Excerpts From Kwani? 5 Now Available in Leading Bookstores…



Truth does not set you free. Instead, truth sets loose. It risks what we hold dear.

And there are no assurances.

Daring truth entails risking all we might want to preserve. It means

daring to break with family and friends. It means disturbing the

fragile peace we inhabit by having difficult conversations. It means

telling our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, lovers, and friends

that their political choices are unpalatable.

When I speak with truth it creates opportunity for everyone. -Excerpt from ‘Daring

Truth’ by Jeremeiah Okongo.
I saw someone being killed in town at the matatu station called

Kalenjin airport because the matatus there carry people heading into

the North Rift. The IDPs who had been evicted from Eldoret were very

bitter and were going around looking for Kalenjins to avenge their

losses. They came to Kalenjin airport because they knew that’s where

most of them board matatus to go home. Unfortunately, one man was

caught by the group. They beat him up and stabbed him to death. I was

not noticed because I look like a Kikuyu.- Kevin Koros, a 20-year-old actor from

Lakeview, near Nakuru.
When my uncle saw some people approaching his home, he called the

chief again who didn’t answer the call. When the Kalenjin youths

reached my grandparents’ compound they said they were looking for my

uncle to kill him. When they spotted him running away they tried to

shoot him with arrows, but luckily none hit him. My uncle and

grandparents moved to Nyahururu to start a new life. - Gladys Maina, currently

living in Kikuyu, Central Province.
We spend most of our lives listening to every word of those

politicians. That’s why we are suffering, especially the middle class

and poor people. The rich from Westlands, Lavington, Runda are very

safe. -Alvando Msamani, electronics salesman. Dandora.
I was born in Baringo. I’m a Kikuyu, but I learnt Kalenjin before my

mother tongue. Most of my friends are Kalenjin. But today I don’t want

to see any one of them. I really hate myself for saying that.

I cannot go back to Central Province. The language they speak there

is totally different from the Kikuyu I speak here. When I speak my

Kikuyu there, they start laughing at me. And when I go to Baringo,

where I grew up, they look at me as a foreigner. If I don’t belong in

the Rift Valley, where else can I fit? I am married to a Luhya! - Jesse Njoroge, Nakuru

KWANI 5 IS NOW OUT GET YOUR COPY NOW www.kwani.org