Chapter 84

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 84

I have been thinking about death quite a lot lately. It is difficult not to seeing as everyday so many people are dying. If it’s not from what is now termed ‘post election violence’ then it’s from a gruesome road accident. But the death I was thinking about is my own death.

Am I ready to die? What does preparing for death require? My answer to these questions was no, I am not ready to die because I have not discovered my purpose for living.

Are you on track to finding out your purpose for living? My answer to this question was yes. The fact that I asked myself that question meant that I was still alive to the fact that life is an illusion.

Why do you say that life is an illusion? My answer to this question was that life is a school. Just like any school in life. What happens to us in school, is not considered real life. It is real life in the sense that the events that take place affect what kind of life you have thereafter but after school, life takes on a whole new meaning. In the same way, after death, life takes on a whole new meaning. The life I am living now is for the purpose of preparing me for the real life - the life I will be born into after my death.

If life is a school, how do I learn how to prepare myself for death? My answer to this question was to read the Bible. Which I did and this is what I found.

The Bible says that God is love. God identifies Himself as WHO I AM. From these words, I figured that my life’s purpose is to get to know God; it is to get to know who I am. If God is love, how can I get to know who love is?

I read 1 Corinthians 13 and found a description of love which I summarized as follows:-

Without LOVE I am nothing.

Love: suffers long and is kind;

Love: does not envy;

Love: does not parade itself, and is not puffed up;

Love: does not behave rudely;

Love: does not seek its own;

Love: is not provoked;

Love: thinks no evil;

Love: does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth;

Love: bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

My conclusion on reading the above was that my life’s purpose is to know God, to know love. To know love, I need to develop the qualities of love which are described above. I need to use the events occurring in my life to help me cultivate the qualities of God. Once I develop a character that embodies the qualities of God, then I will know God and then I will be ready to be born into death.

The first thing that I need to do is change my attitude towards life. I need to stop letting myself be controlled by what I see and what people do or say to me. I mean that I must not allow myself to react to the things of this world as if they are real. I must remember that the things of this world will cease to exist when I die and all that will be left is me. The things of this world, are an illusion. I must not attach myself to them as if they will follow me into death. We all know that we die with nothing.

I need to understand that the things of this world are there only now while I am alive to help me become the real me who is a spiritual being. I need to resist the urge to be a human being: the urge to get angry, to behave rudely, to envy, to boast, to be pompous, to be selfish, to be provoked, to think evil, to rejoice in iniquity, to be irresponsible, to doubt, to despair and to give up.

This is my life’s challenge and it starts with memorizing the qualities of love and applying them in my life ALL the time.

What a challenge! Am I up to it? Why else was I born?

Chapter 83

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 83

In a situation like the one Kenya is experiencing today, text messages are both an asset and a liability. Everyone is thirsting for information about what the media are not telling us. Text messages help in providing hidden information but at the same time, the information is not reassuring, it is scary.

We live in fear. Our future is uncertain no matter all the reassurances we get from our leaders telling us that ‘things are back to normal’. No agreement has been reached between the enemy camps of President Kibaki and Honourable Raila Odinga. The ODM Party has called on Kenyans to engage in mass protests from Wednesday to Friday this week throughout the country. In the absence of an agreement between these two groups, peace is a dream and soon it might become a fantasy.

People in Nyanza province fear, as stated in a text message, that President Museveni of Uganda is organizing to send his army into the province to revenge for the Kikuyu blood that has been poured because he supports President Kibaki.

I met a friend of mine who told me that the Kikuyu business people are fund raising for an army of ‘mungiki’ (a predominantly Kikuyu gang of murderous rogues) to fight against their enemy tribes. As if to prove my friend right, I saw a text message that read as follows:- “House of Mumbi (the Kikuyu), they killed hundreds of our people, we didn’t retaliate, we knew they were very angry. But their new call to mass action means kill more Kikuyus in Rift and Nyanza. If Kibaki stole votes, he was not with us so why are we being killed? We say, no more innocent Kikuyu blood will be shed. We will slaughter them right here in the capital city. For justice, compile a list of all luos and kaleos you know at work, your estate, anywhere in Nairobi, plus where and how their children go to school. We will give you numbers to text this info. If they don’t kill our people anymore, there will be peace but any more Kikuyu blood will be avenged, drop for drop, in the name of Dedan Kimathi.”

Even the reality is scary.

One of my staff could not report back to work last week because she had traveled upcountry and passenger vehicles require police escort for fear of attack by thugs who may want to kill some of the passengers or even the driver or just rob them. Driving out of Nairobi has become a dare devil stunt.

I have been told by a reliable source that leaflets are being circulated in certain areas directing Kikuyus and their related tribes (Merus, Embus and Kambas) to leave within a certain period or face death.

Our police heads tell us everything is alright. That we should not listen to claims about the revival of the ‘mungiki’ and we should not believe any text messages we receive.

I don’t feel reassured by the words of our police heads but what choice have I got? If I don’t ignore these threats, how can I get on with my life?

Our leaders are completely out of touch with the reality on the ground. It is time that Kenyans by and large come to a realization that our leaders are not part of us. The only real division that exists in Kenya is between THE LEADERS AND THE LED. What Kenyans need to protest against and take to the streets against is irresponsible leadership.

I am experiencing a true test of my faith in God. I have to keep reminding myself that God is in control and God knows my needs and He will take care of me and mine.

Dear God, if ever Kenya needed a miracle, now is the time. Please Lord, HELP US.

Chapter 82

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 82

On the same day that I published my peace message, I received an email from someone who rubbished the message because in his view, my message was biased. My name is Njeri so of course, I favour Kibaki! On reading his email, which was not all bad I must say, it dawned on me what has actually been happening to Kikuyus around the country.

Immediately after President Kibaki’s ‘victory’ was declared, the criteria on which his enemies determined who his supporters were was a name, an accent or a tribe. There I was, an ODM supporter to death and someone just assumed that I was a PNU supporter because of my name. Thank goodness the guy was writing an email and not at my home armed with a panga and a box of matches!

I imagine that there must be some Kenyans who lost their lives and property and did not support either Kibaki or Raila as presumed by their assailants and probably did not even vote! How very sad! Even more saddening is that children, who did not vote and were as innocent as innocence itself lost their lives, homes and/or parents.

Do you see why I say that Kenyans are dining with the devil? The ability to victimize or kill someone solely because of his/her SUSPECTED political affiliation on the basis of a name, an accent or a tribe is not even human. Common sense is too good for that. Such an ability requires a blindness that only the devil can inflict. And going by the number of people in Kenya who have developed this ability, there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that somewhere, in a leadership position in Kenya, the devil is sitting on a throne.

Oh God, the devil is in Kenya. May God use this country as an example of how the devil can be defeated.

Chapter 81

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 81

I published a peace message to my fellow Kenyans in one of the daily newspapers on Saturday. What led me to do that is the fact that I, like many of my fellow Kenyans, feel trapped; held hostage by our leaders. We do not feel understood by our leaders.

I think that what Kenyans desperately need is something to unite them. I thought my message might arouse some sense of unity where there was none.

Below is the message I published:-

A PEACE MESSAGE TO MY FELLOW KENYANS

Before PNU and ODM came into our lives and cut a bloody line across our country, most of us believed that we were a united Nation. We thought that political parties are just that, parties. The bloodbath and looting of the last few weeks have however made it clear that political parties are not parties; they are dangerous associations. They have caused us to behave like savages and they have bred hatred and animosity in our communities.

They have also caused us to forget the one thing that has always united us as Kenyans: our belief in God.

Dear Kenyans, it is time that we all remember that there is a God and that we will be held accountable for our actions when we die. With or without the blood letting, death is a certainty for us all. We all, including our president, vice president, the newly appointed ministers and the opposition leaders, live by the grace of God. After death, there are no titles like president, minister for this or that, MP, leader of opposition, PNU supporter, ODM supporter, Kikuyu, Luo, Kalenjin, etc. We will all be judged by the same standards. And those standards are the commandments of God.

Honourable Raila Odinga reminded us during his campaign of one extremely important commandment: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. Another important one is: THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Jesus said that the first great commandment is: YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND and the second great commandment is: YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF.

These commandments are clearly not in the minds of our leaders who call themselves Christians. The actions of our leaders are completely devoid of love for God or for each other or for the citizens of this country. The actions of Kenyans by and large are completely devoid of love for God and for each other. We have invited the devil into our country and given him a place of recognition. Kenyans have made selfishness the guiding factor in what they say and do.

My dear Kenyans, we cannot afford to underestimate the consequences of breaking God’s commandments and dining with the devil. The Bible has told us of the capabilities of God when He is brought to anger by His people. We are children of God, all of us, regardless of our tribe. God will destroy this country with all manner of natural disasters that we cannot even imagine. Last year, our country was threatened with earth tremors and even a tsunami at our coast. At that time, none of us cared about the political affiliations or tribe of our neighbours who were running out of their houses and office buildings with us. Is this what it will take for us to remember God’s commandments and start to love God first, love our neighbours and stop the killing and stealing?

The Bible says: SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU. I appeal to all our leaders, in particular President Kibaki and Honourable Odinga and their advisers to immediately change their strategies in dealing with the calamity that has hit our country. This country is in urgent need of healing and your strategies must be aimed at uniting our nation with Love for one another. Selfishness must be stamped out of all negotiations taking place between your two groups and you must stop assuming that the Kenya you so want to rule will still be standing if you continue to break God’s commandments with impunity. You must also remember that nobody lives forever, death takes a second and I repeat that we all live by the Grace of God.

All Kenyans should know that whatever it is we are yearning for will be added unto us if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We must all do the righteous thing by obeying God’s commandments if our country is to be saved. With God, anything is possible.

Fellow Kenyans, let us humble ourselves before God. Let us forget all political affiliations and tribal divisions. Let us obey God’s commandments and fear only God; not Raila or Kibaki or the killers and looters among us. God is almighty and all powerful. He is the giver of life and taker of it.

God bless you all and keep you safe.

With love,
Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
An extremely concerned Kenyan
The writer is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
nm@chunguza.com
njeri-nm.blogspot.com

Chapter 80

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 80

Dear Kenyans,

Allow me this opportunity to add my voice to all those received from various corners of our nation and the world about what we need to do to restore peace to our nation.

I believe that our country is great; I believe that Kenyans are peace loving people; I believe that Kenyans are God fearing people; I believe that Kenyans are people who love people and I believe that God loves Kenyans.

Those of our Kenyan brothers and sisters who have been wreaking havoc in our country and causing untold suffering to hundreds and thousands of our brothers and sisters are only a few bad elements in our community. We can all agree that Kikuyus, Luos, Kalenjins and all other tribes in Kenya are generally good people. Only some and in fact very few are bad. There is therefore no reason whatsoever for us to capitalize on the bad instead of appreciating the good of our fellow Kenyans. Killing is wrong no matter the reason for it. Stealing is wrong, no matter the reason for it. Honourable Raila Odinga reminded us during his campaign that God has commanded us as follows: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL and THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

The 2007 general election was ridden with irregularities, all Kenyans whether supporters of PNU, ODM, ODM-K or any other party will agree with this position. The presidential race was between President Kibaki who won the election and Honourable Raila Odinga who lost the election according to the Electoral Commission of Kenya. Dubious as the win may have been, it has been declared and a president has been sworn in. Where do we go from here? These are my suggestions:

First, we must face the truth about the irregularities of the general election. The truth is this: that fairness, justice and truth were crucified during the general election. Save for the voters who faithfully turned up in large numbers to exercise their right, the crucifixion of fairness, justice and truth was done by all others who participated in the election regardless of their affiliations. In the circumstances, PNU claiming to have gained victory can be likened to those who crucified Jesus (who stood for fairness, justice and truth) claiming to have gained victory. No doubt the crucifiers of Jesus felt victorious after the crucifixion but in time, they came to realize that they had actually lost. ODM claiming to have been treated unfairly despite allegations of rigging on their side can be likened to Jacob who tricked his generous host and uncle Laban by quietly stealing from Laban and feigning surprise when Laban’s sons became hostile towards him forcing him to flee. There was no victory in the past general election. Kenyans are disillusioned about the democracy of this country and are looking to their leaders to restore unity among them. I humbly appeal to our government to urgently look into ways of assuring Kenyans that the 2012 election will be a free and fair one. To this end, ECK must undergo an emergency purge and new laws must be passed to regulate campaigns and seal the loop holes that enable rigging to be done.

Second, ODM and its supporters, of whom I was one during the general election, must, no matter how difficult that may be, accept defeat for the sake of restoring peace in our country. It is not that I do not support ODM any more. It is that the current political climate we are in does not permit taking of sides against my fellow Kenyans. It requires a spirited search for anything that can unite us. Our leader, Honourable Raila Odinga said that he is a Christian and at this time, we ought to put our political interests second to our spiritual interests and follow God's direction to SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. The righteous thing to do in my view is to accept defeat and by accepting defeat, ODM and its supporters will have shown an unmatched ability to forgive. Something we can all be proud of. Like Esau when he forgave his brother Jacob for stealing his blessings. Something Jacob could never reverse. We must remember that leadership is God given and if it was God’s will that Honourable Raila should be our president after the 2007 general election, it would have been so no matter the irregularities. It is not so. Why? God Knows. And we should thank God that the recent deaths and suffering have not occurred during an ODM presidency. There is a time for everything, God is fair and just and therefore, ODM’s time will come. When that time comes, which I believe will be soon if we do the righteous thing, it will be a time to celebrate a real victory. At this time, there can never be any real victory even in unseating President Kibaki. Any more fighting will only add salt to the gaping wounds that have been inflicted in our country. The Bible is riddled with numerous Kings who committed heinous crimes, yet God allowed them to rule but they all met their fate in the fullness of time. If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, God has promised that all these things (including the presidency) shall be added unto us. Let us not underestimate the power of God and what He can do in a situation like the one we are in. We must remember that all of us live by the Grace of God and in death, there are no such titles as president or minister for this and minister for that. There are also no motorcades and all the privileges that come with power. At the door of Heaven, God will want to know whether we chose the righteous victory of forgiveness and reconciliation and peace or the human victory of the presidency.

Third, each and every Kenyan must accept that tribalism and poverty are the primary causes of the anarchy and mayhem that our country has suffered. And in doing so, we must all immediately stop engaging in any discussions that encourage tribal divisions. Don’t allow yourself to say anything negative about your fellow Kenyans. You may condemn those who are perpetrating violence but it is wrong to blame an entire tribe for the wrong doings of only a few. Any change starts with an individual. Let us all shun tribalism. I humbly appeal to our government to urgently put in place measures to counter poverty and divert the attentions of the poor away from criminality. On the part of the rich, I urge you to reach out to our poor and if possible direct your investments to ventures that will create jobs not fat offshore bank accounts.

Fourth, we must all remember to fear God and in so doing, we must obey God’s commandments the most important of which is to LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF. I urge our leaders to take the lead and I humbly appeal to President Kibaki and Honourable Raila to shake hands on national television or even better, jointly call a rally to condemn the violence and preach peace to their fellow Kenyans.

Fifth, let us all pray for our country and for our leaders and let God be the president of each of us.

Sixth, know that each and every one of us can be a leader in his/her own way and let us all take the lead in bringing peace to our country the best way we know how.

Yours in fairness, justice and truth,
Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
An extremely concerned Kenyan

Chapter 79

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 79

Prayer is a powerful thing.

After a long session of prayer and meditation, I was reminded of the letter I had reproduced in chapter 41. The one I received from the guy who advised me to vote for Kibaki so that I can be closer to God. I marveled at how right that guy was. The beginning of Kibaki’s second term in office is probably the most prayerful time for Kenya since independence. We have seen barbaric killings, mindless hooliganism, displacement of thousands from their homes and our freedom of movement has been greatly curtailed. Tomorrow has been dedicated as a prayer day for the country. I have been praying for our country every day and have come to understand the meaning of the words “praying without ceasing”. I pray just before I sleep, I pray when I wake up, I pray when having my meals, I pray when carrying out household chores, I pray while driving, I pray while writing, ……… I am finding myself praying 24/7 just like that guy predicted!

As for Kibaki not knowing what love is, that has been proved without a shadow of a doubt from the time he was sworn into office until now. Despite being the president of all Kenyans, he has not left State House even once to go and visit the devastated parts of the country and join with his citizens in mourning.

I had thought that I cannot accept Kibaki as my president but I have changed my mind on that. I think that Kibaki is the best president any opposition supporter can have. If my faith in the democracy of our country was a glass, Kibaki went and smashed it to smitherines against a brick wall. And that is actually a very good thing for him to have done. I have learnt that being exposed to evil is a good thing. This is because, as I had earlier concluded, attaching ourselves to the things of this world will distract us from finding our purpose in life. But when one is exposed to evil, s/he is repulsed by the world and thus prevented from attaching himself/herself to the things of this world.

I have discovered that I was so attached to the political situation in my country that I had forgotten about finding my missing ‘something’. I was busy analyzing the actions of our politicians and dreaming of a perfect Kenya and what I needed to do to attain it. My goal in life had shifted from being the perfect daughter in God’s eyes to making for myself a perfect home in this world. I am extremely grateful to Kibaki for helping me realize that my destination is not Canaan; it is Heaven. Previously I was imagining that if Kenya became Canaan, I would be at home. I had not realized that Canaan is not Heaven and Heaven is unattainable on earth since everything in this world, good or bad, must come to an end when we die.

That simple prayer I recommended for all Kenyans has reminded me that I cannot change people. Something I seem to have forgotten somewhere along the way. I cannot change Kibaki and his friends and God has granted me the serenity to accept that. I can however change my understanding of their actions and instead of being resentful and angry at what they have done, I have understood the lesson that their actions were meant to reveal to me.

I repeat that everything happens for a reason and I can now confidently add that everything, good or bad, happens for a good reason. Changing my attitude towards Kibaki and his friends was a very difficult task. I was basking in the anger, disappointment, resentment, disgust and all related emotions that their actions had invoked in me. I thoroughly enjoyed all criticism of their actions and revelations of how they reeked of amateurism. God granted me the courage to change my attitude and now, to my surprise, I can actually appreciate the role of Kibaki in my life. I am a little wiser now on how to tell the difference between the things I can and cannot change. God granted me that wisdom. I once saw a sticker with the words: “If you cannot change something, change the way you think about it.” How true!

No-one in Kenya is happy with the situation we are in. The happiness that those who voted for Kibaki expected to feel when he won the election was completely obliterated by the agony and pain of the repercussions.

Let us all endeavour to find ways and means of accepting what has happened, learning from it, helping each other rebuild what has been damaged and getting on with our lives. Love will save the day. Let us try as much as possible to love each other and dismiss all tendencies to judge each other.

Oh God of all creation, bless this our land and nation, justice be our shield and defender, may we dwell in unity, peace and liberty, plenty be found within our borders.

Chapter 78

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta

Chapter 78

A friend of mine once bought me a plaque containing a prayer which I highly recommend for all Kenyans:-

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.”

Let us all join together and pray that God will guide us on what actions can and cannot solve the crisis we are in and prevent it from turning into a catastrophe.