Jambo Jambo Rafiki
I guess I never really felt like I 'fit' most of the time, especially after finishing high-school and going on to uni, that's when it really began to dawn on me - "this piece just doesn't quite fit."
As a teen, I remember finding it challenging to relate and interact with people in Swahili and don't even get me started on the mother tongue side of things because that may as well be non-existent - ask my genetic donors about that one. 😄
I recently asked my mother why Swahili wasn't really on the menu growing up, she replied "it really wasn't necessary".
I know, I know how that sounds and she wasn't being dismissive about it.
The truth is that I didn't use Swahili much growing up as I was in the British curriculum system, which years later I realised - doesn't give two fucks about the local and indigenous side of things.
Swahili was also, at the time, seen as a 'low-priority' language because "in which Kenya are you going to get work and a career speaking Swahili? the News maybe?" I thought to myself..
I think we'd like to think that Kenya has opportunities in Swahili but the truth is that it really doesn't - which is by design.
Everything in education is taught in English, even the government communicates in English, even though Swahili IS the national language.
So yes, as fucked up as it may sound, it really wasn't necessary - and I'd learn just how wrong I was about this.
This of course lead to not understanding and grasping a lot of things that are said and done in Swahili, from general conversation to media, local references, pop-culture and a lot of this is developed and shared while growing up in and around the national curriculum.
Years later is when I realised just how important the national curriculum is, because it also teaches you about the country - the people, language, history, literature, geography, culture etc., which is all so fucking important because otherwise it all gets lost, forgotten or like in my case - I might as well be a foreigner in my own country. 😅
.. Jambo Jambo rafiki ..
The hype and grandstanding that is given to euro-centric systems such as the British curriculum shows that we are still clinging onto the coloniser and their ways, seeing theirs as the best option for our future and that of the country, but after seeing just how much is lost, histories completely wiped out and narratives twisted to fit the coloniser's play-book - a major rethink is necessary on whether or not that is the best option, or even an option all together.
We simply cannot just copy, paste and adopt western systems just because "it works for them so it must for us" - no, it's called euro-centric for a reason.
So maybe, just maybe, let's look at our own side of things, through our own lens and lived experiences - what's needed for us?, what works for us?, does it work for us? what's the narrative being written and by whom? Are we truly benefiting from it or is it just hot air and propaganda?
But to do this, and more, we must begin to decolonise our minds and free ourselves from the lie that is - West ni Best.
~ 🐨
come along with me and the butterflies and bees - Ashley Eriksson