Monday, December 26, 2011

The tribal catch 22... We Do Not need it in Kenya!

It is the people of Kenya who must be as tall as giraffes and look all around, not get stuck in small houses and windows... 

photo by Martti Lintunen, Finland

No doubt this is a marvellous photo. See many more giraffe in the article. My kind friend and photographer Martti Luntinen is reminded of curiosity by this photograph. The giraffe has already climbed the stairs outside. It is on second floor. It could reach the third floor. But with its head inside the house, it cannot see the third floor. What is more is that it's neck could be stuck in there. That is not place for her. It is a giraffe in the wrong place? Many Kenyans are not using their grace and voice to resolve the problems of xenophobia that we all face for being different. 

Back to the photo. The house is beautiful. It is fine that it is old. Something happens to both the beauty of the giraffe and of the house however. We only get to see the giraffe's flank and wonderful legs.It is still beautiful. I know that her eyes are powerful but her vision is not for seeing inside beautiful houses. She must see above trees and in the long range. He must see better than a gazelle. We, the people of Kenya have to see far and wide for us to love the 'other'. We must stop building little 'tribal' homes now. It is time to build a home called Kenya. The mentality of if everything is not in my house then it cannot be anywhere else must vanish. And State House must not be run like an elders hut.

The politician who called himself a giraffe was Moi. I do not know. What I know is that if we have a Kenyan Awakening, we shall be better for it. We have weaknesses but none as dangerous as our view of 'us' and 'them'. I am going to talk about Kenya's weak point at this time and before- tribalism.

The giraffe and the leopard or cheetah have something in common. I found out about cameleorpardis when I wondered about the relationship between a giraffe and a camel. We must not get held by stereotypes. They are awful. Between a giraffe and a camel, there is a strong link. However, alone in the bush without birds, without elephants and other animals, giraffe would be unhappy. Crocodiles too would be unhappy alone in rivers. No matter their tears.Hippos too.  No matter their eyes. Diversity is great in humans too.


It was not just that Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki have been tribal in their approach to national life. It was also the way of the British. The wound is deep but we must heal it. We must find a way, like a giraffe does to see and to drink water. We cannot waste time on this, it is dangerous. Once reason is clouded one can never tell what happened. Our words must be clear especially this coming year, an election year. No to this blindness! We must lead ourselves, we cannot trust the politicians.

Tribalistic drivel robbing Kenyans of power to reason and common sense


Many of us in Kenya, but not all of us have seen how a giraffe drinks water. The gracious animal puts its front legs astride and makes room for its long neck to fall to the ground. Then it 'whoops' down as I like to imagine gulps and gulps of water, gallons in the end. They run like a river down a long throat. The joke about a giraffe that has a sore throat I heard often. 




I wish that we in Kenya learn to look outside of ourselves, outwards. It is hard to do this when those in power look inwards all the time. Into their 'house'. The speak of 'our people' meaning 'our tribe'.  'Our presidential candidate' (whatever that means if he or she is tribal), our own (US) versus the 'other'. Right now this discussion is worrying. I remember it towards 2007 and an election that ended in 1 333 deaths, massive rapes and transmission of HIV/Aids virus and the growth of suspicion and even a word I dislike but is real. Hatred. No matter what, we have to try and be above the big challenge humans have with 'otherness'. Remember the lioness who brought up an oryx? She did not care that this was another species.


Stamp of Kenya pic by Philo Ikonya




I wish that Kenyans such as Hassan Omar the head of the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights could help us with the truth.. I completely agree with him and was incensed and said it on media about Kenya Revenue Authority being so Kibaki's people top heavy. Kibaki, I lost hope after your election in 2002 when you started inviting old men and business pals to State House once again making it a home of buddies of your age and ridge. 

I expected better because your children and grandchildren I saw were not so tribally educated? When my poet friend and I found your daughter drinking at a pub, she was not drinking traditionally from a horn. She was on her own. She drank silently in a corner. My poet friend told me she always did that. Judas had before told me that you also used to drink long and hard alone in your garden in the mornings. And that was not traditional either. What is this about tribal leanings?

I saw Moi take us back to a place of tribe that many of us had left. I saw education retreat to villages when people could no longer go to secondary schools outside of their home areas. I saw us dwindle from a people who were becoming a nation of many different nations of Kenya into people only aware that the President is of this or the other race. 

We must enrich Kenya with better presence in a whole spectrum of society. This should be so in Civil Society and that is not all. Kenya needs a very strong group of leaders with moral authority and voice but who are not going into politics. Our politics like politics everywhere perhaps but more so in Afrika is not ours. It is so divisive and dangerous that even as some must go into it, others with clear and well heard voices must remain vigilant outside of politics. This level of leadership must be cultivated. We cannot talk of Kenya as if a president were enough. It is not possible. We must change things. We must recognize leadership not just at a political level but at many other levels of our society. We have to be there to staring without blinking. Watchful. 


By John Berga of Stavanger in Norway
(Eye of giraffe in Kenya)


Omar, teach us to be above political rhetoric no matter what his own goals may be. I remember the MP for Kikuyu was of interest to Omar Hassan before he got his posting  and so were many others. I remember Hassan Omar protecting me and other human rights defenders so very often. At that time we did not think, at least I have never thought of us as group from here and not there. We cannot do it now. The people are as tall as giraffes and they have good eyes. We cannot allow ourselves to lead them to look into small windows if they want to see Kenya as one house with many rooms as my photo shows. There will be many doors of exit and entry. It is dangerous to join in sectarian chats on the presidency because you could have millions of misled voters belonging to a group you talk against digging in and insisting and we all saw what happened in 2007/2008. 

Seize your freedom Kenya ! Take it once and for all. Kenya  has had 48 years of independence and we are not free

It behoves the Uhuru or independence generation, and even younger generations of Kenyans to awaken. We have to light a different fire. To do that, we have to borrow some fire from somewhere. We do not have to re-invent the discovery of fire.

Look. Mohammed Bouazizi awakened the Arab world. Look. You have known fighters for freedom in Kenya. They were never fighting for one tribe. They did not fight for a presidency and no land. We, today are threatened with a diminished scope.

We must light ourselves up inside and awaken. Forget about just voting an individual in. Make yourself feel and be as important as the Head of State. Kenya is your country. The Head of State is you. It is not the person who will be voted in as president. It is all of us. You will be the president of Kenya. Then the president of Kenya will live like all of us. Then the president of Kenya will be someone who knows that all of us are that person and those close to her or him in whom we invest our power through our vote.

It would be strange to vote in a new constitution and we did that in August 2010, get more freedom and still remain as at independence only level. We must claim our space. We must be and are important. We are the people who have to say.

If a young person is busy talking this or that tribe. If a person is looking at many millions of Kenya as just a tribe who have no right to this and that, then this person has grown older than the oldest and erred. You may think I live in an ivory tower.

Daily, we are told what politicians did. How they travelled, what they ate. Who visited them. Where they are going tomorrow. And where are we going tomorrow, 2012 as a nation? 

Politicians are the headline news of our country. They have become the main thoughts that we have. So often, they speak. You do not hear of an agenda. The media does not push them to tell us why they want to become presidents.
Or why they sit together across ethnic divides whenever they need a position. And as for Omar, Omar is every group of Kenya, that is why he is heading a human rights organization in Kenya. The Kenya National Human Rights Comission. Watch out for Kenya all of you, not just for your own agenda.


By Marisa Fushile

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should take part in a contest for one of the greatest sites on the internet.
I am going to highly recommend this web site!



Here is my weblog ... human growth hormone

Anonymous said...

Do you have a spam problem on this blog; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to know
your situation; many of us have developed some nice practices and we are looking to swap solutions with other
folks, why not shoot me an e-mail if interested.


Also visit my weblog buy hgh

Anonymous said...

Do you have a spam problem on this blog; I also am
a blogger, and I was wanting to know your situation; many of us
have developed some nice practices and we are looking to swap solutions with
other folks, why not shoot me an e-mail if interested.


my site: buy hgh

Anonymous said...

I almost never drop remarks, but I browsed some responses here "The tribal catch 22... We Do Not need it in Kenya!".
I actually do have some questions for you if you do
not mind. Could it be only me or do a few of the comments appear like they are written by brain
dead visitors? :-P And, if you are posting at other sites, I'd like to follow anything new you have to post. Would you make a list of every one of your social community sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?

Feel free to visit my web-site - Lawanna

Anonymous said...

This web site definitely has all the information I wanted concerning this subject
and didn't know who to ask.

Check out my blog http://www.qualityraws.com

Anonymous said...

An outstanding share! I've just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been doing a little research on this. And he in fact ordered me dinner due to the fact that I discovered it for him... lol. So allow me to reword this.... Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this topic here on your web site.

Check out my webpage - click the up coming webpage

Anonymous said...

Hello, just wanted to say, I loved this
post. It was inspiring. Keep on posting!

My homepage - click the next web site

Anonymous said...

Hello, i think that i saw you visited my web site so
i came to “return the favor”.I'm attempting to find things to improve my site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!

Look into my page - Συζήτηση χρήστη:BradleyDx - Κιθάρα wiki

Anonymous said...

Awesome things here. I am very happy to see your post.
Thanks a lot and I am taking a look ahead to
contact you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?



my website; brickwork

Anonymous said...

Hi there! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to
give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading your
articles. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same topics?
Thanks for your time!

My page; Katherina

Anonymous said...

I have read so many articles about the blogger lovers however this paragraph is truly a nice article, keep it up.


Here is my blog Katherina

Anonymous said...

My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .
net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs.
But he's tryiong none the less. I've been using WordPress on numerous websites
for about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform.

I have heard good things about blogengine.net. Is there a
way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Feel free to surf to my web site Authors external home page�

Anonymous said...

This is a topic which is near to my heart... Many thanks!

Exactly where are your contact details though?

Also visit my site encarditis - -

Anonymous said...

Hmm is anyone else having problems with the
images on this blog loading? I'm trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it's the blog.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



My page - Author's external home page...

Anonymous said...

I think the admin of this web site is really working hard in
support of his website, since here every information is quality based material.



My web-site :: human growth hormone :: :
:

Anonymous said...

I seriously love your site.. Pleasant colors & theme. Did you
make this web site yourself? Please reply back as I'm attempting to create my own personal website and would like to learn where you got this from or exactly what the theme is called. Thanks!

Look into my weblog: Buy human growth hormone

Anonymous said...

Excellent article! We will be linking to this particularly great post on our website.
Keep up the good writing.

Look into my page: please click the following web site

Anonymous said...

Hi, i think that i saw you visited my web site so i came to “return the favor”.
I'm trying to find things to enhance my site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!

Feel free to surf to my site ... http://www.irontribefitness.com/blog/post/2013/05/20/Operation-Iron-Tribe-Midterm-Test-Results-(Objective).aspx

Anonymous said...

What's Taking place i'm new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It positively useful and it has aided me out loads.
I'm hoping to contribute & assist other users like its aided me. Good job.

Also visit my web site: http://wiki.kspu.karelia.ru/index.php/%D0%A3%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA:JYXLuella

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on featherwise. Regards

Look into my web page - Buy human growth hormone

Anonymous said...

Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble
with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and
I ended up losing many months of hard work due to no data backup.
Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?

Also visit my weblog - Author's external home page... ()

Anonymous said...

Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your
point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence
on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something
informative to read?

my weblog; http://www.crayonpedia.org/mw/Pengguna:IsaacWick

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Its in fact awesome post, I have got much clear
idea about from this paragraph.

Here is my web blog; black stars

Anonymous said...

Have you ever thought about publishing an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs?
I have a blog based upon on the same subjects you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information.
I know my readers would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e-mail.


Also visit my blog; simply click the following article ()

Anonymous said...

Fine way of telling, and good piece of writing to get facts regarding my presentation subject matter, which i am going to deliver in institution of higher
education.

Look into my homepage ... peptides

Anonymous said...

Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.

Feel free to surf to my homepage :: click the up coming
internet site ()

Anonymous said...

Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to assert that I get actually
enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently rapidly.


My web-site: http://wiki.rio20.net/index.php/Usuario:KattieL04

Anonymous said...

Wow, incredible weblog layout! How lengthy have you been running
a blog for? you make blogging look easy. The full look of
your web site is excellent, let alone the content material!


Also visit my homepage; Microscopid

Anonymous said...

Hello to every one, for the reason that I am in fact eager of reading this weblog's post to be updated daily. It includes nice data.

Also visit my blog :: human growth hormone **

Anonymous said...

I just could not depart your web site prior to suggesting
that I really enjoyed the standard information an individual supply for your guests?
Is going to be again often in order to investigate cross-check new posts

Look at my web page http://luiscarro.es/cursos/wiki/index.php?title=Usuario:JoshDmq

Anonymous said...

always i used to read smaller articles or reviews that as well clear their motive, and that is also happening with this post which I am reading
at this time.

My web site :: human growth hormone

Anonymous said...

Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers?
I'm kinda paranoid about losing everything I've worked hard on.
Any recommendations?

Also visit my web blog - visit this website **

Anonymous said...

Howdy this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or
if you have to manually code with HTML. I'm starting a blog soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Check out my weblog: http://nvld-mn.thingstodowithkidsmn.com/modules.php?name=Your_Account&op=userinfo&username=XavierCle ()

Anonymous said...

This site was... how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I've
found something which helped me. Thanks a lot!


Feel free to visit my homepage ... click Over Here

Anonymous said...

I've been surfing online more than 3 hours nowadays, yet I by no means found any fascinating
article like yours. It's pretty worth enough for me.
In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made excellent
content as you did, the net shall be much more
useful than ever before.

Also visit my web blog ... get more soundcloud followers

Anonymous said...

Hi! I've been following your website for a long time now and finally got the courage
to go ahead and give you a shout out from Dallas Tx!
Just wanted to tell you keep up the excellent work!


Stop by my blog post ... iMaruti.com

Anonymous said...

Heya! I know this is somewhat off-topic however I had to ask.
Does operating a well-established blog like yours take a lot of work?
I am brand new to blogging but I do write in my diary on a daily basis.
I'd like to start a blog so I can share my own experience and thoughts online.
Please let me know if you have any ideas or tips for new aspiring blog owners.
Thankyou!

My homepage; search engine optimization; ,

Anonymous said...

Remarkable things here. I'm very glad to peer your
post. Thank you a lot and I'm taking a look forward to contact you.

Will you kindly drop me a mail?

Also visit my weblog: site ()

Anonymous said...

Hey! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came
to give it a look. I'm definitely loving the information. I'm book-marking and will be tweeting this
to my followers! Great blog and superb style and design.


Look at my blog: gratuit code de psn

Anonymous said...

Hi! I know this is kinda off topic but I'd figured I'd ask.
Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa?
My site covers a lot of the same topics as yours
and I think we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you might be interested feel free to send me an email.

I look forward to hearing from you! Superb blog by the way!


Feel free to surf to my web page :: visit this website

Anonymous said...

I'm extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your weblog.
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to
see a great blog like this one these days.

my page - he said

Anonymous said...

Location based links and touch-to-call links on the
smartphones are very much desirable by the mobile users.
Some software progeams offer unlimited size when it comes
to our mailing lists. To capture attention of potential clients, the online
interface needs to have clear message, appeal, easy navigation and
quick loading.

Also visit my website: Unlimited Text Message Marketing (Youtu.Be)

2017, Kenya post- election deadlock is old; who did not see it coming did not want to, and the child is dead

       Mathare Math in voice...for Raila Odinga     His mouth is open with fear. The palms of his hands with fingers open. This is a fla...