.jpg)
| |||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
By:
Harrison Maina | |||||||||
| Posted:
May,26-2015 14:58:01
| |||||||||
|
BOSTON--In what turned out to be one of the best moments in the Kenyan community in Boston, over 200 guests, joined by the new Kenyan Ambassador in USA, Robinson Githae turned out to celebrate the Kenyan culture and pride at the Boston Kenyan Festival held one day before the Boston Marathon last week. During the unique event that took place at the Lowell Lodge of Elks, guests, including the Ambassador, were moved by a Kenyan Kikuyu traditional dance performed by women dancers from St. Michael's Catholic Community in Lowell, led by enigmatic soloist, Anne Cardosi, followed by two equally moving performances by the renowned St. John's Anglican Church choir from Worcester under Maestro choirmaster, John Karathi. Janet Koome, a local Shairi composer and performer form the PCEA Neema church also amazed guests with a recital that urged Kenyans to embrace peace and support for each other rather than continue on the conflict path. Adding more flavor to the rarely observed cultural celebration was a live band performance by Bernard Mutua, a legendary Kenyan Diaspora bass guitarists who, accompanied by his two sons, brought Kenyans down the memory lane with nostalgic patriotic music. Making his second appearance at the event after performing during the inaugural event last year, Jamaica based Kenyan reggae musician, Kariz Karizman also presented a number in praise of Kenya as his motherland. So moved by the apparent inspiring Kikuyu traditional dancers not usually seen in the Diaspora, was Ambassador Githae, who instantly popped out of his seat at the high table to join the dancers for close to 2 minutes of cultural dancing as guests present cheered in admiration. Moments later, guests applauded loudly as the highly trained St. John’s Anglican church choir, that featured men and women performed two songs under the precision guidance of a the choirmaster. Interestingly,two St.John's church pastors, Rev. Peter Kiama and pastor Cyrus Irungu was among the men in the choir providing bass vocals, to the delight of the crowd. A group of Luhya Isikuti traditional dancers from Worcstere and Springfield invited to perform at the festival for a display of the variety available in the Kenyan culture did not show up, with no response forthcoming from the group leaders. Delivering a keynote speech during event, the ambassador castigated Kenyans engaging in perpetual infighting and tearing down each other's initiatives. He said that the embassy in Washington was trying it's best to improve services for the Kenyans including visitations to suffering Kenyans in detention centers, hospitals and even homes in and effort to console them and help find solutions to their problems. Githae added that the embassy was in the process of identifying immigration attorneys in different US states who may be willing to help Kenyans facing immigration challenges resolve them on pro-bono status. He also said that the Embassy, through the ministry of Foreign Affairs now has a budget to lobby for those Kenyans who may be willing to apply for top positions in world bodies since the government has realized Kenyan nationals are highly educated and can match skills needed anywhere in the world. "I encourage anyone out there who has an interest in a particular position in the big world bodies to apply and contact us to help lobby for them. We now have a budget for that," he told Kenyans present. He also said that the embassy was in the process of setting up consulate offices in several US cities including Boston for the purposes of bring services closer to the people and help Kenyans register to vote in 2017. However, Githae said that as the embassy tries hard to step up services to the people, the people are also expected to do their part I return. He said one of the most important things a Kenyan in the Diaspora should do is to belong to either a church or a community organization instead of operating as lone rangers out there. "People who operate as lone rangers are the ones who get hit hard when tragedy occurs. The embassy does not have a budget to help repatriate bodies of dead members of the community back home. That's why it is important to belong to a certain group where people know you and can help bring your issue up in case of a problem," he added. He thanked the clergy for helping keep the community together and urged them to continue helping Kenyans wherever needed to serve the community. However, Githae castigated Kenyans who have been clamoring to sabotage initiatives started by others while why themselves are not doing anything. "I have never understood why some people think that in order to go up you must bring somebody down. This is like giving community PHDs (Pull Him Down).We don't need this. Both of you can go up, why not? Where did this concept come from?" he posed. "Let's award academic PHDs not thse community PHDs.We as the Embassy, we are here to serve all Kenyans irrespective of their backgrounds, and we will attend any event we are invited to if the schedule allows,"added the new Ambassador. Amb. Githae was reacting to reports of serious infighting among Kenyans in Boston on anything related to community activities, including multiple elements who had been clamoring to destabilize the cultural celebration event by falsely claiming that the embassy had planned to charge $40 as entry fees to have their Kenyan Identity cards renewed at the venue. He said that is was regrettable that several Kenyans had chosen to dissuade others from attending the unique cultural festival, just because the Kenyan association that planned the event was charging $25 entry fee to cater to the hall rental, food and other expenses association with hosting an event. He added that those claiming that they were being charged to see the ambassador were wrong and needed to change their thinking, as the ambassador was a guest of Nekwa. "Why is someone feeling bad that we came here? I was invited here today and I came. If you invite us, we will come. But don't just feel bad because we came and you never invited us," he emphasized. Githae downplayed the much touted Diaspora community umbrella organization as pre-mature idea as people are still bonding in their current groupings. He urged them instead to respect and support the current existing groupings or organizations that bring people with common goals. "If I am a Catholic and you are telling me to change to Anglican, hapo iko shida.(That's a problem right there.") He thanked Nekwa officials for their initiative to hold a Kenyans Festival which gives a chance to those Kenyans who love their country and community in the Diaspora to celebrate it's culture and pride while far from home. As the event progressed, Embassy officials were busy processing Kenyan ID cards and dual citizenship applications in a nearby room. Guests were treated to delicious Kenyans cuisine of roasted goat meat, Ugali and spicy salad (kachubari) as they socialized with each other. "This was a great event.That's what we need in the community, to just come together as one and support people hosting this kind of an event without beating each other up. If someone else hosts another event, we all should go and support it," said Sammy Maina Mpesa as he enjoyed goat meat with several friends at the festival. The event was attended by eleven Kenyan clergymen who had help a closed door meeting with the Ambassador at the venue prior to the event kick off. Michael Kamau Mburu from the St. John's Anglican Church in Worcester served as the master of ceremonies, drawing many instances of light moments to the delight of the Kenyans assembled. The event was in it's second year having launched in 2014 with Emmy Kosgei and Eric Omondi and Karizman as the inaugural guest entertainers. To Join the growing New England Kenyan Welfare Association, click here for registration Form To View Nekwa's communuity empowerment programs, Click here >>>> | |||||||||
|
Source:
Ajabu Africa News
| |||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RSS