Safaricom came up with a project entitled #ThisIsMyKenya. The aim of this beautiful project is to change the perception of Kenyan citizens towards their country. I have to congratulate the guy behind the original idea as we citizens have very negative views towards our country. Let me give my bit of story.
I saw a policeman and I saw a fraudulent being. I saw someone vicious. I saw a beast. I saw a guard and I saw an arrogant person. A person with no courtesy. I saw a street kid and saw filth. I saw a lone young man with dreadlocks on the streets and saw a thief. I saw a bus preacher and I saw a hypocrite. I saw a group of women and saw gossipers. I saw a group of campus girls half-naked in wee hours of the night and saw a lost generation. I saw slums and saw poverty. I saw members of parliament and saw massive pilfering of resources.
My nation has proven so hard to live in that you can’t speak to a person sitted close to you in a matatu as you will be a suspected thief. My nation has always taught me that I need connections to make it. My nation has taught me that I need to bribe or get bribed to exchange favors. My nation has been harsh for me to carry my camera along the streets let alone taking pictures. My nation has made it hard to interact with anyone as they think am going to drug them. I cannot say hi to the person standing beside me in a bus station nor can I complement that beauty dressed to the nines.
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Your wear defines your social class, your tears fall to the ground and get trampled by mourners alike. Your fears are getting fired or getting arrested because you do not have your ID. You no longer fear devil worshipping, Illuminati, cults etc. In fact, these topics have become interesting to you. Heaven and hell becomes fiction but free masonry is real.
Worldly riches are what people are striving for in my country. Taxes on the other hand are crippling most people. Fraud, strikes, tribalism and unsafe use of words in political races make it more painful. Terrorism is a word not to be mentioned.
Through my Kenyan eyes there’s pain, through my Kenyan eyes there’s despair. There’s fear and confusion. There echoes distant screams of a lost nation. The law has overpowered religion. Through my Kenyan eyes I have no future. I feel lost. I am dead but my physicalities are braving on. Through my Kenyan eyes I see no hope and therefore I require another pair.
It was when I remembered that someone out there in the world would love to live a life like mine in the country I see so much ill. I remembered that am not persecuted because of my faith. I remembered that I am not displaced in my own country. I remembered that the restrictions placed upon me have not gone to the extremes. There are some who are slaughtered because of their faith. Some are internally displaced due to internal conflict in their nations. To some, the cries of bullets and the tremors of bombs is like the whistling of birds and the sounds of fireworks in a festive season to you.
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Through my Christian eyes I see that policeman and see a hero ready to die for his country. I see that guard and see respect and honor. I see that lone young guy on the streets and see a den of ideas. I see those women and see mothers striving for a living. I see those wino girls and see the beauty that would be if they knew the Lord. I see that slum and see abundance in talent. I see that Member of Parliament and see a leader striving for his people despite the negative hope that his citizens have put on him.
What’s your focus. How do you balance your exposure to achieve a perfect reality? A moment golden enough to bring out happiness and joy in you? Something to make you a patriot and speak positive about your country? Which eyes are you using? The radical Kenyan eyes that never says good about its national or the Christian eyes that is positive and want to see its nation move a milestone?
Say good about your country. Your country is beautiful. Be slow to anger and don’t be too quick to condemn. See the potential and greatness your country possesses. Remember #ThisIsMyKenya. Own it, mean it! #Kenyans4Kenya #KenyaIsMagical