then that so much has gone wrong that should have been a walk over. Food and fuel prices, literally the price of all basic commodities, have skyrocketed, Kenyans are dying of hunger, crucial projects have been halted; there’s so much acrimony amongst the parties that little is being done any more in way of governance. Congratulations to those ministries like Tourism and Communications who, despite this climate, are somehow still achieving much in their area. I doubt much is going on in most Constituencies as leaders fight for all sorts of newly-created positions, that is, when they are not wrangling within their own parties.

Like a marriage of convenience, it seems all everyone is waiting for now is for this year to drag past so the marriage can be annulled and fresh elections can give us a clear winner with a homogeneous government, not this mix and mismatch of parties and ideologies. Which means you can expect pretty little to happen in the meantime in way of development or policy formulation.

Thank God for those first two years or so when our leaders needed to prove to us that they were better than their rivals and therefore they worked with quite a bit of energy and together achieved much. With time this was overtaken by perpetual disagreements and corruption scandals which meant the gloves had come off and Kenyans could see all of them for who they really were. Seeing no need then for any more pretence they decided to go full throttle into what they know best, campaigns, wrangling, corruption, sabotage, hence our current predicament. Whatever fruits we have reaped from this group of leaders is then confined to that brief time period, and I thank God for, for all it’s worth, they did give us a new Constitution.

I firmly believe the new Constitution is the main reason God organized for Kenya to have a coalition government. Given the divisions and mood in the country for the last few years, given the constant struggle for power, I doubt any side could have achieved a new Constitution without the other. Hence the grand coalition, in Divine Wisdom.

So Kenyans should consider this a transition period separating our past from our future. And, despite what we may think, our current leaders were the best God could find to manage this transition. Their roles are different and some even dubious, but all necessary in this valley of decision that Kenya now finds herself, confronting both her past and future, and deciding how she wants to proceed.

We have everything we need to build a new country. We have a Constitution and are doing what we can under the circumstances to see it implemented. We have systems and policies and are busy formulating others, we have devolvement, County governments, we have serious infrastructure development and continuing - fibre connectivity and good roads right there on top of the list - we have free basic education, Universities galore, an ever growing middle class, ever expanding foreign investment, an intelligent populace, freedom of expression like we never experienced before…. We have what it takes to put a clear divide between our past and future, and determine to build a new and progressive society and economy both for ourselves and our children for ages to come. This present valley, whatever problems we went through, whatever more we’ll go through, this current transition is the seed on which a new and blessed Kenya will spring. (Not that we are not blessed now but we’ve kind of muddled that with lots of human error, too much human error).

And so we wait with bated breath for a new era, a new dispensation. We urge our leaders on in passing the necessary bills needed to implement the new Constitution (they are the only leaders we have for this). We look forward to a new age where our country will be run through effective and just policies and systems, where we shall all be Kenyans, where regions, tribes, parties, personalities come an invisible second to peace, development, cohesion, justice, equitableness, Nationalism.

We look forward to Kenya as we know it, Kenya as we have always wanted it to be.

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'Bursary' the Mole-Digger

He had a funny name, which closely resembled ‘bursary’. At the time we said he was nuts, or slightly mental. What we couldn’t have begun to understand was that he had a certain form of mild Autism. I say mild but it was probably much stronger. He could hardly look you in the eye, he fidgeted non-stop when he wasn’t engaged in his favourite task of digging out moles, hardly spoke except when spoken to, and yes, God help you if you cut off even a tiny grain from the ugali (thick porridge)cooked for him.

Before he accepted any job from anyone, his one requirement was that no one shares in his ugali. In other words, once it’s been cooked and shaped Kenyan style, you could not then cut it out of shape. You had to give it to him whole, in that cone-shape.

The trick then, for those who knew, was to cut off whatever portion needed cutting BEFORE shaping it. That way ‘Bursary’ would believe it had not been interfered with. Honestly I think his obsession was with that cone-shape rather than the size of the ugali. True, his portion of ugali could feed five, but the size could vary. What must never vary though, was the shape!

The mole, back to the mole… ‘Bursary’s’ sole job was to dig out moles. Legend had it that moles smelt him and so no matter how deep or troublesome they had been, once ‘Bursary’ set a trap for them they came out whimpering, like some kind of silent hypnosis..

Many a man did their best to excel in this noble farm task, but ‘Bursary’ made them look like boys attempting a man’s job. He ate and drank ‘mole-digging’. When he set to his task, he did not speak, and did not take a rest. He worked tirelessly till the job was done. Likewise when he sat down to his ugali, he went at it till every last grain was gone. A characteristic of his condition, but at the time we thought he simply enjoyed going non-stop. 

He never lacked for cash as moles were not in short supply upcountry.

We all liked him, but steered clear out of his way. His stammer sounded entertaining to little children, but he had no time for nonsense and had very little social tolerance. Other than that he was quite harmless.  

I wonder how many people labeled mental could have gotten better, or at least been better handled, had their condition been better understood. Like the forgetful old man with Alzheimer’s, or the lady who shook non-stop with Parkinson’s, or the others with all sorts of mental disorders all lumped together as mad… for that was what they were called.

Well, lots of us did have a deep fear of all things mental, what with someone going berserk every once in a while and chasing people around with a panga (sword), or the substance abuser who made it his joy and amusement to terrorize anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path…

With all the improvement in health facilities and awareness, I hope more and more people with mental and other physical disorders are getting better diagnosis, and thus better care than ‘Bursary’ and the others received in days gone by.

Cycle of Famine - the Cry of a Region

It happens every year, almost without fail... First, there is drought, with the inevitable famine. Then comes torrential rains resulting in floods that sweep people and animals away.. There's an outcry, an outcry to harvest this water.. Why so much waste? We just emerged from drought, someone please save and store this water..

A half-hearted attempt at dam-construction here, a minimal effort at a storage tank there... Silence the public, then down the tools, till next year..

And on and on, till the next drought.

It's heartbreaking to say the least watching Kenyans die of hunger. Heartbreaking because it doesn't have to be so, heartbreaking because every year we go through the cycle, every year we hear the government rhetoric, 'no Kenyan will die of hunger', 'lessons have been learnt', 'this will never happen again': Heartbreaking because so much money is allocated to these causes, taxpayers money (read the common man, what with the political class for so long exempted from tax!) Heartbreaking because the country produces so much food, yet somehow the distribution has never been properly mustered, properly managed. Even the food importation to avert crisis usually ends up being a way for the rich to get even richer...

My heart goes out to fellow Kenyans in the northern region. They have a country, they work hard rearing their cattle, but when they cry out to their government to create an enabling environment both for sustenance and development, it seems to fall on deaf ears.

I hope the new system of devolvement and County government will change things, I hope it will not be another cash cow for the greedy at the expense of the long suffering..  


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