Follow Through.

I’m sure we’re all guilty of over promising and under (or not) delivering at all. Two posts ago in the For Country article, I said I’ll play my part beyond just talking in my middle class hangouts.

Now I feel like my girl who graduated from kindergarten last year. Last Saturday I attended the Kilimani Project Foundation Initiative of MCAs and MPs debate forum at Milimani Primary School. I can’t recall the last time I spent an afternoon at a public school talking and listening to people. No wait, I remember. It was when I was in prymo. Only then, I was playing one touch soccer in my khaki shorts (kanjo school kids hands up). Those were fun times. Today kids play it on Play Station (the mzungu version). How boring.

Yani being on the golf course on a nice sunny sato afternoon is therapy itself. Nature and soul become one. Golfers reading this feel me. I’m proud of me, why lie. So this evening as I type this I feel less ignorant of my surroundings and more empowered to demand the change I want for my community – starting by doing something about the stinking Kilimani River behind my house.

We had the chance to ask the candidates hard questions and even get their phone numbers should they be elected (though they could still go mteja on us). We found out a little how the system works and bottle necks we need to clear going forward. It’s definitely not an easy task but I feel my one step towards the Kenya I want was taken today. I even became a member of the Kilimani Foundation and intend to engage purely for positive change.

So I can proudly say I’m no longer part of the good-people-doing-nothing club. I came in my shoes (no pressure to fit in Nkaissery’s) and will walk in them to do what I can. Now I even shika better Wangari Maathai’s hummingbird story. About the very tiny hummingbird picking water repeatedly from the nearby river with its even tinier beak in an attempt to put out a forest fire. While the other forest animals watch and laugh at how useless its attempts are. Powerful.

So today my reward is the satisfaction I feel from doing something for my country. I doubt my golf game would have been that rewarding. For me golf is like being in an abusive relationship. I’m thrashed most of the time by my pals yet I keep going back. The true test of our resolve is actually after the elections and keeping both the elected and electorate (me) accountable. Here I particularly liked how the debate was structured with we, the residents, asking the candidates (after they’ve tuned us seriously) how they would want us to support them execute their mandate once they are in office.We all then ended the meeting in prayer and pledged to maintain the peace on August 8th and beyond.

I must confess though when discussing noisy pubs, I secretly hoped my local is not on the list. I need to give the DJ a heads up when I visit next to keep the volume on the down low. We still have to socialize you know, as we enjoy our old school music.