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Kenya has a rich cultural heritage having a number of different ethnic tribes. The cultural set up of different communities in terms of the kinds of foods they are associated with and traditional songs is admirable and something we are proud of as Kenyans, hence the various cultural nights that we normally have all year round such as the Mugithi night, the Mulembe night, the Kalenjin night, Swahili, Maasai night and so forth.
This culture and rich traditional heritage transcend into tourist attractions which markets the country outside the world especially the Maasai and Samburu cultures which have received international recognition.
On the other hand our cultures have served as a major setback in embracing democracy. Why am I saying this? As Kenyans how many times have we judged our own brothers and sisters, denied them opportunities, participated in unfair elections as a result of tribalism?
When one sees the atrocities brought about by tribalism and ethnic affiliations one would rather forget about our own tribes and live as one people with a common language. But will this not be killing our own heritage? How can we maintain and preserve it when we use our cultures to hate, despise, look down upon our own brothers and sisters just because we think they are from a minority tribal community? Is it not the reason current modern parents prefer their children to learn only English and Swahili as a medium of communication as opposed to their mother tongues? Honestly, I strongly support this not because I hate my own culture but because the current youth are now the key towards changing the society's tribalistic tendencies in every sector ranging from governance to the socio-economic sector. If the youths of today and the young people of tomorrow are the key towards the preservation of our cultures in a brotherly way rather than in a tribalistic manner, then let it be so. What are the voices of my fellow Kenyan youths regarding this issue?
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Writer Profile
Patricia Sudi
I am a Kenyan youth studying law at the University of Nairobi. TakingITGlobal has played an important role in shaping the youths approach to various issues. Personally I am a youth activist and campaigner for youth activities towards sustainable community development. I believe that if we join hands in changing and improving our communities we will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015.
Lets all focus on important issues in our daily life. Lets unite in making our own countries a safer, better and worthy place to live in. With determination and focused minds anything is possible.
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Comments
Triablism Rebecca Nelima | Jul 10th, 2007
Hallo,
I agree with you concerning tribalism which in my opinion tribe is a necessary evil. Allow me to just focus on why an evil. Remember the days of colonialism; the British in Kenya used tribe as a divide and rule tactic which I must say worked very well to their advantage. Later on the first post independence government used it in the same stride. We cannot totaly shatter the idea of tribes but in Kenya tribe is a big issue. People vote on tribal divides and nepotism is rife. However I still believe that tribe can be a machine that can drive our nation into prosperity if the weapon is properly used.
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