Pamoja Tujenge

(Letter written to Sister Grace of Hakimani Centre Nairobi around June 2009 on the formation of Pamoja Tujenge, an initiative to bring warring pastoralists groups together through message of peace and reconciliation. The group did a small drama on the same for Hakimani. However, as to whys and wherefores of the demise of the group, history will be the honest judge.)

Dear Sister Grace,

Sister, when we met with you more than three months ago little did we know that we could come this far. As far as we were concerned Fr. Joseph wanted to meet us for some ‘small discussion’ which later turned into our meeting with you for that drama. Then we did it. We did it because we thought that you wanted some little drama. We did our part. At the back of our minds we strove to produce the best we could make of the whole event.

In the same session, we shared with you our dreams and our hopes, our desires and aspirations. We hinted to you what came into our minds. We indicated that our people back at home needed to be taught the message of peace, that they needed to stop the animosity between them and their neighbours. That they needed to be involved in some income-generating projects to give them a new lease of life. We shared them with you because we felt that our fates were somehow tied to the fates of these people, that their troubles were our troubles too and their poverty our poverty too.

And so a dream was born. An idea had sprung.

Pamoja Tujenge had been born.

In you was the embodiment of the driving force of such dream. If it be true that there was a candle stick of such a dream, then you were one—as for us we were the flame itself. Sister, it is worth mentioning that Pamoja Tujenge group is not any other group. Other groups are formed for convenience—we are not: in any case, we have lived in the crossfires of bullets and have known what war and peace means. Other groups might be motivated for some short-term personal fulfillment—we are not: dreams pursued by people like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi were achieved at great personal cost and sacrifice. We are guided by a philosophy, a philosophy that as privileged people from marginalized communities we have a sacred duty to ignite the spark of hope and peace where there appears to be none. Our collective dream is mirrored on our personal dreams to leave a legacy to God’s children that they might see light where there appears darkness.

That is why as a group we felt that visiting communities in Marsabit, Kainuk et al were most welcome. Personally, I feel that Hakimani will take me places and fulfil most of my burning desires.

Sister, where I was brought up I understand hardship. As I woke up in the morning every day, I drank from the cup of a people’s suffering and challenges. There was famine. There were reports of incessant raids. There was animosity between community and community. On an encouraging note, however, amidst such turmoil and hatred and suspicion there was this nagging hope, a hope that one day perceived enemies will see eye to eye and drink from the cup of brotherhood. 

Such a hope tugged in my heart and was written on people’s faces. Could such a hope be Pamoja Tujenge then? Can Pamoja Tujenge bring warring communities on a table of unity? Can Pamoja Tujenge reverse the bad blood between ostensibly rivaling communities? Of course Pamoja Tujenge cannot solve all of these. I cannot be foolhardy as to propose such. Peace is a plant of slow growth. It needs the manure of trust, the pour of give-and-take and the sun of brotherly love. I admit there will be challenges that the group will face. Despite these, I have confidence that the group will, in the fullness of time, have achieved its objectives. Some of the goals might be achieved instantly, others not in a year or 2 years or even 5 years—but they will surely be achieved and history will perhaps judge us kindly.

That is why, sister,we feel privileged for such an opportunity. You have raised concerns whether we can forget our communities once we are positioned somewhere in a place of influence. Your concerns are with merit. How many of us have ostracized ourselves from our communities once we landed jobs in the city? How many of us have shunned the places we were born and bred and never helped build them? How many of us have built an ‘iron curtain’ between ourselves and the communities we have come from and regarded them with contempt?

That is why when you raised the issue I was dumbfounded. Back in our villages our problems are legion. When we the educated ones come to the city in search of education it is like we are running from the disease of poverty of our people. We are mesmerized by the city life and train our minds to despise where we come from. Little do we know that even if we wear shoes in the city while our people walk on the soles of their bare feet in the village we are in essence dramatizing a theatre of our deferred dreams, hopes unrealized and tragic comic of our self-interest.

I don’t promise that I won’t work in Nairobi or any other big town. What I can promise is that so many have helped me on my way that I owe them. I will need to give back to society. I will need to share what I have in a program for the community. When we are born we are born naked. When we are dust to dust, our mortal bodies rot in nakedness. Of what benefit does it make if we live a posh life amidst hunger, ravages of war and penury of a people around us? What meaning will our wealth be for if we stash them in bank vaults while our fellow men are wasting away by the vagaries of life?

I am now entirely convinced that we are at a defined moment of history as a people from marginalized communities. As a people we are tired of killing and maiming each other. We are tired of chasing after the wind. We are tired of masking ourselves behind the mask of sadism and violence. But we need someone to talk to us, to push us to realize such a fact. That is why Pamoja Tujenge fits into this big picture.

Sister, I think I can be able to pick the smell of an idea with the scent of reinvigoration. At first such a scent was faint, almost smelling nothing. Time has passed now and the scent has diffused to something more inviting and appealing. We are such a scent, sister, the scent of renewed hope. The far we go depends on us. The beautiful thing is that nothing will hold us back because there really is no going back!