Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The country i belong

The debate started here;
 
Then moved here;
 

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.