In
January 2008 our dreams
of
making a home
for
fifteen years
were
beaten out of matatus
on
the Nairobi-Nakuru highway
at
Naivasha
and
slaughtered.
The
blood
that
flowed as runoff
was
licked dry by rabid flames
in
the market centres and villages
of
Uasin Gishu.
And
our hearts remembered
Sikuzaliwa juu ya miti
Ninako kwetu
Ninako kwetu
Kwa Baba na Mama.
(i) Ninako kwetu. KiSwahili: “I have a home”
(ii) Eldoret, Nairobi, Nakuru, Naivasha. Towns in Kenya. Uasin Gishu. A county in
Kenya.
(iii) The song. “Ndoa ya Mateso” by Marijani Rajab and Dar International. The song
was a favourite of the Voice of Kenya (VoK) Radio deejays in the 1980s. At the
time the state-owned VoK was the only radio station in Kenya. The quoted lyrics
translated: “I was not born on trees/ I have a home/ I have a home/ The place
of Father and Mother.”
Prof. T. Michael Mboya teaches in the Department of Literature, Theatre and Film Studies at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. @TomMichaelMboya
