Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Duty Calls

I got the now blog famous award called honest Scrap from Fanua a diasporian. And so i have to brag and do all that appertains to this degree sorry award.

1. For one I always find myself in the group of some of the most marginalized or discriminated Kenyans. Picture this: I hardly get a shoe that fits right, nor a trouser nor a suit. in fact during the Mater Heart Run last Saturday, I found out that Safaricom the shirt sponsors , had again forgotten to make a shirt that could fit me. I forced myself inside the almost 2-sizes-too-small shirt for the run. I think its time to start a maendeleo ya watu wakubwa organization.

2. Secondly I normally get that almost all my hosts cook beef for me or some beef based food. while I don't eat the stuff. Most times even in company events i get that among the snacks on the table are beef samosas, beef sausages, beef kebabs, nyama choma etc. They then claim there was a large variety of snacks!

3. Everywhere i go people always think am their tribesman. in college i even had a Kikuyu name, even at work some guys thought i was kiuk some , kamba others luhya and some even a coastal. when i went to Zimbabwe they thought i was a shona while when in down south they swore i was a Zulu. However i trust my parents.

4. Am actually a deep person and gain my strength in silence and meditation.

5. I hate Kenyan politics yet I hold two arguably political (elective) offices. I must be a walking contradiction! but the truth is i got myself into these offices by some sort of chance.

6. most people think am a great sportsman coz of my athletic build. i never help them to find out.

7. I met tribalism in its ugly sense for the first time during my first year at university. Before then I had lived in blissful ignorance in Kisumu for over 19 years. I struggled with it and it actually took me time to re-evaluate myself and accept that it wasn't me who had the problem but the tribalists who insisted on knowing my second name before having any form of engagement with me. somehow that never included asking me for my assignments!

5 comments:

  1. LoL at maendeleo ya watu wakubwa! That is so original.

    Pole about your beef issues, so what do you eat? Are you a vegetarian? Do you eat fish? eggs? milk? Sorry, I am asking too many questions, but I'd really like to know coz I have had guests before who didn't eat meat and I honestly wondered what alternatives to give them. It's really hard to go to people's houses and not find beef as you said.

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  2. Odegle,

    I can identify with 2,3 and 4. I stopped eating beef fifteen years ago. People think I am joking when I go home. I wonder why they forget your dietary needs.

    I just started meditating a few years ago,and it has made such a difference.

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  3. @mama, what happened to the good old veggy samosas? I do take milk, fish , eggs, chicken and good old veggy. for instance i love green grams. am sure your guests would appreciate a good meal of chapati na dengu. ama good ol rice with beans. or even ugali with omena.

    The alternatives are as many as there are Indians on earth!

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  4. @tamtam, (by the way your moniker sounds so sweet) meditation makes you very strong

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  5. Beef is way too overrated. Maybe because it's sold in every other corner and involves so little work cook. It's unfortunate that people are slowly forgetting and pushing aside tasty and nutritious dishes like green grams.

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