By Mary Karau Ngethe
This article divides Kenyan population into 5 cohorts of 20 years each.
The author, being a demographer, has developed the 5 categories with Mau Mau rebellion as the foundation event shaping our historical foundation.
Group A: The current senior most parents in Kenya born in or before 1955
These are the current eldest group of parents, who were born way before independence (1955 backwards) They have clear witness about struggle for independence, and they tell stories of life before and after 1963. The youngest person in this group is 70 years old. Most of them are grandparents and great grandparents. They are therefore parents to adult children. This cohort has a lot of pre-independent history that they need to share with their children and grandchildren. They hold the national values and traditions of our nation. They need to hold regular family re-unions in order to pass on the information to the next generation. Mothers of this group needs to sit regularly with younger mothers, and likewise fathers to sit with younger sons and transfer values to their younger ones. They need to remind the younger ones that we are Africans and we have values that should never die. Like how to talk and behave in public, and in the family.
We need to create platforms to pass these values, traditions and national historical stories to the next generation. All counties should have a museum about our country. Then the counties should ask group A members to write letters of what they wish to pass on to the future. Then these letters are stored as history written and reserved as national heritage. This can be made into a policy for all 47 counties. Some group A stories should be how natives used handmade guns against real guns in the Mau Mau rebellion. What materials they used, and how they hid in the forests at day time and attack colonialists during night time. How natives would be forced to live in consolidated villages that had one main gate and a wide trench as the wall to ensure no one escaped at night.
In America, one can trace history of as far back as 400 years ago when people migrated and occupied the land as their own, then slave trade reached there and that adds to the history of the African Americans. We need to have books and books written by Kenyans of group A, while they are still alive.
What they know group B does not know, and therefore it can be lost.
I know many of this group members, and I know the stories they have.
Group B Parents: Born during and around independence
This cohort has Kenyans who were born just before or soon after independence; between 1956 and 1976, two years before Mzee Kenyatta died. They are also beneficiaries of the coffee boom, when the world had a shortage of coffee, and the national economy boomed with coffee export.
The members of this group are currently parents to adults, and grandparents. This cohort enjoyed the fruits of independence in the sense that there was true integrity in our land. A yes was a yes, and government systems were super effective. The ones I interviewed, from all regions of our beloved country, still remember general hospitals had the best systems. Public hospitals used be called “Genuru” for general. The childhood era of group B had the best time with education. Grades of candidates took students to the school different schools. “There was no “searching for a school for my child”. If you performed well you were picked automatically to a good school. Teachers taught with a stick to instill discipline and knowledge. The teachers beating the most were the most respected by the parents. Results based judgement. Population then was very low. So even jobs were readily available.
After A-Level education it was a big decision whether to go to University or get employment. University education was totally free. In fact students used to get “Boom”, that is allowance to help them stay well, even after getting free accommodation and free food. Chapatis used to be cooked in bulk, and chicken was in plenty. Breakfast would be served with sausages, eggs, and a lot of bread. Most students used the boom to educate their younger siblings because one never needed the boom. Others would use boom to drink their heads-of.
Group B was a confused lot because they entered a working place that did not prepare them to pay for university for their children; they were not ready to look for high schools for their children. However, they still managed with the new life very well. They are now parents of adult children, and most of them are actually grandparents. They need to harvest values and traditions from Group A and record them for future generations.
This group is the one with the biggest responsibility to nurture, mentor and coach group C, their children, who are future of our country. They need to adopt parenting styles that are super effective as described below.
Group C: Future of Kenya
The author considers this cohort as the group born between 1977 and 1997 (Just before turn of century). The oldest in this cohort is 47 and the youngest is 27 years old. This is the most crucial age in Kenyans social welfare. Most of group C members have very young adult children, teenagers, or young children. While group A has its history of witnessing the struggles of independence, and group B witnessing post-independence, group C has a lot going on. They grew up in the new century. Heard about a Kenyatta-one they never knew, saw Moi for 24 years, saw Kibaki, saw Uhuru, and are now seeing Ruto. They also saw a new constitution; they have witnessed all the political chaos. What haven’t they seen. But the worst they have seen and continue to see is having children in the era of social media. They are never sure what their children are likely to know from TV and social media. Their children are unsafe with all the femicide and other social evils taking place that never used to exist.
Yet, they are not only raising their children but they are raising future adults of Kenya. They are the ones to determine what kind of Kenya we shall have in 2050. Why them? Because group C is the current parents of the Kenya ya kesho. If they read this article and decide to embrace “Purpose Driven Parenting”, then we shall have happy children who will be happy adults. Happy adults make good productive citizens. The way group C parent their children will influence how Group D raises their children. If well parented their children will be self driven, empowered, sound in their faith, alcohol-free, and full of integrity. This would make a new dawn for Kenya.
Call to Action
If Groups A and B decide to mentor and coach group C on parenting, if all religious institutions decide to preach to group C about parenting, if Government of Kenya uses resources well to support group C in their parenting, then we shall have a next generation of Kenyans that we shall say “Kenya is great again”
Then group D, the Kenyans born between 1998 and 2018 will copy group C, and make the “next generation” greater, and group E, born between 2019 and 2039, will find a great country, like the Kenya of the 70s. Let us all take our positions, whichever cohort you belong to, and make Kenya Great Again Through purpose Driven Parenting!
Mary Karau Ngethe is the Program Director, Central Kenya Development Network (CKDN) and can be reached on 0722652111 or marykarayngethe@gmail.com
Mt Kenya Times