A MESSAGE TO MY AFRICAN SISTERS
MY AFRICAN SISTER!
There’s something unique about African ladies. I don’t
know if I’m the only one who considers African ladies to be the most beautiful.
I’m not being a racist but there are unique features I have observed in my
African sisters that I must address. I’m an African, a patriotic citizen of
Kenya, but this doesn’t mean I despise people from other races, no, not at all.
I am an advocate of equality, justice and freedom from all social evils,
including racism.
Over the past few years, I have observed that
Europeans, Americans, Indians, Asians, among other foreigners who dwell in
Kenya enter marriages with Kenyans. This is true, isn’t it? Have you ever
wondered why? Maybe you don’t need to. Our African sisters are born with a
natural ability to perfectly take care of a husband. They know exactly the
parts to play in a man’s life. They know that marriage is not just about love,
it’s more than love. I can’t dare think that these people can never find women
in their countries who can match the African beauties. It is the care, the
‘more than just love’ attribute that attracts them to my African sisters. Big
up African Ladies.
I have no problem with an African becoming a good and
loving wife to a foreigner, neither do I criticize the fact that they make very
good wives. I do have a problem with these African sisters of mine being
consumed by being a lady that it hinders them even from critical thinking and
reasoning by themselves. The attitude of “I’m just a girl, please do this for
me” is what I hate in you my African sister. When you think that you’re a woman
and that you have the right to be subjected to lighter activities, you’re
wrong. When you think that some activities or priorities are only meant for the
men, you’re wrong. When you think that being a woman means being dependent on a
man your entire life, you’re wrong. When you think that life is a smooth line
where everything just happens, or somebody makes them happen for you, you’re
terribly wrong my sister.
 |
| Tegla Lourupe Peace Academy, she's an advocate of peace. |
I don’t deny that women should be subjects to their husbands,
they should, for that was actually God’s original plan during creation. The
Bible clearly states that women should respect their husbands, of what benefit
is it to defy this? But no phrase in the Bible states that women should be
totally dependent on their husbands, or that women have no free will, or that
women should be subjected to lighter activities. Women have the same chances in
the society as men. Ladies have the same opportunities in the society as the
young men. In fact, policies implemented by the government such as setting
university cut-off points for girls to be lower than that of boys should be
discouraged and abolished. It makes our sisters weaker, because they think even
the government recognizes the fact that they’re weaker than boys (I’m not
referring to physical strength here).
My African sister, I know you’re very beautiful, you
can never forget that of course. I have no problem with your beauty. But I do
have a problem with you being consumed with your beauty that you spend 50% of
your time grooming yourself. You have a boyfriend, or a husband, he already
loves you, what does it benefit you to be sexually attractive or ‘hot’ to every
other man? When you’re consumed with your beauty, I will not lie to you, you
will not think and your reasoning will be wanting. That is when you end up
posting on your social media walls, “I like being myself, don’t judge me” just
because a friend has questioned your dressing, or “Me, myself and I, self-love”
accompanied with a photo of your booty. I have no problem with the posts on
your social media walls, but I do have a problem with the content, because it
discloses everything that goes on in your egocentric ‘feministic’ mind.
Opportunities present themselves equally to men as to
women. If you ever thought you’ll have a special advantage just because you’re
a lady, think again. If anything has been deceiving you that you just have to
work a little because you’re a lady, I’m sorry. Think about this, who is that
employer who will choose a beautiful woman instead of a competent, fruitful and
promising young man. My sister, your beauty is only important to you and your
husband/ boyfriend. I can’t imagine how lost you are if you ever think of using
your beauty and or body to obtain favors from employers and/or other important
people. Anything that is obtained in unlawful way will be lost in a miserably
and shameful way, your job or whichever kind of favor you obtain by means of
giving away your body is not an exception. You have to work tirelessly hard
just as men do. There are ladies who have made it in the fields you fear
getting into, in the activities you fear trying. You can too, only if you burry
your gender.
 |
| Prof. Wangari Maathai. |
Think of Ada Lovelace, the very first computer
programmer to exist, she developed the ADA programming language, despite being
a lady. Do you know Grace Hopper, the Mathematics professor
who developed the COBOL programming language? Bringing things closer home,
consider Wangari Maathai, Kenyan-born
environmentalist, pro-democracy activist and women’s rights campaigner, who was
awarded the Nobel Prize. Don’t forget Tegla Loroupe, the Kenyan athlete who
held the women marathon record and won several prestigious marathons, who has
now become a very influential advocate of peace. If you want sit back and relax
and wait for things to be done for you, think of Martha Karua, the outstanding
politician who can be courageous enough to compete with seven men for
presidency. Think of Malala Yousafzai, the 20-year-old Indian Pakistani
schoolgirl who defied threats of the Taliban to campaign for the right to education,
and has now become a global advocate for women’s rights especially the right to
education. These are some of the features I admire in the woman who raised me,
Monica Ogweno. She deserves to be mentioned among strong and powerful women,
big up mama.
 |
| Grace Hopper, the developer of COBOL programming language. |
 |
| Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer |
 |
| Tegla Lourupe, the athlete. |
 |
| Monica Ogweno, the strong woman who raised me. |
Finally, my African sisters, we part ways when you
cannot effectively balance your emotions and your reasoning. Men are considered
to be better critical thinkers than women because they never let their emotions
come before their brain. I do say the difference between men and boys is that
men control their bodies while boys are controlled by their bodies. Now the
difference between a woman and a girl is that women can effectively balance
their emotions with their reasoning while girls can’t. Just as it is not
strange to find a 35-year-old boy, it isn’t strange to find a 40-year-old girl.
When your emotions control you, you render yourself a servant of the body, and
your reasoning becomes totally unemployed. When you try to reason too much and
take not heed of your emotions, you lose your womanhood. Being a woman means
considering the two, and balancing them, and ignoring any whenever it is
necessary.
 |
| Martha Karua, the confident female Kenyan politiian |
 |
| Malala Youszfzai, the Indian feminist. |
My African sister, if you can make the necessary
corrections, you will become an ideal woman, not just a good wife, but a good
member of the society. You will become an embodiment of true feminism; a
feminist who understands what womanhood means, the one who advocates for gender
equality to mean gender equality, not favor for women even when they don’t
deserve. Don’t worry, don’t doubt yourself, change is real and inevitable, you
can change.
