Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Musings from a "detached" Kenyan
So my sister winter always says I am very "detached" from the Kenyan way of life the - the music, the fashion - she saw how I used to dress to college and was like heh you cant even attempt such a dress code with campo chicks,the roads (read as Thika highway), the businesses (read as kina Rupu, soko kuu etc etc) and of course the politics...Well....the other day she was in hosi and she was so bored so I go like dont they have Wi Fi there you can have your laptop? and she goes like wifi? really? so yes (as I sheepishly admit) I am 6years removed from the Kenyan buzz but one thing that I and so many of my "detached" comrades in the diaspora have been following closely is the politics.For some reason or the other politics seems to be that unifying topic that at least someone can throw in a word or two over a cup of tea or Pbrs as my friend Festus calls them.Even if its old news "you heard Saitoti passed away?" can spark of a conversation..Soooo where was I going...oh yes so my very "attached" sister emailed me a link of the protests that were happening today outside parliament and immediately I went like wait whaat are those pigs with MPigs engraved on their back?and wait is that the gate of parliament.This was a replica of the Occupy movt that had swept the land of milk and honey(sic) two years ago..The only difference was (other than live piglets) there were cops with tear gas canisters and their tu sticks whats the English word for them - batons??For me the whole video almost saddened me as I envisioned an MP sitting in his office in Parliament sipping on a hot cup of Ketepa tea thinking what now can those hooligans go milk a cow (or pig in this case)...I know there has been uproar people saying it should have been done in a more better/ civilized way but I say hats off to you who woke up today knowing they would be marching down Harambee Avenue and maybe later on sleeping in a cell.There was a woman who was being hauled into a truck screaming, "Nipe filimbi yangu," in shot you can arrest me but you cannot silence me.Its quite noble to fight for a cause one believes in in this day and age - coz I feel over the years society and life in general has made so many people loose their gusto to stand and be ready to almost die for a cause - let me quantify that - a cause worth dying for.Look at men and women of yore -martyrs who were killed for refusing to denounce Jesus Christ as savior,freedom fighters from South African apartheid to British Mau Mau, Waangari Maathai who would hug a tree so tight she would have to be chiseled out of it to prevent it from being cut down.So anyhu I digress as always I just feel as we celebrate 50 great years of independence this December lets applaud and not chastise (or throw tear gas at) those who will stand up and say hey that entertainment allowance and salary is a tad bit on the higher side Mr. MP.I voted you in to bring education to our constituency and not channel the funds to a little bank in Cayman Islands...Well then again maybe as my sister says I am just another "detached" Kenyan...All this made me remember this part in the movie Sarafina see video
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