Paza Sauti
I attended the Samosa Festival today and I am very glad I did. The spoken word performance “Oceans Apart” by Shane Solanki and Yusra Warsama was a performance I think I will remember for much of the rest of my life. A beautiful blend of drama and poetry. Humorous...but it left a lot of questions in my mind (and I am sure that that is what they wanted to happen).
Who are we as Kenyans? Are we really an integrated society? Are we a society? I remember a few comments by one of my political science lecturers... I think the unit was “ The Politics of Post Independence Africa” He said that Kenyans after independence failed to form a sense of nationhood. He said that the people are so culturally and ideologically diverse that a sense of “ Kenyanness” does not quite exist...this was way back in 2001 come 2008 and those words rang true in the happenings after the elections.
Now forget about the Kenyan mwafrika with all the complications of ukabila...add the Kenyan Indian and Mzungu and it gets ever so complicated. The big question of integration comes to mind...Its really difficult to look at each other as members of one society...Its like seperate continents in one country...limited or no contact...superficial interaction only what is necessary for survival ....anything to avoid the discomfort....and remember this is forty plus years after independence.
Probably out there in the diaspora Kenyans feel that sense of Kenyanness. I can remember this from my own experience while on a student exchange programme as a child.Our party was on a stop over in London. A waiter served us at a table and happened to hear us speaking Kiswahili. He introduced himself in Kiswahili and instantly we knew he was Kenyan. We were so happy to have someone speak to us in Kiswahili in a strangers country. I don't think we noticed at that point that he was Muhindi we were just happy that he was Kenyan
Anyway thats just my thoughts rolling again bravo to the organisers of the SAMOSA festival.
To read more visit www.samosafestival.com
p.s I havn't edited this for spelling or grammer so just take it as it is
