April 12, 2006 – Kikuyumoja

the acceptance

Last evening, I saw a documentary on tv that portrayed Germans whose fathers had been British soldiers stationed in Germany right after the end of WWII. One of these ex-soldiers – now living in a nursing home in Canada – has children from romances all over the world who regularly visit him. “Being loved by all my children and knowing that they take care of me”, he said, “is what’s worth living for”. True.

Now, I don’t have children yet – and I hope there aren’t too many women out there whose hearts I’ve broken in the past.
What I do have, though, are really good friends – people from different corners of the world who have a very big heart and whose friendship and love I really appreciate.

One of those close friends decided to order a CREATIVE ZEN VISION:M from Amazon and have it send to me. JUST LIKE THAT! It isn’t my Bday or anything like that. Ok, maybe because of Easter, but the point is: the person told me: “You might want this for use on your journeys…”. Hola!

This Creative Zen Vision:M is a mobile audio/video player (like an Ipod Video) with 30 GB of hard disk space and battery runtime of up to 11hrs. It plays audio files such as mp3s, videos such as AVIs, shows photos, has a built-in FM radio, a microphone and extras like a calendar or a contact & tasks manager for synchronization with my computer. And the best part: it connects to the computer like an external harddrive, so I won’t have to search for another external hdd solution.

Apart from the fact that the person who has given this to me isn’t too rich to give “just like that”, I am having problems accepting this as a present. It is so nice and such a joy to give to others – but it is very hard to accept such blessings in the same way. While I am very grateful for the honour given me through this gift, I think the easiest way to accept it is by sharing it. So, my dear friend – i know you’re reading this – thengiu muno for this lovely joy and rest assured: I’ll use it now and give it to you later on this year. Sawa? :-)

House of Porridge

My local correspondent Mbuzimoja today forwarded this hilarious story from the Daily Nation (page 17, April 6, 2006) to me, a story about a group of Wazungu (…) from Germany who opened up a food kiosk in BUSIA TOWN (!) “that boasts tea, chapati, potatoes and porridge on its menu”. They call it “House of Porridge”:

Customers “can only conclude that the foreigners are stranded in Kenya and have opted for the business to raise money for their tickets back home” …. “most people thought the food kiosk was not a business fit for the foreigners, after all they had enough money to start a big venture“. Ability is wealth?

Ms Lisa Mueller, Ms Laura Henn and Mr Arno Schulter – all in her mid-twenties – came to Kenya in October 2005 to work as volunteers. The food kiosk, the article says, serves as an income generating project. A neat idea, I think. Why not?

The story reminds me of a Kenyan Lady by the name of Rachel Kamau who runs a nice & comfy Kenyan restaurant in Freiburg, Germany (I’ve mentioned earlier last year).
“If we can make it as foreigners, then the locals have no reason to fail. Nobody can go to a hotel to take food that he does not like simply because it is being sold by foreigners”, Ms Henn is quoted in the article.
Well well well….some ppl have the freedom to choose while others just need to survive the next day. On the other hand, though, my reason for blogging this amusing story is that it highlights the difference in thinking. Whereas these Gaamaaaans just came to Kenya to help and work (and I think I’m not much different from that, at least they are showing this business approach), the typical Kenyan reaction in the first place is “ati, can’t they afford to go home?”.

Sometimes I am so sick of this stereotyped thinking. As much as I never questioned the opening of that Kenyan restaurant in Germany, I sometimes wonder when these “mzungu, mzungu…give me shillingi…” cries will stop whenever a white person enters a black village. Harassment, from the other perspective. Similar to that, it’s like me joining the Kenyan Blogosphere and then ppl approach me and comment like “oh, I didn’t know you are white”. Well, SORRY that God has given me this skin colour?!
I mean, what I am supposed to answer on such comments? Dito Kenyans of Indian Origin – when will we start accepting each other without looking at ancestry or tribal origin? Me, me I am just JKE :-)

kaybees2006

Thank you very much for the nomination – although I have to admit I didn’t nominate anyone due to the reason that I am such a lazy bone. Ati, but I will vote! Makes me think of blogging in other languages more often. Oar määibii Ei schuutt sstahrt wraiting in mai gährmaahn iinglisch – orr iss it zzhäät ppiiippppooool priifäär Kenyan English? You know, these words like “particcculaaar”, “wherrrebyyy”, “supposed to”, “he/she said that” etc which we often find on the streets of Nbo?
Kudos to the KBW team for coming up with such a brilliant idea to promote the Kenyan Blogosphere!