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On Wednesday night, the Director of Ujamaa Center, Patrick Ochieng, offered me a ride partway home. What I didn’t realize was that during the 5 minutes between that offer and getting in the car he decided to take me elsewhere. After passing the place he was supposed to drop me we went into Mombasa town, drove in circles for a while, all the time chuckling about how we were off to see the Mau Mau, then ended up at a film festival dedicated to the Mau Mau.
From my time in Kenya a while back, I had been versed in the Mau Mau revolution. The Mau Mau’s were a guerillas group that fought against the British colonial government in Kenya and strongly influenced Kenyan independence. I’ve even been to the cave they used as their main hideout/staging ground. Regardless, I was given no decision. To Patrick and the other Kenyans I was with, this film festival was crucial for me to attend. Kenyans are PROUD of their country, but also want to expose the hardships they endured to get independence.
My center is build around people who are activists and extreme human rights proponents. Their proactivity is invigorating (the only thing I don’t like is their extreme distaste for globalization, but that’s a conversation for another blog entry). The festival is based around movements. Wednesday was based on just the Mau Mau. Thursday night I saw a Rosa Parks documentary and an Oliver Stone interview with Fidel Castro – that man won my heart, he is an amazing leader and human being.
I learned some incredible stuff about the post-independence nation and the lack of heroes. The one hero after independence was their first president, Jomo Kenyatta. He was labeled the leader of the Mau Mau, but actually had no association with them and condemned their violent resistance. The British eventually quelled the Mau Mau rebellion, but realized that the fight to hold Kenya was futile and gave power to Kenyatta on the condition that the Mau Mau be unrecognized for their struggles. From Kenyan independence in 1963 until 2003 the Mau Mau fighters were given nothing for their struggles and service to Kenya. The land they fought for was given to others and students at school were told little about them. Many were taught that their movement was savage, casting a negative light on the immense hardship their struggle entailed. Luckily, they have finally brought that injustice to light and the veterans are getting some reparations.
The festival has filled me with a rebellious spirit. I can’t remember the last time I felt the proud about our country’s civil rights movement. Watching that Rosa Parks video and contrasting it against the Mau Mau video I saw the night before, I gained a lot of respect for the civility of society. The video had Martin Luther King Jr’s first speech as the leader of the African American anti-segregation movement. It crushed my apathy, it gave me new hope on how the world can be changed through united people. Movements take strength, they take sacrifice, and when you combine that with passion and belief, you can turn the world upside down.
2 comments:
Hi Eli,
Sarah's Mom again. The belief and passion are what many of us are feeling about Obama. Let's hope he can pull this off. When we were in Kenya this summer, almost everyone we met who found out we were Americans, asked us if we thought Obama would win. There was an immense sense of pride in him. Have you seen that too?
There is indeed a huge sense of pride in Obama, but I have also talked to many who wisely say that it is misplaced. They know that Obama is an American, every last part of him. Yet, many have failed to see that and think that Obama will be their savior. I've even heard people saying, "We will be leading you!" Pride has spilled over into delusions of grandeur! The director of my center as gone as far as to say that before Obama finishes his presidency, he will bomb Africa just to show the country he is not affiliated with Africa. I don't believe that in the slightest, but it's an interesting theory!
Anyways, it is right for them to be proud, but no more so than we can be to know that our country has come far enough to look past ethnic backgrounds and elect a man's mind over his color.
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