This morning I woke up
with a running stomach, running nose, then I realized one thing…I am Kenyan,
everything in me is supposed to run.
That aside, the world
cup was an exciting moment for at least most of us if not all of us. As men we
found an undeniable excuse the get back home late. As for the ladies, well,
they got an unwanted leave from their daily dose of soap operas. The men got to
answer the hardest of questions ranging from “Why couldn’t Christiano Ronaldo
play in the world cup finals, he is a good palyer, to why don’t they change the
color of the ball change after every game, that one is so cliché.” Some even
had to answer as to the question “why is Arsenal not playing in the world cup,
I though it won the last world cup last month.” All in all it was a wonderful unforgettable
experience.
I was privileged to
watch the thrilling match between Cameroon and Brazil in which the latter won
4-1. In the course of the match amidst screams, yells and groans in form of
elongated vowels- iiiiiiiiiiiiiii, eeeeeee, aaaaaaa and even new one I was
taught by one Flavia Muhai, sssssss, i
glanced at my good friend Tito and asked him which team he supported. Here came
his response, “Of course Brazil.” At this point I interjected and asked the
very question every Kamau, Wafula and Omondi would ask” How could you Tito?” It
was a pain in my tushi for quite some
time and to be frank, I felt as if I had just developed a new set of wrinkles
on my face. I felt like my portion of white…grey hair, you call it however you
want, had just germinated on my head. He then pleaded that I let him finish
what he had started but at this point I was burning with a feeling I could not
explain. In my head was a myriad of thoughts, in my heart a constant flow of
emotions. I thought, is it that he is
from Zimbabwe? No, actually not, Zimbabwe had never won the world cup. No,
wait, it had never actually qualified for the African Cup of Nations. I was
thinking and thoughting and wondering
why a fellow African, probably darker than I am would choose to betray us to this extent. He finally
managed to squeeze in the remaining part of his disappointing words, he said “I
support Brazil but I wish Cameroon all the best.”
My presentation today
has a blank heading, intentionally so that you will know what to do with it.
That night I slept
thinking, have we lost our touch as Africans? Have we totally lost hope in
ourselves and our abilities? It dawned on me that we have proved to be
completely satisfied by a mere mirage and have lost touch with the real
tangible sensible piece of hope. It was clear to me that we have spent all our
time trying to find ourselves and it was high time we start creating ourselves.
That if we are to move
forward as a continent then we need to stop trying to reap where our past
constantly tries to sow. We need to reach Canaan, the promised land, that place
where despite paying the price of success and still go from failure to failure
we will not lose our enthusiasm. If only we did everyday one thing that scares
us, then in one year at least two things will be certain; we would have found
365 ways to succeed or 365 others that will not work out, either way success in
both. Someone said that that if you
really want to do something you will find a way. If the inverse is true then
you will find an excuse. Choose today who ye shall serve.
We Africans to some
extend have become busy bodies with idle minds. We spend our time looking for
Caro and looking for Johnny instead of investing the same time in trying to
discover our God given purpose. Our minds have been trained to always ask for
permission. Hear me loud and clear today, that at times in order to achieve
success it is better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission if you know
what I mean. By exploiting, in fact over exploiting our utmost potential we
risk being not only being successful but begin becoming people of value. The
sky seizes being our limit; it becomes a stepping stone to unlimited heights.
We have been so quiet
in championing for this. Let me ask, what drives us? Is it the tension between
the desire to communicate and the desire to hide? Or is it the dire need to
open up our hearts every morning we wake and aim to reach for the highest star?
Think about it. From which barrel do we imbibe in? Think about it.
Then comes the greatest
challenge, what is our biggest strength? The fact that we can do it or the fact
that we are doing it? We have talent, international talent as others call it.
Name them, Lorna Ruto, Obama, Origi, Nyong’o, and all others whose names begin
or end with ‘O’. Truth is the few I have mention encountered a paradigm shift
in their lives. They graduated from Yes We Can to Yes We Are. With time you
will realize that ability and talent become the most useless virtue if not
accompanied by the right attitude.
I am not a preacher so
you can believe me when I say finally; let us remember that the fear of loving
a brother, a sister should not drive us. We should instead come to the
understanding that perfect love drives out fear. “wink”
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