From: "Bruce Janz" <JANZB-AT-Corelli.Augustana.AB.CA>
Date:          Wed, 16 Apr 1997 19:16:59 MST
Subject:       Re: Meaning of Swahili (?) word?


> From: chayden-AT-nwu.edu (Christopher Hayden)
> 
> >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

All this is correct -- to most people in Kenya, I think they would 
think of the local events. I have been at a number of harambees -- 
there is always a celebratory, communal feeling about them. Lots of 
dancing and music. The donations are very public -- you go to the 
front, waving your donation, and put it in the bag. It is a kind of 
dare, to others, to match you. I believe all harambees had to be 
sanctioned by the government -- I don't know if this is still true, 
but I expect it is. I haven't read Petals of Blood for awhile either, 
but the sentiment on the part of the more cynical would be very much 
as you describe. 

Daniel arap Moi, the president of Kenya, subsumes harambee under his 
"Nyayo" philosophy. It is really far too charitable to call Moi's 
thoughts a philosophy -- its more of a rationalization of the 
neo-colonial status quo. If the cynics were wary of harambee, they 
are positively scathing about Nyayo.

Bruce Janz

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|Bruce B. Janz                                                       |
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