As I am sending you to Kenya please note
Posted by Edward Karani , Monday, April 26, 2010 7:07 AM
As a child, in Kenya you will learn to interact with children from all over the country and different ethnicities, if you are lucky and the play station bug does not bit your parents, you will get to spend time in the great outdoors. The great thing about your neighborhood is that its not a rich neighborhood, the people there have enough to see them through all their activities, such as food rent, schooling and all their other needs, so they are not poor. Your parents will own rental property in that neighborhood; don’t be shocked if the houses are rent out to people of a particular political arraigning. If you are not careful you might follow in the same footsteps. Remember ‘if the person seems from a different ethnic affiliation asks if there is a house to rent judging from their physical appearance, as well as their accents you can tell them there is or their in not.” That is regardless of the “House to rent.” Notice.
That is what your parents will tell you when you are old enough. You might end up like them after all an apple does not fall very far from the tree.
In that same place you will have great memories of the different people that live there, you will all try to speak each others languages, every time you meet. In future every time you remember that it will bring tears to your eyes because it will remind you of a love you never thought about. Neighbors borrow from each other burning charcoal so that they can light their jikos, women watch over each others children, they also help each other whenever one has a visitor or occasions such as weddings or graduation parties, making outside caterers completely unwanted. Ever heard that a child belongs to the society and not the parents, they take that saying very seriously where I am sending you. Incase you have run out of salt borrow from your neighbor.
The children must be the most friendly, they know the people in their neighborhoods who they fondly call ‘Auntie’ or ‘Uncle’ that is until they learn their names, hope you will grow up to be an adorable child just like them.
The very same children that you play with daily, go to church with, seat next to in school, they are ok, if they remain that, but do not consider opening a business with them, or even marrying them, otherwise, your parents might disown you and you might become the laughing stock of your community. You mother will never accept any other woman who is not from your ethnic background.
Some of these ‘tribal’ negativity will not occur to you now, it’s only as you grow up that your ethnic identity will come deeply rooted in you. To avoid these you will need to close your eyes and your ears to a lot of things, especially to the people who might try to incarnate tribalism into your mind.
As you grow up, the price of basic items will keep increasing, for instance the price of bread, milk, maize and wheat flour will keep increasing. Do not be deceived it’s not normal my child, ask Kamlesh Pattni he knows what he did, he is partly to blame. You see when politicians and prominent businessmen steal millions sorry, billions it destabilizes the economy…the rest you will learn in school.
In your country of destination, make sure you are not among the ‘small fish,’ other wise you will have no friends, anywhere, well maybe except for your wife and your children. You see if you happen to fall among the so called ‘small fish,’ though they say that forty things are for the thief, for the small fish, they are drastically reduced by more than three quarters, to sum it all up, your days are numbered. The government will sentence you to death for robbery with violence that is after you robbed a woman of her thirty shillings, while the men who are responsible for the deaths of millions of Kenyans because of robbing the poor, using the money meant to buy medicine or hire new doctors for the Kenyan hospitals which are currently understaffed, will live to enjoy their loot.
‘The key to a prosperous nation, ‘ they will tell you, ‘is must forgive, the big fish and not the small fish.’
Funny enough even your fellow small fish will be baying for your blood, when they get hold of you, they will stone you, beat you up senseless, they will pour petrol on you and burn you alive, but come the next general elections they will vote for the same people that has stolen billions that could have ensured a better life for them, the same people that have stolen jobs meant for their sons, will be put in power, all in the name of tribesman ship.
You will be taught to hate the other tribe which will be thought to be the enemy tribe, while you will hate when people from other races think that you are inferior to them, you will always think that it is unfair, yet you are the same as them. It’s a vivacious circle, you hate them, others hate you, and funny enough you will have stereotypes of each other. There will the thief, the lazy one, the poor one, the witchdoctor, the sexual savages, the prostitutes, the unseen and the unheard, among other stereotypes
The rich will go on being richer, in your country, the warriors that fought for your independence will be remain poor while a few individuals will hold huge parcels of lands which was given to them as a reward, the poor will go on being poor and will keep on voting for the very people that have subjected them to abject poverty.
Well, to be honest my child, it is not only the politicians who will try and take advantage of you but everyone else, let us just say that as country you will be out to take advantage of each other, in every way possible, business men will be experts at taking advantage of you, despite every attempt to help them reduce prices of vital commodities such as maize flour and wheat flour, it will keep rising, I am afraid by the time you get there, you might not be able to afford it. The government of the day will lend the farmers, maize, wheat and sugar a hand in exploiting its people by claiming to protect these industries, they will bar the importation of these commodities which are under produced so as to protect the interest of the few, and nothing will be done to meet the deficit. As you will come to learn that when demand is higher than the supply then the prices will definitely shoot up, that is business, if you are lucky enough you may learn it in school, if it is not replaced by other foreign languages. Yet there are more than forty-two languages in your country of destination, why not start with those before moving out.
But whenever alcohol levies are introduced, the prices will fall almost immediately. Funny.
That reminds me, in the country that I am sending you, you will be encouraged to learn foreign languages and speak them, proudly and confidently, but don’t you dare speak your mother tongue in public, you will be labeled as promoting tribalism. You will dream of going to foreign lands because you will think that they are better than home, yet if you want a better country, why not make it the way you want it to be, instead of running away to foreign lands where the locals of these places have made them habitable for themselves and their children. Remember east or west, home is the best, you will never forget it, no matter how far you run away.
My servants will also try and take advantage of you, sadly, they will take away millions from you in exchange for miracles, but my child if you could read my word you world realize that there no one point I asked for money so as to heal anyone.
The touts and policemen are among other people who will take advantage of you, if it rains the touts will increase their fare charges, policemen will require money just to offer you services, all to satisfy their greed. Yet, it will disappear from their hands as soon as they have gotten it.
Your performance in the national exams does not matter that much, there are a lot of determining factors, such as the province you are from, your parents economic status, as well as the political power that your parents yield. Do not be shocked if you live in a place and do not know the constituency it falls even after living there for more than ten years.
You will laugh and make fun when politicians steal billions, I do not see the joke in that, and they do. You will be left in stitches when politicians, all in the name of African traditions glorify adultery and fornication, yet it will not cross your mind that it might be one of the reasons why sexually transmitted diseases are rampant in your country. I take no pride in such talk, neither should you; it is not funny but rather sad and heart wrenching.
In your country people will take to the streets for all the wrong reasons, like the university students might throw stones at peoples car because they do not have electricity. While for other important issues such as lecturers who rarely show their faces in class, or their classes being sold to foreigners, they will keep quiet in fear of being sent home. Kenyans themselves will prefer to demonstrate over leaders but as the food prices increases or the loss of billions through corruption, they will maintain an audible silence. They will do nothing about it.
They will tell you that in your country there are over forty two tribes, but they will never tell you which ones they are, that’s something you will have to find out for yourself, though you will never know, the much you might know are ten and if you are lucky enough at least twenty five, but that’s on the higher side. You may think that that ‘cultural studies’ would be one of the compulsory subjects, where you would get to learn the names of the forty two tribes, their geographical location and their history, not so. Why can’t they be proud of their skin, I love it.
Am I sending you to a country of utter hopelessness? I’m I sending you to die or to be killed in the increasing insecurity? I’m I that cruel? Is there no hope for your country? Well all that depends on one factor. You.
If you think that the hope off your country is in the next generation, then there is no hope, because if there is no hope today, how can there be tomorrow? You have already killed hope then. Plan your time wisely, do not waste it, if there is something you can do today to make Kenya better, do it. A wise saying goes. “If you are not part of the solution then you are definitely part of the problem.”
If there is nothing you are going to be doing about the problems of tribalism and corruption in your country, then you are part of the problem. Do not pass the problems of today to those that are not yet born, they have their own fight to fight and their own race to run. Yours is today and not tomorrow.
There is a lot I would love to say to you but it is time, my child, I can see your parents are only too eager to start the process. Do not forget me, because it’s only for a short while until you come back to me again.
Have a nice life.
From
Your Loving Father
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