Chew Miraa at your own Peril.

It is called by various names; Miraa, Khat, Chat and Catha edulis (Scientific name). In South Africa it is known as the Bushman tea. However, Most of us know it by the name Miraa or kat. I am sure we all know it. Some of us may have chewed it. I have not chewed it personally although at one time I almost did just to see how “high” people feel. I am told it is a feeling that you can only know by experiencing it. That’s how it starts for everyone. You just want to “see”. It was 2010 while on a field visit to a town in Northern Kenya. Our host had a Miraa farm and the stuff was readily available. The locals offered us fresh sticks even when we met on the roads. One day we plucked a full paper bag and went sight-seeing on the mountains. We were two Kenyans and two British nationals. Just like me my British colleagues had no prior experience with chewing miraa. They were eager for the initiation. I could not take more than one stick while my friends “enjoyed” it. They kept telling me how they felt. Up to now I can’t tell you how it feels. That is not my point.

This is why many Kenyan Somalis feel “not yet Kenyan”

A week ago Aljazeera aired a documentary by Mohammed Adow on the atrocities and systematic discrimination the government has meted on Kenyan Somalis since independence. It was very personal for him. He not only witnessed the atrocities as an ethnic Somali but his family and neighbors were victims. The shoe wearer knows where it pinches most and sometimes he could not help but break down in tears. I thank him for taking that bold step to tell the untold story.

The history of Northern Kenya is written in blood but no one has taken the effort to write it for posterity. It is meant to be forgotten. All the dailies are running chronicles dubbed “Kenya @50” in commemoration of Kenya’s jubilee year but that painful history is mentioned only in the footnotes. The only written account I have ever read about these crimes is “Blood on the runway” which documents the Wagalla massacre. However, I had the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of the shifta war and it’s never ending aftermath while working with a British Institute on a project to document the History of Somalis in the Northern Frontier districts. The accounts were horrid to say the least. 

Uhuru backs Palestine request for Kenya embassy

Kenya supports Palestinian push for independence and is considering its request for land to build an embassy in Nairobi.

President Uhuru Kenyatta welcomed the proposal for an embassy when he met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the Bayan Palace in Kuwait city Wednesday.

He also said the government would continue to support the Palestinian cause for an independent State.