Last Saturday we as a Nation bid farewell to one of our country’s great heroes or rather heroines, Professor Wangare Mathaai, the founder of the Green Belt movement and Nobel Peace Laureate. This woman had pursued her dream to see the conservation of our Environment even in the midst of very harsh conditions under the Moi regime. She refused to be cowed down and to quit, but soldered on especially in her protest against the building of a skyscraper at Uhuru Park.
What a coincidence that she died in the same month that we as a Nation remember our heroes, the men and women like Dedan Kimathi who fought for our freedom as a Nation. This week on Thursday, October 20th we shall be celebrating “Mashujaa” day. These men and women dreamed of a free Nation, a Nation in which the African people would enjoy the fruits of their labor; a nation where the locals would own land and not simply work on it as slaves.
Many of them were imprisoned and banished from their families. Some were even killed. But all this didn’t prevent them from pursuing their dream of a free and independent nation. Then came the fight for what became known as the “second liberation”. Many of those who fought this fight were tortured in the infamous nyayo house torture chambers. Some took off to exile and many spent a good part of their lives in solitary confinement. What we enjoy today in terms of multi-party democracy, freedom of expression and the new constitution are all because of their relentless effort in pursuit of a free democratic space. Thank God they refused to quit.
They didn’t give up even when things were thick just like in the American Revolution which lasted more than six bloody years and cost the lives of thousands of people on both sides of the conflict. It wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t easy – but history reveals what an enormous and vital role it played (and plays still) on the world’s stage. The patriots who dreamed of freedom did more than talk; they took action. They did what they needed to do to turn their dream into a reality. And thank God they didn’t quit.
No matter what you are faced with in pursuit of your dream, don’t quit. Remember that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. So get going and you too will see your dream turn into reality.
Have a great Mashujaa day.
“An outstanding thread that runs through people who carry visions of impact is their tenacity"
- Wale Akinyemi
- Wale Akinyemi
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