Education OR books: which is the façade?

By Joan Mwihaki

I am a third generation Kenyan commonly known as the ‘Y’ generation. With no experience of war in my short life, you can imagine my shock when Kenya’s ugly side was unveiled in form of the post-election violence. We have always thought ourselves better than the rest of East Africa, but panga’s, then thousands of IDPS and over a thousand deaths brought home a different reality. Presidential elections were the trigger for the slew of destruction. The unspoken truths about poverty, corruption, land issues and tribalism demanded redress in the crudest way.

For a generation that is an icon of education in Kenya we ought to have exercised diplomacy instead of hooliganism. Unfortunately the youths formed the largest part of the troublemakers on the loose. The politically instigated violence was just as the name suggests instigated by the so-called politicians of our land. Though most of them are highly educated yet they did nothing to help our country evade these anarchy.

In light of world literacy on 8th September Prof. Sam Ongeri says Kenya’s literacy level is among the highest in the world. He added that he expected an increase from 68% to 90 % by 2012, following free primary and secondary education. We are definitely educated! But does education make us equal? Does education cover for what we lack in ethnical supremacy? Is education what a man amounts to, or a façade man can live without.

Straight after the post-election violence, School Strikes follow suit and students burn each other. In all the confusion tuition is banned, Mock Exams are banned. Are these solutions? Personally I think the government’s measures are not pro-active - they do not bring about futuristic solutions. I too do not have all the answers but now more than ever I feel like burying myself in a book that will explain this state of affairs.

One thing is for sure we have to reinvent the reading culture, found in the literature of the 1st and 2nd generation of African writers (and readers). Literature about wars and woes of life; about character and integrity - ingredients that need to be reinforced in our lives. Maybe through reading books that focus on African struggles and troubles of days gone by, we can evade making similar mistakes. If we do not learn from them what is the point of the mistakes being made in the first place? Kenyans need to visit more bookshops and more libraries, if not only to read for leisure but also for us with this hidden talent to get inspired to write. Yes, the post-election crises needs to go down in writing. I remember getting one alarmist comment “God forbid someone writes a book” in my head, I replied, “God forbid no one does”. It is such memoirs that will serve to prevent anything like this happening again.

I finished 8-4-4 two months ago, I feel accomplishment all right! As a beneficiary of the system I can’t dismiss the feeling that we Kenyans students have been short changed. Education fails to produce savvy, learned intelligent individuals. Why? It’s theoretical, irrelevant and flaccid. All through primary high school and college I have accumulated heaps of theories that I will never put to use. Not all of us can afford the GCSE system. A reintroduction of 7-4-3-2 would be a place to start.

Buried alive

What have we done! We have forcibly buried the reading culture underground. A fluttering heartbeat remains thumping softly. If no one intervenes, the culture like many other in Africa will not see daybreak. The story telling culture is so dead and waiting for a rebirth, while the theatre going culture dies small deaths and like a spirit it reinvents itself once a while. We are killing priceless yet valuable resources.

In his book ‘What Black People Should Do Now’ deceased author/journalist Ralph Wiley includes a chapter entitled “Why Black People Don’t Buy Books”. Wiley’s chapter title, undoubtedly, is a reference to the often said phrase:“If you want to hide something from a black person put it in a book!” The anonymous wise man behind it was so on point. It seems Africans, particularly Kenyans abhor reading. Insulting as this adage may sound, there is a great deal of truth in it.
I recently attended the Kwani Litfest that hosted a series of writing workshops. Kwani previously came up with Concerned Kenyan Writers, who tried to make sense of the violence. A series of writers created stories, some of which were published in a kwanini – a little pocket size book called “After the Vote”. The festival which started in Nairobi and ended in Lamu was meant to breed new writers and also endorse this reading business in Kenya. It brought together acclaimed writers as tutors from all over Africa.

I remember our Ugandan tutor Serumaga Kalundi asking of our favorite books and most of us-young students were oblivious. It was from the more mature students that names such as Ngugi WA Thiongo and Wangari Maathai popped up. I too scratched my head for, “Return to Paradise” by Yusuf Dawood read sometime long long ago.

The reading culture is close to nonexistent in Kenyan circles, except for the set books read in high school. Such is “The River and the Source” which is forever my masterpiece from high school (a pity I never made any effort to find other books by Margaret A Ogolla). Those who read for leisure are few; others do so to be at par with societal issues are even fewer. Technology has become the scapegoat for this; not only to we prefer to watch TV, but apparently the media is said to have intensified the violence, while school strikes were caused by infiltration of cell phones! But is technology really to blame?

Resuscitated in Asia

The Japanese are apparently the most technology friendly people I know of. They are role models in reading, because they do all the time - when waiting for a ‘matatu’, standing in a queue to see the doctor or en route to wherever. I derive a lot from Japan because it’s a country in Asia - a continent in a similar position to ours in the 1960’s but which has risen to be known as a High Performing Asian Economy. The Japanese are well aware of their rich history which is elaborately recorded in books’ and have brought to life the cliché; reading is paramount for a bright future. They are an icon of development, from the depths of Hiroshima and Nagasaki catastrophe. Today they are endowed with high-tech infrastructure, cars, computers, cell phones - name it. Could this be related to their disciplined reading culture?

A Chinese philosophy says that “Through reading the poor can become rich, and also through reading, the rich can become elegant”. Books tend to challenge our thought processes. They empower us with ideas that translate to actions and changes that will improve our livelihoods.

Well! No one will probably ask how many books you have ever read but in this small life we should aspire to be progressive in all we do. The goal here is to amplify our readability, and you can gauge this by knowing whether your reading list is increasing or decreasing. Recently I read a review on a ‘kawaida’ Kenyan who is an avid reader. With accounting as a day job she can juggle with books amicably. Her goal being to read a hundred books every year the closest she has ever got was 70. Talk of achievement!

Just as Japanese are well read, they are well published they rank first position in Asia and third in the world, after United Kingdom and Germany. According to the International Publishers Association Canada, in the new millennium, United Kingdom published about 110,155 titles of books and placed the first rank. The second was Germany with 80,779 titles. Then, the third rank was Japan with 65,430 titles.

Time for a reincarnation

With so many great minds why are we lagging behind in publishing? Could it be related to the fact that we are also sluggards in reading? Africa has so many experiences that could be put in books that would become best sellers, that could sell a million copies, don’t you think? A time has come for us to use our experiences good and bad, for our sole benefit. We need to put them in books and prove to the world that we too can unveil our intellectualism and turn our lives into memoirs and essays that will rebuild our country.

By the end of this year I will be given the powers to read (literally). I know I have been down for a while but I am willing to rise up and take advantage of books in both reading and writing. Years ago I read a novel on the Biafra war by Elechi Amadi. I was so captivated that when my book ended unceremoniously since the last five pages were missing I looked for it everywhere. To date I have never found the book and the sad story still hangs precariously in my mind. I hope to read Ishmael’s Beah’s book ‘A Long Way Gone’ and Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun by. That is after Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed -which I started this week.

My tutor at the nonfiction writing workshop accentuated the importance of reading. In that class I rediscovered myself as someone shallow who has not read a single biography. Not Mohamed Amin’s, Mandela’s or even Malcolm X. Yet they are role models. I call to all scholars to join me in uncovering all those secrets hidden in books, hopefully deal with our demons and live better if not bearable lives.

(Joan Mwihaki is an intern with BirdLife International)