I’ll begin with a short piece I received titled ‘Kenyan Time’ from one Timothy K. Ndegwa.
Najivunia kuwa Mkenya (I’m proud to be Kenyan) but this time I am a little embarrassed to associate myself with Kenyans.
Fellow Kenyans, there is one way of telling time, by using the universal clock.
But it has been proven through out the world that Kenyans have a different source of telling tiame. Kenyans have turned to be event oriented and not time oriented. Recently I have been to different Kenyan events particularly outside Kenya and like they say ‘you can take a villager from a village, but you can not take a village from the villager’. Kenyans are the ones that you see attending events late. They distract everyone by tip toeing even to their own events.
It seems that any time you have an event; you have to give Kenyans a different time from the official one. Why, because they are known to be late unless it has to be at their work place where they are seldom tardy.
On a recent issue of Kenyan Empowerment Newspaper, Kenyans were late to attend a speech by their own Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga in Harvard University. Ninety eight percent of attendees were whites. Most of the Kenyans were locked outside because they were late. Now they are blaming PM Odinga for ignoring them. He has a schedule to keep by being on time.
When you visit American events, most of the time everyone is seated minutes before the starting time. They respect time and their events end when they say it will end. The Kenyan events start late because everyone is waiting for everyone. That is punishing some of us who are time conscious. We will stay in the events until the cows go home and leave us in the fields!
My grandma WaMwoho (God rest her soul) used to say, ‘Be careful not to be for your own funeral.’
Speaking of time, it is once again that time of the year. Holidays, family reunions, shopping, and then the primary school exam results will be out, the cue for parents to panic financially. Don’t forget what the important things in life are. Life, family and life. So do not drink and drive. Be good to those you love. And spend wisely because January will be here, probably sooner than you wish for it to.
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And then we join Dominic Otianga in Freiburg, Germany in his Dallaian Immigrant: Almost two weeks after my arrival in Germany, my eyes began to open aiding my desire to explore new places and ideas. My language course was a good enough tool to help me curve out a social window from the…
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In Quest of love by Paul Kariuki: This editor believes that this is yet another call to war, but I believe all is fair in love and war, so I hereby give Paul Kariuki a chance to put on his battle armor while I assemble my weaponry for the duel to death.
Remember, the Man and His Goat Picture Prompt Writing Contest was reopened and the deadline placed at January 15th, 2009. Write a 500-1000 word story inspired by the picture and send it to blogs@storymojaafrica.co.ke. Storymoja will pay Ksh 1500 prize by M-pesa or Zap to the most interesting story. Did you notice, the prize cash went up! Please mark in the subject of your submission email: Man and his Goat Picture Prompt Writing Competition, and attach in Word 97 compatible document. All stories that do not adhere to these rules will not be considered.
In the meantime, please go back and read all the stories that have been on the blog in 2009. Send the title of your all time favorite story to storyof2009@storymojaafrica.co.ke by December 31st, 2009. Please include the name of the writer who you believe has grown the most in terms of creative excellence in 2009. Subject your message as Story of 2009. One story, one writer and one reader will have the chance to reign at the throne of Storymoja 2009! You stand to win your favourite Storymoja book and free entry to one of our events!
Happy reading and a safe December to all of you!
Your faithful blog editor,
Kenyans are not the only people in America or anywhere who show up late at events. Latinos, Africans, African Americans, Asians — we call it CPT (Colored People Time).
I often get booked to perform stand-up comedy at Nigerian events, and because they pay me, I’ve got to show up at the time on the program. The first guest usually arrives two hours later.
One of the thing successful writers do is take it personal as an avenue toward a larger issue. I want to see someone write about getting to a dinner on time and having to end up last on the buffet line. I have see it happen.
Ndegwa could have, for example, expanded on the idea that when the likes of Raila come here, they end up playing to non-Kenyan audiences. What implications does that have on governance in Kenya? Do the Americans who come on time to these things have the knowledge it takes to ask a meaningful question about Kenya? Do Kenyans even pose tough questions when the so-called leaders visit the Diaspora? etc, etc.
Also note that most of the writers who submit pieces often lack someone — or the guts to ask someone — to look at the their work before submission. I used to be one of them. One thing a writer, or any artist MUST NOT FEAR is constructive criticism of his/her composition. Even the most prolific writer needs an editor, so they shouldn’t feel like their work must be perfect the first time.
I write to tell my fellow Kenyans that after living in the U.S. for 15 years, I’m convinced that Africans are the best storytellers there. Hands down. Ndegwa, if you are reading this, please tell me about Cucu WaMwoho. Bring her to life through your writing. Get personal. What did you learn from her? Sweet moments? Bitter? How did she shape your adult life and relations to other people? Take that route and you will find it liberating, my friend.
Write, write, write, rewrite and write and rewrite again, oh dear compatriots. It’s good therapy for all our resilient selves.
At your literary service,
Edwin Okong’o
aka Our Man in America
Posted by Our Man In America | December 16, 2009, 10:00 pmThank you very much Edwin, for posting this. I did hope, and still hope that more people will examine and respond to the piece. A while back at a forum somewhere, someone observed that it was much easier for us to write negative pieces about our home and culture. But there are very good aspects that we could possibly focus on. Kenyans inspite of their famed peculiarities, are very hard workers for instance.
That is quite true. The reason there should be a community like the Storymoja one, is that it is so absolutely important for all writers, new and established to be receive critique for their work. Other wise there would never be any hope of Africa producing writers as good as the possibilities have shown.
Posted by Storymoja Africa | December 17, 2009, 12:15 amperhaps it’s coz the concept of time is absent in most of africa’s linguistic tribes, like in my kalee, we don’t have a word for distant future. ‘tuun’is just indefinite. i’ll come in a while could mean two days to a million years
@storymoja, from this community, writers from kenyas backwoods would definitely launch their trip to the moon. i learnt the hard way (back in 02) that a finished MSS is not everything. you rack your imagination, trans-night writing a piece, then, like a dog that places a bone at his master’s feet (a honoured custom between dogs) suddenly it hits you that you have to refine your piece umpteenth time!!
let’s all celebrate east africa’s raw talents.
Posted by mr round square | December 17, 2009, 6:39 pmMr. Square,
Once you have learned how to tell a story in English it’s very easy to take a story and create a fusion. Remember this: You are a Kale storyteller who just happens to tell stories in English, so don’t let those great Kale storytelling techniques give way for English ones. (I grew up with Kales in rural Nakuru District and my favorite time in school was listening to my classmate Eric Koech tell stories).
One other thing I have also started doing is writing in Ekegusii. Read here what my initial response was when Ngugi wa Thiong’o asked me to consider writing in my mother tongue: http://ourmaninamerica.com/2009/11/24/i-speak-an-african-language-not-a-dialect/
Like you, I noticed is that in some aspects my language has a very different and inflexible format than English. For example, when quoting in English you can write: Mr. Square said, “I’m tired.” Or, “I’m tired,” Mr. Square said. In Ekegusii it doesn’t make sense to use the latter.
I’m not sure you’re interested in writing in your beautiful language, but try it. It’s very liberating.
Edwin
Posted by Our Man In America | December 18, 2009, 11:11 pmEdwin, it’s a noble task to identify with wanjiku,( as long as we don’t shut out our readers) for that’s the language she understands best. we lose nuances each time we translate a work into another language, and our worldviews is twisted (and we think london is the centre of the universe), although ngugi’s idea was dramatic (as his conversation with soyinka reveals)am still chewing the challenging idea in my mouth for i need to decolonise my mind & move the centre, but like caliban to prospero, i have been taught a new language, and the profit of it, i can curse.
the esese & the cat business, well, you can see the mixed reaction from your own people ‘what? is this what our son in america went to do?’ we are still a long way off realising this dream, but like njamba nene, go brother go!
Posted by mr round square | December 19, 2009, 4:07 am