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Thursday, July 31, 2008

Bwana Júmbe Kimamé:

Reputed man of Kilwa,
High Priest ordaining Human Sacrifice;
Briskly march with his retinue of splendid porters.
Up, up to the niggers land, the Kaffirs of Kikuyu;
Encamped at Kĩambirũirũ, the Mountain of blackness.
Strapping girls, battering milk and vegetables with his potters;
Old, old women selling tobacco.
An offer of assured profits and prestige;
Forty dollars each to an Arab trader
Barter and Banter!

A fiasco awaits –
We leave on the day of the full-moon, Bwana commands.
A joyful mass of noisy humanity, in the glorious Kikuyu sunshine;
The boma is full;
girls, old women
young men, old grey-woolled men.
Poof – a ripple of musket-fire; out comes clubs and machetes
A sustained yell of terrified Kikuyu rises.
Swords dripping, clubbing, butchering grimly;
A crescendo of horror,
Bloody massacre!

With sheaves of harvest,
Bartered goods collected and packed;
Women, girls and lads roped, whip at hand.
Off goes Júmbe’s caravan for journey to the East is long.
On the Western coast, the Master waits penning,
“How sweet the name of Jesus sounds”;
As the three-masted horror casts its dark shadow over the horizon,
Bringing with it, the savages, uprooted from the land of their birth.
A herd of miserable blacker mass
What a bounty! Wealth for all!
- Kinyua.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Justice be our Shield and Defender

Recently a friend of mine while responding to some photos posted on the Web about Zimbabwean President Mugabe’s opulence concluded that, “the oppressed many a times turn out to be the greatest oppressors when they ascend to power!” He posited that many of those who are known to have in the past championed the cause of justice radically change once they ascend to power or join the wealthy club. In deed there is wisdom in this argument since we have examples of turncoats in the struggle for justice, particularly in the Motherland. However, I had real problem with my friend’s general conclusion that “justice is a form in the mind and a dictate of the stronger!” While I cannot say for sure whether my colleague was serious when he posted his comments, it bothers me that he chose to write these particular words. The statement that "justice is a form in the mind and a dictate of the stronger”, (which I strongly disagree with) cannot go unchallenged and deserves some comments. In the first place, I think it is unfair to use an African dictator as the standard for which to define justice. Secondly, justice is not a figment of our imagination. I believe in JUSTICE. JUSTICE is REAL.

Christ walked on this earth and died because of doing what was just. Martin Luther King Jr., lost his life in order to awaken the conscience of men and women to the reality of injustices suffered by millions of human beings. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison because he believed that white supremacists would come to their senses and recognise that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. If justice was just but a figment of our imagination, then Mau Mau freedom fighters in Kenya died in vain! To say to a refugee in Darfur or the internally displaced in Kenya who have lost their livelihood and all that they had worked for that what they suffered is just but a piece of their illusory mind, is in actual fact putting the last nail on their coffin. For the women and children who were burnt alive in a local church in Kenya just because they exercised their right to vote, their deaths were not in vain because JUSTICE will eventually prevail. Prophet Micah declared that God delights in those who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with their God. In Luke, Jesus demanded that we follow him in a radical, self-sacrificial love of neighbour. Paul as well wrote of the beauty and goodness of love.

What then are Christians supposed to say or do when they witness the likes of Mugabe turn justice in Africa into a mockery? How do we respond when we hear politicians in Kenya go to the defence of those who engaged in wanton of destruction and murder arguing that those criminals did so because they were demanding what was rightfully theirs? Which crudely interpreted means that if your neighbour steals your chicken or cow, the best and appropriate way to act is to go out and chop off your neighbour’s hands, gouge out his eyes, rape his wife and maim his children and finally burn all his properties before making a claim to his piece of land as compensation of the stolen cow. This is sheer madness and nothing but a recipe to chaos and non-existence! If justice is real, where should our stand be as Christians pertaining to injustices and suffering experienced in our world today, more so in answering the cry of many who have been disenfranchised and suffered untold pain in modern Africa? I wish to contend that Christians ought to be articulate and bold in their quest for truth and justice. In deed the Christian Church represents the people of God living in the world. Through our concrete experience together, we strive to be faithful to our call towards the liberation of the world from all forms of injustice and suffering. The purpose of Christian life is to love God and serve God; to love humanity and serve it. Therefore, as we acknowledge the reality of justice, we need to understand that the idea of justice does not exist out there apart from history and human experience. In order to address the question of suffering, conflict and power, Christians should be able to relate the past, present realities and the future. The implication of this is that social change does not arise from moralising principles and models imposed on passive Christians from above by a moral dictator (call him God if you want). Instead, social transformation occurs from active involvement of Christians themselves. As Christians we believe that moral action is the result of the creative urgings of the Holy Spirit on Christian person striving to overcome injustices and alleviate suffering.

In my estimation then, justice should be the ultimate desire for every Christian in order to fulfil what ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr referred to in his seminal work on love and justice as “the radical demand of sacrificial love exemplified in the life and death of Jesus.” In this case justice points us towards accepting responsibility for all human life. As Christians we are obligated to organise our life together in a way that the neighbour has equal opportunities to maintain life. In this way, we fulfil the command “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. It is now common knowledge that politicians in Africa have failed (in a big measure) to guarantee equal distribution of wealth and resources leave alone protecting the little that the citizenry has acquired. A good case in point is the Kenyan parliamentarians who have continued to award themselves with healthy financial perks with impunity and in total disregard of the masses. Such a class of political elite as presented will be quick to embrace the so called distributive justice. This form of justice leads justice beyond equality to a consideration of the special needs of the life of others in order to render support to special advantages for the particularly gifted or privileged in society. Kenyan politicians consider themselves privileged that the idea of levying taxes on their “hard” won money is considered anathema. It is no wonder that they can vote unanimously against their colleague who threatens to take away such privileges but they cannot agree on the way forward for the thousands who have been displaced from their rightfully owned land. In like manner, you will bear witness with me that even in countries, mostly in Europe, who claim to be among the most rigorous equalitarian societies, protection against abuses of socially sanctioned privileges is not guaranteed. This is because those who possess power, however socially restrained, almost always decide that their position in society is entitled to more privileges.

In Africa, governments and political community seem to forget that they owe their existence to the very people who elect them to office and to God the creator. States/ governments and the political community are not supreme in themselves. They are limited in that they cannot exist without the governed. Any government or political community cannot continue to act arbitrary as is the case in Kenya or Zimbabwe without being held accountable by those who elected them to office. God as the creator of all things living, demands that those in positions of responsibility seek justice and love mercy. The role of both the government and political community is to direct people to the common good of the society. Both cannot do so if they fail to recognise the dignity of the human person who is created in the image of God. This means that the starting point of governance is the recognition of the right to freedom, equality, and participation of persons. When a government or the political community allows a group of people to kill and maim in the name of justice, such a government loses its credibility to uphold justice. In the same manner, Christians ought to reject any politician who favours his kith and kin at the expense of other communities in the same republic.

In light of this, I believe that it is the duty of every Christian to demand for structures and institutions that bring about a just society. Since as I have already suggested, most governments and political communities in African have refused or failed to honour the dignity of the human person, the Church must take a stand and redefine justice in light of human dignity and mutuality. The emphasis ought to be on human freedom, equality and participation. The starting point then is the recognition of human being as defined first by one’s responsibilities to one’s brothers, sisters and to history itself. This recognition becomes meaningful when the Church chooses to be in solidarity with the poor and the suffering. The idea of solidarity also bears on the wealth and material goods. In fact, solidarity is the best grounding for justice. It is premised on the theological truth that recognises human being as involved in a multiple relationships with God, neighbour, world, and self. The basic reality of solidarity is to serve and protect the needs of all, more so the poor and victims of marginalisation. The Old Testament is clear on which side God is. God is not neutral – God is prejudiced in favour of the poor. God hears the cry of the poor. God also protects poor people even when no one else would protect them. In like manner, Jesus identifies with all victims of marginalisation, poverty and injustice.

What all this means is that the principle of justice can no longer be seen as “giving to each what is due”. Rather its beginning point is in the correction of injustices suffered. What is “due” is not due in the abstract but in the concrete and the concrete is determined by history. It is in history and concrete places that contacts are made or forced, covenants are broken, exploitation and disrespect take place. It is in actual history where violation by fellow human of fundamental covenant of life with life takes place as is the case in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Darfur. These concrete realities of history must inform our quest for justice. But how do we correct injustices if we do not know what the injustices are? This brings me to my second point. Injustices are not random events. They involve real people and form patterns in concrete times and places. Realities of injustices come in form of ethnic cleansing, racism, rape and murder, economic oppression, political repression, sexism among others. We may not understand the truth of pain suffered unless the victims first tell their stories. Those who have suffered great lose must share their pain. Victims of ethnic or gender hatred must broadcast their agonies. For this reason the most important tool for understanding justice becomes the stories of injustice as experienced by people. We must be willing to offer a forum for the victims to tell their stories. From this perspective justice takes a narrative form because it is the stories of injustices as experienced by the victims that count. After listening to the stories of injustices as told by victims, we must demand from the government and politicians including ourselves for commitment to concrete social change which as well validates self-help and empowerment of the victims. In this manner, justice from a Christian point of view begins with the perspective and experience of those who suffer injustices and suffering. It demands active role of the Christian community to develop tools of social and historical analysis that help to illumine what those historical injustices are, their meaning in the lives of victims and make concrete corrections to such injustices. Yes, the words of Amos still ring true to us today just as it was in the days of the Prophet, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24, NRSV.) Let justice be our shield and defender.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Everlasting:

On a hill
Lonely, casting eyes to the endless horizon
In thoughts, in tears
Longing for her
I missed
I saw her face
She smiled
I reached out
Touched her formless form
Did she say she is?
- Kinyua.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Come now, let US reason together

In my last post I attempted to answer some fundamental questions that ought to be addressed by all of us and more so those of us who believe in the beauty of multi-ethnicity. I proposed that we cannot afford to sweep our differences under the carpet or entrust our destiny to anybody else but us. Several questions still remain unanswered. Isn’t leadership a public and a sacred trust? What happens if that trust is betrayed? What future do we have as a multi-ethnic Republic? Does the Christian Church have a role to play in this future? I will try to answer some of these questions at a later time. For now I want draw attention to dialogue as a tool that is yet to be tried in the Kenyan socio-ethnic scene. But before I can offer some of my thoughts in regard to dialogue, let me first do a reality check on our progress as a nation.

In the last few weeks, we have witnessed politicians in a rare show of unity crisscrossing the country in an attempt to rally communities to embrace tolerance and forgiveness. Ironically, these same politicians now championing for peace and good neighborliness spent most of the past five years traversing the country fanning unnecessary ethnic tension and hatred for political expediency. Curiously none among the political elite appears to be willing to face the tougher choice of addressing causes of the recent ethnic mayhem. Considering all that is happening in Kenya, politicians want us to believe that our problems evaporated into thin air the moment a coalition government was formed. It is scandalous to assume that Kenyans have miraculously learned the art of living together as brothers and sisters with the formation of a “grand coalition”. Recent experiences should serve as a clarion call. Kenyans cannot afford to continue disregarding problems that arise out of our ethnic diversity. We must as well acknowledge that ethnicity is here to stay and no amount of denial or self-negation will erase this reality.

While the politicians continue to misread and misrepresent this diversity, Church leaders as well seem to have abdicated their responsibility as the moral voice and conscience of the nation. Rather than become actively engaged in the process of finding a lasting solution, we hear them plead (or should I say beg?) with the politicians to hasten the healing and reconciliation process. To sooth our disappointment and helplessness the Church anesthetizes our wounded souls with the “shauri ya mungu” doctrine. We rationalize that God must be working through our pain and suffering in order to do something greater and eternal. In some other circles the blame is squarely laid at the feet of the devil. But must we always blame God or the devil for our self-inflicted predicaments? I have found myself wondering if the Kenyan Church has in any one time in history involved itself in seeking long-term solution(s) to the problem of ethnicity. The Church is called to the world as a prophetic voice that awakens the moral conscience of a nation. When the church fails in its prophetic role, then it loses its moral voice. The Church in Kenya seems to have lost its moral voice.

We know that the Church down history lane has not always lived up to this prophetic call. In the Medieval period, a slight deviation from the given dogmas was reason enough to send one to the gallows or to the furnace. Great men of the cloth such as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Knox and others are known to have at one time or another sided with the ruling class in order to crush and silence religious dissenters. It is no secret also that Western Christendom sanctioned colonialism and imperialism as divinely instituted establishments for the benefit of the “uncivilized” other. Closer home, Christians supported and even financed genocide in Rwanda. Ministers of religion and priests are known to have harbored perpetrators of one of the most heinous acts of genocide in modern Africa. We recently also witnessed in Kenya men of the cloth coming out in public to endorse their preferred presidential candidates based not on reason or policy but purely on ethnicity. Religious leaders are known to have taken side with their “own” and never quick to condemn politicians who are known to have preached hatred and warmongering. In my opinion, the church, having lost its moral and prophetic voices can only watch from the periphery as politicians take charge. Can the Church redeem itself? Absolutely! What the Church in Kenya needs is to be more intentional and be a little imaginative in order to construct conducive environment that promotes dialogue and constructive engagement.

I wish now to suggest some concrete ways in which the Church may adopt in order to address issues affecting us as a multi-ethnic republic. In the first place, our diversity and the complexities thereof, demand that we begin putting in place a system that values openness and dialogue in a country where opinions are diverse. Practice of dialogue is foundational in quest for a meaningful existence as a diverse community. As a matter of fact, the importance of dialogue in meaning making cannot be underestimated when we bear in mind that as humans we respond dialogically to our environment. Yes, dialogue is an art that is learned and nurtured. Psychologists tell us that the family into which we are born is the rudimentary learning center where we learn to practice dialogue. Through body communication mostly between mother and the baby, the child picks up initial dialogical response to the other. Over time this response evolves into actual conversation. A child who grows in an environment where genuine love is expressed tends to respond positively to every other human being who comes into her life. More so, if the child experience lively conversations around the fire place or at the dinner table where people speak passionately but without animosity about differing opinions, the child is definitely going to develop the art of differentiating between arguing and discussing. On the other hand, a child who thrives in a violent environment, particularly where the father is always absent and when at home never speaks to anybody, most likely that child will never learn to hold conflict well or talk things out. Apart from psychologists, we may as well learn a lesson from our ancestors. Whenever, the Africans of old held a baraza, it was a general rule that whoever took the floor to argue a point was not to suffer any interruption. Even when he stopped speaking, the “muthamaki” would say to him “Have you finished speaking?” Only after this question would the “muthamaki” give the floor to the next speaker.

The examples given help us to appreciate the importance of learning and nurturing dialogue. When this lesson is rightly applied people learn to genuinely allow themselves to understand the position held by other. They learn to see and feel the world from the point of view of their “enemies”. Therefore, it is important for the Kenyan Church to develop a plan of action that can bring this to fruition. It can happen through organizing intercultural, interethnic, and interreligious conversations. The best place to begin, however, is at the school and churches. Religion, culture and appropriate education system are of utmost importance in the process of learning to practice dialogue. But the Church must be instrumental in revising pedagogical approach already in use. Most Kenyans have been schooled in a system where knowledge is mystified and learning centers including churches become galleries where pastors, teachers, tutors, politicians and administrators play superstars. As students we learn to passively receive and only expected to parrot back what has been given to us by the ever-knowing teachers and college tutors. Students are never expected to question knowledge as imparted. The cliché of our time was “if I tell you to jump, first jump and while up in the air ask how high.” We must accept that this is not a healthy way of developing individuals who would be willing to respond to others dialogically. The pedagogical approach must change and allow the student, the parishioner, the constituent or the mwananchi to play an active role in the learning process. Right pedagogical approach is fundamental in order to enhance art of sensing and responding to the concerns of the other and learning to see things through the eyes of the other. Educational system should not just train students to take up their place in the job market but must also prepare us to be citizens of the world. Education must help us appreciate the human person and the person’s unique value. This last point brings me to my next suggestion.

It is Aristotle who first described human beings as political animal designed by nature to live in an ordered community. When perfected, according to Aristotle, the human “is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all. Injustice is most dangerous when armed with intelligence, and without virtue man becomes the most unholy and most savage of all animals” (Politics, i. 2.) We can draw two lessons from Aristotle. The first lesson we can learn from him is that a person is not an isolated monad. We exist in multiple relationships. As humans we are called to live and work with others in the family, church, political community and other broader human social communities such as ethnic as well as multi-ethnic groups. As social beings we live in relationship with all other human beings and with everything that God has made. This social aspect of human existence is an essential part of the human reality and for our proper human development. Translated into our discussion on dialogue, this means that as human beings we are called to be open to differences of culture, language, education, and viewpoints. As Kenyans, we can no longer afford to see each other in such non-personal terms as “Kikuyu hii” or “Njaluo hii” but instead we must begin to see each other as human beings. The sacredness of the human in Kalenjin, Giriama, Kikuyu, Luo, among others is received from graciousness which God has abundantly outpoured onto us. Let me be a little dogmatic here. As Kenyans we must bear in mind that God given dignity has been given to each of us in the person of Jesus Christ and received through the Holy Spirit to renewal and redeem. Each of us whether Luhya, Kisii, Meru, Turkana or Taveta is a gift from God. If we can grasp this understanding that our human relation is a reality actualized in the world through Christ we would appreciate the deeper conception and reality of our ethnic diversity. It calls for a conversion of the individual human mind to take up “the mind of Christ” as Apostle Paul required of the Philippians. Habitual communion with Christ’s words and spirit would serve to increase our interethnic relations and service to God through fair-mindedness, goodwill and friendliness. While dialogue, fair-mindedness and friendship are important, the converted mind must also be zealous for justice. This brings us to my second lesson that the Church can learn from Aristotle.

Aristotle helps us appreciate the distinguishing characteristic of the human being from that of the animal world. By nature the human is “a political animal”, so Aristotle argued. This is to say that, human being has the capacity to develop an ordered social life, in which justice is administered and the competition of the jungle has restraint put upon it by practice of law. Violence and use of force as recently witnessed in Kenya must be substituted for the appeal to justice. Injustices done to communities from colonial days and perpetuated by succeeding governments must as well be addressed in order to avoid anarchy and ruin. The land issues and ethnic differences must not be settled by the callous pursuit of material, murder and violence but by reasoned appeal to justice and equity. Dialogue would only be functional if applied to the rule law and justice. The internally displaced must be resettled immediately and unconditionally; Murderers and arsonists must face the full force of the law; land laws must be reformed and be brought to the modern standards among other things. But most importantly, “Come, let US reason together.” There is no shortcut to bringing healing and reconciliation to our wounded nation.

Friday, April 25, 2008

The Great One

The wind blew,
From the northern carrying with it deathly spell,
Howling and wailing as the gust passed,
Taking with it roof tops and leaving the sheep
Naked, uncovered and shaky;

The chimney was gone taken into the heavenly
Like Elijah, clouds of darkness swallowed it.
Gushing rain and wind dampened the hearth;
All silence, deathly silence
In a distant, a dog howled
An owl hooted;
The great one had fallen.

The hearth reassembled,
Fire of eternity burnt
Bringing with it warmth untold.
The joy of knowing her rekindled
Beauty, laughter, tears filled the room
No longer to depart
Forever yours
She muttered…
- Kinyua.

Sharing Journeys of Promise: Conversations with Kenyan Immigrants Living in the United States

A KWR Broadcast [featuring Rev. Priscilla Nyawĩra, Mary Waturi, Alice Waithera, Ngotho wa Njũgũna, and Chef Daniel Wainaina]. There are ...