A while back I embarked on a mission to find Kalenjin written books.
The journey took me to Kass FM offices near Bangladesh Embassy. The response I got there was that, to the best of their knowledge, they had not seen any Kalenjin book.
Dejected, I found solace in reading the Kalenjin bible. My intention was to sharpen my Kalenjin writing skills. But then that was not effective since the biblical culture is way beyond ours. The disappointment made me resort to looking for works of fiction written IN English but based on Kalenjin culture.
What baffles me is the complete absence of mainstream Kalenjin writers, who are at the same level as Ngugi wa Thiong’o. The set book we studied back in high school provided us with a glimpse about the Kikuyu and their struggles with colonialism.
In West Africa, Chinua Achebe gives us a glimpse of how the Igbos struggled to fit into the new social dispensation in Things Fall Apart. You can see how the African culture adapted to the new one being fronted by the Europeans.
If anything, I would love to see how the Kalenjins, my tribe, adapted to the new culture, or civilization. That’s where our fathers and grandfathers failed us. We are millennials and we found things the way they are. It was our normal that way.
Now, all grown up, I would want to know my culture more than anything. I want to know everything, not only Mursik. And best of all, I want to read it in a fiction novel. The better in my language.
What would be more thrilling than reading about how Kipkoech finds his bride? What would be more fun than knowing that cultural dances [if at all they existed] were conducted in the Keiyo culture?
As far as I am concerned, the only remaining cultural thing is circumcision, and to some extent dowry negotiations. If we don’t take care, our culture is treading in the paths dinosaurs took – extinction.
#hivisasaoriginal