Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 16:15:28 -0600
From: chayden-AT-nwu.edu (Christopher Hayden)
Subject: Re: Meaning of Swahili (?) word?


>Greetings, All!
>
>Can anyone tell me the meaning of the word "Harambe"? It's the title of the
>final chapter of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's --A Grain of Wheat--. I ought to know
>this--it's a word that, like Uhuru, has passed into a broader "Third
>World" and
>nationalist usage outside Africa.
>
>Thanks for your help,
>
>Josna
>

Harambee was the slogan coined by Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya's first independant
president) that means 'self-help' or 'pull-together' in Kiswahili.  In the
postcolonial era  harambee schools consisted (maybe still consist) of
non-governmental community efforts to provide educational opportunities
that otherwise did not exist.  Individuals as well as public institutions
(schools, charities, local political cells of KANU, etc.) also sponsor
harambee events at which people join together to donate money in support of
a person or a project.

Remind us who haven't looked at the novel in a while what Ngugi's take is
on these Harambee events.  If I remember correctly, in Petals of Blood, he
is sharply critical of these mass-propaganda campaigns for the ruling
party, which patronize the citizens of the country by telling and exhorting
them to pull themselves up as the politicians pocket the proceeds and
extirpate political oppostion.

Chris




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