As a dark cloud overwhelmed my thoughts, I started whispering...
Find me a guitar I lament for you my agony,
Find me a microphone I voice my sorrows
Find me a pen I narrate for you a story that rip my heart apart
Find me time I tell you how helpless I feel
Helpless as I listen to the woman cry for her murdered child
Helpless as I watch her weeping in front of her raped daughter
Helpless as I see her finding comfort on her husband’s grave
Helpless as she tells me of her slaughtered son
Helpless as I gaze at her begging to exist
Helpless as I kneel with her begging her kind not to oppress her own
Helpless as I look at her calling on her maker for salvation
Helpless as I contemplate at her seeking hope from the horizon
Find her picking of what is left in the Rift Valley,
Find her re-purify her face in Lake Naivasha
Find her counting losses in tea plantation in Kerico
Find her echo in Nandi Hills calling for Peace….
Find me, helpless wondering if there is more I can do to help…
Last night the moon and I were talking, I found hope in helpess situation
Hope that exist within
Hope that looks beyond human greed
Hope that finds good in human spirit when evil surrounds
Hope that I see in the sky filled with smoke from burnt houses
Hope that I see in the horizon of my imagination
Hope that goes beyond the shadows of yesterday
Hope that over comes yesterday’s hatred
Hope that confronts my memory of conflict
Hope that looks beyond human eyes
Hope that sees present suffering ending
Hope that has faith in today’s youth, in the unborn generation
Hope that destroys selfish oppressors’ plans
Hope in hopeless crisis…
By David Mwambari
USIU 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sacrifice, but for who and for what?
In 1950s and a large part of 1960s, the African young men and women who were interested in the fate of their colonial countries and continent were more concerned with liberating their people from European colonial rule.
These were the likes of Ghanaian Kwame Nkrumah, Tanzanian Mwalimu Nyerere, Kenyan Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Madiba Mandela, Ms. Winnie Mandela, Patrice Lumumba - the list goes on. History validates their generation’s sacrifice as having fought for independence and for us their then unborn generation. Critics will focus more on their failures, forgetting that no human is immune to error. In post independence era, another group emerged blinded with greed, and lust for power.
In 1970s and1980s they enlarged their “society” giving birth to innocent minds poisoned in their socialization . Currently, Africa finds herself with a large, divided youthful society. The first group is composed of the elites whose character and thought process has been heavily intoxicated by western ideals, from language, to culture.
Their arrogance exhibits oppressors’ behaviour under a different skin color. They have learned from their fathers’ greedy hearts and looked up to their uncaring mothers’ souls. In their thinking, anything African is dismissed as uncivilized, a village up country is a no-go zone, and their definition of identity is influenced by television and magazines.
They are rarely found on the streets rioting for any issues that affect society; they are often found in bed on election day with a hangover from last nights heavy drinking. Their jobs are taken for granted; they earn fat salaries and bank it overseas and save some to purchase alcohol for their fellow hypocrite friends. Should the country plunge into a civil war, genocide or any other crisis, they are the first to be flown out of the country.
There is another group of young people whose struggles begin at birth – people from the lower class. Their childhood is marked by hard labour before and after school, that is, if they can afford the resources or get permission to attend (especially young girls).
They have to be exceptionally lucky and bright to make it through high school to university. Their first salary is spent on educating their siblings, feeding their parents if not helping a cousin or relative with long term illness called dependency. Should the country plunge into a civil war, genocide, or any other crisis, they will be brutally beaten, listed for the military as well as put on frontlines in any battles, and if not killed they walk or run long distances to cross into the nearest border.
Africa is a land where the rich dictate the present and future of their country and network to dishonor the continent. Their greed causes uncertainty to the unborn children and their networks expand from the Cape to Cairo. In the last three years, the young people from the middle class and from wealthy families, mentored and guided with their parents ganged up, and started the journey of lying to the poor, majority young voters.
They (poor, young voters) were told there is such a thing as their voices being heard through the ballot box. For once they went out in numbers believing that their majority cries for change matter. The events around the country yesterday were an illustration of this deeply divided society.
Unlike a few weeks ago when riots began, the Pentagon (as the ODM opposition leadership calls themselves) were on the streets surrounded by their blind supporters. Alongside, the 4WDs and SUVs were moving slowly, as they arrived in the city center and the police confronted them.
Dispersed by tear gas and live bullets, the rich and so called “leaders” entered their cars and drove off to the nearest five star hotels, where they were welcomed with a cup of tea. The rioters ran for their lives on foot, without a direction, and if caught by police, were brutally beaten. Even those who were in the city for other reasons assuming the situation is back to normal were caught and not spared by the tear gas.
The police special force is composed of the young people whose learning in the academy seems to have concentrated on how to kill their own brothers and sisters without pity - perhaps with orders from a government minister, a police boss probably somewhere heavily guarded, occasionally sipping the best wine or warm beer.
The police, the rioters and the displaced have something in common; they are both manipulated by the rich, to carry out their political agenda. They all go home on empty stomachs while the bosses enjoy feasts prepared by a well-qualified chef. These two groups tune in for news in the evening to watch and listen to their day re-played on the screen or radio.
The poor ignorant person proudly explains how he is sacrificing for democracy and freedom for his country as the rich look at their political interests while calculating their economic losses or gains.
“You, as young people, should be at the forefront of making sacrifices for Africa. Often, in Africa, instead of young people being at the forefront of the struggle for social justice, they are at the forefront of the struggle for privileges.” - President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
And so as we watched a young man making faces at the police on Wednesday protests in Kisumu City on television, and in a split of a second he was shot and lying down dead, this question came to mind: sacrifice for who? Then I was looking into the eyes of a thirteen-year old girl seated in front of her mother’s tent in a displaced camp, I asked myself: sacrifice for what?
Our African young generation has a challenge to address the social inequalities, or else we will continue to submit to the manipulation of the rich with their partners in crime wherever they are in the world.
‘If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few
who are rich’.
John F. Kennedy, inaugural address, January 20, 1961
By David Mwambari.
The author is an International Relations scholar at the United States International University-Nairobi
These were the likes of Ghanaian Kwame Nkrumah, Tanzanian Mwalimu Nyerere, Kenyan Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Madiba Mandela, Ms. Winnie Mandela, Patrice Lumumba - the list goes on. History validates their generation’s sacrifice as having fought for independence and for us their then unborn generation. Critics will focus more on their failures, forgetting that no human is immune to error. In post independence era, another group emerged blinded with greed, and lust for power.
In 1970s and1980s they enlarged their “society” giving birth to innocent minds poisoned in their socialization . Currently, Africa finds herself with a large, divided youthful society. The first group is composed of the elites whose character and thought process has been heavily intoxicated by western ideals, from language, to culture.
Their arrogance exhibits oppressors’ behaviour under a different skin color. They have learned from their fathers’ greedy hearts and looked up to their uncaring mothers’ souls. In their thinking, anything African is dismissed as uncivilized, a village up country is a no-go zone, and their definition of identity is influenced by television and magazines.
They are rarely found on the streets rioting for any issues that affect society; they are often found in bed on election day with a hangover from last nights heavy drinking. Their jobs are taken for granted; they earn fat salaries and bank it overseas and save some to purchase alcohol for their fellow hypocrite friends. Should the country plunge into a civil war, genocide or any other crisis, they are the first to be flown out of the country.
There is another group of young people whose struggles begin at birth – people from the lower class. Their childhood is marked by hard labour before and after school, that is, if they can afford the resources or get permission to attend (especially young girls).
They have to be exceptionally lucky and bright to make it through high school to university. Their first salary is spent on educating their siblings, feeding their parents if not helping a cousin or relative with long term illness called dependency. Should the country plunge into a civil war, genocide, or any other crisis, they will be brutally beaten, listed for the military as well as put on frontlines in any battles, and if not killed they walk or run long distances to cross into the nearest border.
Africa is a land where the rich dictate the present and future of their country and network to dishonor the continent. Their greed causes uncertainty to the unborn children and their networks expand from the Cape to Cairo. In the last three years, the young people from the middle class and from wealthy families, mentored and guided with their parents ganged up, and started the journey of lying to the poor, majority young voters.
They (poor, young voters) were told there is such a thing as their voices being heard through the ballot box. For once they went out in numbers believing that their majority cries for change matter. The events around the country yesterday were an illustration of this deeply divided society.
Unlike a few weeks ago when riots began, the Pentagon (as the ODM opposition leadership calls themselves) were on the streets surrounded by their blind supporters. Alongside, the 4WDs and SUVs were moving slowly, as they arrived in the city center and the police confronted them.
Dispersed by tear gas and live bullets, the rich and so called “leaders” entered their cars and drove off to the nearest five star hotels, where they were welcomed with a cup of tea. The rioters ran for their lives on foot, without a direction, and if caught by police, were brutally beaten. Even those who were in the city for other reasons assuming the situation is back to normal were caught and not spared by the tear gas.
The police special force is composed of the young people whose learning in the academy seems to have concentrated on how to kill their own brothers and sisters without pity - perhaps with orders from a government minister, a police boss probably somewhere heavily guarded, occasionally sipping the best wine or warm beer.
The police, the rioters and the displaced have something in common; they are both manipulated by the rich, to carry out their political agenda. They all go home on empty stomachs while the bosses enjoy feasts prepared by a well-qualified chef. These two groups tune in for news in the evening to watch and listen to their day re-played on the screen or radio.
The poor ignorant person proudly explains how he is sacrificing for democracy and freedom for his country as the rich look at their political interests while calculating their economic losses or gains.
“You, as young people, should be at the forefront of making sacrifices for Africa. Often, in Africa, instead of young people being at the forefront of the struggle for social justice, they are at the forefront of the struggle for privileges.” - President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
And so as we watched a young man making faces at the police on Wednesday protests in Kisumu City on television, and in a split of a second he was shot and lying down dead, this question came to mind: sacrifice for who? Then I was looking into the eyes of a thirteen-year old girl seated in front of her mother’s tent in a displaced camp, I asked myself: sacrifice for what?
Our African young generation has a challenge to address the social inequalities, or else we will continue to submit to the manipulation of the rich with their partners in crime wherever they are in the world.
‘If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few
who are rich’.
John F. Kennedy, inaugural address, January 20, 1961
By David Mwambari.
The author is an International Relations scholar at the United States International University-Nairobi
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Situation in Kenya
We are still safe but tense. Even though there are nomore gun shots and no houses being burnt, people are going about their businesses in a very careful manner. Mathare is even more tense, and nobody wants to be out and about after dark.
I have now been working at the Mathare Slums for the last several days (my God, I don't even know how many days). Initially, when I went with my Mama na Dada colleagues to Moi Air Force Base, Mathare, on the 3rd January, it was only to assess the situation of women and children living outside the gate of the Barracks.
Our main aim was to offer counseling services to all the people living here, with a focus on women and children, to avoid them getting post-trauma stress disorders. We have been on the ground since then, starting as early as 6.30 a.m. and finishing at 5 p.m.
if we are lucky!
When we started, there was not much coordination, save for the security offered by the military personnel, as well as a little support in the form of food donations by drop-in well-wishers. On the second day, after speaking with Twalib, Sammy, Tanya, Mhesh, Carrie, Kiura, Japhet, and Amit, action started. Everyone has
been been on Mama na Dada started off with a few pencils and
crayons, and a few dozen sanitary pads and toilet rolls, and a lot of faith. After two days on the ground, we took over the coordination and all the logistics arrangements of the place.
We have 470 children, 387 adults and 23 pregnant mothers. I had no idea what I was letting myself into! During the one week that we have been here, I have had some very trying moments, especially listening to women whose husbands and children were either killed or hurt in the violence. There is such raw sadness on their faces, but this is not just because of the loss of their loved ones, but at the loss of friendship and neighborliness. Most of the people in this base are Kikuyus, and they can't understand how the Luos they have lived with all these years have now turned against them. It is ironic that most of the 20 plus volunteers I'm working with are Luos, serving Kikuyus. I know God has a purpose why He has put me and my colleagues in this position. For us to establish exactly how many people are really displaced and are staying there permanently, we had to be at the base - right across town from my house – at 6 a.m. to do registration!
By 12 noon, when World Food Programme brought some food to be distributed, we had over 3,000 people there, and we had to bring in a
contingency of two lorry loads of military personnel to hell! We are learning new tricks everyday. We now insist that anyone who wants to donate food does so at a particular time and we do distribution starting at 6.30 a,m. so that by the time the others come from the
village, we have finished. Of course there are always hiccups. There are many people who bring things and want press coverage or whatever credit for their donations, and today we had one who brought in clothes and insisted that she would distribute. We refused to get involved because we knew how dangerous it would
become. She did and most of the clothes were torn when people fought for them, and before she knew it, she was covered in dust from the stampede. It is not all bad. I have now acquired the name
"Teacher". When things were so confused the first day I went on the ground, I just took out my note book and tore papers and gave children, and as soon as I started giving the few near me, hundreds came out, and before long we were singing gospel songs and dancing our feet out. Several friends have now donated crayons,
pencils, books and other playing things, and when we have had our struggles with adults, we go for comfort to the children and just let go. The sad thing is that they all draw either guns, fire or people lying in bed.
We do not know how long this will go on. Today the peace talks collapsed, and I don't know what will happen as I did not watch news. Raila has now asked for Koffi Annan to be the mediator. Today there have been a few tense places, with some women demonstrators having been dispersed forcefully. I believe if all women talk and think peace, we will have peace, and this is what I'm doing, trying to talk and think peace myself, and trying very hard to get the women I'm working with to see why we all need to
think peace. We will overcome. Well, it is after midnight and I need to go to bed, so I'll try and attach some photos and hope they come
through.
By Joyce Oneko (Laywer, Human Rights Activist)
I have now been working at the Mathare Slums for the last several days (my God, I don't even know how many days). Initially, when I went with my Mama na Dada colleagues to Moi Air Force Base, Mathare, on the 3rd January, it was only to assess the situation of women and children living outside the gate of the Barracks.
Our main aim was to offer counseling services to all the people living here, with a focus on women and children, to avoid them getting post-trauma stress disorders. We have been on the ground since then, starting as early as 6.30 a.m. and finishing at 5 p.m.
if we are lucky!
When we started, there was not much coordination, save for the security offered by the military personnel, as well as a little support in the form of food donations by drop-in well-wishers. On the second day, after speaking with Twalib, Sammy, Tanya, Mhesh, Carrie, Kiura, Japhet, and Amit, action started. Everyone has
been been on Mama na Dada started off with a few pencils and
crayons, and a few dozen sanitary pads and toilet rolls, and a lot of faith. After two days on the ground, we took over the coordination and all the logistics arrangements of the place.
We have 470 children, 387 adults and 23 pregnant mothers. I had no idea what I was letting myself into! During the one week that we have been here, I have had some very trying moments, especially listening to women whose husbands and children were either killed or hurt in the violence. There is such raw sadness on their faces, but this is not just because of the loss of their loved ones, but at the loss of friendship and neighborliness. Most of the people in this base are Kikuyus, and they can't understand how the Luos they have lived with all these years have now turned against them. It is ironic that most of the 20 plus volunteers I'm working with are Luos, serving Kikuyus. I know God has a purpose why He has put me and my colleagues in this position. For us to establish exactly how many people are really displaced and are staying there permanently, we had to be at the base - right across town from my house – at 6 a.m. to do registration!
By 12 noon, when World Food Programme brought some food to be distributed, we had over 3,000 people there, and we had to bring in a
contingency of two lorry loads of military personnel to hell! We are learning new tricks everyday. We now insist that anyone who wants to donate food does so at a particular time and we do distribution starting at 6.30 a,m. so that by the time the others come from the
village, we have finished. Of course there are always hiccups. There are many people who bring things and want press coverage or whatever credit for their donations, and today we had one who brought in clothes and insisted that she would distribute. We refused to get involved because we knew how dangerous it would
become. She did and most of the clothes were torn when people fought for them, and before she knew it, she was covered in dust from the stampede. It is not all bad. I have now acquired the name
"Teacher". When things were so confused the first day I went on the ground, I just took out my note book and tore papers and gave children, and as soon as I started giving the few near me, hundreds came out, and before long we were singing gospel songs and dancing our feet out. Several friends have now donated crayons,
pencils, books and other playing things, and when we have had our struggles with adults, we go for comfort to the children and just let go. The sad thing is that they all draw either guns, fire or people lying in bed.
We do not know how long this will go on. Today the peace talks collapsed, and I don't know what will happen as I did not watch news. Raila has now asked for Koffi Annan to be the mediator. Today there have been a few tense places, with some women demonstrators having been dispersed forcefully. I believe if all women talk and think peace, we will have peace, and this is what I'm doing, trying to talk and think peace myself, and trying very hard to get the women I'm working with to see why we all need to
think peace. We will overcome. Well, it is after midnight and I need to go to bed, so I'll try and attach some photos and hope they come
through.
By Joyce Oneko (Laywer, Human Rights Activist)
Untitled
The mouth of my pen is dry
The ink is shy and the paper untempting
The tears of the nation have drowned my spirits
The fires and fears have imprisoned most
The bullets ringing in the night ushered in the new year
Screams of pain and death rang through the midnight hour
And As Kenya bleeds, as our motherland burns
The powers that be dance on our heads and emotions
The powers that be call on outside mediators
While the problem lays within the very soul of Kenyans
The fire burns from regimes past and those long forgotten
The pain soars higher than our smoke filled skies
And the children watch on in innocent bewilderment
At the loss of their simple homes
At the helplessness of their crying mothers
and at the mercilessness of their angered fathers
...at the despair of their disillusioned brothers and sisters
they queue in line for entrance into temporary shelters.
Our choice of men how erroneous and regretful
Their hunger for power strangles our very core
Women and children scurry for shelter at any corner
Away from flames that have engulfed a nation of brotherhood
Brothers and sisters poisoned to hate those not of kin
Poisoned in history, past and present.
The newly homeless refugees hold out a hand, for a loaf and cloth
Yet the puppet masters smile into the cameras
Ironically wishing us a prosperous new year
Calling for mass action and peace on earth
Waltzing with the mighty and holy from lands afar
Yet the locals dare not go hunting for basic essentials
For fear of what lays in that looting jungle
Or the indiscriminate bullets that scatter us like rabbits
Some even sing and chant in hope of more glory and fame
Singing of peace and praying for salvation
In stiletto shoes and low-cut halter tops
camera-lights-action, we sing for peace!
And like bees we flock to the nearest shelter in jamuhuri
But safe and secure it must be, unlike mathare
To lend a hand and wait for a shot in the evening news
and maybe a model snap, in the Daily Nation
What is this fire that burns in the heart of our motherland
What is this fear that turns one community against a another
Who planted the seed that blooms an evil weed
That weed that chokes the harvest of our forefathers and mothers?
By Jedida Oneko (Kenyan Poet, Activist, Journalist)
The ink is shy and the paper untempting
The tears of the nation have drowned my spirits
The fires and fears have imprisoned most
The bullets ringing in the night ushered in the new year
Screams of pain and death rang through the midnight hour
And As Kenya bleeds, as our motherland burns
The powers that be dance on our heads and emotions
The powers that be call on outside mediators
While the problem lays within the very soul of Kenyans
The fire burns from regimes past and those long forgotten
The pain soars higher than our smoke filled skies
And the children watch on in innocent bewilderment
At the loss of their simple homes
At the helplessness of their crying mothers
and at the mercilessness of their angered fathers
...at the despair of their disillusioned brothers and sisters
they queue in line for entrance into temporary shelters.
Our choice of men how erroneous and regretful
Their hunger for power strangles our very core
Women and children scurry for shelter at any corner
Away from flames that have engulfed a nation of brotherhood
Brothers and sisters poisoned to hate those not of kin
Poisoned in history, past and present.
The newly homeless refugees hold out a hand, for a loaf and cloth
Yet the puppet masters smile into the cameras
Ironically wishing us a prosperous new year
Calling for mass action and peace on earth
Waltzing with the mighty and holy from lands afar
Yet the locals dare not go hunting for basic essentials
For fear of what lays in that looting jungle
Or the indiscriminate bullets that scatter us like rabbits
Some even sing and chant in hope of more glory and fame
Singing of peace and praying for salvation
In stiletto shoes and low-cut halter tops
camera-lights-action, we sing for peace!
And like bees we flock to the nearest shelter in jamuhuri
But safe and secure it must be, unlike mathare
To lend a hand and wait for a shot in the evening news
and maybe a model snap, in the Daily Nation
What is this fire that burns in the heart of our motherland
What is this fear that turns one community against a another
Who planted the seed that blooms an evil weed
That weed that chokes the harvest of our forefathers and mothers?
By Jedida Oneko (Kenyan Poet, Activist, Journalist)
We must go back to history
An Understanding of The Recent Political Violence in Kenya
Ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed sad as to what is happening in Kenya. I do believe that most of the people on this blog are either Kenyans....or like myself call Kenya 'my second home'.
Who would have thought that this beacon of peace in the heart of a volatile region could fall into the hands of the devil and turn neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend.
I happened to be in Rwanda on the 27th of December and actually remember being in the Kigali museum for Genocide. It was my fourth time being there and as I bettered my understranding on what happened, it opened my eyes to understand the Kenyan question from a totally different perspective.
If we trace back to the history of kenya, which I guess most of us are conversant with, you will recall that during the time that Kenyatta was in detention, a then Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was acting president for Kanu which was the rulling party in Kenya. At the time, the Beberus (British colonialists ) had wanted to grant Kenya its independence. As it were, the party of choice was KANU which represented the major 'ethnic groups' as opposed to KADU which represented the smaller groups. With Kenyatta in detention, Jaramogi O Odinga was granted the opportunity to be the countries first leader. To the dismay of the colonialists and the suprise of many nationals, Jaramogi showed great humility by declaring that there is no Uhuru (Peace) without Kenyatta and thus he will await the release of his comrad that he may take over the reigns.
So it came to pass that on may 21st Aug 1961 he was released and took over party reigns handed to him by Jaramogi. He was later the first prime minister of Kenya.
The problem in Kenya after independence as is in most African countries vis a vis pre and post independence is the issue of land and land redistribution. The agreement between the the then party mambers of KANU was to adress the issue of land redistribution and ensure that it was equally distributed to Kenyans. Areas that were most affected were the then called 'white highlands' which stretched from Aberdares, Naivasha, Nakuru, Kitale and other fertile parts withtin those regions.
Kenyatta however went against the...what would be translated today as 'M.O.U' between the party members and met with the white settlers, came to an agreement, but when it came to the issue of distribution Kikuyu's were given the first priority.
This is why we find today that many areas in Rift valley are occupied by Kikuyus. I am not saying that it is wrong for one to own land in an area that is not their ancestral home...any Kenyan is allowed to own land wherever they wish within the country, but has to do so legally.
Coming back to the violence in Kenya that we witnessed recently, the western Media and some people trying to distort the true picture of what happened, have tried to make it look like a Luo vs Kikuyu war. well if we clearly look at the statistics of worst hit areas and where ethnicity was an issue, then we have to look at Rift valley province.
Ethnic clashes in this area did not start after the elections were announced, they started way back in the late eighties/early nineties.
Why? LAND. Most fertile land was occupied by people from another ethnic community and calls to gain back what belonged to the indigenous communities started being sounded.
These violent clashes have never been as wide spread as they are today and that can be attributed to the political climate of the day.
Then it was dictatorship, where the people had to abide by what they were told and this sort of incubated the issue and people were not free to express themselves. In the 2002 elections, people finally got their chance to change the reigns and voted out a system that they thought had held them back from expressing themselves.
So in came a democratic government...one that allowed those who once had no voice to be heard. It gave courage to the weak, it opened the eye of those who had beeen blinded by an oppresive regime....it basically made people more aware of what belonged to them and that with an individual who represented them, they could finally reap the prosperity that everyone was talking about in Kenya.
Oranges and Bananas became the fruits of the day. One fruit (the Banana) represented those who were in the reigns while the Orange represented the common Mwanachi ( the common man).
This was the historical reforendum that finally showed that the Kenyan who had never had a chance to speak could finally be heard as he was the victor at the end of the day. The guy who had once formed KADU ( which was a party that represented the smaller ethnic groups)
was now finally after over 40 years of being marginalised, a voice to be reconed with.
This gave them the belief that they could finally challange for the presidency of the country and ahead they went to form the Orange Democratic Party. This party underwent alot of sanding before it became what it was just before the election and in the process a group that felt indeferent, removed itself from the final picture.
All in all, this was the party that represented most Ethnic communities as was evident in the pentagon members and affiliation by the youth and appeal to smaller communities.
After the elections were announced to their dismay, mayhem ensued. Ethnicity became an issue in most communities. The hate that had been incubated for over 40 years was finally unleashed and it is sad that it came out in the way it did. In as much as people think or are made to believe that it was a reaction to the results of the elections....SORRY but this is much deeper than that. As many people, including myself, tried to make sense of what happened in Rwanda, the answer was based on history. The only difference is that as the Rwandese was initially instigated by European colonialists, the kenyan question has alot to do with Kenyans themselves.
Therefore the only people who can solve the current situation are Kenyans themselves.
Timothy Nsengiyumva Mlay (Tanzanian Scholar)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Another Rwanda?
Hi everyone,
Today’s post is going to be very brief. My good friend David Mwambari, an International Relations Scholar from Rwanda, has just published a piece on the Rwandan paper, the New Times. His article is a commentary on the recent violence in Kenya. David is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The article he has written today, tries to draw a parallel between Kenya’s tribal conflict and Rwanda’s.
To Read David’s article click on the "rip out this destructive greed" side link.
Is Kenya another Rwanda in the making?
Please post your comments by clicking on the link below. We look forward to hearing from you.
To read more about the Kenyan conflict check out the following wires.
The Standard
The Nation
CNN
BBC
REUTERS
ALJAZEERA
Cheers,
Mark Gaya
Today’s post is going to be very brief. My good friend David Mwambari, an International Relations Scholar from Rwanda, has just published a piece on the Rwandan paper, the New Times. His article is a commentary on the recent violence in Kenya. David is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The article he has written today, tries to draw a parallel between Kenya’s tribal conflict and Rwanda’s.
To Read David’s article click on the "rip out this destructive greed" side link.
Is Kenya another Rwanda in the making?
Please post your comments by clicking on the link below. We look forward to hearing from you.
To read more about the Kenyan conflict check out the following wires.
The Standard
The Nation
CNN
BBC
REUTERS
ALJAZEERA
Cheers,
Mark Gaya
Rip out this destructive greed for political power
In January 1995, a thirteen year old boy woke up and found himself in a foreign country, a peaceful one where there were no bullets flying over his head. In this foreign land there were no bombs or gangs threatening his existence.
This boy was thankful that he had been saved from not only a genocide that had claimed his own by his own but also a humanitarian crisis that had erupted in refugee camps that were in the then known Zaire.
There being no time to dwell on the past, the boy covered his wounds, started working as a child, went to school and forged on.
Today, thirteen years later, in the same country that offered him a second chance in life, the story is repeating itself.
His eyes open to a stadium full of displaced people, churches burning and gunshots close to his ears. January, 2008 has started off as a nightmare.
It is the same script. Even in this once-upon-a-time peaceful country, politicians are using a wrong, bloody card of ethnicity to acquire power, wealth and control.
So many questions come into mind; what is this desire for power that permits the burning of fifty-plus innocent children and women in what are referred to as Houses of the Almighty where the weak and vulnerable assume there is refuge?
What is this desire for power that allows a brother to drink his own siblings’ blood in broad day light?
In a church close to where the displaced are seeking refuge, on Sunday, a preacher asked the same question. Speaking as if disciplining his children, the man of God charged he got alarmed at the number of short messages (on his cell phone) he received from those lamenting that they and their own were being targeted.
But these messages did not come from dwellers of Kibera, Eldoret, Kisumu or Mombasa. They were from members of his own flock; the business owners and wealthy educated elite.
The man continued to speak from his heart shaming those that identified themselves not as Kenyans but as Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba or otherwise.
“You have been coming to church for a year confessing that you are children of God. Isn’t that what the Bible says we are? No race or ethnicity among God’s children, we are all one,” he went on.
As if to emphasize his disappointment in his own congregation, the man asserted that the church is neither for Kikuyu or Luo.
“There is no segregation in our church leadership,” he retorted.
From the wealthy, elite congregation, one would tell there were some who would want revenge or those that were using their influence to incite the less fortunate in society to carry out their hearts’ desires for power. But as the preacher went on, some could not bear it anymore.
One member of the congregation who had earlier on been prayed for among those that lost their loved ones in the skirmishes finally stood up and walked out. From the illustration on his face, he had been hurt. Had the man of God been so insensitive in his comments?
His spouse turned back and looked at him but remained put in her seat, with her ears seeming to be paying more attention as if listening for both of them. It takes a lot for an African man to cry; the gentleman was weeping as he counted his losses.
Inside the church, two other pastors asked the congregation to bend and repent. Yes, the rich, famous and poor had all come to seek God’s intervention and had all been told that they were part of the problem.
As the pastor continued to invoke the writings in the holy book, everyone got on their knees and in the end, it was God’s children seeking his intervention.
This House of God was another refugee camp, a spiritual one…Both the spiritual and physical refugee camps though serve as a transition period for one to decide either to continue the road to hell or turn around and choose a positive path.
The Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies can’t take you anywhere; they are there for a short period while CNN, BBC and other local media still have cameras focusing on your crisis, and after they find a more desperate situation they leave your crisis as fast as they came.
They operate from the same mentality of desire for power, not only to control how your story is told but also to influence your actions by watching your own life re-played on a screen.
The preacher made his church options clear to the concerned political parties. One was sound: Put in place the suggested government of National Unity and plan new elections in a year.
There was an article written by The Sunday Nation Managing editor (one of the leading newspapers in Kenya) titled “Sweet Jesus, give me tears to cry for my country”.
This preacher seemed to have a lot of tears flowing in his heart as he continued to pray for his country’s future during a prayer session aired on all major media stations in Kenya from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
It is difficult to define peace as a concept, but one thing seems to be sure: peace has to be found within one’s heart before the person can give it to others.
The heart that desires this power and is blinded to the plea of a bleeding nation, knows no internal peace and cannot therefore be expected to give it.
This power-hungry heart finds roots in greed, adoration of materialism that drives one to lose his/her humanity. This heart knows no sister, brother, mother when it comes to look out for its own interests.
Day or night doesn’t matter, when or where; there is no room for reason - it is driven by selfish insanity. This power knows no color, or continental borders. Unfortunately, this power leaves bloody stains on the unborn children and gives young generations a burden to carry.
Ask the Banyarwanda of a thousand hills and they will tell you how thirteen years later they are still fighting the genocide ideology even among young ones who were toddlers during the Genocide.
Kenya, the country of the Rift Valley, the 7th wonder of the World, Masai Mara, the land with the white sand beaches in Mombasa, where Swahili culture has a home in Lamu, the country that gives refuge to its neighbours and settles disputes between brothers in one country, gives rest to those who are tired is still alive, wounded but on the road to healing and reconciliation.
The big boy wanted to tell you these stories, because his were not a priority to the world when they were unfolding. Few bothered to come and rescue his own.
His hope is that people of the world learned a lesson and now they can fly from wherever to initiate diplomatic negotiations, like Bishop Desmond Tutu did, Dr Jandayi Frazer (US Under-Secretary for Africa) did, President of Ghana has come this week, and other former regional presidents have come, or simply act from where you are like many other Kenyans are doing, to inform these power seeking hearts that there are other ways than spilling of innocent blood.
And for us who do not occupy these powerful offices, what is our role not just in Kenya, but Pakistan, Israel, DRC, Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, in your neighborhood, in your heart?
If we look around carefully there is a crisis caused by this greed for power! We are part of the problem as much as we are part of the solution.
By David Mwambari
The author is a Rwandan student at the United States University in Nairobi.
This boy was thankful that he had been saved from not only a genocide that had claimed his own by his own but also a humanitarian crisis that had erupted in refugee camps that were in the then known Zaire.
There being no time to dwell on the past, the boy covered his wounds, started working as a child, went to school and forged on.
Today, thirteen years later, in the same country that offered him a second chance in life, the story is repeating itself.
His eyes open to a stadium full of displaced people, churches burning and gunshots close to his ears. January, 2008 has started off as a nightmare.
It is the same script. Even in this once-upon-a-time peaceful country, politicians are using a wrong, bloody card of ethnicity to acquire power, wealth and control.
So many questions come into mind; what is this desire for power that permits the burning of fifty-plus innocent children and women in what are referred to as Houses of the Almighty where the weak and vulnerable assume there is refuge?
What is this desire for power that allows a brother to drink his own siblings’ blood in broad day light?
In a church close to where the displaced are seeking refuge, on Sunday, a preacher asked the same question. Speaking as if disciplining his children, the man of God charged he got alarmed at the number of short messages (on his cell phone) he received from those lamenting that they and their own were being targeted.
But these messages did not come from dwellers of Kibera, Eldoret, Kisumu or Mombasa. They were from members of his own flock; the business owners and wealthy educated elite.
The man continued to speak from his heart shaming those that identified themselves not as Kenyans but as Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba or otherwise.
“You have been coming to church for a year confessing that you are children of God. Isn’t that what the Bible says we are? No race or ethnicity among God’s children, we are all one,” he went on.
As if to emphasize his disappointment in his own congregation, the man asserted that the church is neither for Kikuyu or Luo.
“There is no segregation in our church leadership,” he retorted.
From the wealthy, elite congregation, one would tell there were some who would want revenge or those that were using their influence to incite the less fortunate in society to carry out their hearts’ desires for power. But as the preacher went on, some could not bear it anymore.
One member of the congregation who had earlier on been prayed for among those that lost their loved ones in the skirmishes finally stood up and walked out. From the illustration on his face, he had been hurt. Had the man of God been so insensitive in his comments?
His spouse turned back and looked at him but remained put in her seat, with her ears seeming to be paying more attention as if listening for both of them. It takes a lot for an African man to cry; the gentleman was weeping as he counted his losses.
Inside the church, two other pastors asked the congregation to bend and repent. Yes, the rich, famous and poor had all come to seek God’s intervention and had all been told that they were part of the problem.
As the pastor continued to invoke the writings in the holy book, everyone got on their knees and in the end, it was God’s children seeking his intervention.
This House of God was another refugee camp, a spiritual one…Both the spiritual and physical refugee camps though serve as a transition period for one to decide either to continue the road to hell or turn around and choose a positive path.
The Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies can’t take you anywhere; they are there for a short period while CNN, BBC and other local media still have cameras focusing on your crisis, and after they find a more desperate situation they leave your crisis as fast as they came.
They operate from the same mentality of desire for power, not only to control how your story is told but also to influence your actions by watching your own life re-played on a screen.
The preacher made his church options clear to the concerned political parties. One was sound: Put in place the suggested government of National Unity and plan new elections in a year.
There was an article written by The Sunday Nation Managing editor (one of the leading newspapers in Kenya) titled “Sweet Jesus, give me tears to cry for my country”.
This preacher seemed to have a lot of tears flowing in his heart as he continued to pray for his country’s future during a prayer session aired on all major media stations in Kenya from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
It is difficult to define peace as a concept, but one thing seems to be sure: peace has to be found within one’s heart before the person can give it to others.
The heart that desires this power and is blinded to the plea of a bleeding nation, knows no internal peace and cannot therefore be expected to give it.
This power-hungry heart finds roots in greed, adoration of materialism that drives one to lose his/her humanity. This heart knows no sister, brother, mother when it comes to look out for its own interests.
Day or night doesn’t matter, when or where; there is no room for reason - it is driven by selfish insanity. This power knows no color, or continental borders. Unfortunately, this power leaves bloody stains on the unborn children and gives young generations a burden to carry.
Ask the Banyarwanda of a thousand hills and they will tell you how thirteen years later they are still fighting the genocide ideology even among young ones who were toddlers during the Genocide.
Kenya, the country of the Rift Valley, the 7th wonder of the World, Masai Mara, the land with the white sand beaches in Mombasa, where Swahili culture has a home in Lamu, the country that gives refuge to its neighbours and settles disputes between brothers in one country, gives rest to those who are tired is still alive, wounded but on the road to healing and reconciliation.
The big boy wanted to tell you these stories, because his were not a priority to the world when they were unfolding. Few bothered to come and rescue his own.
His hope is that people of the world learned a lesson and now they can fly from wherever to initiate diplomatic negotiations, like Bishop Desmond Tutu did, Dr Jandayi Frazer (US Under-Secretary for Africa) did, President of Ghana has come this week, and other former regional presidents have come, or simply act from where you are like many other Kenyans are doing, to inform these power seeking hearts that there are other ways than spilling of innocent blood.
And for us who do not occupy these powerful offices, what is our role not just in Kenya, but Pakistan, Israel, DRC, Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, in your neighborhood, in your heart?
If we look around carefully there is a crisis caused by this greed for power! We are part of the problem as much as we are part of the solution.
By David Mwambari
The author is a Rwandan student at the United States University in Nairobi.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Malawi, EAC, Nigeria
Hi,
Today we want to discuss Malawi, the new EAC trade agreement and the Nigerian oil dilemma. Here goes...
MALAWI FEEDING ITS NEIGHBOURS
Malawi recorded a bumper harvest this year, because of a decision by the government to subsidize its farmers. They did this despite opposition from the World Bank and other development partners, who for long have been pushing policies that have been detrimental to the African nations food security.
Should other African states follow suite and move away from policies pushed by the IMF and World Bank that are harmful to their economies? What reaction can this produce from the Bretton Woods organizations, and should threats of a possible backlash deter developing nations from adopting other development models?
Read the story here: Malawi
Post your comments below
NEW EAC TRADE PACT
The East African Community-EAC (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi) has just signed a new controversial trade agreement with the EU. This agreement will allow European produce to move freely into the region. Critics argue that the deal could damage developing economies by cutting their customs revenue and making it harder for local businesses to compete with larger foreign rivals. What are your thoughts on this new deal?
Read the story here: EAC Trade Pact
Post your comments below
NIGERIAN DILEMMA
With the largest oil reserves in Africa, the biggest and arguably the most educated population, why is Nigeria so poor and underdeveloped? Can anything be done to remedy the situation? Is Nigeria like Ashif Hanan calls it, ‘a basket case’?
Read the story here: Nigeria burning
Post your comments below
Have an intellectual day.
Mark Gaya
I send out regular emails on the issues we're discussing. If you would like to be included on the mailing list, please send me a note on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org. Your email address will only be held by Village Volunteers and will be used for the purpose of administering this blog site.
Today we want to discuss Malawi, the new EAC trade agreement and the Nigerian oil dilemma. Here goes...
MALAWI FEEDING ITS NEIGHBOURS
Malawi recorded a bumper harvest this year, because of a decision by the government to subsidize its farmers. They did this despite opposition from the World Bank and other development partners, who for long have been pushing policies that have been detrimental to the African nations food security.
Should other African states follow suite and move away from policies pushed by the IMF and World Bank that are harmful to their economies? What reaction can this produce from the Bretton Woods organizations, and should threats of a possible backlash deter developing nations from adopting other development models?
Read the story here: Malawi
Post your comments below
NEW EAC TRADE PACT
The East African Community-EAC (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi) has just signed a new controversial trade agreement with the EU. This agreement will allow European produce to move freely into the region. Critics argue that the deal could damage developing economies by cutting their customs revenue and making it harder for local businesses to compete with larger foreign rivals. What are your thoughts on this new deal?
Read the story here: EAC Trade Pact
Post your comments below
NIGERIAN DILEMMA
With the largest oil reserves in Africa, the biggest and arguably the most educated population, why is Nigeria so poor and underdeveloped? Can anything be done to remedy the situation? Is Nigeria like Ashif Hanan calls it, ‘a basket case’?
Read the story here: Nigeria burning
Post your comments below
Have an intellectual day.
Mark Gaya
I send out regular emails on the issues we're discussing. If you would like to be included on the mailing list, please send me a note on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org. Your email address will only be held by Village Volunteers and will be used for the purpose of administering this blog site.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Lefties Are Still lefties
Hey Kagenza...I also miss our ideologies class! Just one thing, it's OYOO, not OLOO! My name is a major part of my identity since it was my great-great-grandfather's, so I tend to be rather fascist about people getting it right:-)!
I stand by my opinion that extreme leftist thought has a ring of class structure to it, the idea that a better-placed individual-in terms of education perhaps? Enlighten me- has the duty of showing the lost sheep-I think I might be included by some in that category no doubt-the right path to socialism, an ideology that has definitely outlived its usefulness.
Your response brought out a lot of factors that really need to be explored and it has taken me much time and effort to reflect on.The gloves are off, yeah, just like old times buddy, we are allowed to get personal because this is healthy and I really take no offense. I am sure that when when I 'sit around my European/American (white) girlfriends and boyfriends, I bathe in their reassurances that 'you are one of us'. Most of my friends (brown, black, white, yellow, pink, blue, whatever) are Baha'is, and that is a comforting reassurance. Out in the world there are people who share the same aspirations for the human family as I do and are heavily committed to demonstrating in in the totality of their lives. That is a very comfortable situation for me, don't you think? The fact that we all feel thoroughly connected, not because of race, nor class, nor taste in music and other ephemeral objects, we identify a silver thread that runs through all of us: a principally spiritual identity. There is absolutely no harm in talking 'about western fashion, western music, western concepts of life, western cuisine, and all other things that excite white Europeans/Americans.' I know several other brown, yellow and black people combined who have an interest in a plethora of similar ideas and things. Since when was one's taste dictated by one's race? I find that idea completely unacceptable and to be quite honest, extremely bizarre. Aren't you a socialist who delves into the works of Chomsky and neo-Marxist critical thinkers? I find it very paradoxical then that you'd highlight my interests in a way that makes them seem so frivolous! Sackcloth has never appealed to me and never will! Are you proposing that I run to USIU from the ends of the earth each day and then run back home? That I walk to a river thousands of miles away to get washed? That I wear skins or leaves? I don't know about you but my skin is prone to bursts of allergic reactions when it comes into contact with wild plants. Maybe you should put that to the test and tell us how it goes. Western technology makes our lives easier, doesn't it, otherwise we wouldn't be blogging (and doing so in English, a language that has clearly demonstrated man's ability to unite).The 'real' Africans out there will think of us as being very stupid and privileged young men with lots of free time to talk about life and identity when they are thinking about where their next meal is coming from. Kagenza read your submissions: the reality you complain and castigate is your reality. You are a product of 'factories' as much as I am!
We are so good at faulty generalisation. I have to admit that I'm guilty of that cardinal sin given that 'lefties are blahblahblah'. I actually do find it hysterically funny that my friends have 'accepted me because I don't talk about racism'. I have to admit I hardly dwell on issues that just seem to hit a brick wall. And no, I am not so ignorant about 400 years of slavery! I spend too much time with my nose down history books to be that ignorant. Maybe I'm too unsentimental, a tad bit cynical and certainly cold (that's just life), I just think that revisiting the sins of the past purely as an exercise in pointing fingers is retarded and futile. What do we hope to achieve by talking about this day in, day out? Slavery was horrendous and we all know that, but somehow I don't seem to know anyone who has people picking cotton on their fields. We can't keep blaming people fore the sins of their forefathers! What about the future? What do we intend to do about that? Complaining about the past with no concrete plans of action to improve the situation is quite worrying!
My reaction when Morales came to power was 'hmmmmmmmm....unacceptable'. This is just my opinion. The so-called socialist revolution in South America is purely a reaction to the political realities north of the border, which will certainly change after liberals take the White House next year. There is also the fact that the Revolution's great leader Castro (am man I detest along with his poodle Chavez who just needs to be shot-yes Pat Robertson and I finally have something to agree on) is ailing (probably a corpse for all we know). I have to agree with Margaret Thatcher that 'Capitalism has finally triumphed over Communism'. Nationalisation of industries is an extremely stupid move that will cost Bolivia and the rest of South America dearly. It makes no economic sense to block liberalism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I believe in equality, but you can't have a properly functioning society if everyone exists on the same plane and earns the same! Basics have to be met but we STILL NEED ORDER! I can just see you wincing at my "elitist sentiments" but I assure you that isn't really the case. What we need to be working towards is finding a solution to extremes of poverty.Maybe I am too preoccupied with the future to commiserate on sad events that happened centuries ago.
I set down the rules when it comes to my identity, and that identify is multifaceted. I am different things to different people and there is not phony about that! I am a Baha'i, African, Kenyan, Luo, Nairobian, a photographer, a blogger, a writer, a student at one of those 'factories'(where I often sit not too far from the well poised, eloquent and strikingly handsome Afro-Centrist typing away on his laptop), an environmentalist, a civil liberties activist, an art lover, a liberal when it comes to social matters, a fiscal conservative. The list goes on and it tells me that I have a multitude of identities, not a confused personality. I am more than my race or cultural background and I tend to think that everyone else is pretty much the same. I don;t limit myself to lesser identities! Being a minority within a minority is not very easy, and I have learned to straddle all my worlds carefully without offending anyone, not because I am afraid of what they would think, but because I don't particularly enjoy making people uncomfortable due to the fact that I don't take too kindly to being made uncomfortable.
Because of you my very dear friend, I have been going on shopping sprees buying everything I can get my hands on by Noam Chomsky. Isn't that the same Western philosophical thought that you are eloquently denigrating?Well, my 'so called Liberals are merely a bouquet of pussyfooters who would never loudly go against the status quo because they don't want to step on anybody's toes'. Well I tend to think that I really do fight the status quo, particularly in my personal life. I have surrounded myself with people I accept and people who accept me, not for any of the reasons you have so beautifully elaborated on. Many of my friends, lovers and I are on opposite sides of the political or philosophical (or even artistic) spectrum and I definitely see you as being a friend who pushes me to think beyond my preferences and ideologies, getting me out of my comfort zone which is healthy for growth. It makes life interesting because one finds that one is constantly pushing oneself to learn.
I've probably been going on and on about nothing but I will answer your question. My centre is my identity as a Baha'i, my centre is 6 billion souls, my centre is the tiny contribution I can make towards the betterment of the entire human race. 'Let no man glory in this: that he loveth his country, let him rather glory in this: that he loveth his kind.' I do love my kind and the fact that all of us human beings are so different.
Patrick Oyoo
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Nov 14
Hi there,
The Village Volunteers get together came to a sad end this past weekend. Thanks’ to all who attended, especially those who flew to Seattle from all around the US, Africa and Canada. It was a real thrill to see you all. We look forward to continuing the good work and discussions on development.
Welcome to our forum Dr. Wally Adesina from Charlottesville, Virginia and my former USIU professor, Jason Giersch from North Carolina. We are happy that you are able to join us, and are delighted to learn that you’re using our blog as a resource for your American students studying discourses on African Identity. I trust that our blog authors will enjoy having their articles and ideas shared with a wider population (all pieces will be attributed).
Today we have articles from Dr. Wally Adesina 'AFRICA IS BETTER OFF WITH WESTERN EDUCATION', Kagenza Rumongi's "RESTORING THE AFRICAN CENTER" and Elaye Moses' "IDENTITY- MULTI-DIMENSIONAL AND COMPLEX". Please click on the side links to read more from these scholars. You can comment on their articles at the bottom of each page.
Cheers
Mark Gaya
I send out regular emails on the issues we're discussing. If you would like to be included on the mailing list, please send me a note on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org. Your email address will only be held by Village Volunteers and will be used for the purpose of administering this blog site.
The Village Volunteers get together came to a sad end this past weekend. Thanks’ to all who attended, especially those who flew to Seattle from all around the US, Africa and Canada. It was a real thrill to see you all. We look forward to continuing the good work and discussions on development.
Welcome to our forum Dr. Wally Adesina from Charlottesville, Virginia and my former USIU professor, Jason Giersch from North Carolina. We are happy that you are able to join us, and are delighted to learn that you’re using our blog as a resource for your American students studying discourses on African Identity. I trust that our blog authors will enjoy having their articles and ideas shared with a wider population (all pieces will be attributed).
Today we have articles from Dr. Wally Adesina 'AFRICA IS BETTER OFF WITH WESTERN EDUCATION', Kagenza Rumongi's "RESTORING THE AFRICAN CENTER" and Elaye Moses' "IDENTITY- MULTI-DIMENSIONAL AND COMPLEX". Please click on the side links to read more from these scholars. You can comment on their articles at the bottom of each page.
Cheers
Mark Gaya
I send out regular emails on the issues we're discussing. If you would like to be included on the mailing list, please send me a note on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org. Your email address will only be held by Village Volunteers and will be used for the purpose of administering this blog site.
Africa is better off with Western Education
Hello all,
I decided to check out this blog site after my friend Mark Gaya told me about it.
I read most of the postings/comments by individuals. I enjoyed reading them. However, as most posting is all about African identity, intelligent, language confusion, lack of development etc. I would like to tell you all that (I respect your opinions), but there is a new face of Africa!
Africa has improved a lot from what you guys are talking about. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nnamdi Azikwe of Nigeria, Nelson Mandela of South Africa are the frontline leaders who stood and fought for liberation and freedom in Africa. Today, we are reaping the benefits.
European education has done more good than harm.It enables us to contribute meaningfully to world issues such as peace, economy, religion etc. People like Wole Soyinka of Nigeria (A nobel prize winner) and the former United Nation Secretary (I can't remember his name now) have made African proud as a continent.
A tour of most African big cities such as Tripoli, Lagos and Abuja, Accra, Johanessburg, Cairo etc is a testimony that there is a big growth/development in Africa.However, most foreigners do not like to visit cities in Africa, they prefer taking pictures in the countryside.And those that stayed in the cities never ever saw any lion crossing the road.
Talking about slave trade and loss of indentity is not what occupied most educated African minds right now. Our priorities is how to develop our youths leadership skills, organize our communities, develop rural areas, train our people how to use technology so that we can quickly move forward.Talking about race, identity, reparation, western education and the other negative thoughts will not move us forward.
There is a new face for Africans everywhere and that is to distinguished yourself, compete by mastering western education, travel and learn other people cultures, skills and use the knowledge gained to develop your own community/country.
Thank you all,
Wally Adesina, Ph.D.
Charlottesville, Virginia
I decided to check out this blog site after my friend Mark Gaya told me about it.
I read most of the postings/comments by individuals. I enjoyed reading them. However, as most posting is all about African identity, intelligent, language confusion, lack of development etc. I would like to tell you all that (I respect your opinions), but there is a new face of Africa!
Africa has improved a lot from what you guys are talking about. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nnamdi Azikwe of Nigeria, Nelson Mandela of South Africa are the frontline leaders who stood and fought for liberation and freedom in Africa. Today, we are reaping the benefits.
European education has done more good than harm.It enables us to contribute meaningfully to world issues such as peace, economy, religion etc. People like Wole Soyinka of Nigeria (A nobel prize winner) and the former United Nation Secretary (I can't remember his name now) have made African proud as a continent.
A tour of most African big cities such as Tripoli, Lagos and Abuja, Accra, Johanessburg, Cairo etc is a testimony that there is a big growth/development in Africa.However, most foreigners do not like to visit cities in Africa, they prefer taking pictures in the countryside.And those that stayed in the cities never ever saw any lion crossing the road.
Talking about slave trade and loss of indentity is not what occupied most educated African minds right now. Our priorities is how to develop our youths leadership skills, organize our communities, develop rural areas, train our people how to use technology so that we can quickly move forward.Talking about race, identity, reparation, western education and the other negative thoughts will not move us forward.
There is a new face for Africans everywhere and that is to distinguished yourself, compete by mastering western education, travel and learn other people cultures, skills and use the knowledge gained to develop your own community/country.
Thank you all,
Wally Adesina, Ph.D.
Charlottesville, Virginia
IDENTITY- MULTI-DIMENSIONAL AND COMPLEX
Firstly i would like to declare that I am African, I am Nigerian and I am also British. This to some might seem like an ambiguous comment but i am making a statement that identity is multi-dimensional and complex. I do not stop being African because I have lived in England for 20 years and I (like the British immigration system has made abundantly clear) does not automatically become British because I have lived in England for 20 years. I refuse to accept that my identity can be defined along these terms. Is this opinion a product of the western education i have received? No because my story or stories from the proverbial "black" experience does not feature within the British education system, i have not been indoctrinated with this view by the Brit system. This particular position stems from my recent experience, having travelled to Africa recently the people I met perceived me as an outsider, a foreigner and I was offended. The experience however made me realise that no one can define me but me. I think you should take offense when anyone regardless of their racial or cultural background tries to define you. For instance I often get frustrated when African American theorists, writers, speakers etc. especially, talk about 'black identity and history' as though it is a generic experience. Often these theorists without naming names emalgamate the "African" experience with the "African American" experience (notice I have intentionally placed those speech marks because I acknowledge that to use these terms without them would be doing the same things that past theorists have done and reinforce the idea that the African experience can be defined), particularly making reference to slavery. I find this damaging to my identity as an African woman, I am not negating the importance of discussing slavery and dealing with the repercussions of the slave trade but I am merely asserting that slavery should not be our focus particularly when it comes to reshaping African identities post independence. I don't think it is good for African individuals to play the blame game and say it is the past colonisers who have taken away our culture, our language our expressions, and have made us lose sight of who we truly are but i think when we make slavery our focus we also become perpetrators of creating narrowed perceptions of African identities and experiences, and by doing so it makes African experiences unimportant, uninteresting and not worth documenting. Subsequently we lose sight of who we are and where we come from. African history or histories goes beyond slavery, although it is a part of some African identities but it isn't a part of all, it certainly isn't a part of my history. We should focus on sharing our individual experiences whether it is through this blog or through another medium, to help reshape perceptions of African identities post colonization.
Elaye Augusta Moses
Elaye Augusta Moses
Restoring the African Centre-
An Essay on the moral, political and historic imperative of the African youth today.
Introduction
The leading assumption here is that Africa is in need of an urgent regeneration of ideas and alternative models of development. If you do not subscribe to this imperative, then you will not find much relevance in this reflective essay. I do not engage in cold-scholasticism-where people juggle ideas about human lives yet the closest interaction with ‘humanity’ is in form of percentages and ratios. Neither would I subscribe to the notion that action is the only form of expressing an urge for change- in this case, positive change. Amilcar Cabral, revolutionary leader of the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) placed my contravening assertion in perspective when he noted in one of his numerous revolutionary speeches, ‘The Weapon of Theory’ (Address delivered to the first Tricontinental Conference of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America held in Havana in January, 1966) that:
To those who see in it a theoretical character, we would recall that every practice produces a theory, and that if it is true that a revolution can fail even though it is based on perfectly conceived theories, nobody has yet made a successful revolution without a revolutionary theory
(Cabral, p.2)
Therefore we must begin by asserting that sustainable action must be guided by a logical, relevant, and contextual theory. Without this theory, then we put ourselves at risk of being reactionary individuals who only react- thus placing us at the mercy of the elements that determine the action thus having power over our reactions- because they can now predict our behavior. The theory of this sustainable action does not encage us in a perpetual repetition of action- which is similar to action without theoretical backbone, but it free’s us from this pitiful situation because at once the action and the theory dwell together and in the same place. That is to say that the theory is dynamic only to the limits that the action determines, so each influences the other. Why are we mentioning the importance of theory in an essay discussing a moral, political and historic imperative? There are two fundamental reasons that must be noted:
1. The African youth, shortly after the liberation struggle for freedom from colonialism, and determined to achieve national Independence, has remained in the aforementioned pitiful state of a repetition of action. The colonialist projects of all the different European Imperialist powers-while they vary in approach and execution, rest on a common objective that is to create a slave out of the native black African. The objective of creating a slave is to serve the European master for as long as is necessary. We should note the words of the one-time Portuguese Prime Minister Marcello Caetano:
‘The blacks in Africa must be directed and moulded by Europeans but they are indispensable as assistants to the latter. I do not affirm this out of prejudice- I merely formulate an observation… The Africans by themselves did not know how to develop the territories they have inhabited for millennia, they did not account for a single technical discovery, no conquest that counts in the evolution of Humanity, nothing that can compare to the accomplishments in the areas of culture and technology by Europeans or even by Asians’
Gerald J. Bender, Angola under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality, 1978)
This repetition of action has taken varying forms and in varying levels in different countries of Africa. However it may be argued that the worst form of repetition of action is the continuation of a search for identity and meaning in different historic contexts while remaining within the Eurocentric scope. That is to say that the African youth, while having good intentions in their search, have failed miserably because their trajectory has been launched within the path of either European written history of Africa- and thus a distorted view of their past, or by employing tools of inspiration that are far removed from the true African historical context. These tools include Religions (which provides spiritual inspiration), music and literature (which motivates the African soul, and the latter provides necessary imagination to conceive and thus allowing one to achieve the constructed dreams or aspirations), role models (for mentorship and guidance in ones life choices), concepts of life/ Ideologies (these are heavily theoretical, and guide ones actions); the employment of these tools that are Eurocentric or Westernized cannot allow for an African youth to find true relevance of their life within the right African historic context. That is why for a long time we have had an exodus of African youth to the metropolis cities of the Imperialist powers in Europe and America. The central reason for this repetition has been a lack of adequate and relevant theoretical grounding; in other words, the lack of an African ideology that offers the African youth to make sense of his/her meaning and purpose in the world. It is fairly obvious that if you grow up being fed images of white people as being the best at everything, romanticizing over love stories in Soap Operas, feeding your sympathetic emotions for American soldiers being killed in Vietnam or European explorers being terrorized in the African jungles, or imagine the impact of years and years of watching television advertisements where subtle messages that uphold white supremacy are entrenched in your psyche, or being taken to church- the supposed ‘house of God’, and bowing to a White Jesus in the name of the son of God-yet we read that he was made in our image! This constant bombardment, although it varies in its effectiveness because the youth in the villages may not be as exposed to such mediums that carry these messages, has a far-reaching effect on the actions of the African youth. For those in the village, the mentality instilled by colonialism that advanced the notion of ‘centre and periphery’- where the colonial administrative centre was called the ‘Capital city’ and the other peripheral towns were known as the ‘villages’ or ‘village-towns’; this mentality compels those living in the ‘periphery’ to always look to the ‘centre’ for lessons and guidance on what is ‘moral’ or ‘civilized’. So the outcome is a total enslavement of the Africans no matter where they live.
2. The second reason of the importance of a discussion on theory in regard to the African youth today has a lot in common with the first point. Since we have unraveled and without any doubt accept the fact that there was a process to create a slave- to enslave the black African, then it is logical to extend the analysis and posit that there must be another process of freeing a slave- to liberate the black African. This is where we begin our search for a theoretical/ideological basis for our actions- which is an act of liberation. We must unravel how the enslavement began and start to create an ‘action-plan’ that will tackle all the methods employed for our enslavement. If we have ascertained that the trajectory used so far by the African youth has proved to be futile and working against our interests, then we must determine a new trajectory. From my analysis, to dismantle one ideology necessitates a replacement by another and different one. That is to say, if we are to effectively dismantle our Eurocentric/Westernized premise of life, we must restore an African centered prism of which we view our selves and our place in the world. This African centered trajectory is the Afrocentric trajectory. This would require us not to merely ‘blacken’ all that has been fed to us as ‘white’- no, there is no need for that. What we have to do is go deep into our history- the correct history of the African experience, and unravel the best of what kept our communities strong and creative, the best of our value-system that kept our families together and gave meaning to the Ubuntu philosophy of African life. Along the path of restoring our African centre through a re-reading of our proper history, we will then see the importance of a political project of our Afrocentric trajectory. This is what inspired the early proponents of the Afrocentric political philosophy- that is, pan africanism. While it is true that pan africanism has been associated with Marxist-Leninist ideas, it is not correct that we yet again place ourselves under the intellectual, cultural and political heritage of European thought which gave birth to Marx’s analysis of man in society and subsequent ‘Leftist’ thinkers. We must centre our political ideology on Africa- and call it an Afrocentric ideology; because that is also part of liberating ourselves from the Eurocentric paradigm. So as we note the initial lack of appropriate and sufficient ideology for the African youth, we now see the relevance of discussing theory with regard to eventually inspiring action for the new liberated African youth.
The sooner we realize that as the new generation of Africans now going through the ‘democratization’ spell of our historic experience, and being thrown into the whirlwind of ‘Globalization’ with the expectation to ‘contribute to the rest of the world’, that we have our own historical duty to answer to that will determine if the degradation of Africa and all people African shall continue, the more chances we have of achieving greater levels of emancipation. We have been led to believe that indeed there has occurred an ‘end of history’ and that capitalism and western-style democracy has triumphed. This is mainly because, as Harold Macmillan, in ‘The Middle Way’ 1938 noted:
‘We have lived so long at the mercy of uncontrolled economic forces that we have become skeptical about any plan for human emancipation.’
So we do not continue with our everyday lives because we are sure that humanity has exhausted all models of development or human existence. We do so because the system that profits from our ignorance has aggressively perpetuated our ‘mental enslavement’ and thus almost totally sucked out our creativity and humane motivation to search for a better world. Despite this, and if we are to stare boldly at our dear continent and indeed the world in general, we realize that the locking of the chains on a slave does not symbolize the death of his/her freedom. It is with enthusiasm and revolutionary fervor that we shall shatter the shackles off and create our own path towards freedom.
By, Kagenza Sakufi-Rumongi: written in the capacity as a concerned pan africanist.
TO BE CONTINUED (ON THE MORAL, POLITICAL AND HISTORIC IMPERATIVES)
Please post your comments on this article below
Introduction
The leading assumption here is that Africa is in need of an urgent regeneration of ideas and alternative models of development. If you do not subscribe to this imperative, then you will not find much relevance in this reflective essay. I do not engage in cold-scholasticism-where people juggle ideas about human lives yet the closest interaction with ‘humanity’ is in form of percentages and ratios. Neither would I subscribe to the notion that action is the only form of expressing an urge for change- in this case, positive change. Amilcar Cabral, revolutionary leader of the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) placed my contravening assertion in perspective when he noted in one of his numerous revolutionary speeches, ‘The Weapon of Theory’ (Address delivered to the first Tricontinental Conference of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America held in Havana in January, 1966) that:
To those who see in it a theoretical character, we would recall that every practice produces a theory, and that if it is true that a revolution can fail even though it is based on perfectly conceived theories, nobody has yet made a successful revolution without a revolutionary theory
(Cabral, p.2)
Therefore we must begin by asserting that sustainable action must be guided by a logical, relevant, and contextual theory. Without this theory, then we put ourselves at risk of being reactionary individuals who only react- thus placing us at the mercy of the elements that determine the action thus having power over our reactions- because they can now predict our behavior. The theory of this sustainable action does not encage us in a perpetual repetition of action- which is similar to action without theoretical backbone, but it free’s us from this pitiful situation because at once the action and the theory dwell together and in the same place. That is to say that the theory is dynamic only to the limits that the action determines, so each influences the other. Why are we mentioning the importance of theory in an essay discussing a moral, political and historic imperative? There are two fundamental reasons that must be noted:
1. The African youth, shortly after the liberation struggle for freedom from colonialism, and determined to achieve national Independence, has remained in the aforementioned pitiful state of a repetition of action. The colonialist projects of all the different European Imperialist powers-while they vary in approach and execution, rest on a common objective that is to create a slave out of the native black African. The objective of creating a slave is to serve the European master for as long as is necessary. We should note the words of the one-time Portuguese Prime Minister Marcello Caetano:
‘The blacks in Africa must be directed and moulded by Europeans but they are indispensable as assistants to the latter. I do not affirm this out of prejudice- I merely formulate an observation… The Africans by themselves did not know how to develop the territories they have inhabited for millennia, they did not account for a single technical discovery, no conquest that counts in the evolution of Humanity, nothing that can compare to the accomplishments in the areas of culture and technology by Europeans or even by Asians’
Gerald J. Bender, Angola under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality, 1978)
This repetition of action has taken varying forms and in varying levels in different countries of Africa. However it may be argued that the worst form of repetition of action is the continuation of a search for identity and meaning in different historic contexts while remaining within the Eurocentric scope. That is to say that the African youth, while having good intentions in their search, have failed miserably because their trajectory has been launched within the path of either European written history of Africa- and thus a distorted view of their past, or by employing tools of inspiration that are far removed from the true African historical context. These tools include Religions (which provides spiritual inspiration), music and literature (which motivates the African soul, and the latter provides necessary imagination to conceive and thus allowing one to achieve the constructed dreams or aspirations), role models (for mentorship and guidance in ones life choices), concepts of life/ Ideologies (these are heavily theoretical, and guide ones actions); the employment of these tools that are Eurocentric or Westernized cannot allow for an African youth to find true relevance of their life within the right African historic context. That is why for a long time we have had an exodus of African youth to the metropolis cities of the Imperialist powers in Europe and America. The central reason for this repetition has been a lack of adequate and relevant theoretical grounding; in other words, the lack of an African ideology that offers the African youth to make sense of his/her meaning and purpose in the world. It is fairly obvious that if you grow up being fed images of white people as being the best at everything, romanticizing over love stories in Soap Operas, feeding your sympathetic emotions for American soldiers being killed in Vietnam or European explorers being terrorized in the African jungles, or imagine the impact of years and years of watching television advertisements where subtle messages that uphold white supremacy are entrenched in your psyche, or being taken to church- the supposed ‘house of God’, and bowing to a White Jesus in the name of the son of God-yet we read that he was made in our image! This constant bombardment, although it varies in its effectiveness because the youth in the villages may not be as exposed to such mediums that carry these messages, has a far-reaching effect on the actions of the African youth. For those in the village, the mentality instilled by colonialism that advanced the notion of ‘centre and periphery’- where the colonial administrative centre was called the ‘Capital city’ and the other peripheral towns were known as the ‘villages’ or ‘village-towns’; this mentality compels those living in the ‘periphery’ to always look to the ‘centre’ for lessons and guidance on what is ‘moral’ or ‘civilized’. So the outcome is a total enslavement of the Africans no matter where they live.
2. The second reason of the importance of a discussion on theory in regard to the African youth today has a lot in common with the first point. Since we have unraveled and without any doubt accept the fact that there was a process to create a slave- to enslave the black African, then it is logical to extend the analysis and posit that there must be another process of freeing a slave- to liberate the black African. This is where we begin our search for a theoretical/ideological basis for our actions- which is an act of liberation. We must unravel how the enslavement began and start to create an ‘action-plan’ that will tackle all the methods employed for our enslavement. If we have ascertained that the trajectory used so far by the African youth has proved to be futile and working against our interests, then we must determine a new trajectory. From my analysis, to dismantle one ideology necessitates a replacement by another and different one. That is to say, if we are to effectively dismantle our Eurocentric/Westernized premise of life, we must restore an African centered prism of which we view our selves and our place in the world. This African centered trajectory is the Afrocentric trajectory. This would require us not to merely ‘blacken’ all that has been fed to us as ‘white’- no, there is no need for that. What we have to do is go deep into our history- the correct history of the African experience, and unravel the best of what kept our communities strong and creative, the best of our value-system that kept our families together and gave meaning to the Ubuntu philosophy of African life. Along the path of restoring our African centre through a re-reading of our proper history, we will then see the importance of a political project of our Afrocentric trajectory. This is what inspired the early proponents of the Afrocentric political philosophy- that is, pan africanism. While it is true that pan africanism has been associated with Marxist-Leninist ideas, it is not correct that we yet again place ourselves under the intellectual, cultural and political heritage of European thought which gave birth to Marx’s analysis of man in society and subsequent ‘Leftist’ thinkers. We must centre our political ideology on Africa- and call it an Afrocentric ideology; because that is also part of liberating ourselves from the Eurocentric paradigm. So as we note the initial lack of appropriate and sufficient ideology for the African youth, we now see the relevance of discussing theory with regard to eventually inspiring action for the new liberated African youth.
The sooner we realize that as the new generation of Africans now going through the ‘democratization’ spell of our historic experience, and being thrown into the whirlwind of ‘Globalization’ with the expectation to ‘contribute to the rest of the world’, that we have our own historical duty to answer to that will determine if the degradation of Africa and all people African shall continue, the more chances we have of achieving greater levels of emancipation. We have been led to believe that indeed there has occurred an ‘end of history’ and that capitalism and western-style democracy has triumphed. This is mainly because, as Harold Macmillan, in ‘The Middle Way’ 1938 noted:
‘We have lived so long at the mercy of uncontrolled economic forces that we have become skeptical about any plan for human emancipation.’
So we do not continue with our everyday lives because we are sure that humanity has exhausted all models of development or human existence. We do so because the system that profits from our ignorance has aggressively perpetuated our ‘mental enslavement’ and thus almost totally sucked out our creativity and humane motivation to search for a better world. Despite this, and if we are to stare boldly at our dear continent and indeed the world in general, we realize that the locking of the chains on a slave does not symbolize the death of his/her freedom. It is with enthusiasm and revolutionary fervor that we shall shatter the shackles off and create our own path towards freedom.
By, Kagenza Sakufi-Rumongi: written in the capacity as a concerned pan africanist.
TO BE CONTINUED (ON THE MORAL, POLITICAL AND HISTORIC IMPERATIVES)
Please post your comments on this article below
Friday, November 9, 2007
Uncolonized
A picture of Lydia Gaya at an Obama function. To find out more about the Obama meet click on my friend ObamaHi There
Last weekend I received a very interesting submission from Aileen Mallya, who believes that Africa can be developed in three weeks by using a three-pronged approach. Changing our perception on Knowledge, Skill and Attitude. Click on the comments links to read her article.
UNCOLONIZED?
Also pushing a three pronged approach is Pan-African scholar Kagenza Rumongi. In his proposal for African liberalization, the scholar is promoting a physical, mental and spiritual struggle through strategies of ‘Decolonization, Intellectual Disobedience, Ma’at (African righteousness), Re –Africanization (African cultural knowledge), and Sankofa (learning from the past to build the future)’.
Kagenza’s memoir highlights an identity struggle that many African youth are going through today.
I, like Kagenza, went through a foreign education system in Kenya that refused to teach me the history of Marcus Mosiah Garvey (Black Moses), Haile Selassie I (the Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah), Lalibela and Timbuktu. Instead it indoctrinated me with stories on the ‘great’ kings and queens of the West, the same people who I later came to learn, had classified the African as an animal, sold him like a loaf of bread and named the greatest genocide in the history of humanity as a mere trade, a Slave Trade.
All good students were required to speak a minimum of three languages. I spoke four. Luo (my native language), Swahili (the national language), Spanish (a school requirement) and English (the official language of instruction). Today, I speak all these languages, but I am a master of none. I know about the cultures behind the languages but I am an expert in none. I have all these identities but I feel I belong to none. I’m African by birth and European by education. Was this done intentionally? Is this mode of education beneficial or detrimental to the
African cause? Is there such a thing as an African Education and if so what is it? Did old colonial and neo-colonial powers seek to mis-educate me and my African brothers and sisters? What do they gain from indoctrinating a wholecontinent? Can we break down these walls and re-educate ourselves, re-write our history, un-colonize our minds?
I look forward to hearing from you
Best
Mark Gaya
Friday, November 2, 2007
Jabs and Uppercuts
Hi there,
Today we want to welcome Guandiish from Ghana, Miriam, a German expatriate working in Kenya and my good childhood friend Timothy Mlay, who is writing to us from Tanzania. We look forward to reading your thoughts on the blog.
Above is a picture of the Pan-African Scholar, Kagenza Rumongi . The picture was taken in Ghana at the African Union summit this year.
Click here to learn more about the African union
I send out regular emails on the issues we're discussing. If you would like to be included on the mailing list, please send me a note on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org. Your email address will only be held by Village Volunteers and will be used for the purpose of administering this blog site. Cheers
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Agriculturalist needed
AGRICULTURE
Do we have any agriculturalists on board or anyone who can give advice on horticulture? Majiwa Village in Western Kenya is one of the areas where Village Volunteers is working. The region has experienced severe drought for three consecutive years. Successive crop failure has left the community impoverished, diseased and malnutritioned. Does anyone have ideas on how to improve crop production in an area that is experiencing erratic rain patterns? Please send us your thoughts. Your input could save lives.
Please post your thoughts on our blog
It’s very easy.
I look forward to reading your comments.
Best
Mark Gaya
Do we have any agriculturalists on board or anyone who can give advice on horticulture? Majiwa Village in Western Kenya is one of the areas where Village Volunteers is working. The region has experienced severe drought for three consecutive years. Successive crop failure has left the community impoverished, diseased and malnutritioned. Does anyone have ideas on how to improve crop production in an area that is experiencing erratic rain patterns? Please send us your thoughts. Your input could save lives.
Please post your thoughts on our blog
It’s very easy.
I look forward to reading your comments.
Best
Mark Gaya
More Identity More Development
Hi there,
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to share the podium, listen to and be inspired by the great Kenya-American, Barack Obama. At the end of his fabulous speech he turned and shook my hand and that of the twenty or so people also selected to accompany him on stage. It was a great experience friend’s, one that I will never forget. I can only thank my mother-in-law Clover, for setting it up. Asante sana.
Check out barack my friend for more info
All the best
Mark Gaya
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to share the podium, listen to and be inspired by the great Kenya-American, Barack Obama. At the end of his fabulous speech he turned and shook my hand and that of the twenty or so people also selected to accompany him on stage. It was a great experience friend’s, one that I will never forget. I can only thank my mother-in-law Clover, for setting it up. Asante sana.
Check out barack my friend for more info
All the best
Mark Gaya
Monday, October 29, 2007
Identity and Development
Hi there,
A big thanks to all who participated in last weeks discussions, and to those who read our blogs, emails and comments. Your contribution is much appreciated.
This week I want to welcome Kirsten Clemens to our forum. She is a former Village Volunteer from Seattle and is currently doing community work in South Africa. I also want to welcome Augusta Moses, a British Nigerian living in England. We are very happy you could join us and look forward to hearing more from you in the future.
A Recap of the past week
For those who missed out… Last week we examined the provocative statements made by James Watson on the African/ black persons “lack of” intelligence. This discussion has grown to cover the socio economics of racism, different perspectives on intelligence and the impact of tribalism vis-à-vis development on the continent. For those still wishing to comment please send me an email on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org, or post your thoughts on the provided links below.
This past weekend I received several emails correlating identity and development.
Pan-African scholar Kagenza Rumongi says there can be no development without a knowledge and promotion of self-identity, in this instance, the African Identity. He goes on to chastise the ‘African educated elite’ for loosing its identity and in effect lacking a development agenda.
Some of you have written questioning his concept of Africanness and it’s connection to development. Tallash Kantai in Addis Ababa asks, whether being African means dressing in African clothing, driving African cars, feeling African, listening to African music and if it does, how does this affect economics on the continent?
Do you, like Kagenza, feel that the African (middle class especially) has lost its identity? Is there any connection between a promotion of self-identity and economic development? Should Africa emulate the US, which grew by producing and consuming its own products before opening its doors to trade with the world? Is it safe to drop tariffs and trade freely with the rest of the world? Can Globalization kill African industry
For more info on African economics see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa#Economy
For more on economic protectionism see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism
We look forward to hearing from you
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Tribalism
TRIBALISM.
Those of you who are familiar with African/ Kenyan politics know that the period before elections is the most ethnically charged period in the entire continent/ country. Some of you have suggested that tribalism is Africa’s worst enemy, even implying that this is the number one reason She is still so underdeveloped.
Some statistics I put together.
Singapore, which was less developed than Kenya in the early 70’s, now has an economy three times larger, even though its population is only a 7th of Kenya’s 34 million, and it possess few natural resources of its own, including land (Singapore’s total land area is 704 km square while Kenya’s is a staggering 580,367 km square). Where did the Africans/ World go wrong and what can be done to rectify the situation? What did Singapore do right to get where it is? Can we use the same development model in Africa? Is there any hope for recovering lost ground? What role should we as young leaders play to mould a better Africa/ World? Is it possible to stump out tribalism and why does it always rear its head before elections?
Please post your comments in the provided link below
For more data on Kenya
For more data on Singapore
For more info on tribalism in Kenya
Those of you who are familiar with African/ Kenyan politics know that the period before elections is the most ethnically charged period in the entire continent/ country. Some of you have suggested that tribalism is Africa’s worst enemy, even implying that this is the number one reason She is still so underdeveloped.
Some statistics I put together.
Singapore, which was less developed than Kenya in the early 70’s, now has an economy three times larger, even though its population is only a 7th of Kenya’s 34 million, and it possess few natural resources of its own, including land (Singapore’s total land area is 704 km square while Kenya’s is a staggering 580,367 km square). Where did the Africans/ World go wrong and what can be done to rectify the situation? What did Singapore do right to get where it is? Can we use the same development model in Africa? Is there any hope for recovering lost ground? What role should we as young leaders play to mould a better Africa/ World? Is it possible to stump out tribalism and why does it always rear its head before elections?
Please post your comments in the provided link below
For more data on Kenya
For more data on Singapore
For more info on tribalism in Kenya
Monday, October 22, 2007
Africans Less intelligent than Europeans?
This week I want us to talk about Race, What can and can't you say about it? Veteran scientist Dr. James Watson, who won a Nobel prize for unraveling the structure of DNA, was quoted in an English Newspaper as saying that Africans are less intelligent than Europeans. Regardless of whether you agree with his assertions or not should he or anyone else be allowed to make such comments? Or does race have to be removed from science's research? Are there some beliefs about race which are simply intolerable and deserve disassociation and condemnation? (Ros Atkins, BBC)
I send out regular emails about the issues we're discussing. If you would like to be included on the mailing list, please send me a note on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org. Your email address will only be held by Village Volunteers and will be used for the purpose of administering this blog site. Village Volunteers may also contact you to further inquire about issues raised in mails posted to the blog.
I send out regular emails about the issues we're discussing. If you would like to be included on the mailing list, please send me a note on markgaya@villagevolunteers.org. Your email address will only be held by Village Volunteers and will be used for the purpose of administering this blog site. Village Volunteers may also contact you to further inquire about issues raised in mails posted to the blog.
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