– Human rights work begins at home. I liked this piece, often when we think about politics in Kenya we often forget that the process of change begins at micro-level – how do we treat each other as Kenyans? What small acts can we engage in to change the culture of apathy?
– Speaking of change in Kenya, I LOVED this post by Onyango Oloo on celebrating the life of the late Wanjiru Kihoro. Far too often we forget (especially lately with the ODM/Narc-Kenya rubbish) the sacrifices many patriotic Kenyans made in order to get rid of Moi’s regime and as Oloo writes, it is unfortunate that Kenyans honor their (s)heroes when it is far too late. It is also remarkable to see just how much potential was lost after Narc’s victory – whatever happened to the Murungis and Karuas? Will this also happen to the next generation to activists?
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I agree, some human rights activists do beat their wives i hear, what does it matter. Or the University Lecturer pushing for their pay and at the same times,,paying their domestic helps nothing/pea nuts. Get you.
Do you really think OO had to politicize Dr.Kihoro’s eulogy? His explanation notwithstanding
About celebrating heroes when its too late: Most heros would cease to be heroes if they were so honored in their lifetime. The hero glory is perhaps just too much for mere mortals (Mandela seems to be an exception here ):neutral:.
All the same we should at least recog them in their lifetime.
You know the one that gets me? When they talk about freedom fighters they think the struggle stopped in 1963. That sucks. All those young men and women lying in unmarked graves who were killed by Moi fighting for multiparty democracy which some of us already take for granted, are my s(h)eroes. They are freedom fighters and may be our great great grand kids will notice that. How pathetic.
It is okay to look for the remains of our beloved Dedan Kimathi, but how about the fresh graves of those buried only yesterday fighting for the dignity of the nation? Should we just jump over them?
I never met Wanjiru, but the one thing that strikes me about her work and networks is that she was honestly non tribalist. The level of tribalism and ethnic machismo among the human rights activists and their organizations is the most disgusting aspect of our political failures as a people. I am sure we shall overcome that too, but Wanjiru seems to have been a true trailblazer on that front.
I do agree that human rights starts with the way we treat each other as individuals in our immediate environment. I mean how can a lady say she is for gender equality and empowerment yet she has a 15 your old housegirl that she pays peanuts?
I do agree that as Kenyans we hardly ever do recognise our heroes and that is why young people seem to know very little about their heritage.
Hey Ory,
I work for the ONE Campaign and I’ve been tasked with looking for blogs that talk about extreme poverty and AIDS. Our Online Organizer here, Ginny Simmons, wants our blog (www.theONEblog.org) to be better connected with, and help to build up – the poverty blogosphere.
I thought maybe being a Kenyan and a graduate of Harvard law, you might be particularly interested in networking with us as we try to make contact with other individuals and groups interested in wiping out poverty and AIDS in places like Kenya.
We recently put out a new ONE TV Spot. It’d be great if you wanted to post it on your blog. You can find code for the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G3bNxStYBI&eurl=
The rest of our ONE videos are here: http://www.youtube.com/theonecampaign.
We’d be really interested in hearing from you. Please shoot an email back to me (one@one..org) with any questions, ideas or thoughts.
Thank you so much for all your good work.
Meagan McManus
The ONE Team