OUR HERITAGE

I was recently privileged to to be hosted at dinner by good family friends where one of the topics discussed that evening centered on the imminent demise of our African cultural heritage as we know it and hear from our older members of our communities. The discussion became even more interesting when we broached it to the possibility of changing our present education system of education from using English as medium of instruction to vernacular languages but with the option of giving learners an opportunity to pick second and even third languages at secondary school or university level. A young and intelligent member at our dinner table and who recently completed her university studies chipped in by saying that, whereas, it's possible to develop a new curriculum of education where we could use mother tongues as choice language of instruction, it would however, find resistance by many because of our present state of inferiority complex and perhaps, in her words, it would take much more time than it took the West to colonize us, for us to reverse the clock and fully accept our current predicament. As a gesture of goodwill to the lady of the house who had made us dinner, we left the topic by resigning to fate, hopping for the possibility of getting a benevolent political leader and thinker in the future who would be bold enough and have the gravitas to challenge the status quo. But with the current crop of political leaders preoccupied with corruption and illegal drug trade, it's likely that we gonna wait for a long time before such a redeemer is born. However, we shall remain forever challenged by such countries as Israel, Pakistan, Iceland, Malaysia, etc that have successfully used their vernacular languages in their education system and development of science and technology to the highest levels.
Closely related to the above, we are all aware of our present proclivity and even obsession to give our babies "designer" Hollywood and Western names at birth whether we are practicing Christians or not without due regard to the origin of such names, provided they are chic and current. Whereas, we were made to understand earlier on that the Christian names were associated with saints, it's now evidently clear that even the church man has fallen prey to this Western fad! What happened to the traditional African naming ceremonies that were associated with merrymaking and joy to welcome the new bundle and name in the family? I guess even in Western and Eastern cultures, names are important for continuity of lineage and heritage of families but the modern African seems to be disoriented and confused!
Before discovery that hemophilia is  a hereditary disease which invariably affects males having been passed by females, the royal families in Europe were devastated because of losing male inheritors to the disease. Eventually, laws were passed that prohibited the marriage of close blood relations that could result in inbreeding and may be hemophilia. Here in Africa, and in the Meru tribe in particular,  sex and marriage between close blood relatives and in some cases between members of far flung clans is regarded as a taboo. For instance, in Tiania, the Akiuna clan may not intermarry with Amatu and Mburi Ntune. The Antuanthanju clan may not intermarry with Irotia. All the Akithi clans may not intermarry with Ruiga of Imenti and also Mwimbi.The Athwana clan may not not intermarry with the Igoki of Imenti. The Tharaka may not intermarry with the Muthambi, etc. This in the Meru tradition is regarded as taboo ("ICIARO") and it was believed that in case anybody went against it, calamity ("MWIRO") would befall the offending families.  In a related case, there were some families that were regarded as "hot" ("NGIRANI") where suitors were required to undergo special cleansing ceremonies before taking such brides so as to get rid  of the "hot" MWIRO. In cases of rape ( "KWENJA MBENJA"), the married woman was supposed to undergo a prolonged cleansing ceremony, possibly, to prevent the spread of venereal diseases and may be to avoid birth of an "unwanted" baby. The above, may seem frivolous to the modern Christian Meru but I think it would be wise to pause and ponder the implications and consequences, if any, before dismissing those who have trepidations to such taboos!
Finally, in the Western and Eastern cultures where writing and keeping of records has been established for a long time, recording of family trees for social and medical purposes is now well espoused. On the other hand, the Merus entrusted this knowledge of family records to the "KIAMA/NJURI NCHEKE", who meticulously passed this information orally from generation to generation. However, we all know that the true Njuri Ncheke was undermined by the colonialist because of their role in the Mau Mau and it only exists in the periphery, save for the present limelight hogging "Njuri Ncheke" that is unlikely to shed much light into the Meru traditions because of lack of knowledge and vested interests. Just like the Chinese have researched and recorded  3 million members of Confucius Family, making it the largest in the world, the modern  educated African has the tools to help record his family tree before all the octogenarians in his family fall off the radar. So, get cracking and download free software from http://www.myheritage.com. Thank you.