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| Team Meeting |
Working in the
Kenyan context is like having the rug pulled out from under me over and over
again. People talk the talk and the actions don’t match. Things seem money
driven. From a Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi) perspective (for info http://www.spiraldynamics.net/),
the vMemes (core values) are strong red (individualistic, egocentric and power
to the strongest). There is purple in there but only from a red perspective.
The tribal element (purple) is mostly because they think that they will get
what they want only if their tribal leaders are in power. So the tribal card is
played by politicians and the people follow because their experience is that
‘when my person is in power it is our turn to eat’ – a phrase I have heard many
people say. So it is all about survival and self interest at so many levels. To
have a competitive political democracy in a culture where there is corruption
and competitive tribal elements is like putting a match to petrol. The
political structure is used to create tribal divisions so the powerful few can
get into power.
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| Theme of Peacebuilding Workshop with Kuza Africa |
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| Kuza Africa Workshop |
From an SDi
perspective, theoretically one would say that we need more blue, more
infrastructure and mechanisms to mitigate the self interest. However I am
learning the depth of vMemes systems. They are core. There is no point trying
to impose a system to fix a problem because if the core vMemes are at a
different level. The community will not be genuinely interested or ready and it
will not work. In Kenya structures are put in place such as ‘The Anticorruption
Commission,’ a legal system, and rules/regulations, but they are ineffective as
the red value system runs through them. So they are corrupt and therefore they
become another mechanism to express self interest. The police force is
structured for corruption. For example, if a motorist breaks the law the police
officer cannot fine the person on the spot. The police officer has to take the
driver to the police station and process it there, then the driver goes to
court and will be given the sentence in court. All this for a speeding ticket.
Neither the motorist nor the police want the hassle of going to police station,
the paperwork and court, so the driver can bribe the police and be let go. It
is an industry as I have been told that the senior officers give the police on
the street bribe quotas to meet every day.
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| Kuza Africa Workshop |
And in the
immigration department the officer looking after my file would not tell me how
long the permit would take to process as he said it can vary depending... that
I could ‘chip in’ (where his words). This is after he had been trying to hold
my hand and wanted me to go to dinner with him so I got the package deal of
harassment and wanting a bribe. Lucky me. It is a horrible power dynamic as
this man could bury my file if I don’t play along. So I found someone else to
assist me (which was not easy) who gave me all the information I needed in 2
minutes.
I suspect that the
amount of money that changes hands through corruption would be a lot more than
the official economy. It is on every level as the police get money from the
matatu drives so the matatu drivers can get away with breaking the law, people
in community projects organise with hotels and other services to get a
commission for themselves when they pay the bill, and receipts are meaningless
to anyone except the tax department as retailers are bribed to say that the
amount was more than was actually paid. Much of the violence and killings
starts with young people being paid by those in power and the attitude of the
young people is that if they are paid they will kill, no question.
There is a sense
of the community taking the law into their own hands. If a petty thief robs
someone in the street and the community sees it, the community members will
chase the thief and often kill them. I heard a story where a thief was robbing
houses in an estate. The householders caught him and set him on fire. When the
police arrived the police officer said that it would be a lot better if the
community members finished him off before calling the police, so the policeman
went away until the community had killed the thief. And this is all on the
ground level. The community blames the politicians and police for corruption,
but there is no need to go up the power hierarchy to find corruption and
violence, it is everywhere.
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| Peace Workshop Open Space |
At the gym I
have been going to I have befriended a lovely woman from South America who has
set up a business in Kenya. I was sharing some difficulties I was having with
conflict and stories being created that are dividing the team I am in. She said
that there is no way to escape corruption or to escape from employees stealing
from the business, it is something that you just need to manage closely. This
is sobering and a bit depressing. It is not the first time I have heard this. I
am new at experiencing it directly.
The politicians
are just a magnification of the mindset on the ground. For Kenyans it is ‘just
how things are done here’ and for many it is not corruption. Yet NGOs go
bankrupt as employees and managers bleed the funds, conflicts start in teams,
people get murdered. It is like a mouse running on a wheel. It is difficult to
see that there could be any real change. The impact is that Kenya struggles to
develop, feed its people and the billions of aid dollars get eaten up by
corruption. There is a joke here ‘How do you know if an NGO has got funding?
The Executive Officer has a new house or car.’ The money never gets to the
project and often fake reports are done.
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| Peace Walk Kisumu - Ugali is the Vegemite of Kenya |
If we take an
evolutionary perspective, ‘pole pole’ (‘slowly slowly’ in Swahili) is the way.
It is not hard to understand why there is violence in Kenya. The fundamental
motivation of many is money, fuelled by a fear or scarcity and a lack of trust
in other people. You may say that people everywhere are motivated by money, but
this is on a level that makes everywhere else I have been in the world look
positively altruistic. You have to be here to understand just how poisonous the
obsession for money is. And the grab for ‘small money’ (a term I have learnt in
Kenya) today stops people from working together for the greater good down the
track. It is as thought people think if they work together they will get less
of the pie. As though they think the size of the pie will be the same if they
work by themselves or work together. Yet the pie gets a lot bigger when we work
together. Without a sense of collective responsibility there is little hope for
people to get off the mouse wheel.
It is a lack of
trust that gets reinforced over and over again through corruption and the sense
people have that they are on their own, and whatever they need to do to get
ahead is OK.
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| Peace Walk Kisumu |
There is a
desire to end corruption on an intellectual level, but just like the woman who
keeps going back to the abusive husband, there is a hook that is deeply
embedded and in the blind spot of our consciousness that keeps us stuck in the
rut we are in.
Living in this
culture is impacting on me. It reminds me of Baz Luhrman’s ‘Sunscreen song’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI
) where he says ‘Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you
hard.’ I think living in Kenya is making me hard. Trying to work with teams
here is a challenge and I don’t trust many people here. I am always wondering what
they really want. My own integrity is not as strong either as the gap between
my words and my actions grows. I used to be super reliable, but not so anymore
as being reliable feels a lot harder here. I run late to meetings, I change my
plans if it feels like it is too much hard work to get there, or the traffic is
too much...
I am wondering
if the sources of conflict in the world differ from context to context. Some conflict
is fuelled by ideology and righteousness, such as religious conflict. Yet in
Kenya conflict seems to be about basic survival, mistrust and individualism.
There is a sense of righteousness in some conflict here, but a lot of it is
justified through resource grabbing and power.
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| Peace Starts at Home workshop Nairobi |
So solutions are
not easy. There are a lot of people working hard to bring peace, justice,
integrity and basic needs to Kenya. There are a lot of people who are genuinely
committed to changing things and operating with integrity. Kenya has more NGOs
doing social work of some kind than any other country in Africa. Yet while many
are doing great work and making a real difference, many are feeding the money
obsession and disempowering communities with handouts and giving money to
people to participate in trainings and programs.
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| Domestic Violence Workshop Nairobi |
As a
psychologist I know that you cannot save people from their own journey even
when they know they are in a destructive cycle. People need to find their own
way. If people do not feel empowered or able to give up the addiction to, or
face the fear that stops them changing then it is very difficult. I had a
client who came to me for help in Australia. She told me she was stressed and
there were a few things not working in her life. She later shared that she
drinks a bottle of vodka every night and often can’t stand up. But in her view
the alcohol wasn’t the real issue and she was not willing to look at it. Yet
how can she have a life that works when she can’t stand up at the end of the
night and she has young children that have an alcoholic mother.
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| Peace Starts at Home Workshop Nairobi |
Kenya is
evolving and there are many people doing great work. We cannot talk about peace
in the world without acknowledging the intrapersonal work that each person
needs to do to let go of the judgement, righteousness and fear that we use to
justify killing and exploitation of resources. My role in this evolution is as
much about my personal journey as what I can bring to others. I need to come to
the issues with a balanced and peaceful mind or I will not be any assistance to
the community. I can either add to the conflict by judging and being righteous,
or I can find my own equanimity to be compassionate to all humanity.
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| Chilling Out |
The Kenyan
people are just trying to survive the best they can, just as we all are. I am
not better than anyone here. Are you going to remain one of the billions of
people that complains and seek peace through controlling other people,
resources or power? Evidence would suggest that does not work. We need to
develop our own peace and share what works for those who are interested. Not as
an imposition but as we are invited. That is all the journey requires. Peace
does not exist outside the framework of our bodies. All conflict is a reaction
that occurs within us that we express through action either constructively or
destructively. Peace exists only within the framework of the body. When we have
peace within ourselves violence will be impossible in the world.
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| Lions at Nairobi National Park |
