The hungry wo/man's ode to World Tourism Day

I have not sat in many Kenyan embassies around the world. In fact, I would rather not. But a few months ago I went to one such embassy in the northern hemisphere awaiting some unavoidable assistance. After tolerating all the financial and investment magazines I could, my eyes began to wander around the room. I had noticed the posters on my arrival, supposed depictions of the country of my birth, nonetheless, until this willful observing, I had not recognised the extent to which they pervaded this location.

Taking them all in, shocked and ashamed, it affirmed what I have been feeling for a long time: that it is better to be a mammal in Kenya than a mwananchi (citizen), struggling day to day. I believe that if the ‘big five’ could vote, Kenya would be a very different place.

The majority of the posters depicted only animals or landscapes and were devoid of any humans save, from time to time, the guest appearance by a perfunctory jumping Maasai or African ‘servant’. Beneath the purportedly accurate portrayals of our country were words that evoked memories of colonial travel literature. My own personal favourite, emblazoned in large font underneath a picture of Meru National Park (yet indisputably alluding to Kenya as a whole) was the following phrase: 'complete wilderness: theater of the wild'. The phrase that came a close second talked about Nairobi as ‘the world’s only wildlife capital’.

What happened to the Kenyans? Were they effaced by ‘the great wildebeest migration'?

My contentions are not the depictions of animals in posters about Kenya, but rather that it is only animals that are used to talk about Kenya. This illustrates our government’s commitment to the seduction of others rather than its mandate to provide the most basic requirements of its people. The preferred discussion within parliament's walls just may be what ‘savage’ animal should be used in the serenading of Europe, America and Japan this tourist season. Such dialogues and discourses consciously wipe out living, breathing people and their industry and valid contentions from the portrayal of Kenya. By continuing in this pursuit the 10th parliament does more to validate (and allow for the proliferation of) the fancies of the tourist than dedicating itself to making sure its people live in dignity.

It is with these thoughts in mind that I offer you this poem:

Dear President (or in our case presidents),
I have a question about our life
You practically pay tourists to come to this country, when we are here
living in strife.
I thought about it, actually it wasn’t so hard to decide,
Maybe tomorrow I will try and be a cheetah or an elephant in flight
you see, being a poor human doesn’t help me at all.

Caress them, squeeze them, love them
Smile large and reveal your untruths
Say that you’re an ‘African for development’, kneel on your
ne - pad, avoid being uncouth
Maybe tomorrow I will be a bird or beast of pray
A spotted beetle? A giraffe for the day?
Being a poor Kenyan doesn’t help me at all.

Give them safaris of luxury galore
Invite them home to your manor
Make a TV show about how you really need them more and more
Give foreign business men ‘traditional titles of honour’.
Don’t worry, pay me no mind.
I will be too busy being Kenya’s only Kangaroo
Because you see, being a poor African doesn’t help me at all

What I really need to be is some ecotourism mammal
Or a gender sensitive panther of some sort
Maybe then after a few random exhibitions and humiliating posing,
I can get more than I’ve got

Don’t call on the United Nonsense
The IMF, the World’s Prank
Or even some other country's (maybe Canada’s?) foreign bank.
Forget it, honestly don’t inconvenience your self too much.
I’ll just go on and be a peacock,
For I know being a poor mother doesn’t help me at all.

Bill Gates will want to help me I’m almost sure
But then he will have to speak for me, and you know
this one time, I would rather my hunger than his words
Please don’t even suggest Tony Blair or Bono,
Listen, dont worry; I’m scheduled to become a crocodile tomorrow.

I heard someone mention, that there was talk of some block buster movie,
a live concert in Hyde park?
An Amnesty International petition that is circulating through cyberspace
in the dark,

Don’t worry, we know the reality for We
Just let me continue chewing on these Jacaranda leaves

My sister says,
she is not so sure
how long her baby will be alive
and i looked her straight and i told her
dada,
don’t worry we shall conspire
tomorrow you can be the lion,
and I’ll be another of the big five

better be that endangered specie, that almost extinct whale
than the hungry child with not enough energy to exhale

don’t worry, i’m telling you
don’t worry at all
I already know its better to be that animal.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Wangui Kimari is an anthropology student and researcher based in Nairobi.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.