So I had taken a self-imposed hiatus from writing for a while, why? I was busy politicking (is this even a real word?) anyway; I was in the throes of the Kenya elections 2013.  Scary, nerve-wracking times, but really exciting!

What have I come away with from all the action and reactions of this election? Well, I certainly have gained a new respect for the people of Kenya, for the growth and maturity I witnessed in them; in the way they conducted themselves.  I guess my inspiration for today is self governance, not as a country, as individuals.  I hear all the time, that one makes their own decisions, spiritually for Christians, it is said that God gave us the will to decide.  It is clear in our everyday life that we make decisions, a lot of decisions, and each decision affects the next decision and so on and so forth.   If one decision were to be made different, then it would change the outcome of the other decisions we subsequently make.

During the elections, I saw people making decisions to stand in lines for hours, so that their voices could be heard.  I saw people choosing not to get nasty with each other or become violent even though naturally there was tension.  I saw people making fun of situations and choosing to throw their heads back and laugh in unison, even though many times the jokes may have been directed at something they considered dear.  I saw people who deliberately chose peace. They chose the bigger cause, Kenya over personal differences in opinion.  People reached into their memory banks to the last election and its aftermath and chose a different path for Kenya. It may have been an individual choice made by each person, but in the end 40 million people chose the same thing. Peace for and in Kenya.

I am awed and overwhelmed at this self-control and self governance exercised by the people of Kenya, and at people’s determination to prove to each other and themselves that our country and its people have come of age and are making decisions as a republic.  That people are able to see beyond what their individual needs are and look to the benefit of the nation within which we all live in and call home.  I am inspired; we are actually a great nation, full of compassionate, loyal people who want the best for the entire country and its people.  We are aspiring to be a leader in this continent of Africa, and a trendsetter that shows other African nations and the world as a whole, that within this great nation, people have chosen to alter the path back to our destiny of greatness. That faltering and falling as we did in 2007/08 does not mean that we are totally grounded.  “Still we rise”!

Let us be an example to all, not in this quagmire called politics alone, but in our individual hearts and in the choices we make to embrace each other as countrymen/women, regardless of our political affiliations.  I am very proud to be Kenyan and to be present during these exciting times, when history is being made, and when Kenya as a country is coming of age.  I no longer doubt and I am not ashamed, as we strive to take our great nation forward, NaJivunia Kua Mkenya! (I am proud to be Kenyan)