Peace, Love and Harmony

My name is Gloria Tsuma Owichira. Usually,most people are unable to guess which tribe I am from.The only people that accurately get it right are those who know my father or who know that he drives a white pickup in Kakamega. The ones who 'always know' things guess Giriama and feel good about themselves because they have utilized their wisdom to impress.And then I say,NO.I am not from coast and just to rattle them I throw in a very smooth Swahili accent whilst denying that I am from Coast.(by the way,we are talking about the name Tsuma).And then there is this group which pronounce Zuma,and then ask whether am related to Jacob Zuma of South Africa.eeeerh,dude,you baptize me and then ask me about relations that you invented yourself? The smaller group just calls Juma and an even smaller one calls Chuma.Is all good.
We have not started on OWICHIRA,it is a pretty easy name to pronounce,actually, one just needs to follow the syllables and you are home(O-WI-CHI-RA).Now,this one none ever gets it,where is this one from?Keep thinking.
And then-----wait for it....my mother,my real birth mother is called Ruth Njeri.And my sister Ciru and my bro Wachira John.
How now?
How is that my father married a Kikuyu Lady and gave birth to Kihya children.

For the most part of my life I have met people with different names especially in Campus.In fact,I have not met as many Luhyas.At one point,the people I got together with to put up a production while in school were all from different parts of this country.One of my friends is called Wanjiku Mwawuganga.What does it make her? Kiata?

My point is that,tribe should not matter as much as it does.Why is it important for someone in an office somewhere to first of all know where the name Tsuma comes from before we can discuss my agenda for the meeting?

Tribe is a beautiful thing and the fact that we are blessed as Kenya to have more than 42 tribes should not be what breaks our land rather what unites us.

It is our various cultures that should matter if anything should matter.
People hate when the comedians make jokes leaning along tribal lines but what you do not see is that,that is what tribalism is about. Making jokes and being happy about the Kamba because that is who they are.Why should we not make light of the situation.

The Luhya memes making rounds are too funny for life and personally I do not mind when we look at it that way.
Our cultures are diverse and we miss the point when we confuse tribe and identity. I think it is one of the lowest forms of interaction with a fellow human being when you form an image of who you imagine the person is based on tribe.When you refuse to acccept somebody because of their tribe.When you stubbornly bypass all the other qualities of a human being and dismiss them solely on the basis of tribe.

We need to understand that for so many of us,a concoction of various tribe DNA runs in our blood and we are essentially tribeless.So,in the school of tribal profiling,where do we fall?

The election is near,and I would wish that for the first time,especially we the youth(18-35),would style up.Take the time,to read the manifestos of each candidate and what they bring to the table.

I always wonder if people became sheep when the news anchor drops a line that goes something like these"the M.P is charged with incetement".Muy question is inciting who? Why exactly do you accept to be told to either kill or destroy property? Unless of course you have changes and become a sheep.

I was in Kakamega when the mayhem that was the aftermath of the 2007 elections happened.I was there when mad men burned down rental houses belonging to a "Kikuyu woman", when they burnt her house down,her daughter who was in the house at the time narrowly escaping death.Have I mentioned that these were the houses where they were living.

They went from house to house trying to flush out their friends who suddenly became enemies because their last name sounded Kikuyu-ish.
We sat in our house and prayed and prayed hoping that our neighbors from when I was eleven years old would not turn on us because my mothers last name was Njeri.

They burnt matatus ,they burnt shops and then went home.Those who were unfortunate enough went under tight police security to where their last name would be accepted.Still they prayed to arrive safely because the road to that place was full of people who did not like that you looked a certain way,or did not communicate using another language,forget the fact that you can very well communicate in Swahili or English.

It took forever for Kakamega to catch up in terms of business again.Instead of learning from these people with a different name we punished them for it and we were left to pay the price.
In truth,we made the situation worse because now we really had a reason to hate those with a different last name.Because everyday ,we see the scars left ( burnt hospital buildings,children sired whose fathers their mothers could not remember because the process of airing was not only by force but painful and rough and a betrayal,single women whose husbands suddenly realized they were not from the same place as them,homeless people who have tried and tried to start their lives over but seem not to be able to because they were burned out of the places they knew to be home for generations).

These scars can indeed cause pain and increase animosity between people whose last names betray them but someone once said that a scar is a mark that you defeated the wound.
This should be our saying too,that these scars we bear should remind us again and again that the price for whatever has been fully paid and that such a transaction is fruitless and it in facts leaves us more broke than when we started.

That we are better off loving ourselves and accepting that we do not have to know where Tsuma is from before we can write a play together,before we can do business together.

We need to accept that when we finally know where Tsuma is from we will celebrate her not condemn her to eternal doom.

I would like us to refuse to be told what to do because a certain individual wishes to have a bodyguard and get stamps on his passport (codename for politician).
I happen to know that when a certain film crew went to shoot in a big hotel on an island in Mombasa,they peeped at the visitors book.And,the guest list,was full of politicians names during the period that we were busy hacking and burning one another.
Especially the youth,style up I say.

I am aware that what happened was also spiritual.I always say that the devil on his to and from the earth strolls,was passing by Kenya at the time.So,let us always remember to pray for peace for Kenya and our borders.Let us also pray for individual grace to never look at our friends in the eyes of tribe.

Love,Peace Harmony.

I AM...

I am...who am I really? I have been plagued by that question a lot lately.I have not found an answer yet.What am sure of is that I am a woman who is in the process of refining,you know like gold.Before it becomes like gold.
So; where were we?
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