Food for Thought

Lately, it seems as if 2 main topics are consuming the daily headlines in Kenya and its hard to ignore them. One of them, no surprise is Obama. With his inaugration last week its safe to say that on January 20th, there was only topic being talked about anywhere and everywhere. It seems as if people here in Kenya have higher hopes that Obama will do more for them than their own government/president – the unfortunate reality is that maybe that’s true. I know, Obama is an American president and his first and foremost responsibility is to Americans. But when you see to what extent the government here has let its people down, it seems worth the risk to have that beacon of hope that maybe January 21st was the dawn of a new era not only for the US, but Kenya as well.

Just how much has the government let its people down? Well, that brings me to the other topic that seems to dominate Kenyan headlines – food. Or I should say, the lack of it. I remember hearing about the global food crisis when I was still in Canada back in June, July. To be honest, its quite hard to relate to this food crisis when you live in a country like Canada and you enjoy relative plenty. Coming to Kenya I have seen, or at least heard about the food shortage loud and clear. Maize (a.k.a. corn) – one of kenya’s staples, or the staple of the Kenyan diet you might say, is worth more than diamonds right now. Maize is ground down into flour and maize flour is something that you will find in almost every Kenyan home. From maize you make ugali, something that I just can’t seem to have an appetite for (despite my love for food). Its basically maize flour that has been cooked into a thick porridge like texture and served. It kinda looks like a mound of mashed potatoes except much harder, thicker and starchy. Make sense? Anyways, Kenyans eat it all the time. Its cheap and its filling. Nutritious? Somewhat, but definitely not on its own, but when money is hard to come by, a full stomach comes first.
Anyways, there was great outrage recently here when the price of maize flour started to increase. There was anger all around and plenty of fingers being pointed. Recent droughts had decreased stocks, the national cereals board (who’s in charge of distribution of maize) was incompetent and numerous allegations of hoarding and corruption. The government did act to start providing subsidized maize flour, but somehow that whole system has been riddled with corruption and cases of missing maize flour. There were also reports that some of the maize flour produced was actually toxic but still made its way onto the market. So whats the average Kenyan family to do? Just today there was a special in the newspaper about the food crisis and numerous stories of children going hungry, parents unable to provide for their children, and families having to sell the meager assets to buy food.

Times like this I am very grateful for the fact that I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from or fear going hungry. I think what makes me really upset about the whole thing is that while this is happening, government MP’s continue to lead cushy lives in chauffeured limousines and recently voted down the idea that they should pay tax for their monthly salary which is more than some Kenyans may see in their lifetime.

But what good is it to just be angry. It seemed that the common theme in the articles was that “this is Kenya”. Maybe it is, but that just seems hopeless, and if I have learned one thing over and over, its that when you lose hope, you lose all. So like I said earlier, maybe in this case its worth the risk to put your faith in a mortal being, the son of Kenya, who is thousands of km. away that somehow his influence will reach across the world to Nairobi and get this government off its chair into action. Its worth it, to hope.