The country i belong
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The debate started here;

http://lovelymoney.blogspot.com/2009/08/diasporans-giving-up-on-kenya.html

Then moved here;

http://grainsofmasala.blogspot.com/2009/08/giving-up-is-not-option.html

Well i read and re-read the original post and the comments.

Some feelings came over me because i did not know who to direct my angst at. The writer of the blog, the thieves, KPLC & Kengen, the buggers on the list of Mau, our politicians,God for not letting it rain Isaac & William Ruto, Moi, Kibaki, Eddie Njoroge, Raila, the people who caused post election violence, the police who tortured people during post election violence, the careless politicians who issued haterade during post election violence, Kiraitu Murungi, the people who trashed MOU, Kivuitu, the US and the foreign countries who have refused to trade with Africa and instead ask us for proper governance, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, the US & even the UK for colonizing and patronizing Africa (thus Kenya) and even China for dumping their cheap imports on us poor Africans!....

As you can see I have a lot of people to blame for our sordid, sorry condition.

Once in a while i have fleeting thoughts of permanently moving out of my country to go and look for greener pastures. Then i came to this sad conclusion, it is easier to make a life ( not necessarily a living) in Kenya than any other place in the world.

Yes, i know everytime i watch news, somebody will have been jacked, Isaac Ruto will have said a statement that will make you wonder whether to smack him or just send that hangman right to his house or something will be terribly wrong. That is conveyed in less than hour, and yet strong enough to convince someone never to come back to Kenya, the land of their birth. In short, these are trying times. And yes i know every morning i have to wake up before 6 to ensure a hot shower, assuming that the water will be available:(. And yet, everyday, each day in Kenya is not as horrid as it is made to be.

I have the joy of living in my mother land. A country nobody thinks less of me because my skin is black. A country i can walk head high, shoulders even higher because it is home. A place i can travel to the country side and catch the smell of cow's dung in the morning. And truly breath fresh air. A place where food is food, not manufactured food. Nobody sells to me "organic" or is it "Superfoods"?.

Where the weather never truly changes and i don't know the meaning of sweltering heat nor snow.

What more in life can one ask for?

I know the despair that comes with a really corrupt citizenry (ooh don't blame a few) or even our wanton neglect of existing laws (Traffic jams anyone?) or even our utter selfishness and grabbing everything in sight.

But when all modernity is taken, all tall buildings, subways, highways that defy nature or the greatest architectural buildings or even greater and faster service that other nations boast of. The warmth and humanity of Kenyans is beyond reproach.

I have had clients from developed nations refuse to go back to their lands. Here, they say they have met with people with a genuine touch and focus on making a living while at the same time making a life. I would hell hate to stay in a place where time is never enough, that i could never stop a chit chat with someone i call my friend because i need to be at the work place to serve other people (hello exemplary service). Where people are governed by clocks to make MORE MONEY.

I love money no doubt for the things i can do with it, but i will not not look after my ailing aging parents, prefering to dump them in homes for the aged (where by the way they will be looked after by the illegal immigrants from a country that they think is in South Africa)

After all we have something to sell. Being Human. That is what Kenyans are and always remain.

Labels: Diaspora, Fantastic Kenyans, Kenyan

posted by Girl In the Meadow @ 6:07:00 PM,

11 Comments:

At Tuesday, August 11, 2009 8:46:00 PM, Mrembo said...: here here I say! Once in a while someone needs to stand up and take a stand for Kenya with all her ugliness and beauty.

Many times I have given up hope, only for that hope to return and I have decided not to listen to anyone or read anything about "the problem with Kenya or Uganda" topics. The way I see it, we all know the truth. There are thousands of Kenyans working and living in Kenya as decent human beigns.

So here here. Well said.
Oh and a lot of the people who say all the "negative" stuff about Kenya don't even live it. They talk from the comfort of thier "diasporan" country. I should know I was one of them.
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 3:35:00 AM, kipepeo said...: such a great post!!! You took the words right out of my blog mouth! I posted on it too because it really hit something...
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:24:00 AM, Girl In the Meadow said...: Thanks Mrembo and Kipepeo for agreeing that with all our cold showers we are one great people.
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:57:00 AM, acolyte said...: This is a pithy post. I have alot to say but sadly I must go to sleep. All I can say is that there are many KEnyans who want to come back but they want a Kenya they feel that is safe to go back to, one that offers them some hope and some chances.
With the news that comes out of the country this seems to be less and less of a reality...
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:59:00 AM, supremegream said...: i believe no matter how much money u make, there can only b one place to enjoy what that money can buy, in its right here in kenya. its been a while since i was here! shame on me! nice reading, makes me love this country even more.
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:15:00 AM, bankelele said...: nice post - Kenya is bets, with its diversity, good & bad - sometimes it takes a neighbour from Uganda or Sudan or Somalia to tell us how lucky we are. And alike you said how many expats and Asians do we meet who sample Kenya and choose to invest and relocate here? too many

and as I end let me qualify my cold showers statement: I have been saying that forever (long before kplc and Nairobi water acted on it) people returning from the US must be prepared for the changes – the good and the bad, the reality that you may have a cold shower or have to ride in a matatu once in a while. And anyone who comes from the US and complains about TKK is a hypocrite; if you’re stopped by a state trooper and get fined $200 for speeding to get your car towed, I’m sure they’d rather (if the could) pay $10TKK and go off, but that’s the society they live in (and apparently love)
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 2:43:00 PM, bomseh said...: Some of these decisions are best made while in Kenya. I don't know what to expect when I get back after 4years but I am creating room for difficult situation. If it doesn't get better I cud always work something out or disappear again. I think it wud only take a short while to adjust, afterall, I hav lived that life before. Power rationing didn't start juzi.
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:21:00 PM, Mama said...: This post has been removed by the author.
At Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:32:00 PM, Mama said...: Thank you Shiroh, this is exactly what I needed to hear tonight.

LoL....so true about people thinking the whole of Africa is in South Africa! Have heard people ask me that question a million times when I tell them where I am from, I have just resigned myself to laughing.

"Catch the smell of cow dung? Eish!! What's up with that?

But I have heard you loud and clear.
At Thursday, August 13, 2009 7:44:00 AM, Our Kid said...: I once came across an agitated tourist who has just been robbed of his bag along Tom Mboya Street and he was shouting to us all: You have a bad country because you deserve a bad country!

I still think about that statement a lot.

The word that runs through this bad country is impunity. And when you get to a situation when the only times MPs have unity (MP unity) is when they want to entrench iMPUNITY, you really get a country with the leaders we have.

When the constitution is turned into a 'con situation', you really get a bad country.

Grrrrrr.
At Sunday, August 23, 2009 4:00:00 PM, mudskippah said...: This sh*t is depressing. Because as much as we want to be positive about Kenya there is still way too much ugly.