A CASE FOR COMMUNITY MUSEUMS

Some African communities and languages are slowly dying but painfully so for those who are forcefully assimilated into other peoples culture against their will. Obviously, we all know that no culture is static or superior to the other and more importantly, none will ever be the ideal. But there is the human attachment, a sense of honor and pride that make us all want to cling to what is traditionally ours even at the expense of derision and sneer from those that think that its antiquated and retrogressive. Thus the Turkana, the Masai and the Giriama should be assisted to cultivate and preserve their rich culture presently seen through dress, dance and various traditional rituals despite the avalanche of assault from the Western influence.
Our new constitution is a fresh lease of life for our cultural heritage because it encourages their growth and preservation for the enjoyment of the concerned communities and others. The National Museums of Kenya and the National Archives have done a great job in the preservation of our artifacts but we need to understand that they were set up by the colonialists who may have neglected what was not important to them. Therefore, the new counties, communities, national government and other stakeholders need to come together to close the existing gap.
For instance, we are aware that there is equipment and software available that could help synthesize, record and preserve languages  for further research and development. This could be the start of writing in our local languages so as to produce dictionaries, works of fiction and even scientific books. African religions and beliefs were neglected and in some cases subdued if not obliterated altogether. We need to revisit this important part of our heritage and research , record and preserve it.
Traditional surgical procedures such as making body marks through cuts and circumcision are slowly dying but there is need to research them further and understand why our forefathers introduced them instead of the current ignorant belief that they should never have come into being.
Droughts and famine are now a common place in Africa due to various factors but one of them is the slow death of drought tolerant crops which had existed for thousands of years. In Tiania for example, millet was a staple food that was replaced by maize and we kow the consequences. A very hardy bean, dolichos lablab (Nchaabi) has been replaced by phaseolus vulgaris (mung'au) for no apparent reason apart from that the later is the food for those educated. Therefore in order to preserve our cultures, languages and even traditional crops and vegetables, we need to build new community museums that will contain research and learning centers, libraries, archives, exhibition rooms and even botanical gardens.
There is everything to gain by preserving our cultural artifacts, values and languages as opposed to neglecting them now only for future generations to suffer cultural disorientation because of our present state of ignorance.