A greater 2013; I have a dream that this year, we can overcome bounds of oppression, corruption & overall moral decadence in our society.
This is a momentous year for Kenya, with us having elections this year. An election that the world over is keeping tabs on. The transition after elections will be very crucial. 2007 will always be a dark smudge on this country’s history and one we must show the world that we have learned from. Kenya is a major regional business hub with Nairobi being a regional headquarter to a number of multinationals. Peaceful transition will mean greater economic expansion, steady growth forecasts and a greater platform for achieving vision 2030.
This year will also be the year that arguably the new constitution will go full throttle in terms of implimentation. We all hope that the sanctity of the constitution that has been defiled ever so often the previous year by legislators will be upheld by a new and better elected group of legislators.
This year i hope that the greed that has corrupted this country will end. Greed has come in so many forms for this country; Poachers have continued to plague this country, most recent being the slaughter of a family of 11 elephants for ivory in the Tsavo. These natural resources that we leisurely take for granted are the blood line of our economy and its time we stopped chopping off the hands that feed us. Another plague for this country has been corruption. It is my opinion that trying to get rid of corruption sorely by legislative means is not the solution. Corruption is a moral/social issue that most of us grow into; we have been raised to think that money is the solution to all problems and more so getting rich quickly. Corruption mentality must be rid off from the younger generation, they are the future of this country. Kenyans need to be more aware of their rights, we need to be aware that we do not have to bribe to access basic public service. Access to public service is your right as a Kenyan, we need to instil this to the younger generation and everyone for that matter. Mechanisms need to be throughly effective to deal with corruption, the penalties should be as harsh to the taker as they are to the giver of bribes.
This year i pray that morality that has avoided our society in recent times gives us a second chance. Good morals are the pillars of any society and we need these pillars to achieve the dream of being a greater nation than we already are. It is always sad to wake up to news of a 5 year old kid or anyone else for that matter brutally raped everyday. Instead of blaming the way the ladies of our society dress like Swaziland does, we need to educate young men in our society on how to respect and treat women. I only hope that one day all this decadence will end.
2013; This will be the year of hope, the jubilee year as many have called it. We need to show the world that 50 years down the line, we have grown into a great nation, one they can be look up to, one that we can be proud of.
My Prayer As A Kenyan
What happened to the good old days when we had extensive tracts of land under vegetation? What happened to the good old days when peace prevailed everywhere? What happened to the culture of being good neighbors? what happened to the days we used to be proud of our dignified leaders? What happened to the days when university dining menus would have chicken everyday? What happened to the pride civil servants once had when they woke up each morning to go work for their country? What happened to ‘Maziwa ya Nyayo’? What happened to the decency of society? What happened to the good old days of co-existence regardless of tribe? What happened to the council of elders in various communities? What happened to the morality of the ruling society? what happened to the beloved country i grew up being proud of my nationalism? What happened to my beloved Kenya?
Kenya has been degraded to a mere joke, our moral standing has sunk so low, so low such that we have allowed ourselves to be manipulated like puppets with the promise of a few coins. Kenya has become a haven for the buyers of souls. Kenya has become a habitat of selfish, immoral, corrupt and undignified leaders. Leaders who are so power hungry, they have sold their souls. Leaders so unfortunate to be called human beings they have incited the same people who choose them to take up arms against each other. Leaders so ugly inside they have the ‘courage’ to back to the electorate to ask for votes after a term of no development for their constituents. Leaders so power greedy they start campaigning for the next election 3 months after concluding elections. Leaders so sick they have the audacity to call themselves ‘underpaid’ after taking a million home every month. Leaders who lack vision, leaders who leave on foreign trips with their whole extended families on public funds. Leaders so shameless they pay followers of low moral fibre to lie about miracles to fill their churches.
I pray that Kenya finds its way. I pray that we find ourselves, i hope that we can regain the moral standing we have soiled so much. I bank on the honest and hardworking mwananchi; the grandmother taking care of orphans, the mama mboga up at dawn every morning to head to the market, the matatu driver up late to take people home after a night out, the teacher who loves her job albeit deplorable working conditions, the farmer up at 4 am every morning to milk his cow to sell his milk at the dairy, the nun taking care of the homeless in shelters, the doctor working with poor quality equipment to save lives; I am banking on all of you, I am hoping that together we can change the direction our country has taken. It starts with me and you, it starts with electing worthy leaders, it starts with saying NO to inciters, it starts with respecting ourselves. After all, we are Kenyans and i think we were built special. Lets start by building up the pride we once had. Lets build a better Kenya for the next generation. This is my prayer as a Kenyan.
A Reason to live
The estimated number of animals on our planet falls somewhere in the vast range of 3- 30 million species (Erwin 1983, Wolosz 1988). Of all these species, insects- in particular ants fascinate me a great deal. The Amazon rains days on end and somehow these really small beings have found a way to survive.
It’s a naturally occurring phenomenon that has puzzled biologists for decades: Place a single fire ant in water and it wil struggle. But a group of fire ants will bind together and float effortlessly for days.
My friend has to me, much in common with a fire ant in a flooded rain forest; only this time round, the forest is the outside world. She has beaten the odds- amid great challenges, she has told the world to watch her shadow as she marches on to greatness.
Friends and family have ensured that she stays afloat, they have given her the strength, the courage, the will to fight on, the reason to believe, they have brightened up the future and ensured she lives to see the beauty the world is yet to give.
After a diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Eurythmatoses, that led to end stage kidney failure she had to undergo a couple of transplants. Many would have given up, but not her and in the end, she still stands, smiling at her woes and fighting on.
So full of life and new found confidence, all we can do is cheer her on. I remember at a talk she gave- a statement “Information is your best friend”. Couple that with family and friends and you have a perfect recipe for fighting any illness.
As a champion in her own right, I salute her as i jump up and down at her corner cheering her on. I hope and pray that her story touches others in the same situation, that it may give them the strength to fight on, that it may let them know that there is a God, and you are never alone. we are none of us alone.
Patience-Are you Clever enough to accept it?
A friend once told me that being too passive has its perks, but on the other hand, it also has its pitfalls.
Many a time, when one is too quiet and unconfrontational, he is considered weak, uncapable or worse, a plain old coward. What people don’t figure out is, that person is a calculative, patient, and one who has mastered the art of choosing his battles really carefully.
Ofcourse in some aspects such as business, this passiveness translates into numbers, those translate into profit margins, those translate into expenditure reviews, those translate into job losses, those tranlate to family detriments and so on. On the other hand, the passive nature might be viewed as the ‘fall before the rise’. This can be in terms of long term strategies, taking hits in the short run but hoping for significant positive results in the future. These days young entrepreneurs have less stomach for such concessions, they opt for business opportunities that produce returns in the shortest time possible. Many of them will, don’t or do not want to understand the concept of Treasury Bills/Bonds, Life Insurance or Education insurance packages. When some businesses will yield returns in a relatively shorter period, this has also led to the emmergence of fraud that target less informed- in terms of business related terminologies and practices people. Pyramid schemes is a classic example, efforts to clamp it down by the goverment in the near recent past have been fruitful.
Patience is a virtue that we all have to find again. It has been lost to most of us, it has been eroded by our greed, our lust for success, our bid to base success in terms of monetary status; which all calls to question if Maslow’s heirachy of needs really works. Patience in business is paramount, many would put it- ‘Rome, with all its architectural magnificence was not built in a day.’ The groundwork must be right- the foundation in which the business is built must be good, the strategy must be decisive as it is realistic and above all else, the right people for the job must share & believe in that dream. Starting a business venture is never a smooth sailing affair, many who have trodden on this path can attest to that. After all the scuffles, after all the dust biting, after all the end months with little or no paychecks, in the long run, its all worth it.
Employment is based on the same concept. A classic example- over 90% of CVs people submit, the single most used sentence is ‘To be a successful ptofessional in my field……..’ but, do people really know what it takes to do that?
Never think that armed with a degree, your first job will be a managerial post. It starts with picking up coffee for your bosses, photocopying reports, picking up dry cleaning for your boss, buying and writting cards for your bosses wife, filing. If you are lucky, paper cuts will leave your hands as soft as they were. Many do not have the stomach for that and end up quiting after a month. One of the dreams many people have straight from College is to get a highly paying job, enough to buy a car, that will never happen, and the earlier these poor kids realize that, the better it will be for them to adapt to this harsh world. Patience, quick on-the-job learning will get you to the top, accept that and you are home free.
Patience as simple as it may sound is the key to everything in life, the question is, are you clever enough to realize that?
Free Will- the ability to choose
Expectations; now that’s a word we all like associating ourselves with. It’s a word we couple up with what we think our partners should do, what our jobs should help us achieve, what our kids should aspire to be, basically, everything if you come to think of it. In my case, i think expectations are just there to screw with your head. What would happen if you didn’t care what happens with your work? with your teenage kids? your wife? One answer to that would be nothing; you would live each day at a time, without a care in the world-a stress free environment. Another answer to that would be everything. Everything could go wrong, after a day or two, you would probably end up jumping infront of a truck, or hanging yourself with a shower curtain. Don’t you just love the free world?
Attention: Lets all face it, we are all attention seeking freaks in one way or the other. Some go to the extent of being serial killers, others perennial drug users, others pretend to be sick, or others just excel and prove their abilities. Attention goes hand in hand with need, the need for affection, the need for love, the need to be part of something, the need to belong, the need to be part of the society. It is in our nature to seek attention, its intrinsic, how we control it is what matters at the end of the day. Human nature i have known to be very peculiar, very demanding, very unique; i guess what sets us apart are the judgements we make, the limits we set, the aspirations we have; the choices we make.
Association: I have tons of friends, some i know by name, others only by their facial features. Why then would you need to have all these friends? Association; we all love to have people we can relate to, people we can borrow money from, people we can go to when we need a shoulder to cry on, people we can rely on to be there. We need people, we need that sense of belonging, we need to feel that we are loved and are missed when we are away. Its sad though that people have self actualized themselves on the basis of the company they keep, the number of friends they have ob Facebook, the number of followers they have on Twitter, and the number of people who call or text them in a day- their ‘social circles’. Such people are lost souls who need to be found fast, they live their lives not by their own choices, but on pre-determined ways that are supposed to make them look/feel ‘cool’. Associations are supposed to compliment and suppliment our lives. Associations are supposed to be stepping stones to a better life. Associations are supposed to help us proceed further in our careers. Associations are supposed to create/shape our lives into good role models for those who look up to us. Associations should be all about mutual benefit, if it doesn’t help you, its holding you back. Again, its a free world, after all, no one shoved that apple in to Adam’s mouth.
Family. The basic unit of love, synonymous with home. Family is the one group of people who should really matter. This might get me in trouble but i believe family comes before spouses. Now before you sharpen the pitch forks, hear me out. Parents are the people who changed your diapers, parents are the people who took you back to school after you were suspended, parents taught you how to ride a bike, parents whipped you to good mannerisms, parents paid for your fees- for some of us, fees to retake exams, parents gave you pocket money to take people on dates. I could go on forever but the point is, parents were there every part of the way. Now spouses; lets face it, they are the future, but, that does not give them the right to create a valley or a boulder or ask you to choose between them and the family. In my case, i know which side i would lean on, though i wouldn’t necesarily make it that obvious, after all, you don’t eat and sleep in your parents house. Damn i have learned to love to hate free will.
Choices shape us, choices define us, choices decide our fate not the stars. The choices we make are our own, i guess that is why they call it free will.
Economics 101 from Kamau- A Matatu Driver.
As i left the office, tired, beat, knackered, worn out- clearly a long week, i had no idea how exciting the next half hour would be.
It was around half past seven, the ideal time people tend to head home. The clouds were ‘pregnant’ with rain, the urgency to get home becoming more important than anything else- if you live in Nairobi, you would understand why. A matatu pulled up, it had no one but the driver and the tout. Like a normal Kenyan, i asked “ngapi town?”. The tout, looking all bored and desperate said “hata 20 bob ni sawa hakuna pesa”. I sat next to the driver who jokingly suggested that i look like an “ATM” person and i should have probably paid a little extra.
Just before we got to town, the rain came down pretty hard. The first thing the driver shouted was “Mungu kaskia ombi langu! Jua limewaka leo heh! nabeba mia mbili” The tout was not to be outdone “Saa ya warembo imefika! naona nikiachiwa mwavuli leo”.
By this time this discussion had me in a fit. The driver tried breaking it down for me; At the stage he said it was all about controlling the customer perception at this point in time and channeling it. When the vehicle ahead says 100, all you have to do is say 150 and everyone scrambles instantly to the one charging 100. Keeping in mind that the normal fare for this route is 50 shillings, the customer is already paying double without necessarily feeling ripped off, after all, the next vehicle charges 150. This continues as long as the rain keeps coming down, the customer is in a hurry to get home and its all about demand and supply-market forces he says. – You can imagine my shock at the articulate way and language this driver is using. Now i understand why education in Kenya has been put up as one of the very few sectors on course for the vision 2030.
He goes on to explain that matatu drivers can live comfortable lives, all the need to do is to make solid financial decisions and think of a future away from the matatu business. He says in such rainy periods, matatu drivers can take home upto 4,000 after paying off the tout and the vehicle’s owner. If it rains at peak hours for a week, that’s 20,000 in a week- working days alone. That is enough money to feed your family, pay bills and make solid investments for the future. He says many of his peers don’t have the vision that he has even though he tries to advice them. They would rather blow it all off on alcohol and ‘ndogo ndogo’ as he puts it. He lets it pass that he has a Bachelors degree in Commerce and after seeking employment for an year to no avail, this is the only door that opened up for him. Kamau- that’s his name, still has a dream of opening up his own hardware business and he tells me that soon he will be able to attain that after saving up for the last 5 years. I wish him luck as i alight, deep in thought.
I tell myself that if we had 100 Kamau’s, the country would rid itself of significant portion of the unemployed through creation of new business opportunities. I just hope Kamau attains his wish.
Hope it has stopped raining now, i don’t want to get ‘ripped off’.
The Forgotten
We live in a unique lifetime, the good, the bad, the ugly all complement if not suppliment each other in a way.
Many would disagree with that statement. It all depends on the way in which you look at it. We live in a time when the population grows in one part of the world, reduces in another, is excessively controlled in another; yet we degrade the environment excessively in an effort to sustain the same population.
The horn of Africa has faced the blunt of it all; War, drought, flooding. Its a region the world chose to forget- its not economically viable, so why bother. Its a region that has become the safe haven of terrorist activities. Its a region where children grow up not knowing there exists a better gun to play with- a water pistol. Its a region that has led to the rise of fraudulent aid organizations keen on exploitation. Its a region that is a ‘heaven’ to a researcher. In a world where one in every seven dies of hunger, you wouldn’t have to look far to see where the bulk of those statistics come from. Its a region that has basically nothing to live for.
Good fortune eludes the horn like a plague. In times of drought, nothing is spared. During the rainy season, all is swept away. On a normal day, gunshots are like traffic in a city-always existent.
Much can be done. It may seem a lost cause to many but it can be done. Its time the world started giving a damn. Its time we embraced the lost ones. Its time we got rid of the jigger- terror organizations. Its time to end the madness.
The African Union is starting to bring back hope to this region. Kenya’s excursion in Somalia lit a fuse. They set the pace, others should follow suit.
In Northern Kenya, organizations such as the Kenya Red Cross, WFP, World Vision and the UN have taken the baton to end hunger and over reliance on aid. The Kenya Red Cross has good projects running such as the Abbas farm in Wajir which is giving locals a chance to grow their own food both for consumption and economic purposes. The Tana Delta normally common with extensive drought now has acres upon acres of irrigated land with water channeled from the Tana River. Locals have bought in to this concept, many changing their usual nomadic lifestyle. The children are now getting education due to this stability in living conditions. The infrastructure is changing for the better.
These organizations are doing a great deal of work uplifting the lives of these people in terms of health, intellect, economic status and over all, self esteem.
Solving hunger solves a whole set of problems. The government must play its part in providing securities and amenities such as health centers and schools with qualified staff. Its time these people started feeling that they are indeed part of something and they do belong somewhere.
I pray every day that the Horn will be a region full of hope and peace, but it starts with the change in perception from you and me. Its time we remembered the forgotten.
