Our intangible cultural heritage is vital, but goes unrecognised

Traditional games played by most Kenyan children involved enacting various social scenarios and practical thinking and creativity.

I watched a video on social media in which a little girl is imploring her parents, “Help me mother! Help me father!” though not in those exact words.

She is worried about technology and its increasingly important role in the lives of parents at the expense of nurturing and guiding their children. Ironically it is to the credit of the same technology that many people will get to see that video.

The child lauds technology as innovation, creativity and modernization – all of which should be good products of a growing society – but also rightfully points out that they cannot replace nurturing and guidance, which are the primary roles parents are supposed to play in a child’s life.

Parents are using video games and sweets, and spending most of their time on laptops or WhatsApp.  In a professional context, the child is decrying the acquisition and protection of material heritage at the expense of intangible heritage.

Intangible or ‘living’ forms are the traditions that are inherited from one generation to next, and are the main mode of transmission of knowledge and principles that enable us to interact with nature and the universe.

It also transmits traditional technologies and crafts which have been proven to be very environmentally friendly. Why would a parent want to give their children sweets in place of mental, spiritual and psychological nurturing?

PLAYING 'HEADMASTER'

Sugar lacks essential nutritional elements that help in physical and mental development of the young.

Sweets increase a child’s propensity to obesity, especially when combined with video games which involve little or no physical activity, not to mention the dental bills that are likely to follow, the never- ending coughs and many other side effects.

If parents critically examine the benefits of video games, they may find that it is cheaper, and healthier, to buy a child a real ball than a football video game. Many supposedly ‘science fiction’ games that involve violent conquests by aliens and other forms of life are actually 99 per cent fiction and 1 percent science!!

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Traditional games played by most Kenyan children in the past involved varieties of enacting social scenarios and role-playing, with actors chosen among children. Though recreational, these games served as a mechanism of knowledge transfer.

A child would for example be given the role of headmaster and they would do their best to demonstrate the authority of the headmaster.  A child given the roles of mother would practice nurturing, guidance and carrying out other roles and chores that are designated to mothers.

Even if our highly educated and modern society is happy to throw around words like ‘practices make perfect’, it does not care to encourage children to practice various roles and responsibilities in traditional games, since they earn enough to buy video games.

LEARN BY DISMANTLING

The world recognized this need when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted the Convention for the safeguard of intangible cultural heritage in 2003. In daily life, this means protecting and safeguarding those simple things that are appropriate for the heritage in question, by ensuring they remain an active part in the lives of today’s generations.

To keep interest in such simple things is to protect the intangible heritage of our country which reaffirms our common destiny and identity, not to mention the knowledge that they transmit.

We fail to appreciate the creativity children show when they see a lorry on the highway and afterwards spend time to make a similar one using locally-available materials.

We claim modernity, but are unwilling to pay to make the transfer of knowledge from our children to their age-mates possible. A parent will buy a child a video game, but will not want the child to dismantle it in an effort to establish how it works. We are only willing to adopt technology as consumers.

Lack of appreciation and understanding of what is truly ours in the face of globalization is the biggest threat to our future.

It does not even take a cent out of our 2-trillion budget, but is in our heads and our hearts.  Why don’t we use it again?

NYS is a noble idea! Do not politicize the project.

Caleb Otaru (Left) and Steve Umeme (Right) In Service 2004 - Kisii Sub-Unit!

Many people have blindly commended the Kenya (Jubilee) government for its commitment to ensuring that the dream of empowering the youth is alive! One of the areas that they highlight is the Sh25 billion allocation towards youth employment and re-engineering the National Youth Service (NYS) as a vehicle for transforming and empowering the youth.

As an NYS graduate, I wish to shed some light into this matter! I took time to go through the revamped NYS structure and objectives and I think it would be counter-productive to demonize this good initiative!

In line with the Jubilee manifesto, the government is committed to revamp and restructure the NYS into a robust and dynamic institution to drive the youth transformation agenda. As I have realized, the revamped NYS is a key ingredient in ensuring that the Kenyan youth are more empowered and play a greater role in the development of the country.

The danger of having a large non-working population is that the country may experience rising crime rates that will eventually result in higher insecurity rates than today.

Therefore, the NYS can be one of those deliberate measures that will boost job creation. Otherwise, we are looking at a potential crisis that will see the country’s future go to the dogs as we witnessed during the 2007/08 post-election violence.

It is therefore saddening that, this past 2 weeks, we had to witness deliberate political machination that led to the destruction of one of the projects by the NYS in Kibera. It is sad that there are still politicians that will incite the youth to destroy development projects for political gains!

I must commend the youthful Kibra MP Ken Okoth who has refused to be drawn into this kind of politics and his commitment to having the NYS projects continue. He has made it clear that there has been transformation in his constituency and he would wish to see more.

I must also commend the Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru who acted swiftly when she realized that there were people who were trying to siphon funds from the NYS. The CS acted in the right manner in ensuring that the taxpayer does not lose money and that the dream of transformation is not put in jeopardy.

It is therefore discouraging to see some elected leaders oppose these programs under the pretext that they have not been involved and consulted. While leaders have a role to play in their community, this must not stop the government from initiating programs that directly benefit the youth.

No Kenyan should allow politicians to kill the dream of empowering the Kenyan youth who hold the torch to the country’s prosperity.

The new NYS is a noble idea that must be protected by all Kenyans. Following the three recruitment cycles, the NYS contingent has grown from 6,000 to 31,000 in just slightly over one year. Another 10,935 recruits will be recruited in September 2015, to bring the total to about 42,000.
We must realize that from the NYS policy document, this servicemen and women are not the only ones who are benefiting from the programme. They are working hand in hand with the youth in the communities that they have been deployed in.

For instance, in Kibera, the youth working alongside the NYS have a channel to make money daily and they improve their surroundings. They are receiving more than Sh. 400 a day working as casual laborer’s – this is even more than others have been getting by walking to Industrial area and doing similar jobs.

We must also avoid being told that the NYS is only working in Kibera. We know that they are also in Mathare, Kisumu and Mombasa, and there are plans to have the new recruits build 1,100 dams and pans each year as well as do mechanized and manual road construction at county level.
The re-branded NYS now operating under the mantra “True to self; True to Country” and aimed at having more young people gain skills and knowledge that not only helps them grow but the country also develop. The NYS graduates are training thousands of youths in different skills in the 47 counties per year in a period of between four to six months. JUST WHICH POLITICIAN IS BLIND ENOUGH NOT TO SEE THIS!?!!

In short, if NYS can reach more than 300,000 youth in one year, the intention is to create the one million youth match in four years. This is a social transformation army, armed with skills and charged with the responsibility of transforming the other youths.

The new NYS does not stop there are as once trained, the youths will be linked up to the Self Employment Programme Unit (SEPU) for start-up loans with Sh1 billion already set aside for this. Life skills are also important and the trainees will have to make a mandatory saving and SEPU will match the savings with some funds to enable them start up.

The plan to have the NYS take over traffic control in selected parts of the country and provide security for slum areas and in non-strategic government installations is also a welcome development. This will release other security agencies such as the police to concentrate on dealing with insecurity that has been dogging the country.

NYS will also have a security firm where Kenyans can hire NYS guards to protect them making them the alternative to militia groups and vigilantes. This is one of the many ways that we can deal with unemployment in the country and have a community that is economically empowered.

And so just like we dedicate a lot of resources to handling other issues such as insecurity, Kenya must make a deliberate attempt to make NYS one of the ways of dealing with unemployment. We will have solved half of the issues facing the country such as insecurity, poverty and drug and substance abuse if we handle unemployment among the youth.

Financial muscle synergy??

Telecommunication firms are now facilitating mainstream banking, clearing the air that mobile banking will overtake banking in halls.
Mobile money has transformed the way people transfer money.
For instance, a farmer in the village can now sell his produce and deposit the money on his phone - a sevice that is easily available and accessible in the village. He can then transfer the money from his mobile network to his bank account. All this is now possible without stepping in a banking hall: Talk of convenience!!

Mobile money is fast becoming a preferred banking option for customers. To tap into that growth plan, different banks have had to roll out mobile banking services to not only simplify banking but also create convenience for its customers. this intergration happened in Kenyan years back! Uganda is quickly adopting this move and its expected that banks will reap huge from this platform! This will give banks a chance to deepen financial services and reach the un-banked population in the country.

“Today, over 19 million people have access to mobile phone services and of this number, over 14 million use mobile money services, on this platform, customers send money to any mobile phone, mobile money and any bank in any country and also withdraw, using the same platform. You can also pay utilities, school fees and buy airtime for any telecom at a favourable service charge  per transaction.
Mobile wallets 

Currently in Uganda, Banks with mobile wallets include: Centenary Bank’s cente mobile, dfcu bank’s dfcu mobile, among others. With mobile banking, one can do balance enquiries, mini-statement requests, bill pay payments such as electricity and pay TV, funds transfer to nominated accounts, Full statement requests and pin changes.
This effectively moves Uganda closer to achieving the paper-less economy! The Ugandan population should now be anxious to see this integration go further to include goods payments on a wider range of retail outlets, payment for government services, tendering and even individual tills to transact with family and friends!
NOW THIS IS FINANCIAL MUSCLE INTEGRATED!

Kenyan budget 2015/16 summary

Partying will continue as smokers and drinkers fund the budget, Kenyans will still travel and pay hiked fares with a smile, Landlords will literally transfer their 12% tax on to tenants but still occupancy will remain steady at between 80 & 100%! The budget has a deficit of close to 700 bilion! Good thing is, there is wider catch with govt bonds having reduced initial investment to 3k from 50k! Here is a listing of major gainers and losers;

LOSERS

1. Smokers, alcohol lovers and motor vehicle importers – The excise duty bill proposes new charge on harmful items be levied on cigarettes, alcohol, motor vehicles and plastic bags.

2. Lottery operators – They will be taxed at 5 per cent of turnover; bookmakers at 7.5 per cent.

3. Motorists – Fuel is expected to go up after the road maintenance levy went up by Sh3 per litre of petrol and diesel.

4. Tooth paste manufacturers – Import duty rate for plastic tubes used to package toothpaste has been raised from 10 to 25 per cent.

WINNERS

1. Landlords – A tax amnesty was announced for landlords on all arrears to improve revenue collection.

2. Prison officers – They will henceforth enjoy similar duty-free import privileges as members of armed forces.

3. Police – The minister has allocated Sh1.7 billion for medical insurance for the police. He also set aside Sh7.7 billion for leasing of police and prison vehicles.

4. Film makers – To build up film industry, all payments by foreign producers to local actors and crew exempt from withholding tax. Excise duty on imported film products has also been removed.

5. Youth – Employers will get tax rebate for employing 10 or more youth for 6-12 months. This is to encourage hiring of interns and apprentices. Mr Rotich also allocated Sh850 million to Uwezo Fund, Sh500m to Women Enterprise Fund and Sh300m to the Youth Enterprise Fund. He also set aside Sh25bn towards youth employment and re-engineering the National Youth Service.

6. Pregnant women – Sh59.2 billion was set aside for preventive and curative health services of which free maternity health is Sh4.3 billion.

7. Teachers/education – The minister allocated Sh181 billion to TSC including for 5,000 new teachers, and Sh17.6bn for the laptop programme. He also allocated Sh335.7 billion for education: Free day secondary education funds raised to Sh32.7bn, free primary education to Sh14.1bn.

8. Athletes – Mr Rotich set aside Sh1.8 billion to construct stadiums in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret.

Why I think ladies get it wrong!

Many ‪#‎LADIES‬ are known to base their marital decisions on things that will not endure a life-time. These have led many of them into wrong marriages and life time bondage. We need to identify and deal with them:

1) HEIGHT: Every girl’s dream is to marry a tall, dark guy with a baritone voice, I wonder where they got the idea that tall guys are better in marriage. Hey Girls, tall guy can give you tall problems; it is not the height that matters but the depth of the guy in God and in character.

2) MUSCLE: Muscular and heavy looking guys are also lucky, they are seen to be good suitors, and girls do say “they look manly” “they look like real men”. Sorry Girls, muscles do not make a real man, character and ability to shoulder responsibility do. A guy with muscle without character will use his muscles to deal with you and batter your beautiful face.

3) A WELL SET HOUSE: A guy with a well set house is the dream of any girl any day. Many girls will throw caution into the wind to grab a man who have a house with King size; beautiful
Italian Settee, micro wave oven, well stock freezer, home theater, refrigerator, gas cooker, Plasma TV,6 by 6 bed, well stuff Kitchen, Dining
table, washing machine, dish washers, split unit air conditioner etc is a dream catch for girls any day. Sorry girl, a well set house is good but it may be a well set trouble if the guy is not a man
of character, manners or discretion, he will make the house look like a prison yard for you.

4) FAT BANK ACCOUNT: Girls are fond of trying to know how rich a guy is by checking the guy’s phones for bank alerts. They joyfully decide to marry a guy when they discover the guy is very rich with fat Bank balance. What a mistake? They don’t want to know where the money is coming from; they don’t even want to know what the
guy does for a living. What concerns them is the money that is available to be spent. Many girls ended up finding themselves entangled for life in this kind of situation, don’t base your marriage on GREED, it won’t turn to GREEN.

5) PLACE OF WORK: Some of our girls are in the habit of making marital decision base on the place a guy works. You dare not talk of marriage
to them if you are a Teacher or civil servant. You dare not propose them if you are working with a small firm, or one man business. What an error?
Girls note that, that a guy works in ACCESS BANK does not mean he will give you ACCESS to his heart or peace of mind. A guy that works in SHELL may put your life in a SHELL forever, you may not be the FIRST in the life of a guy that works in FIRST BANK, a guy that work in GUARANTEE TRUST BANK may not GUARANTEE your future. He may be working in NESTLE but not
SETTLE you at home, So it is not about where he is working but about who is working in Him, God or devil.

6) ROMANCE: A young lady said, “The guy is romantic, hot and sexy, i will marry him” Stop girl!!!!, Romance is not enough for marriage. The truth is, most so called romantic guys don’t
remain like that after wedding. Marry a guy base on qualities that will endure, romance don’t last forever, go and ask married women.

7) TYPE OF CAR: A whole lots of girls will be enticed by a guy driving a big and expensive car. Some will not even go out with a guy that does not have a car. If you want to mess yourself as a
guy, ride on a bike to go and propose to a lady, you will hear the story of your life. Ladies, a guy that has a CAR may not CARE for you, life is not about CAR, it is about marrying somebody that will CARE for your future. AND: Most girls will readily marry anybody with US or UK passports, Lots of girls have destroyed their lives in the process of looking for somebody with a foreign passport to marry.

9) HIS PERFORMANCE IN THE CHOIR: It is funny that some ladies are ready to get marry to some guys because they are very good in the choir, they can
play Sax, keyboard, drums, trumpet and sing tenor and Bass very well, I wonder whether they want to start a choir band in their houses.

10) RICH PARENT: Children of Rich parents are easy target for many young girls not because they are in love with them, but they know they
will have access to money and connection. Many of these guys come from rich are pompous, cocky, proud and will be terrible and irresponsible husbands and fathers tomorrow but
girls will not care about that, Most of these girls do live to regret their wrong decision. Don’t marry anybody just because the parents are rich, marry the person for who he is and the love you share together.

11) FELLOWSHIP LEADERSHIP: Many Christian ladies are ready to die to marry brothers that are in the executives of their Campus fellowship.
They fight tooth and nail to get the attention of these brothers, some even go to the extent of offering their bodies. Many of these ladies think that the best of all men are in the executives of the Campus fellowship, they’ve forgotten that A PRESIDENT OF THE FELLOWSHIP MAY NOT BE A RESIDENT OF HEAVEN.

12) BEDROOM EXPERTISE: One of the most stupid way to make a decision who to marry as a lady is to base it on how good, sexy or terrific a Guy is, in
the bedroom. If you base your marital
decision on a man’s sexual prowess; you may end up with a play boy instead of a Husband. You may end up getting marry to a sex hunter, instead of a real lover, a universal sperm donor who will sleep with your sister, house maid, friends, girls in the neighborhood, his secretary and anything in skirt that cross his paths.

DON’T GO FOR SEX GO FOR SENSE?

An open letter to the new generation youth

Dear young star,

Young man, I pray that these few words of wisdom will find you neither ‘high’ nor drunk so at the last word of this letter you may have a conclusive plan for your life.

I know that your age refrains from books and reading. You would rather spend your precious time checking out the latest vines on YouTube and ‘sexting’ endlessly on Whatsapp. This explains the ignorance being witnessed in our institutions of higher learning. Therefore, under the above considerations I will take upon myself keep my statements precise and concise.

1. Life is not party!

This doesn’t make sense to you, right? You feel something is amiss when you are not nursing a hangover or contented without having a fix to your oral fixation. You love the flirt of a loose lady and hear yourself loud blubbering of how you blacked out as an accomplice of debauchery. Alcohol was invented to make men brave and women loose after all.

While having a good time is essential for all, elevating it to a pedestal of priority is hazardous. Young as you are, you have three great advantages; youth, time and little responsibilities. Engage in constructive engagements so that you can challenge yourself and discover your strengths, learn some skills and enlighten other.

2. Misplaced priorities

There is time for everything, ambition is good but keep it on a leash. If given enough time and thought everything will fall into place then. This will keep disappointments and stress a bay.

You will come to realize that some of the definitions the world gives about marriage, love and success are self-centred, self-seeking and totally misleading. According to common norms the world equates success to power, privilege and wealth. On the other hand, true success has a lot more to do with who we are as individuals than what we accomplish.

If you chase money and power you’ll be blinded to the most important things in your life. In everything: honour, passion and hard work will see you rewarded.

Don’t forget the greatest thing you will ever do is being positive influence in your family, society and country.

3. Relationships and Women

Learn where to get attached and where to keep distance. Have it in mind that 25 percent of the people you will meet along in your life will never have a kind word for you even after extending an olive branch. For such, wash your hands and walk away. Don’t associate yourself where you are not appreciated. It’s their loss.

Remember that you will get married to one woman, meaning that 99 percent of your relationships will fail for that 1percent. As much as pain accompanies rejection appreciate the chance provided to learn from your mistakes. Its failures that refines men!

And when you fall in love look for these three: faithfulness, integrity and ability. Is she faithful i.e. is her word her guard, does her character match with what she professes and finally does she have the ability to love you for who you are? Of course you won’t marry someone with the same testosterone levels; let her physical attributes become secondary.

Many men know how to win a girl’s heart but few know the art of treasuring it. Treasure your woman and you will be surprised.

4. Learn the art of solitude

Social media has made us dependent on each other. It has become a very noisy world. Solitude provides time for oneself to reflect. Solitude is not loneliness; it is the peaceful time you spend with yourself without any distraction such as TV or phones. Why is this important? It gives one a chance to love oneself and derive happiness from within. I am responsible for my own happiness, not my wife or friends. Them they compliment my happiness.

It is important for a man to have time to reflect and rebase his esteem and self-confidence. Release his frustrations and strategize for his future. So when you get the chance to be alone practice the art.

5. Men and Leadership

Our generation has the most feminized male species from their dressing to decision making. It has come to a point you only identify a man by the flatness of the chest or the bulge of the pants. Our men make decisions on how the ‘feel’ and not what they think.

Men are wired to think so that they can provide solutions not evade responsibilities and accountability.

Every man was born a leader. This doesn’t mean you dismiss any lady’s opinion. You have to claim your ‘respectful title’ by proving you are worth the salt. A leader is not arrogant but rather gives cues. He is first a servant and has a teachable spirit. He is ready to accommodate and compromise where necessary.

Lastly, learn to acknowledge God in all your ways. You will never be disappointed.

Good luck.

My life as a DOG!

While I was going about my business sniffing here and there, marking a bush or two with my pee, I kept wondering if there was a new way to hide my hard earned bones other than the traditional dig-a-hole-and-bury method.  Where could I put my bones and watch them grow so I didn’t have to keep scavenging like the stray dog that I am? How could I become the most successful and happiest dog in the neighborhood just like Bosco the smooth furred happy-but-scary bulldog down the street? What did he do to become that confident and powerful? He sure is very ugly but why is his bowl always full? Why is his pack that big?

I decided to face my fears and confront the happiest and most confident dogs [that I admired] in the neighborhood and ask them what their secret was. I was surprised how warmly these happy dogs received me. You see as a dog you get used to being constantly chased off marked territories with your tail right between your legs so you can understand this was new to me! Anyway I asked them how they did it and they gave me five investment options to making my pile of bones grow and most of all being a happy dog.

Invest in yourself; the Bulldog said
Investing in yourself should be your biggest priority. How good are you at fetching? Can you sniff better than the next dog? Are your teeth constantly clean? What do you know about catching a rabbit mid air? Do you practice? As a dog you are constantly in a state of growth. The only difference between you and the next dog is your rate of growth. If you don’t grow you become irrelevant over time. Growth starts from knowledge; how to run without tiring, how to know what to chase and what not to waste your energy on among the things you should master. Knowledge becomes power because it changes the way you act and react. When you put an effort into gaining more knowledge you have understood the first rule of investing in yourself.

Investing in yourself should be your biggest priority. You wish you had a few less pounds so you could run faster? Or you with you had more muscle so you could be the better dog in the fight? Invest in keeping in shape by knowing how your body works and embarking on a training program that will suit you. Keep your fur clean so you can be confident. Keep your teeth clean and sharp and avoid eating leftovers. In our world dogs are attracted to unique dogs who posses’ unusual capability. What is the one unique thing that you posses that a pack will identify you with? Is it how you sniff? Is it how you hunt? What are you good at? Surely you don’t want to be the poor lonely pup that no one remembers for anything! Invest in your uniqueness and the world will reward you for it.

Invest in Family; the Pug said
I know a dog who knows a beagle who dedicated his life to fetching and collecting bones and in the process became very successful… and lonely. During his quest for tasty bones he paid little attention to his bitch and puppies because he convinced himself that he was doing everything so they could enjoy a never ending supply of food in the future. Now his puppies are all grown up and are always turning down his generous gestures because they feel like they are being bribed. His bitch left him and married an average retriever whose big heart compensates for his often empty bowl and they are quite happy. Our rich beagle is forever lonely and what’s more sad is that all the friends he has right now are there because of his pile of bones. It’s good to work hard, but it is also good to share your time with family.

Invest For Yourself; the Rottweiler said
After trying my paws at the numerous hunting ideas I got through friends and family, I have come to the conclusion that I will always sleep hungry when I follow another dog’s hunting idea. My point is, if the prey is not in your kill zone you can always let it go and hunt it another day. All in all knowing that a good hunt is hard to come by, it is very important to keep something for yourself because the future is never a kind friend especially if you didn’t hide your kill well. As with all forms of bone hiding, there are rules and the biggest one is don’t hide all your bones in one hole. To hunt you need energy and this can only come from the bones you saved from the last hunt so you can eat and share but always keep some for yourself.

Invest in Faith; the Poodle said
Yes I was surprised to hear this from a pampered dog that I have never seen hunting. But her point of view raised a very important point. You need to believe that the hunt will be successful. The success of the hunt must first happen between your flappy ears before it can be real.  There are certain events in your life; good and bad that serve as evidence of a power that is always watching over us. Be thankful in advance and acknowledge the greatness of this power. Take time to feed your spiritual self by meditating on a successful hunt. By doing so you can strengthen your faith and live the quality of life you want. Faith is the beacon that always keeps us in the right direction regardless of the situations we face in our lives.

Invest in the Pack; the Terrier said
along the way you will find canines of strategic importance. One of the dogs I interviewed was a terrier named Swish. He told me the main reason for his success was his pack. He likes making new friends and he has realized that every time he’s on a hunt he’ll always find dogs willing to help him track down and catch new rabbits. Why? Because he realizes every dog is unique. Some are fast, some are brave and others like him are smart. He genuinely cares for his friends. He will always visit a member of his pack and offer him a bone for no reason. He will call out his pack for a run in the fields just so they could feel the wind on their flapping tongues together as one. You see, being in the pack is not just about hunting, it’s also about family and support. Just because of investing in his friends, Swish’s pack is the biggest and most successful of all. They eat well and their furs are forever shiny.