Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Maina Kiai
9 September 2008
column
Twenty years ago, almost to the day, I left Kenya for the USA having been awarded a scholarship for a Master of Laws at Harvard Law School. There I was, a typical rural youth, from the slopes as Whispers would put it, arriving in America. The normal affair, then, of many many prayers, matatus thronged in banana leaves and the entire clan coming to see me off is a memory I shall never forget.
Nor is the three-piece pin-stripped suit befitting a young lawyer, courtesy of boom, going to fade from my mind. Especially because I was bathed in serious sweat when I landed in Boston, shocked that America could actually feel as hot as Mombasa or Kisumu (this was before I had ever travelled to Northern Kenya….). No one had told me about the summer heat and humidity in late August.
At Harvard I quickly met up with an old friend from my high school days Ceda Ogada, who had just completed his BA from Dartmouth College and it was a wonderful reunion and having him around was reassuring that I would not be alone all the time. (In the US, the equivalent of the LL.B—termed JD—is a post graduate course of 3 years). Ceda, the fine gentleman that he was and still is, took charge of me and with his 4 years experience in the USA, started showing me the ropes. But that is a story for another time…
Harvard Law School produces a catalogue of all students each year and as I was leafing through it I saw what I thought was a Kenyan name. Obama, Barack. And he looked mixed in the picture he sent in so he could be Kenyan…(I had quickly found out that Japanese also have Kenyan sounding names but the pictures quickly clarified that they were Japanese, so I stopped making assumptions without looking at the pictures).
I eventually met Barack Obama and what struck me was his massive intelligence and curiosity. He was always asking questions about Kenya and Africa and though he had only been to Kenya once, he clearly had read up a lot about it. Later in reading his autobiography, I realized why he had done so much reading on Kenya and Africa. He was a skinny man, always with a backpack slung over his shoulder and dressed in old but clean jeans.
He was a listener and even when he disagreed he would do so with courtesy. And he had charisma flowing out like the River Nile. Rarely was he alone and I remember him always surrounded by groups of people talking and discussing.
We met frequently in the smoking room at Harvard which was in the basement and which one had to use in the cold Boston winters. Then smoking though under assault in the USA was still rather common and the smoking room was a place one could study and smoke and learn from others. It was also a great place to make friends. Barack stopped smoking as a gift to his wife so he could run for President in 2006, while I stopped in 1994 for six years and have now gone months without smoking cigarettes.
I remember the discussions we had with Barack. We both had a commitment to social justice and uplifting the lot of the poor and marginalized and we talked a great deal about poverty in the USA which especially affected African Americans, and the poor in Kenya, where everyone was affected. He came from the viewpoint that government had a role and duty to work towards social justice and improving the conditions of the poor and vulnerable. While I understood that thinking, I was skeptical as I was coming from a situation where any new roles for government meant more theft. More stealing. More corruption. More nepotism. More patronage. Remember this was 1988 after 10 years of the Nyayo Error. I wish I could say that all this was left behind with the end of the Nyayo Error, but alas, it's still more of the same. After all, we must be the only country on earth to pay spouses for choosing partners who become presidents, vice presidents and prime ministers. And I can bet that by the end of the year we will be paying spouses of cabinet ministers. And by end of 2009, the spouses of MPs. Yet we remain in the bottom 25 poorest countries in the world.
At that time, Barack said his ambition was to be a Senator, something that seemed unattainable especially since there had been no black Senator since the late 1800s and it just did not seem possible. But one could never laugh or dismiss Barack's words. There was a steady, thoughtful assuredness in him and yes if there was to be a black Senator then Barack was likely to be it. (He was preceded by Carol Mosley Braun in 1990, from Illinois)
And I am back in the USA, back again to learn. But this time the learning will not be in a school. I am here to learn from Barack Obama's campaign. I don't know about others, but the one exciting thing this year for me has been the Obama campaign and the barriers it has cast aside. When we have been wallowing in crisis after crisis with political and civil service leadership that does not care for us, Obama has provided hope and faith that they can be a better tomorrow.
Are there lessons from him on leadership and campaigning that we can pick up? How could it be that someone unknown a year ago would eventually win the Democratic nomination? What did he do that others didn't? He started out without black support but as soon as he won Iowa it solidified behind him. Can a Kenyan ever get elected as a Kenyan without first becoming an ethnic warlord or chief? He has changed his stand sometimes, but the overriding approach seems to be one of trust and faith in the American people that they know he is the genuine article. For crying out loud, he admits his mistakes!!!! (Can you imagine Kibaki or Raila or Muthaura even ever admitting they were wrong???) When confronted with the remarks of his former pastor, he went and provided a law school lecture on civil rights. When Hilary Clinton and McCain tried to take the populist but impossible approach on petrol prices, he spoke the truth.
Simply put, I am here to learn how a straight up, no lies, no bribing, honest man of integrity got to where he is now and see if we can transplant some of those lessons to Kenya.
First Impressions of DC
With jet-lag I am up at 4am, and after twisting and turning, I decide to take a walk around the block to get some air. And what strikes me always whenever I am away from Kenya is the sense of security that one feels. At that ungodly hour, there are people jogging; others walking their dogs and the odd drunk here and there. But no policemen lurking around the corner to demand my ID and use threats to extort cash. No thugs waiting to do the "ngetta" on me. There are numerous stores open and people getting to and from work. Serene. Peaceful. And I walked for 45 minutes clearing my head. And smiled to myself when the dog-walkers pick up after their dogs to make sure that there is no shit on the roads. At 4am when there is no one around!
In the day, there are hundreds of people walking and getting some sun. And there are numerous parks and spaces smack in the middle of the city that people can enjoy and sun themselves in. How wonderful. And the dog walkers in their dozens, with well trained dogs and carrying their doggie bags to clean up the shit…
But there are also homeless people in the parks with their plastic bags amidst all this wealth and success. How can a nation as rich as this one tolerate this? How can people be allowed to sleep outside, depending on charity when a nation is as rich as this one?
And then there are supermarkets that scare you with the choices one finds there. It's so hard to buy a loaf of bread or even milk with all the choices available…But it's great to see long-life plastic bags made from recycled plastic announcing that this bag was once a plastic bottle! Now that's a great idea that someone should pick up…!
Maina Kiai is the former chairman of the Kenyan Commission on Human Rights and is following the campaign trail with Barack Obama as a correspondent for the Nairobi Star and Kiss FM.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Nairobi Star. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Re Learning from the Obama Campaign, What a terrific article.I have the same feeling about Kenyans taking Obama and what he stands for and bringing it home. I am a white Afro American. Born in Tanzania & growing up in Kenya. My father was an American. Iam so proud of the way Obama has conducted himself. Kenyans can be proud too. I hope they can take this as an example to start making the right steps in the future government of Kenya. Thanks for your article.
Your writing doesn't say how long you've stayed in the United States, but surely you are aware that our laws released many mentally ill who are not a danger to themselves or others, many years ago. The people on the street are often mentally ill who choose to be there or not take their meds, also people who do not want to be controlled by the rules of the shelters or housing that is provided to the poor. You might be surprised by the pension checks of some of those poor on the streets. Of course, I'm not speaking of the children who have no say in the matter. But, having been to the interior of Zaire,( now Democratic Republic of the Congo) to India and to Hong Kong BCC refugee camps, I've never seen poverty here like that I saw there. Here, there are so many programs to feed people - WIC (for Women with Infants and Children), food stamps, shelters,& welfare, Section 8 housing, drug rehab. That wasn't available to those I saw in those other countries. But, we do have freedoms here to be on the street if you want to. Did you see alot of Kwashiorkor in D.C.? Is there an article you've written as to why you are here with Obama rather than helping your country? I'd like to read it.