Social Issues | Gurfield's Gurlfrend

They called our ways backward and insisted on disrupting our way of life to make us more civilized.

They who came with the gospel in one hand and a sword in the other,

Pretending to trade with us

they lived among us, because our culture was one of good nature & kindness to all

Who in the real sense were wolves in sheep’s clothing.

They came to teach us civilization

They with an insatiable thirst for conquest and war,

They allocated our lands to themselves, entreated our chiefs to elusive, devilish ways,

yet they called us pagans, we who worshiped our God and respected his laws,

They,

They came to turn us savages into civilized society,

Show me a hungry man

Or did they?
Our bushman ways lacked the flamboyant eloquence of ‘civilization’. Yet they gave our nakedness clothing, telling us that is how civilized world dressed,

ironically today we wear the clothes, we cover our bodies(occasionally strip the scantily clad woman on the street), they walk naked and call it fashion.

Goodbye African socialism. Goodbye trust, goodbye neighbourliness and communalism. Goodbye good morals, goodbye virtues, welcome to the age of civilization.

Where our neighbors go hungry, while others steal from them to amass wealth that could feed a 100 generations yet never share, where we never help strangers in need, where we are suspicious of everyone and don’t even know who lives next door, where our kinsmen see us once a year and do not get to share in raising our children, Strangers raise our babies and occasionally strangle our babies,

is this the civilization that we gave up our culture and ways for.

Our Way…..

They called it Savage, and we the savages.

Yet,

We had laws though unwritten, we had leadership in our elders, we had utilitarianism though unwritten, Nobody tolerated laziness. We worked besides each other, singing, tilling our lands, building our houses, weaving our baskets, herding our cattle together, we went to the river together, bathing and fetching water to take back to our houses.

Who needs cellphones, tablets, TVs and radios when your grandmother or great grandfather told you your history in endearing tales of the wise and the wherefores? Let’s not forget the beautiful village dances or the beautiful village feasts…..ah! What great memories! Oh what great loss!

It makes me wonder, couldn’t we have kept our culture and ways, yet adopted the best of creature comforts from the civilized savages with duplitus tongues?

Yet it is this desire for their creature comforts that pulled us away from a loving caring way, into a cold unloving culture that cares only for the self.

Haven’t we left civilization to become savages in monkey suits?

Our wisemen said, ” Mwacha Mila ni mtumwa”

Personally, I would rather run semi-naked wild and free, be loved, work and live in a loving community, than live in a concrete jungle with many friends but still alone, a slave to my 8-5 job, rarely home to see my child let alone raise her, I would rather have the support and loving care of my family and community than be an urban Savage.

Who is the savage now?

They call us the dark continent, emerging markets, the developing world, meanwhile Dividing people and sowing discord to reap the benefits of our beautiful land that we may truly never move forward, but are stuck in a forever loop one step forward, two steps back.
Beware the smiling face and pretentious helping hand that gives with one hand and takes with the other.

Beware the peace maker who champions dialogue then funds war for a profit

Beware the savage!

Here’s some more images of our beautiful culture and way of life:

I am Kikuyu and have some experience with this culture. Growing up though born and bred in town, my holidays were spent in Murang’a County where I got to experience living in my grandmother’s home.

I got most of this pictures online especially on pinterest, if you are not Kikuyu, you can search on pinterest or google for some photos of your own people’s culture. It is a beautiful thing, a beautiful people, perhaps even more superior to the foreign culture we have adopted.

Here are some photos I liked that potrayed various women from different cultures, pre-colonization:

The Woes and Chaos of Electioneering Period, Vote Wisely on 8/8 2017 Make Kenya Great Again!

Tis the season to be jolly! The purses open and money floods the streets. The gullible dance and chant while the intellectual scorn in amusement to the shenanigans. One would be forgiven for thinking it is party season. No! It’s just that nuisance democratic process that comes around every four years or so. It slows down the economy almost to a grinding halt just before the taps of looted funds open and dark money fills the streets.

luo dance

Tis the season indeed when you remember that your neighbor is one of your kind, and you retreat into clusters nay collectives of your ethnicity. From here, we begin a tirade of words, actions, and thoughts that would only befit our ancestors the cave men and their descendants the ‘Native Bushmen.’ We say things, think, and do things that would make the devil blush, never mind that we will blame him in the aftermath of our actions.

Our loyalty pledge begins ‘I pledge my loyalty to the president & nation of Kenya…..’ yet, phrases like ‘he is not my president because I did not vote for him’ arise. Perhaps we confuse fairness with the law? In the eyes of the law, what is written goes! In the written, Democracy means ‘winner takes it all,’ no matter by how little more he won!

Perhaps it’s time we wrap our heads around this fact. Perhaps it is the time that the intellectual get off their couches, social media and go queue to elect their leaders instead of watching the process from the comfort of their living rooms with their stores full of house supplies.

They look on as the usual election chaos break out when that “guy” whose votes always gets stolen and his victory snatched. Someone has turned Kenyans into slaves. Slaves that presume any candidate running for the high office cares about their welfare.

The word charisma and sycophant come to mind. The deceptive charm that lies in leaders that allow people to sympathize, love, adore, and worship fellow human beings. So for charisma’s sake, we shun the not so ‘man of the people candidate’ with a lower EQ but higher IQ, for the one with a high EQ and sinister intentions of looting on his mind.

A friend once said you couldn’t blame the politician for trying to provide for his family the best way he knows how. A few extra coins in his purse, that he stole from you, to give to your cause, buys your loyalty, and soon he declares himself a crown monarch, blue blood, and an untouchable. Sadly, there’s a cycle to monarchies; eventually, they all lose their power and die. Their name lingers on, but the glory is forgotten.

Chanting ‘baba yetu!’ ‘Baba yetu!’ ‘HakiYetu,’ ‘Haki yetu!’ ‘No demi-god, No peace.’ We’ve become a striking nation. Cartels play peek-a –boo with basic food supplies; others just monopolize their market share and leave us at their mercy. Our economy looks good on paper but not so good in the pocket. Not so good, when we look at the export vs. import ratio (15% vs. 85%). We’re surviving on debt, and yet every politician and civil servant with power, thinks that government grows money on trees and has an endless supply of money, so they loot mercilessly then play blame games when projects do not get completed for lack of funding.

The majority of the youth in this country are not employed.

According to statistics, the unemployment rate stands at 80% of ages 18-35 being unemployed or underemployed. They’re just frustrated and angry! – Violence anyone? Drugs? Crime?

Let’s talk underemployment, people in government and civil society speaks of this animal called ‘skills mismatch’. Hilarious really in a dark humored way. So the theory goes, that there are jobs available alright! But, not any of what the job-seekers possess. What?! I mean, seriously. Yap! Those pesky Uni and TVET places you’re so proud to be an alumni of, have been busy teaching you redundant things! That’s right; you just wasted 2-6 years in school to get skills/education that nobody needs! Sorry!

an award based on volunteerism

My advice, Instead of joining college or university after high school, volunteer at a company nearby; perhaps start volunteering while you’re still in high school. Gain the skill; maybe take evening classes or online classes. And in 2-6 years you will have the no skills mismatch and a brilliant well-paying career ahead of you! But nobody tells you that right?

My two cents, on elections: It’s time to stop behaving archaic. In the words of the Bible, “come let’s reason together.” The reason election is by secret ballot is because it is a personal decision, a personal choice. The burden of how your life is governed is laid equally across each of our heads, because, it is between you and your maker that you make the best choice for you, your family & your people. Power is within your hand to wield as you please. If you choose to vote for a murderer, let it lay upon your head that you become a murderer too.

I googled drug lord & Kenya, this is the screen cap of the results. I accuse no one, neither does Google.

If you opt to vote for a thief, a drug lord, a slum lord, a land grabber, a warlord, a smuggler, a pimp, any man of loose morals, then it lays upon your head, the consequences of his looting, injustice and immorality. That every life destroyed or lost is on you, because you’re as responsible as the person you voted for into any office. So, as we go into the election campaign season, research your candidates. Not from word of mouth but by attending and demanding debates or by reading their manifesto.

In those famous words “society’s leaders are a reflection of …” Turn up & vote. Vote wisely, vote with your card, not with your words, sword, machete, arrow, or fire. Just use your voter’s card, please. Let’s build our nation, not tear it down. I DO NOT want to become a refugee. Please don’t allow the angry, hungry, and desperate men to ruin my Kenya.

The Woes and Chaos of Electioneering Period, Vote Wisely on 8/8 2017 Make Kenya Great Again!