From: Kuria-Mwangi
I don’t want to dwell on the major issues raised by my friend Philip Ochieng on why Luo Nyanza is lagging behind. I was interested in the piece below. We have discussed the same in these fora. Memories of the days when folks from my home areas flocked to the Sagana fisheries and to River Tana looking for fish especially during the exam times because we believed that Luo had excelled in the academic arena because of eating fish. Those who failed the exams after restricting themselves to a fish diet blamed the short period of fish eating or the species eaten (believing that one had to eat kamongo from lake victoria to excel.
When the man of cloth managed a lower second division and had just enough to grant a second selection which saw him arrived at Mbita Point for A-levels and being not among the very promising of loco 15 to go University, rumors spread in the village and beyond that I was after the lake kamongo. Yes, I had a good share of not very good smelling Kamongo and then went to top the form six class at Mbita High school. Back in Murang’a, my hard work was not credited to the good performance but kamongo got the credit. It was difficult arguing against that especially with my poor performance in form four at Githumu High school and the fact that I was not among the best at Kimathi primary school. Some even claimed that I attended Maseno National School. This was not helped by the fact that I never denied this rumor because it earned me lots of admiration from skirt wearers, many of whom would not have have bothered to give me a peck leave alone a french kiss if they realized that I attended a third rate A-Level school where we found it more comfortable going for long calls on top of the huge rocks surrounding Mbita High School. Now those who think this is stupid need to know that there is nothing as enjoyable as doing a No. 2 on top of a hill and on a rock and then looking at the beautiful lake Victoria and the surrounding Mfangano and Rusinga Island. As you did your bio function, Kampala or some Ugandan city would be visible from the horizon and this allowed you to enjoy the scenery as you completed what took you to the mountain and on the rock. From there you run to the lake, dived and swam for the rest of the afternoon.
Now let us hear what others have to say about this hard hitting piece from filifu as call Philip in my home area.
Many older-generation individuals among the Kikuyu – a community whose education was disrupted considerably by the Mau Mau hostilities — hold on to the myth that the Luo have a special kind of intelligence as a result of a diet dominated by fish.
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/My%20people%20have%20lost%20their%20sense%20of%20%20genuine%20heroism%20/-/440808/1090226/-/10smrkbz/-/index.html
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http://www.kuria-mwangi.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/kjmwangi
of course this is a true fact, what worries me is that this generation doesn’t value fish mongering.
You tickle my ribs with wanton abandon as you unravel the myths of kamongo. On a serious note though, academic success has much to do with the institution’s culture. The students and teachers need to be motivated to excel. Create a competitve environment and reward both the teachers and students. Involve parents in their childrens education and encourage role models to give them pep talk every week and they will all say YES WE CAN!