OH! WHERE IS OUR CULTURE?(1)

At 80 my dad oftenly seats me down and explain how the Gasa(pokomo council of elders)  used to solve clan conflicts, land disputes, how they brought unity and preached for the adherence and total submission to culture.  He explains how chastity, shy, intelligence and behavior was fundamental pre-requisites for a qualification to marriage,  how prioritised was respect to elders. He describes the cultural procedure that boys turn men and girls turn women-How to live with a spouse. He touches on the cultural way to hold social functions like weddings,divorce and burials, the virtues and the quality of leadership they possesed and I feel worried!!!

But why am I worried? My worry is where are those children games and entertainment(kibe)? Where are the story telling sessions at night's? Where are those cultural foods they used to eat?  ............. Oh! Our culture has perished,our culture has vanished, it has diminished...., and now our culture is the westerns' culture , the culture which lost the God that was believed to live near us and now believe of a God in heaven, which ripped off our hides and skins and brought us expensive shirts and trousers, which killed the morals of young people, which has made us oftenly feel fake when we embrace our culture. Aren't you worried about it? You must be worried!.

Moral decay resulting from ignorance of culture has lead to constant divorces, shaby dressing modes, prostitution and many more. Right now virginity is not a factor to consider while marrying thus girls indulge in sex before marriage any howly, we see people ignoring those who embrace the culture, we see girls flooding the social media and posting pictures of their booty accompaning it is a text "me, myself and I". These are girls that are not shy, who lack intelligence and with very poor behaviours. We see relatives rush to courts to solve disputes between them. Even weddings are done as per how the western do it. Is this how our ancestors were?

Where are we going Africans? Why are we lost like this? If Mekatilili wa Menza and Waiyaki wa Wahinga could rise up and see the current situation they will just collapse due to shock and surprise. The legacy left by our ancestors should be respected and adhered to because it's the only way out ,it's the only thing to carry us out of this crisis and it is Culture. Alas! I hear some young people do not even know their mother tongue.

Culture is the source of unity,love and prosperity. Culture is the cure for hatred. Take a look at Tana River County youths who do not even talk their mother tongue in groups even when they all belong to a common language group. They say it is "digital" to speak foreign languages. They oftenly feel ashamed to speak their language. Some even deny being pokomos leave alone coming from Tana River. We should think and rethink about getting back to our cultures no matter how bad they might be but it's the easiest way to make us live a happy life.
Let us change, let peace prevail and let Tana River County prosper~Abubakar Godhana.
Contact me at 0727923841. Email: godhanali1088@gmail.com
Twitter: @AbubakarGodhana  Facebook: Godhana Abashwilli Yushcah.  Thank you for reading. Drop your comments and suggestions below.
 To be continued........