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NOTES FROM KENYA |
Related PagesBaumann and Coffey have gone to Kenya to do volunteer work with indigenous women, preferably working on microcredit or economic self-sufficiency training. | |
NOTES FROM KENYA - Joanruth Baumann and Dick CoffeyRamogi Achieng’ Onekoposted 06/012/2007
Saturday was to have been a day of celebration, with a harambee (fundraising festival) for the local secondary school, which is named for Mr Odeko. (Imagine being so revered that you have a public school named for you while you are still alive.) Shortly before time for the harambee to begin, we heard screaming and wailing from mzee’s house. People dropped what they were doing and ran there, and the screams grew louder. Mzee had suddenly collapsed and died, apparently of a heart attack. He had not been ill, though some say that he had had high blood pressure and that he had tired more easily than usual in the last few weeks. He was in his late eighties. For hours after his death, hundreds of men, women, and children continued to stream to his home, some of them walking for miles to get there. A few old ones could hardly walk, but they seemed determined to get to the house, to express their respects and their grief. Women screamed and wailed. Men shouted chants every minute or so as they walked toward and around the house. Saturday is a school day here, and children came in their uniforms; many of them were crying. The public outpouring of grief was moving to see. Even late at night, hours after the death, we heard wails and chants from houses all around. We’re told that those might continue for days or even weeks, as neighbors lament their loss. We had met mzee only briefly. Joanruth had had a short conversation with him, during which he thanked her for coming to Kunya and for what we are doing here. Dick had only said hello and shaken hands with him. He was a man who exuded dignity. He must have been granite-hard inside, but he was also kindly, generous, and gracious. He stood straight and erect, proud in a healthy, legitimate way---a true gentleman. He had been a member of the Parliament of Kenya, and he had been a cabinet minister in the first government after independence. He might have been more truly a freedom fighter than the others, for he continued his fight even after independence. He consistently pushed for greater democracy and for broader distribution of government powers. Even the government of Kenya detained him for several years in the 1970s for his opposition to the increasingly repressive regime of Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya and once mzee’s ally and fellow freedom fighter. Mzee is probably the only person ever held by both the colonial British and independent Kenyan governments for advocating freedom. Mzee differed from other politicians in another important way. Some African politicians have become enormously wealthy; for example, Daniel arap Moi, the second president of Kenya, is reputed to be the wealthiest person in Africa. Mzee, however, lived simply on his ancestral land, in a house without electricity or running water. He drove a 20-year-old Subaru station wagon. He was plainly an uncorrupted man. We hardly knew mzee, and yet we miss him. We wish we had been able to talk with him at greater length, to learn more of his story firsthand. We are, however, thankful that we could be in his presence, if only briefly, for then our own eyes saw true greatness. -Joanruth Baumann and Dick Coffey To contact Joanruth and Dick email joanruth@sanjuanislander.com. Please remember they have limited Internet access and may not be able to respond. |
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