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Of course by now you very well know Mwacha mila ni mtumwa! I could end my diary right there; take out my snuff box and my three legged stool, and sit under the mvule tree sipping my traditional brew with fellow elders.
But because I am in no hurry, I will tell you one or two things. In my lifetime I have seen and done a lot. I have also traveled to see the world; and the world has seen me. In my travels, I have interacted with different cultures and admired how human beings are able to transmit that which they hold dear to their progeny.
One of the most important tool of cultural transmission is language. I will not belabor to tell you how important your mother tongue is. But if you lose your mother tongue and adapt strangers’ tongue, then you are no better than a robot moving with the commands of the programmer.
Maybe you have encountered modern parents who are so proud of their children because they cannot utter a single word in the native language of their parents. This malaise is not only with diaspora parents but also prevalent in many homes in Kenya.
Teach your children a few words in your mother tongue, and they will not need an interpreter when they meet with your mother! You will be surprised how fast a child learns a language. That child will thank you in adulthood for being multilingual.
Let your children learn our ways, that we respect elders, that it is not in our traditions for a three year old to argue with parents and throw a tantrum when the family wants to turn off the TV in order to say the Grace!
Tell your children your ancestry. Remind then from which community and clan you come from, show them pictures of your ancestors. Do not be ashamed that your grandmother was wearing traditional garbs; that your grandpa was walking bare chested, it is part of your legacy. Show your child that you are proud of your heritage as an African person.
You may have noticed how many African Americans troop to West Africa to reconnect with their roots. How the European Americans are proud of their sir names and can name six generations of their ancestors. It is so Biblical to know where you came from, read the book of Chronicles and the Gospels if you doubt me.
Finally, when you visit the homeland, do not hide your children in the city for fear of jiggers in the village. Show your children your derelict primary school and your local church. Show them the river where you fetched water as a lad, the thickets where you hunted wild quails, and the field where the whole village gathered once a month to watch Sinema Kwa Wote.
By Mzee Moja
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From my experience Africans are ashamed of their continent because of the reality that Africa is. African countries are sysnonymous with the following:
1. Poverty. I'm not taliking about poverty from the western Standards perspective. I'm thinking about the poverty that means you have no shelter and food.
2. Diseases and the lack of health care thereof.
3. strieve and at worse endless conflicts and wars which bring a lot of sufferings.
4. Corruptions and the inevitable underdevelopment.
These, issues among others make people, especially inthe diaspora not to be pround to be Africans. As a result they are unconsiciouly trying to rid themselve through their children of the undesirable tag.
For those parents in our home country who do not teach their children their native language, the reason has something to do with the common mis-conception that those who speak English or any other European languages are the cream of the society so to speak.
I also suffered the same mis-conception as I was growing up. I used to look upto and admire those that were fluent in those languages. I later realised this was wrong and I personally teach my children our native languages.
I guess the problem with most parent still hold on those misconceptions and therefore the attemt to make sure that their children will be the ones that get admired.
I hope that we all realise how wrong this is.
"Show your children your derelict primary school and your local church. Show them the river where you fetched water as a lad, the thickets where you hunted wild quails, and the field where the whole village gathered once a month to watch Sinema Kwa Wote" I like the first two things and which I did during my latest travel back home. The kids really loved to see and hear that. That was very original.
I also concur with your observation that Kenyan parents, both in the diaspora or in Kenya are dropping their native languages like a hot "ugali" as we used to say back home. Unbeknowingly to a lot of parents, both our language and culture are melting away into a possible oblivion that moment we lose by not teaching our native languages to our younger generation.As observed, African Americans yearn so much to reconnect with their motherland, Africa, but it is too late.As original African born and raised, we have a golden opportunity to offer this cultural education for free, just like we received it ourselves. We do not even have to buy a book, just speak it to your young ones. You know what excuse I heard from both type of parents; that the kids will have trouble learning our colonial masters' language or whatever. I tell them that is nonsennse. By the time they hit middle school, your child is required to learn additional European languages(French, German, Spanish, name it) and the like.
Talk of underestimating own kids' capability!
I was reading an article, proof me wrong whereby in Switzerland, kids from elementary undertake learning using six languages and they make it. Why? Because kids are not like adults. They have enormous mental capability that we lose as we grow into adulthood and beyond.
I would implore our African brothers not to buy this myth that children will not pronounce or write the Queens's English well, you are with me here?