Kenyan Children's Songs and Games

In Memory of my Mother

One Minute of Silence for the Deceased

VIDEO: Timothy Kalyegira

Our Children are not Us

Our children don't have to be friends with our friend's children no matter how great the friendship because our children are not us. In fact, none of our children may be anything like us.

Wadudu ni Hatari and other Songs

I remember this advert song that used to play on VOK. (Cavalier, do you remember it)? 

Hii ni nyumba yako 

Wewe na jamii yako 

Usikaribishe wadudu kuishi na wewe 

Wadudu ni hatari 

Wadudu ni wachafu 

Waue mara moja 

Doom, doom, doom! 

Dawa doom! 

Then at lunch time it would be 'kuleni mayai, pia maharagwe. Hivi ndivyo vyakula bora vya kujenga mwili.' 

As we prepared to go to school in the morning we had: '...jiepushe na uvivu tujenge taifa. Mwanangu, kumekucha amka wende shule. Elimu ndiyo msingi wa maendeleo.'

Descendants of Nimrod?

Just came across strange information about a sub tribe of the Luhya called the Kabras that live in Malava. It is interesting to know that that their name 'Kabras' comes from ‘Avalasi’, which refers to the warriors or Mighty Hunters they once were. As to the claim that they are descendants of Nangwiro associated with the Biblical Nimrod, I am flabbergasted.

Somehow, in my mind I cannot reconcile a tribe in Kenya that was originally Banyala (different from the ones in Kayunga) with a Mesopotamian monarch. I cannot reconcile the Kabras with a mighty ruler and nation builder who founded many cities, including the great Babel or Babylon. I cannot. Even if you tell me he was cursed for ordering the construction of the Tower of Babel.

In other news, my Mom says she heard a story told in Western Kenya about the Buganda Prince who became ruler of the Wanga Kingdom. Now I may have mixed up a few things about the story she heard but this is what I remember her telling me.

“It is said that when the Prince arrived in Western Kenya, some lady noticed that whenever it was time for him to bathe, he would hide himself from the others. Later on, she discovered the reason why the Prince did this. He had the mark of a snake on his body, which he was trying to conceal. After her discovery, the woman went and told her father who said, ‘That is the mark of royalty. Wherever this boy may have come from, he must be from a royal family.’ Thus, the boy was made king over the Wanga.”

Pure Speculation?

I read somewhere on the internet that some Luhyas came from Egypt and so did some Baganda and oba Banyoro. I thought all Bantus came from Congo or Cameroon. Speaking of Congo, I read somewhere that the Ethiopia referred to in the bible included the area stretching from the Congo basin.

Another mind boggling thing I read on the internet is about the Wanga (a tribe of the Luhya). I read that the Wanga came from Egypt as part of the migration that settled in Kampala area that formed the Buganda Kingdom. A muganda Prince called Kaminyi, who was Kabaka Mwanga I's cousin and Kabaka Mawanda's son, fled to Tiriki in Western Kenya. (Incidentally, I lived in Tiriki with my parents for 8 years) The Prince fled because as the king's cousin, he posed a threat to the reigning monarch.

On reaching Western Kenya, the Prince became a ruler and was succeeded by his son Wanga who established the Wanga Kingdom with the title of Nabongo in the 18th century.