When We Were Refugees

   306    
4

Last night I stayed up late reading about this 24 year old chap from Syria called Abdel Aziz al-Hamza. The feature was in the The Sunday Times. Do you read The Sunday Times? You have a 1000 bob to spare? Then you have to subscribe to The Sunday Times. For that paltry amount you are exposed to excellent journalism and beautiful writing. Anyhow, Abdel is one of the founding members of  a group called Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) a band of young IT revolutionists who began exposing the crimes Isis was committing in their home city, Raqqa, that they had turned into some sort of caliphate.  Isis found out about them and started hunting them down and assassinating them, one by one, bullet by bullet. Abdel then had to flee to Berlin where he is now a refugee.

I usually read something in bed until I black out, often with my Kindle or phone in my hands. I like to say that I fall asleep with words folded in my palms. It’s also beautiful to wake up with words in your palm, but sometimes you end up waking up with a hangie in your hands instead. Hohoho. They say that we always dream of the last thing in our mind before we sleep. I guess it followed that the last  thing in my mind was a picture of a military tanker in that particular story, a tanker with an Isis member atop it flashing a sign.

So as weird as this might sound I dreamt about that story, not in the way I will describe it but roughly. The clearest part of my dream was of a tanker in the middle of Kenyatta Avenue, right at that intersection of Koinange Street, it’s long cold snout pointing towards GPO. The whole street was deserted, not a single soul in sight, a breeze blew loose leaflets down the vacant streets.

There were stones on the roads and all sorts of debris; shoes, spent teargas canisters, handbags, lipgloss rolled towards drainages, an open notebook facing down, a teddy bear, mobile phones that had been trampled on, broken spectacles, a child’s lone black shoe, motorbikes felled on their sides, napping in this ensued melee, hats, a novel by Clancy and plastic water bottles. There were cars parked in their spots with windscreen caved in, some with doors swung open as if waiting for an important person to walk out of a building. Nobody came. Nobody will come. The buildings were hollow with emptiness, broken windows, naked mannequins, their clothes stolen from their unresisting stiff plastic limbs. When I looked up, over the skyline towards Eastlands area, black smoke bellowed into the sky. If you listened keenly you could hear a faint scream, like the sound of a strange bird. A chopper whirred away in the horizon.

The air was rent with burnt rubber and fear and desolation. KICC, now a mockery of development, stood out for once, hunched in this emptiness. Our Parliament – the theater of comedy – sat silent for once. A few military guys leaned on their cars smoking cigarettes and laughing at a joke.

The entrance of Intercon Hotel was bare of that tall elegant doorman who stands there in uniform, he would not be bowing to anyone. If you walked into the foyer you’d be met by broken glass and a bunch of lone suitcases that would never connect with their owners. Down the street, a half drunk bottle of Yamazaki sat on the counter of The Exchange Bar at The Stanley. At Nation Center, the military stood guard with guns. Traffic lights blinked amber.

Tom Mboya street was a ghost town – a transistor radio played Kameme loudly from an empty shop. River road; dead. Museum Hill overpass, dead. Our National Museum, dead…ironically. If you stood at the roundabout at Kenyatta Avenue and Uhuru Highway and looked east, you could see all the way to the hump of hill leading to Nakumatt Mega. Not a car in sight. Not a human. Uhuru Gardens across echoed with the the carcass of democracy and free speech.  

Only cops, military officers, stray dogs and cats, and ghosts of a dead nation walked the city.  At night bands of hoodlums prowled in alleys, ducking into empty shops to steal shoes. Nairobi as we know it was dead. Nairobi in ruins. A city that had turned into an oxymoron.  The Mau Mau and our founding fathers turned in their graves.

Elsewhere, in the outskirts of the city we fled. Luos, Kisiis, Luhyas, fled towards Nyanza. Kikuyus fled walked towards Central.  Kalenjins left for the Rift Valley. We only carried things that we really needed; family, clothes, food, water and lots of prayers. While we previously drove cars now we were all on foot, every last one of us and we all gravitated towards what we knew, home, shags, dala, gicagi. We also carried fear and uncertainty. We were weighted by the unknown, by terror.

We left everything we owned in our homes. Our microwaves would never warm any meal again. In Runda the electric fences still hummed with current, fencing off empty homes. Abandoned dogs, pedigrees that cost 250K a paw, barked incessantly from hunger and lonesomeness. Luxury cars lay parked in compounds. We left all our money in our accounts, now useless. M-Pesa had gone down a week ago, right before power went out in most parts of the city. Everybody was mteja. M-banking was a dodo. Fuel a rumour. We all ran away from the stench of death in the city, a city now framed by smoke.

When we passed by dead bodies lying by the roadside, we covered the eyes of our crying and terrified children.You had already paid school fees for your child next term? Oh he/she won’t be needing that.  No bells would ring. There would be no snackboxes to pack. There was no single bus leaving the city. No water in taps. The expatriates had all fled, there will be nobody on Sankara’s rooftop bar chugging bottles of Krug Grand Cuvee using their “hardship” allowance. No planes took off in JKIA, our national liner, KQ, sitting on tarmac with no pride left in its belly. Military vehicles swarmed the airport with military guys drinking alcohol from duty free shops. Nobody was going to land into JKIA to go look at the wild animals in the Mara. In fact, the Mara was so deathly silent, that wild animals started coming out of the park to look for humans to stare at. The trains stopped moving. The young brilliant guys  who had started excellent hopeful startups had watched them all go south. The Kenya Shilling had become paper, a prophesy of Luo Dollar and Octopizzo’s song “Bank Otuch” coming to pass; pesa surely, is otas!

The radio only played the national anthem, over and over again, a sound that we would associate with desperation.

All this happened because all the tribal shit that we casually played with online had now come to pass. Luos had turned against Kikuyus, Kikuyus had turned against Luos, Kalenjins had turned against Kikuyus, Kikuyus had turned against Kalenjins, Kalenjins had turned against Luos, Kambas had sat on the fence, Merus had fought for Kikuyus, Luhyas had fought for Luos. Then when we had gotten tired of fighting and hacking each other because of our last names. When the city had sunk into desperation and suffering, it had become about class, and the poor had come for the few rich who hadn’t left town; climbing over their walls, raping their wives and daughters, breaking into their safes with machetes on their necks and fleeing into the waiting lawless darkness.

Nairobi’s hope had died. Then there was nothing left.

The only thing that continued working was fear and hopelessness.

Kenya was done.

We made headlines on all the major networks. CNN kicked us while we were down on our knees; a hotbed of a mess. Wazungus shook their heads and muttered, “Kenya? I couldn’t have seen this coming. Africa is indeed cursed.” Talking heads compared us to Rwanda, then Burundi, then Central African Republic. It was open season; comment was free. We had become savages. Hillary Clinton, now the president, sent peacekeepers down; big burly men in dark shades standing legs apart at roadblocks while tyres burnt cinematically in the background. The French dropped us relief food. Even Somali, broken as she is, stewed in a broth of war, looked over our fences with puzzlement. The UN stayed in meetings, deliberating, looking up the word “genocide” on Urban Dictionary first before they acted.

We had all lost.

All of us.

We were done.

We had become refugees.

We crossed through our borders with our children. Thousands and thousands of us, mostly the middle-class because the wealthy and  the ruling class had left as soon as the fire started burning. Now they were in Milan and in Switzerland and in London eating caviar and swirling merlot and cognacs, an eye on a burning country they once professed to love.

We crossed the borders clutching our children’s trembling hands. Children we named Liam and Tamms and Amani and Zenani and Hawi, a generation of modern post-internet children, free and alive to all the possibilities that escaped us, children who were to save us from tribalism but whom we now had failed terribly.

Tanzanians welcomed us, yes, but would end up treating us like the poor cousins who had come a-visiting. Ugandans opened their borders to us. Museveni, who we constantly mocked on social media, mocked and taunted and made memes of, now said graciously, “Let them in, let those Kenyans in but check their pockets, nobody should come here with hashtags! Not on our soil!”  Yoweri had become our father.

And we shuffled into Uganda in our old shoes and battered faces and weary souls and we were given a section, a large tract of land where all these humanitarian bodies perched on us, like vultures on a dying animal. They pitched huge tents for us and we lived like goats in a pen, taking a shit in the bushes, showering from sufurias, queuing for food like slaves. Refugees. Even our shadows were miserable.

We had become a disgrace to ourselves, a spectacle to the region. We had stripped ourselves of all dignity and had become beggars. No hashtag would save us. In fact, our neighbours would create a hashtag; #SomeoneSaveThoseKenyans on our account. Imagine that, a hashtag by Ugandans and Tanzanians and Somalis, these people whom we felt were inferior to us; we mocked that couldn’t even spell yet they were now saving us. Oh how the tide turns. Kenya, the oasis of peace in the region, was no more. Kenyans On Twitter had become a rubble of collapsed hubris. Regret cuddled with us in our wintry refugee tents.

Used to instant showers, warm beds, and all these things we currently take for granted, now we craved a place to just put our heads to sleep, a peaceful place where nobody could kick in the door and drag us into the darkness because we had the wrong name. In the sprawling refugee camps, grown men silently wept in darkness. It rained in Uganda. Daily.  

Chaps from Amnesty International would show up like they always do, and talk to defeated men, place fatherly hands on their shoulders as the clouds above rolled in with more rain. It would rain and rain and rain and we would huddle under the tarpaulin and listen to news from home, aching to go back and do normal things: buy bananas at Zuchini, go to T-mall and do an M-pesa transaction, sit in evening traffic along Uhuru Highway listening to a drive show, have a meeting at Java Yaya over a granola with strawberries and honey, run at Karura, buy a Jambo Jet ticket online, like a picture on Instagram, you know, simple everyday things. But we wouldn’t be going home anytime soon. Nobody knew when.  Kagame would meet Uhuru, Yoweri would meet Kagame. Magufuli would meet Raila. Uhuru would meet Raila.

As refugees we would sit all day and all night, sit in miserable clusters, wondering how it had all gone to the shitters, but knowing very well how it had come to this. Our children, now with their tattered clothes, would stare at us with empty looks and only find fear in our eyes.  And all this shit started because we thought we were immune to war, we thought we would not be broken by tribe, it was all fun and games hating on Facebook right up until the crows came home to roost.

Now we had tanks in the streets.

 

 

Photo credit: The Standard

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

4
306 Comments
        1. It was not JUST a dream….it’s a reminder of where we’re headed as a country if we don’t get our sh** together with our tribal thinking and acting. This is a *dream* that should be taken serously

          1
    1. Worry less bro. You got a life live it to the fullest. If this tribalism won’t come to an end you will not be the first to comment anymore.

    1. ‘They pitched huge tents for us and we lived like goats in a pen, taking a shit in the bushes, showering from sufurias, queuing for food like slaves. Refugees. Even our shadows were miserable.!!!! May such a day never come!
      When we see Syrians,Lybians,DRC refugees….. don’t we just think,…’woie…’sad, poor people’ …. I can hardly imagine myself in a refugee camp….. God help me.

  1. I loathe your dream Biko! This leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This should not happen. I hope this article hits all of us into the epiphany of where we stand as a country. I suddenly feel like we’re the young chaps who urinate on live electric wires just to see what may happen! *Sits in a corner and actually genuinely thinks about Kenya*.

  2. Goodness me.. This is a heart breaking dream.. Let’s go beyond our last names and unite as Kenyans before our lovely County goes to the dogs because of some egocentric, greedy pigs of politicians..

  3. Wooow!* Not the one that comes with excitement* Peace hath higher tests of manhood
    Than battle ever knew. ~John Greenleaf Whittier. Lets pray for peace and for the refugees all over the world.

  4. Wow! If there is anything to sit down and think about, this is it. Its all fun and games until it truly comes to pass.

  5. Well put Biko. If we are not careful, we are going to pay a hefty price and destroy what we have struggled to build over the last 54 years or so. the price of war is painful and those who have not tasted it toy with the idea of going to war. Look at Yugoslavia…the war tore the country into smaller nations thinking that it would solve the problem. While some countries of the former Yugoslav republic are peaceful, other are still reeling from the wrath of war. Clanism has taken a toll and is the reason why Bosnia, Kosovo and serbia are having a lot of trouble! What we need in this country is genuine love from all of us. Let us find a way of undoing the inequality that has divided us over the years and promote cohesion between us. The truth is Tamms, Amani and Co. will blame us in the future for not securing the country for them. The onus is on us

  6. Vintage Biko.Brutally honest…shocking page-turner told in that Bikohistic narrative that has always held us breathless on the edge for years.

  7. Horrible and sadly we are creeping towards your dream, the imagery is so real. I am numb at the utter reality of hatred already spewed in our hearts. But before such a dream, we must stand and talk of unity – that is the genuine call that can make us protect the future for our selves and our children.

  8. I can never remember a dream when I wake up. Not this vividly. But this story is familiar. Reminds me of a post a chap sent in from Marsabit about Daadab. Heartrending. Same script, different cast. Only difference is that his was based on a true story.
    It is a pity they decide to shut down Daadab.
    http://www.magunga.com/a-home-by-any-other-name-by-aress-mohamed/

  9. I have lived that dream with you while reading this piece Biko. Our Wow! I can’t imagine being trapped in a war torn country alone, leave alone with kids to worry about. I would rather sit in traffic for a whole day than watch my KENYA burn.

    1. Apart from our souls being moved,having mental pictures of what could happen, let our actions speak for us.

  10. This is so touching. If only we live United. If only we live without the tribal #tags.We need to wake up from our tribal shelter beds and think as a nation else this might come to pass. I will play my part. will you play your role?
    Nice read.

  11. We should say no to tribalism …No one decided where to be born… it just happened and so should we deal with it!
    https://vosdiary.wordpress.com/author/vosdiary/

  12. Scary,so scary! But it could be our end if we continue spewing the tribal bile everywhere and anytime we get a chance

  13. Scary dream. I hope the tribalists and the fanatics pick a lesson. At the end of it all, those you ‘fight for’ won’t be sharing that tent with you. What would I do without my instant shower. *sigh

  14. These are the kind of dreams we need to wake up to at times.
    It’s a timely reminder that we should see our worth and
    country beyond the tribal lines…
    but Biko, why do the Kambas just have to sit on the face, lol.
    www.shesatomboy.com

  15. We should surely learn from your dream, a very bad dream…, I hope nobody else will have such a bad dream..

  16. We should have pictures of a raining refugee camp everywhere to keep us in line. Biko keep preaching, ok don’t foam in the mouth like those class 7 dropouts

  17. “Let them in, let those Kenyans in but check their pockets, nobody should come here with hashtags! Not on our soil!”

  18. I have never made a comment here Biko,But by God,I have read this piece and fear…no trepidation..and this is surreal…Today more than ever I chose to see my fellow citizen of the this great nation..not in the lens of hate and tribe bigotry but as a fellow citizens going the the struggles of this life to feed,educate,pay taxes and clothe his/her Tamms and my Ryan.I choose Kenya

  19. Very scary but It could easily happen with all the hating and tribalism on social media. Lets learn to think before posting or forwarding tribal words. #SayNoToTribaliam.

  20. We think that this can never happen to us but it can, everything can change in the blink if an eye ‘because all the tribal shit that we casually played with online had now come to pass’. This scenario is scaring, scarier than that person you hate because of their tribe, its time to style up guys!

  21. ”oh how the tide turns on the things we take for granted” , crows eventually come home to roost ask Koffi about it.

  22. This should be shared widely people should know that we really aren’t immune….With all the tribal …. going around we could make make this dream a reality. lets not, lets not let tribalism separate us

  23. This is the worst nightmare!! May our good Lord watch over our lovely country. And YES, this article should be made a must read to all Kenyans, especially those who’ve made hate messages on social media their careers!!!

  24. Biko what have you seen? what is that one incident that has sent shivers down your spine?
    We all need to stand against hate even when it’s justified.

  25. Scary but it could come to wake on us and
    we would have no one to blame but our vaunted egos.we would not be the first to wonderhow this happened to us.

  26. Such a poignant prose on the ramifications of war. Everyone gets affected regardless of ethnicity or background. A timely reminder for us to appreciate the God given blessing of being a Kenyan

  27. Bad dream Biko. Anyway, I thought you should know that a ‘tanker’ ni zile hutuletea crude oil etc but the military one is a ‘tank’
    Thanks for your great stories.

    BlessKenya

  28. The picture I got from reading wah not a good one this should never happen,we should rise above such petty stuff and stay together as one..sharing asap

  29. ‘In fact, the Mara was so deathly silent, that wild animals started coming out of the park to look for humans to stare at’…beautiful sentence

  30. This dream I have had too oh how I pray it never comes to pass. Kindly forward and share with many to have a view of the future if we maintain status quo. God bless Kenya

  31. how I wish this would get to the ears of even the illiterate who act out of ignorance…how I wish this message would reach the ears of every single Kenyan…

  32. This article should be translated to all ethnic languages in Kenya and distributed by all chiefs in every location in the country. Door to door distribution. let it go viral.

  33. Now you have used this platform for what it should be for. When these ‘big guys’ fight we will be the losers. May your dream be the wake up call we need. And God forbid it comes true. We are one!

  34. Wow, what a woe to this looselipped generation of bitter twitterati pouring ethnic vitriol on social media without a second thought. Such a sad turn of events

  35. This is literally what tribalism could drive a peaceful country into. I pray that this never happens to our beloved country. Kenya before any tribe. Thanks Biko for reminding us to appreciate what we have.

  36. You only realize how precious Kenya is after stepping out of the borders.The simple pleasures we take for granted.if u have been to some west african countries yoi will relate. I Hope this dream will forever stay a dream because the hatred we are showing on social media seems to be taking us right into this lawlesness and anarchy..

    1. Bank otuch loosely means there’s a hole in the bank. Pesa otas also loosely translates to money is made of paper.
      In the context of the song, the phrases signify an abundance of money. It’s sort of what you hear with most rap songs made today.
      But the connotation Biko’s reference to the song is drawing, is the uselessness of the currency of a wearing nation.

  37. “Nyeusi ya wananchi na nyekundu ni ya damu, kijani ni ya ardhi, nyeupe ya amani. Daima mi ni MKENYA, mwananchi mzalendo…!!!!”

  38. I’m crying
    damn –
    because – I had a similar dream, and this your story is too close to it for comfort…

  39. How come we can share but cannot just like the post?

    Do not want to compete with dweebs who say ‘Am first to comment’….

  40. You paint a picture similar to that scene in Skyfall where Silva was walking with Bond through that abandoned city in Macau. Just nothingness and overtones of past upheaval. Good stuff, Biko.
    You haven’t posted anything quite as good as this in a while. I feel though the epilogue shoulda been more hopeful, because eventually the purpose is to preach peace, right?

      1. Why? Silva was a bad man. He shot up a courtroom and tried to pit Bond against M.
        Unless of course you speak of a different Silva.

  41. Waaah Bikozulu. U left me wondering. Why would we be believe in tribe when it will only tear our hearts apart with tears in our eyes. It was like reading shreds of tenderness in a best version.

  42. We really just have to let our differences slide if they cannot be used to build us up. It would be a tragedy to all be the same but then we cannot all be so different that those differences drive us to our own destruction. Here is to loving and actively being one people.

  43. The thought that we are immune to war should be forgotten every act of hate should leave our fingers, minds and tongues… Wonder a day away from home…for Somalis, it is decades now…

  44. An introvert reader who never comments but this is really painful dream yet a reality if we don’t see each other as brothers from the same mother, Kenya.

  45. Have you ever cursed your dream Biko? I don’t want to one day see my country die. Let’s fight tribalism. Thanks Biko for this piece. Peace.

  46. The situation in the refugee camp, expressed here is so miserable…..anyone reading this should remember that we’re not immune

  47. This should be read by every Kenyan. Small actions matter too. An anthill can surely turn into a mountain you know. We are all Kenyans and that is all there is to it!!!!

    Splendid Bikozulu!!!

  48. God forbid! I hope you forbade your dream when you woke up!! It has scared the shit out of me, haven’t even finished reading it. God forbid!

  49. May we never sink to such depths. May we learn to transcend tribal boundaries and guard human life with dignity.

  50. Food for thought. we are not immune to war. Every Kenyan has a role to play to make sure your dream remains a dream. Not make it a freaking vision/prophecy

  51. A good piece, such a reality check. We should pray for the refugees and those who have lost their countries.

  52. An uneasy truth….deep in thought about it now. Wish this could fit in an advertisement board along the roads for as many to see. we are the custodians of our country. Let’s not ruin it.

  53. this article sent chills down my spine,but a dream or not if we ain’t careful with what we do or say to each other,this is where our beautiful Kenya is headed #saynototribalism

  54. Biko. That was awesome . A reality check.We may all be wishing you don’t wake up from your dream. But are busy playing the Rambo kanambo by your bedside.

  55. If don’t an end to this tribal nonsense now, this dream will become our reality and we will have failed ourselves, our children and the generations to come

  56. Such an eye opener. Every Kenyan should read this. Our failure or success as a country depends on me and you.

  57. Biko well coined master piece,,,I pray that the thought of this ever happening will change someone,me,you,all of us.Sounds scary May God never allow my motherland to GO.

  58. Correction – it was all fun and games while those who drink merlot and cognac stole our taxes ,let inequities grow larger, kept an unreformed police system that served their every wish and command, courts that subverted justice, erased memories of crimes , disappeared people, kept the masses ignorant with no access to education” not it was all fun and games hating on Facebook right up until the crows came home to roost. This is how we blame social media for everything without looking at the social context that fuels the them vs us. When you read the past you stop simplifying the present.

    1. I agree with you absolutely. I don’t see the hate spread on social media having the impact of an unfair judicial system, an unfair police force, a partial army, a crooked political oligarchy! Boys and girls fighting on keyboards for instance don’t stop inter-tribal marriages, common educational system, etc. The bane of this nation is a failed political system that has literally infected every other sphere of life! That would would take Kenya straight to this dream, guaranteed!

    2. Wangari, you fail to see the point. For the merlot and cognac drinkers it would still be “fun and games” since they would not be in that refugee camp with you. For the middle class spewers of hate on social media, the fun stops, hence the use of ‘was’. Do not attempt to ‘rectify’ the writer. This piece is superb.

  59. Quite a sad picture, which can come to pass if we don’t check our relationship with our brothers and sisters.
    Reading comments on the star sickens me, how I wish we can treat each other like Kenyans and not based on tribe.

    A good read Biko.

  60. May this dream never come true, am sitting in traffic and for the first time appreciate that even sitting in traffic should not be taken for granted…

  61. I agree Biko.The war in the end will be between the rich and the remaining poor not tribes.I hope kenyans on social media read this and change before it’s too late.

  62. I do not want to call doomsday on Kenyans but that’s where we are going .May I not see it in this generation.Change starts with me

  63. Hmmm. You know, this is touching. It’s like a prophecy, a foretelling of what will become of us all if we refuse to wake up and act. I wrote a story about refugees some time ago. I think it’s time to post it. Watch this space: mikeinioluwa.wordpress.com

  64. May your dream never come to be. Good article there though. It should be eye-opening. The peace and stability in our lovely motherland should never be taken for granted.

  65. This a great piece Biko. I think you should run it on one of these national news paper for everyone to read and reflect. We Kenyans take everything for granted.

  66. First time I am unable to finish your article.Anyway am still in the office at 6 minutes to 10pm,exhausted and obviously a bit slow…Will come back tomorrow.Still love ya!

  67. He who has ears let him hear. There is something all of us can do TODAY to stop this. YOu can call out your friends when they engage in tribal politics. And when you are alone with your tribesmen, refuse to make it the ‘secure’ place to demonize those of other tribes. Be a person of integrity –i.e., let your thoughts, your words, and your actions both in private and public align. We can do it. We can avoid having M7 as our father.

  68. Now i can’t sleep.
    Sad indeed.
    The moment we allow our last name to define us and our so called leaders to divide us.
    This is definitely coming.
    Nice read Chocolate Man.

  69. God forbid…God forbid…we take for granted the peace that we have….each and every one should therefore play a role in fighting tribalism

  70. A good read I must say for reality check. We must reason as Kenyans do as Kenyans and put our country first.Let this be just a dream,we have a country to protect,great parents to take care,beautiful wives to look after, and wonderful children to raise and give them this country in one piece as given to us by our parents. Let us fight to be one people of one great nation. God protect and help us.

  71. Too scared to finish reading but no devil formed against us shall ever prosper.we protected as Kenyans if we embrace peace and share love among each other.

  72. Biko, you’ve really come over your phobia for weaves if among other debris scattered in the streets there were no weaves lying about! Lol!
    Anyway, this piece may come to pass (God forbid) if we remain oblivious of how fatal tribalism is to a nation. I hope it’s read, far and wide by all and sundry.
    And before I type out, I’m reading this in my bed, I’m cock sure I’ll sleep with a fold of words in my hands. Ha! Love those words! Great penmanship Biko, as always!

  73. Horrendous..nightmarish. I pray that this dream never sees the light of day, that we Kenyans would resolve our differences, and not focus so much on what the tribe the other is, but that we may place our nation and peace first.
    Scary reading such a post, when the whole day you’ve been listening to stories of the holocaust, and how Jews in Poland thought they were going on a holiday and packed their belongings, yet they ended up in extermination camps. Was just imagining the hopelessness and desolation they felt. May Kenya never undergo war, May God help us.
    https://www.instagram.com/travelogues_africangirl/

    1. Just recalled that Rwanda before the genocide was simply a country with muted tribal tension in the underbelly and occassional clashes..but when that plane carrying the presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi came down, that and coupled with the RTLMC radio spewing hate against Tutsis became the catalyst that set neighbours, friends and relatives into frenzied murders, hacking each other mercilessly..and the youth idling around took on new job descriptions..their work was to finish off the ‘cockroaches’ as they termed the Tutsi and they performed this gruesome task as fast as they could. Hate speech in person or on cyberspace should not be tolerated, rather defined as criminal and the perpetrators should be charged in a court of law. The fourth estate should be a force to unite Kenyans instead of dividing them. I agree with the commentor who said this article should be translated into other kenyan languages and distributed the whole of Kenya..we still have time to remedy our differences.

  74. Almost exactly what happened in Nigeria during the Biafran war…it was sad! May the Lord protect us! May we shun tribalism.

  75. May it never be said that Zulu, that Biko guy “had this premonition.” Because then, some of us will be lying on those streets, thoughtless, useless-Dead. Let those who have ears hear…

  76. Stark reality of what ignorance of the tribal division can do to us… The sneak preview in 2007 has been packed but needs to be revisited

  77. I will share this everywhere so that those who stir war know how dangerous it can get. This is very possible. May God protect us.

  78. unfortunately, just unfortunately, the generation that reads these kind of stories is worn out. our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers are glued on their lecture notes trying to read for a CAT. Biko has just sounded the alarm,it’s time to wake up an stop wishing it never happens. it’s time for stopping all these tribal shit smear. let’s role out a campaign. #wedon’twanttoberefugeesstoptribalism.

  79. Bikozulu,your dream is quite something.But it is unfortunately not a dream.It has happened before lest we forget,it will happen again if nothing changes.Like you,i think about the future of this country,of our children and all i see is what u dream.I dont want it to happen,but i can only change myself.Kenya,africa and the world is at a time where people need to wake up and realise that “Winter is coming”.Something big is going to happen soon that is so scary,we will wonder why we did not see it coming,why didnt we prevent it?

  80. Why don’t we share this on all those pathetic tribal and hateful platforms? We need to get through to these people. This is really scary especially when you see what’s happening in our schools.
    Who will be the bigger person who will put their tribal and personal political ambitions aside and only preach peace?
    We are our own leaders.we always have a choice. The “leaders “may try to influence us but the choice is always ours. We cannot do crap and blame them. If this country goes down, it’s our fault.

  81. wow! a day late to the party! the old biko is back,thought you had gone all commercial on us.well said or should i say well dreamt,calling it as it is.
    maybe you should sleep while reading a set book, say ummhh…. walenisi… and have another dream bout school fires, where the media provides the fuel in the guise of chasing breaking news, while the kids ride the wave.

  82. ‘Insanity is like gravity, all it needs is a little push’ The Joker.
    With the ongoing tribal rhetoric and hate being spewed left right and centre, the atmosphere is negatively charged and the slightest of trigger would escalate to the dream outcome. May we never know war as a country, in the words of the late Michael Jackson, may we heal the world we live in and make a better place for our kids.

  83. Saitan!!! Pepo zote zishindwe!I curse that dream in the mighty name of Jesus.We should rise up against tribalism. A curse that runs in every Kenyan. We should embrace each other as brothers and sisters. That dream is horrifying, shacking and might come to pass if we don’t change. Lovely work Biko.

  84. I have never left a comment here Biko but today I must. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR THIS. We need to know Kenya is not invincible and come out of our tribal madness. Take this story and publish it in your Satmag weekly column, more people need to read this

  85. We can easily, easily become South Sudan, Rwanda or Burundi. If we still think our tribes mean anything, that they reflect our safety zones, we are dead wrong.

  86. The picture you have painted makes it look more real and likely than i ever thought. All Kenyans should read this, and have serious reflections on it…

  87. Oooh My God; never allow this to happen to our beloved country…. Give us peace and unity…. This is damn scary, God forbid.

  88. How i wish this could be published on all print media and make Kenyans see where we are heading with our hashtags. Its not the duty of the politician to unite us, its me and you. Kenyans are we up for the challenge and make this dream not so valid? Thanks Biko. PS.Ask ourselves why do we turn tribal when the political scene is been played before us,
    anything else we unite.

  89. I have always wanted to read something before I sleep but I fear getting the hangover the following day. I’ve suffered a few but I think I will go back to it.

    Let us all look beyond our tribes, religion, gender, class. Go much deeper.

  90. meanwhile, those politicians who divided us will be holding chest thumping meetings in big, international hotels to discuss a ‘roadmap to peace’ which will actually be them scrambling for power while using us as pawns. i look at Syria and I want to cry, a beautiful country now ravaged by war. having experienced PEV, i can tell you for free that war is scary and no one wins. in the end, it is about politicians satisfying their egos with our lives.

  91. What a depiction of the hostility that runs in most of us. I pray and hope that such a dream is not a true premonition. As Kenyans let’s rise and condemn tribalism. Let’s embrace Peace, love and harmony. We should never let our country sink again in to the valleys of animosity and a war zone for humanitarians and the world media to flock to. Great article.

  92. I would wish to correct you, the guy was on top of a tank , not a tanker.
    Tanker Meanings:
    1. a ship, road vehicle, or aircraft for carrying liquids, especially petroleum, in bulk.
    2. (Military) member of a tank crew.

  93. This is a wake up call….God is calling us Kenyans to pray and love one another irrespective of our tribes.
    i wish this reach all Kenyans

  94. Biko Biko……Am I glad you had this dream! And I just hate it the way Kenyans are so quick to wish it away. We cannot wish it away. We can only work towards being better to each other. Stop allowing politicians to mislead us into hatred. We must put tribalism away, because that is what has killed many African nations. We are playing with fire and hoping not to get burnt. We think that the other nations that suffered strife were not as lucky as we are in Kenya.Please!!! How naive? They probably just thought the same. That if we fight, only the other tribe will suffer, or only the other religion will suffer. Really? We all think we will be victorious after any war,even in arguments, but please tell me a day that war has gone the way you planned it. Wake up Kenyans, smell the coffee. We better shape up or Biko’s dream, my worst nightmare will not be easily wished away. It is gruesome…..just look around you in the neighboring countries and decide if that is what you want tomorrow….

  95. Do you mind if i print and share this…every walking kenyan shud have a piece. This article will jolt them to reality.

  96. …*We made headlines on all the major networks. CNN kicked us while we were down on our knees; a hotbed of a mess. Wazungus shook their heads and muttered, “Kenya? I couldn’t have seen this coming. Africa is indeed cursed.” Talking heads compared us to Rwanda, then Burundi, then Central African Republic……* I hope this never happens

  97. “In fact, the Mara was so deathly silent, that wild animals started coming out of the park to look for humans to stare at”

  98. scary scary scary
    Biko you should be awarded holder of burning spear for preaching peace
    the imagery is nerve wrecking. Tribalism should never prevail.

  99. My goodness!I am praying this will not happen. This should be read by every Kenyan and the gravity of the tribalism taken seriously. Wah! Should be published ib a local newspaper for all to see and ponder.

  100. The political class and all Kenyans on social media who spread tribal hatred ought to read this and let every statement of misery in it sink deeply. This isn’t too far fetched.

  101. We have Kenyan refugees as we speak in Uganda driven out of their homes in Rift Valley during 2007/8 elections, the problem is our ignorance, we do not know how beautiful this Country called Kenya is only foreigners know. We believe that the person stalling our progress as individual is the other tribe but not ourselves.

  102. Where are the filmmakers? This messaage needs to be made into a movie and be shown in every village, every cinema hall and in every nook and cranny in Kenya from now till elections time.

    People read blog posts and say ‘Let’s pray’, ‘woishe’ etc but never really change their mindset. We need to change our mindset collectively as a nation.

  103. Biko you’re truly a talented writer. How vivid I could see your descriptions I couldn’t get from an Imax 3D movie. Absolutely shocking but very informative piece. I’ve never shared blogs before but I felt this had to be read by others.
    Write a book Biko

  104. OMG. I have never imagined the possibility of this happening more than when I ‘read’ your dream. May you never dream again. #touching wood.

  105. How I wish every Kenyan citizen would resist the temptation to make this nightmare vision of Biko come true.
    Tribalism is a repugnant vice that every Kenyan should work towards suppressing.
    God bless Kenya.

  106. we better check ourselves before we wreck ourselves. Imagine if we had someone like Obama run for Presidency…someone who has support not based on tribal lines… tafakari

  107. There is a difference between a tanker and a tank. A tank is an armored fighting vehicle with tracks and a large tank gun that is designed for front-line combat. The name “tank” was adopted by the British during the early stages of their development, as a security measure to conceal their purpose.
    A tanker on the other hand is a truck or merchant vessel designed to transport liquids or gases in bulk. Major types of tank-ship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and gas carrier.

      1. My point also hit home prompting a juvenile response from you.
        FYI there is a difference between a moth and a mother.

    1. Thanks for noting&informing on the difference.You must have a keen eye…..and good you didn’t just keep that small detail to yourself.

  108. My heart is feeling heavy, this will actually be the end game of tribalism if we do not nip it now. We need to forget our last names and know that we are all humans.

  109. I work with Refugees.In 2015,for a year,I worked in Kakuma refugee camp
    .Kenya has no idea.2007/2008 was nothing.There are thousands of young,energetic,educated young men and women who cannot do shit with their papers and when they do,Kenyan law insists they cannot be paid more than the tax bar.So former managers,accountants,filmmakers etc earning as low as 6K if they are lucky to secure a job in the many NGO’s in the camps ,because thats all we are allowed yo give.Mark you these are men and women with families(the lucky few).What can you do with 6k today?Stories of horror from South Sudan,Somalia…all because of some few people’s selfishness.Kenya,we dont need this.I dont want this!Ukabila ni ushenzi

  110. This is deep! It’s a scary picture, and so sad that it is indeed a possibility. It’s sad that others have lived through this…may God have mercy on earth…I long for days when people will live in peace, the whole world over.
    May God never allow this to happen to our country Kenya! May peace, love and unity prevail…Lord have mercy.

  111. I was involved in an accident that crippled me for 3 months, during this period I kept asking myself ‘why me’. Later I asked myself ‘why not’. Ain’t I human like the rest of them all? We always think that such kinda civil unrest can only happen in other countries & not ours. However sad it maybe, it’s a reality that we must act up if we want to restore our sanity. We could all maybe start by posting the link to this story on all of our individual Facebook & twitter accounts for the rest of Kenya to read.
    I’ll do my part today. Let’s ensure someone else reads this as we head into 2017. God bless our country.

  112. I like your writing. It’s entertaining and well-written. But here I’ll fault
    you on two counts. Firstly, the Guardian and Al-Jazeera trump the Sunday Times.
    And secondly, this scaremongering about refugee camps and death is regime
    propaganda, very unbecoming of a respectable blogger.

    To paint Kenyans as randomly hateful people who will unwittingly descend into
    civil war is to take away from the very real inequality that exists in Kenya.
    It is to deflect blame from governments that favor some regions over others
    and place the blame on citizens on social media. Stop scaremongering, write
    about the issues that cause conflict. To do otherwise is to whitewash the very
    real problems we face as a country from government that treats regions unequally.
    It is shouting “let us be quiet about injustice because if we speak we may cause
    war”. By all means preach peace, but not peace at all costs. Peace without
    justice is just delayed war.

    People revolt against electoral fraud, against development-as-a-political-tool,
    against ethnocracy, against unfair resource distribution, against corruption.
    No one revolts randomly against another ethnic group. Kenyans have lived
    together for decades, and have always taken issue with state-sponsored
    inequality. No amount of scaremongering will scare people into accepting
    that some people are more equal than others.

  113. Tribalism is an excuse, social injustice and greed is the enemy. Mungu tuonekanie for the future that we have borrowed from our children…

  114. …and I cross my left emmaciated left forelimb Over my hollow chest to scratch my right elbow,.the perfect total misery pose..no more #RefugeeManenoz trending,

  115. shit is real, we no better than Rwanda , Syria, We need to stop this ..tribalism it starts with you and me , On Kenya , one love .

  116. Biko just depicted the quagmire in aleppo,raqqa,kobani and fallujah,oh lord,kenya should not come to this.

  117. The dream was indeed a bad dream. May love prevail within
    our borders.
    Biko you are a genius! Having written on one of the cancers which ail our country please do write on the others.

  118. Let us not just comment and say how scary it is. But instead we should be giving solutions and act upon not letting this dream become a reality. One way we can do that is by holding our leaders accountable for what they say and do. We have a general election coming sooon may be elect leaders not beacuse of where they come from but what they can do.

  119. Wah! If only we would lighten up n realize that wanjiku,atieno,nduku,chelangat n nafula are all women,we would live better lives~its a wake up call to deliberately choose life n not tribe,WE ARE IN THE 21rst CENTURY!

  120. Our politicians need to hear this…how about the gang comes together and we print as many copies as there are politicians in this country and hand them out to all individually?

    They need to know we are seriously thinking about putting Kenya first, and no politician is greater than our motherland. We are where we are because we allowed the politicians to tell us what to do, instead of telling the politicians exactly what we want and expect of them.

    Let’s change our tune and make them fall back in line, they have no vision for this country and yet we allow them to lead us to where exactly? Dreamland!

    Change starts with you and me, let’s make a stand for Kenya our motherland…

  121. Truth be told by remaining where we are in terms of tribalism and greed, That’s where this beautiful country is headed.

  122. Thanks Biko for reminding us that we are surely not immune to war….
    How I wish we stop hating each other on social media

  123. So scar! This dream should never be valid.However, if we can’t learn to respect each other and our institutions, we might find ourselves living this dream some day in the near future.!

  124. Good work Biko. It is now either we use this not to take that road or we use it as the road map of where to go and what to do when we are refugees. Sad.

  125. This type of piece about aftermath of a civil war in Kenya has been done before. There was one about 2yrs ago in the Nation. Good piece all the same and shows reality of war that some stupid Kenyans take for a joke. I am Kikuyu but can never vote for Uhuru or Rails for that matter. I have a brain and cannot be misuses by a power hungry corrupt politician. Unfortunately most people throw away their brains and education when it comes to politics.

  126. Biko!!! Great piece. Quite fitting that it was a Tom Clancy book now, was it? With titles like Dead or Alive, The Hunt For Red October, and Red Storm Rising that would be the perfect backdrop for your story. Great stitches and beadwork you put into this cloth.

  127. the most appropriate thing for Kenyans to call this is “us”. It should not be scary because it is what Kenyans are doing.While we are at it on social media,we are very aware that our stereotypical tendencies in regard to tribe and political alignments that are sometimes coated as jokes,could lead us to a situation worse than what you have so wittily depicted.Our younger generation are the hope for an integrated community,maybe with names like Hawi and Zara,they will look beyond what shags accents people have and the indigenous names we own.This is good work Biko,it always will be to me.

  128. “Uhuru Gardens across echoed with the the carcass of democracy and free speech.” Such beautiful writing, Chocolate Man

  129. Very scary indeed…especially when Amani, Tamms and Hawi look at you for answers and you have no answer for them.

  130. I wish this could be made a hashtag, a compulsory read material for all schools, colleges etc to make our generation understand that all those politicians whom we strive so much to ‘protect’ will not be in those refugee tents.

  131. This is a timely dream. Hope we all really learn from countries like Rwanda,Egypt and Libya. What saddens me is the comments I read here. Bashing one another because you dislike the a comment. We can’t get past personal feelings after reading an article this serious and that’s how we do it on social media with our hashtags thinking it’s all fun and games defending ‘our people’ ‘our party’ thinking that we are immune to war, that our comments bear no consequences.

  132. 1st time to comment. Had to. I always tell people that Kenyans are not ‘higher’ human beings than Somalians, Syrians, Rwandans e.t.c. This can happen to us! Wake up people!

  133. Had to forward the link to all my whatsapp groups for them to read….This is a clear picture of what would happen if Kenyans dont shun tribalism and hate speech.

  134. I honestly think this piece was shit…you have written better pieces Biko. The bu girls who proof read your shit must have let this one slip through their fingers

    1. that’s your opinion and you are entitled to it but just remember that when the shit truly hits the fan as Biko
      predicts then you will not be allowed it or even be in a position to air it. This is for real!!

  135. Paints a grim picture of what refugees the world over have had to endure. I thank God for the peace that we Kenyans so casually take for granted.

  136. If we are not careful, this is where we are heading. What Biko says is true: its all fun and games up until..
    God help us

  137. Deep Chocolate man, very deep, may that dream never come true though, Lets put a knee down and pray for our Motherland for peace esp as we near the elections. Thanks Biko for the reminder that we so much needed i wish this article could reach every kenyan, because at times a REMINDER is all we need!

  138. Middle class Kenyans, stop praying and do something about it. Choose leaders wisely-
    go and vote. Prayers will take you nowhere. Support the underdogs who actually want to bring change. Having read this article take action.

  139. This has to be the best article have read in a long time,i do hope it reaches to millions of us out there and leave a question mark in our heads,we need each other and should get over this tribal shenanigans,we need peace,my family name dont matter,we are kenyans,we are one,and its starts with you and i being responsible

  140. all I know this is soon to be experienced…but me n you is our destiny . life Is beautiful n i like everything it has to offer so just do your thing,enjoy what you have n remember you are your brothers keeper as he/she is to you . Cheers. nyc revelation Biko.

  141. My heart sank as I read this. This is something we should ponder about and as much as it may have been a dream, it is possible. Possible that if we continued spewing hate based on ethnicity, we would stare at empty streets. Wishing we would experience the human congestion that we complain about now. We would cry hoping we could undo our actions but it would be too late. Thanks Biko for this piece.

  142. This was a scary dream but unfortunately we are slowly working that direction. Nobody is immune to war and war hurts both the winner and the loser. If only we would aceepr that Kenya is bigger than you and me and all our selfish desires and remember that all of us are one. Created in His image and likeness.

    1
  143. great work biko.showing us the reality we might face. The guy who is celebrating to having commented first is a sad facade of how impregnable we think we are.
    Kenya unite!

  144. This dream is not far away from happening as things stands now. The trending is so but that I pity fellow country men/Women. People should visit Rwanda and this dream should be everyone’s concern. I have made my peace and my eyes focused on the great prize, so come what may it be according to the will of the one created the universe. Amen

  145. May the revolution be televised.
    We are a nation of different tongues,
    and yes we should say yes to tribalism,
    in graciously guided, simple truths of acknowledgement, for that is who ; you and me are,
    and ironically you were tribe before Kenya/n, so guard proudly, adorn your/our heritage.
    and foremost be human, a good intuitive and innate human being, say for clarity,
    one who knows its not right to kill, maim,covert another’s, on a basic human level,
    the pieces of & for peace will fall into place.

    Kenya’s strife is a gap in the social strata of standards of living,
    which is easily exploited with stereotypical tribal and worn out ideologies,
    “its our time to eat”
    ” all development will be in Central as he is from that area”
    “she is Meru, dont marry her, they leave babies behind in divorce”…etc
    These are things that we as a people need to take on a humour level,
    and be challenged to inspire the bridge design of cohesion by lacing our own boots and
    educating that cousin in shaggz or that learned fellow who believes tribe over matter,
    “right now as i type i have just dissed my Kisii deskmate, his lunch consist of rice, matoke
    some greens and a ripe banana which he has diced and added to the plate before mashing it all up,
    WE are laughing at the stereotype of Kisii’s and bananas. This is the only tribalism
    that should be fostered, an encouragement and realization our differences can and should mould us,
    into the nation we singularly envision of prosperity, equality, all to echo the constitution’s mission,
    albeit humour is not in everybody’s plate of understanding so pick your students wisely,
    we need not suffer hindsight bias.

  146. Merely by projecting a Hillary win this piece is a shallow as the projection in
    retrospect. Strife tears a country that is bilingual or trilingual, oyr multi ethnicity and materialism are
    solid shields for strife.
    Furthermore, your cheap intellectualism if I may doesn’t provoke thought, just a sense of evil imagination.
    A very clever fellow once mentioned that the tree of liberty must be constantly nourished by the blood of patriots and villains.
    We will have our few instances here and there but not to the scale you describe, and half the time because they will be pre-planned by political mandarins.
    When the attack dogs call them off they will stop. That notwithstanding, the unanimous hatred politically perpetrated by a famous politician against one community has gained significant traction.
    Might be worth watching but even so, given their immense resources, a complete genocide is far fetched. Their numbers are numerous because despite their tribalism, they have intermarried with almost every other tribe in Kenya.
    Just focus on doing those love pieces and perhaps try out fashion or something in your league, politics is more complex to analyse than merely tying everything to online tribalism.

  147. The first post I read for Bikozulu. I am re reading this again 3 years and commenting, scary but relevant. It was indeed a masterpiece