“Ask not what your country can do for you...”

This story is not about the former US president John F. Kennedy. However the words from his famous inaugural speech made on January 20 1961, offer the best punch line for the wonderful humanitarian effort going in Kenya right now. The story of the famine in parts of Somalia and Kenya continues to dominate the newspaper column inches and electronic media airtime. 12 million people in East Africa are faced with starvation in what some have described as the worst famine in 60 years. The situation is so bad that stories of mothers having to choose which child to save and which one to abandon as the hunger pangs are so many. In such times of crisis, only the best of humanity can save fellow human beings. More often than not, such crises results in calls for foreign assistance. This further propagates the notion of Africa being a dark and hopeless continent. As the aid flows in, so do the conditions and the opportunity seekers. The famine in East Africa has already attracted top NGO bosses in their strong 4WD cars, journalists armed with cameras ready to capture shots of dying children. One of the ‘famine tourists’ was even photographed taking a photograph of a dead cow with an iPad! This particular photo by a Reuters’ correspondent highlighted the ironies of the world we live in. As others crave for a morsel of food, some are interested in a prize shot of a cow carcass! I guess you have all heard of the mantra, “African solutions to African problems.” It is a pity that the phrase is often evoked after a collective failure to save a situation, has already taken root. The political crisis in Ivory Coast at the beginning of the year and the Libyan conflict are key examples. It is therefore commendable to see our brothers in Kenya walking the talk with a concerted effort to save their fellow countrymen. Safaricom Foundation, KCB Foundation, Media Owners Association of Kenya and Kenya Red Cross Society joined hands to launch a humanitarian initiative to assist the starving in Eastern, Northern Kenya and parts of Rift Valley. The initiative was christened “Kenyans4Kenya” and encourages people to contribute as little as 10 Kenyan shillings to an M-Pesa account (Mobile money) and a KCB bank account. There is also the “FeedKe” initiative started by Ahmed Salims. Already so much money has been raised from individual contributions as well as corporate companies. You cannot help but feel joy when you hear the story of a police constable who donated all his July salary to the initiative. What about the house help who asked her boss to pay her less and send the rest of her wages to the M-Pesa account? Even companies like Google joined the campaign as well as Inter Milan striker McDonald Mariga and his brother Victor Wanyama. The moral of the story is that if we join hands, we can achieve a lot without always relying on or begging for foreign assistance. As individuals or through Corporate Social Responsibility, small efforts can lead to tangible results that complement or even replace government efforts. In Rwanda the success of the 9-Year-Basic Education programme was also based on a similar effort where communities contributed money for the construction of classroom blocks. The Gacaca exercise has also been commended as a great solution to a daunting task for the Rwanda judiciary after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The sense of oneness being cultivated by the “Kenyans4Kenya” initiative will go a long way in healing not just the starving people but also the ethnic tensions that led to the post election violence in 2007. Through “Kenyans4Kenya,” Kenyans have realised that they can each in their small ways do something to address a situation that their government spokesman Alfred Mutua was struggling to sweep under the carpet. East Africa needs more of these efforts for purposes of development, unity but more importantly empowerment. In other words, these efforts empower the wanainchi to feel relevant and thus empowered not to always ask what their country can do for them but what actually they can do for it. Through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, Kenyans of all backgrounds have been mobilised to help save their rather unfortunate brothers and sisters. If only the whole region can also be mobilised to think and move as one, then we shall achieve the cherished dream of a united and integrated East Africa. ssenyonga@gmail.com