Hi Diary,
I agree with Martha Karua: We are very reactionary as a nation. We wait until the situation has broken down the door and camped in our house for 3 days, having breakfast with us at the same table before we finally think to ourselves, 'Maybe there's a stranger in my house that I need to kick out.'
This morning, as I go through my timeline, I see something new: "#Kenyans4Kenya". An initiative seemingly backed by corporate giants Safaricom and KCB, as well as "media owners". (That's in quotes for a reason, but that's another discussion.)
An initiative whose nobility, for the record, I do not dispute. We have hungry citizens in parts of this country who'd renounce their citizenship and leave for Qatar, if only it meant just one guaranteed meal every 2 days.
Flashback to about 10 days ago: My timeline is invaded by this new initiative: "#FeedKE". Self explanatory, considering the circumstances, so I will not insult your intelligence by pretending to break it down.
Obvious question here being: "Huh?"
And it is a question that has been expressed in different ways throughout the morning, such as:
Or the less veiled:
Huh?
I've tried seeing it in different ways. And there's truth to the argument that it will not matter to that hungry Kenyan.
But pretending that there's no deeper issue to this would be acting in the same manner we accuse our "leaders" of doing: Being comically evasive. If anything, we accuse them of that simply because we are jealous of the fact that they execute - and get away with - it in ways only our imagination can capture.
Another discussion for another day.
One of the theories that came up in explanation of my "Huh?" moment was this one:
Valid theory.
However.
I too have a theory.
"Even me I want a toy."
Remember when we were kids, and you'd see the neighbour's kid with a new plaything? You'd run over to them, ask to have a look at it, and after glance saying "Dare you break it", you'd go ahead to have a ball with it for all of 10 seconds, before they snatched it back.
I remember I'd run to my folks, tug and nag till they gave in to buying me my own plaything.
You'd think it would be over once they bought one for me.
"No, Mummy, I want that one."
Which is exactly what is going on here.
Someone might have sat down, looked at one thing and thought: "I want my own. No. I want that one."
Simple as that.
And it's not the first of the sort. It's replicated all across the board. Every single cause you can think of, it's there. HIV/AIDS. Malaria. Poverty. And the latest one: Cancer.
Now get me right: Selfishness is an integral part of human nature. We all want to "make that difference", leave our names etched in the wall of history. That stamp of authority. "I was here."
You know what? It's who we are. Even the very nature of selflessness is selfish.
(Think about it.)
So really, this is what #feedKE and #Kenyans4Kenya is about. And someone saw someone else's toy and said:
"Me too."
Thus my soul is torn between the two. Who do I support? Do I support the "authentic" campaign? Do I go with "the big boys"?
I've grown up a geek. The ladies always went for the seemingly more muscled and handsome fellow. Kinda reminds me of that.
Or I could flip a coin.
Or we could fight, and then I support the winner. Winner takes all, right?
But wait:
And here I was thinking I had a hard time deciding.
At the end of the day, that small matter of "Me too" aside, DiaspoRadical puts it rather well, because beyond "Me too", there's yet another underlying issue at hand:
Seeing how, should anything happen in 2012, it will be more a class war than anything else.
But that is a whole other discussion.
Now where's that coin?
Marcus.
UPDATE: (1305hrs) You really ought to read this post too, by Nanjira "@msupastar" Sambuli. She speaks truth.
UPDATE: (1440hrs) I've gotten an update from Naomi "@aKenyanGirl" Mutua, a post on VibeWeekly. She had a chat with Bob Collymore, as well as with Ahmed Salim. Also truth in this article. Bottom line remains: Do something. (Preferably build on the existent. But that's just my opinion.)
UPDATE: (1515hrs) There's a discussion happeneing on Nanjira's blogpost (as shared above); just thought I'd share a few excerpts of that discussion:
Brian: No offence but the #FeedKe was only popular on social media (read Twitter and some parts of Facebook). Less than 2% of the country’s population actively engage on this platform and so it really defeats logic to have something that’s the preserve of a minority elite be the “unifying call”. With safaricom and KCB, you have a group of companies that combined combine the greatest reach that this campaign possibly could have gotten... No offense intended.
Nanjira: I appreciate that #feedKE was primarily a social media campaign. If looking at this matter purely from the approach of ‘ground covered’,then #kenyans4Kenya shouldn’t be on social media launching the campaign. They should cover all other ground... There was the option to enhance an already existent initiative... And while I appreciate that the corporates have financial muscle and the ability to appeal to greater masses,then should we leave al efforts to them? Should brave individuals taking on such initiatives sit back and wait for the big boys to come to the rescue? True,we are all after one goal,but must we use one too many routes to get there?
Vuyanzi: The points that Brian raises are extremely important and somewhat credible but nonetheless invalid in that the conclusion does not seem to follow logically from the premises. Sure, #FeedKe was targeted at Kenyans active in social media and (let’s pretend) #Kenyans4Kenya isn’t. So why not bring the two together so that we are indeed covering all feasible corners? Why can’t #Kenyans4Kenya throw its said fleshy sinews of financial muscle on what, in comparison, appears to be the gaunt but now established framework that is #feedKE?
Head over to the post and contribute to the discussion.
UPDATE: (1620hrs) Here's another blogpost that speaks on the matter: "Why #Kenyans4Kenya and #FeedKE Initiatives Must Exist Side by Side". An excerpt:
#FeedKe is a great initiative. the problem is that the credibility an experience of those involved makes it a less attractive initiative. So however much you might want the Blue Chips like Safaricom, KCB, NMG, Standard and others to join an initiative run by one person, they simply wont.
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