I come from a small village of farmers at the bottom of a hill called Bomachoge. I was the first borne girl in my family so I was named Nyatichi, after my great grandmother.
We would begin everyday at 6:00 am with her, my mother and grandmother in the kitchen. A small dark room next to the main house, filled with smoke coming from the three stones. Above it was a shelf of spices and where I suspect she hid the snacks she gave me when I sat with them in my little three-legged stool, watching and learning. She maintained the fire while my mother prepared the meals.
She would often turn to me as say (in my mother tongue), "you better watch me Nyatichi, because one day you will have to do this for yourself."
You see, my great grandmother's dream for me, as that of my relatives who were my caregivers, was that I would grow up to be like them. That I would learn my place in the kitchen, get circumcised and get married to begin popping babies. Such was life but my parents had a different dream. A path never ventured. We moved from the village to the city, Nairobi.
And that changed EVERYTHING.
Fast forward to now, the year 2020- There is an unknown virus from another species terrorizing the citizens. It has killed hundreds of thousand and altered the way we live day to day .
You would be burned at the stake back then for some of the things we take for granted in this decade. Like being able to vote our leaders. Or shopping and ordering online.
Mobile phones are pretty cool too but nothing beats being able to fly to different part of the world. Or family planning.
Women can now own property, have cooperate jobs, run businesses and still have thriving marriages. Thank you feminism!!
How about the INTERNET?! We now have instant access to all of the world's information. And I have this corner of the internet that is just my own. My blog, Hai.
It seems like magic. Real Magic. The fact that I was born in a small village of farmers with no running water, no electricity and now here I am, exchanging with you. It is the most extraordinary example of real magic I can think of. My journey, my growth.
Like you, and your family and their families before them.
Despite dealing with doubt, ridicule and people not understanding your dream, there is a fire or hunger inside you that tells to have an impact on the world differently. People will confuse the slowness of your growth for timidity,or try to you use you and copy your every move but it will not break you. Like those that came before us, you will break barriers and set a great example for those who dare to want more as well.
This is your reminder not to turn your back on yourself, your dreams and your instinct. Or dreaming of a better life. You come from a history of warriors that believed in better living standards and conditions for future generations.
So be dissatisfied with your present, be very very dissatisfied with the status quo. Then sit still and dream better.....it all starts with a dream. A thought. Your thought....your dream in your own terms.
And do it today, because we know very little about what tomorrow holds.
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