Kenya: How to Remain a Global Sporting Nation

My attention was drawn to a piece in the August 8th online edition of the Daily Nation newspaper. It was titled "Why Kenyans are world beaters". In view of Kenya's poor performance in London2012, I thought it was an exceedingly incongruous and inappropriate line to push right now. It makes the world think that we have our heads firmly and naively buried in the sand. Perhaps there are those who will argue "Who cares what the world thinks?"  -- but that's how you get left pitifully behind.   

This is no time for chest-thumping, as Kenya is not, not by a long short, a world beater where it matters a lot (and most) -- at the (London2012) Olympics, where all participating nations are driven, after arduous preparations, to do their best in the presence of all the rest. Our poor performance so far, compounded by the apparent lack of professionally competent mentoring of our younger athletes, such as Chemos, and by the high expectations that escorted the athletes, makes Kenya arguably the unhappiest nation on earth this Olympic season. 

Shame on the policy makers. They have not invested the requisite funds and infrastructure to back-stop our talented sports men and women -- mostly young people. They are embarrassing our youth by denying them the national wherewithal to continue to shine in the world -- and to outperform. The youth are mostly left to their own devices, and to the charity of a few. The Ministry in charge of sports is asleep, deluded perhaps that 'airbagging' is enough to nourish champions. Is it a wonder that our athletes seem to really shine only when there is mouth-watering prize money to be had individually in major sporting events?

I hear Kenyans of different walks of life wonder, based on the goings on in London, why we continue to compete with the rest of the world in practically the same narrow band of track and field events as we have since 1968 or so. Let us learn from the Chinese idea (as well as the TeamGB, US, Japanese, Australian, Russia and Ukrainian models) of a truly sporting nation. Let us invent massively in our youth in all areas of sport. Let us rewrite Vision 2030 to address this great and debilitating oversight. Let us start anew with a new crop of competitively recruited national sports officials with fresh and imaginative ideas. 

Rudisha and perhaps someone else may yet re-knit our tattered reputation before London2012 is over, but it's time to wake up. Look how much weight Rudisha is carrying on his dignified shoulders!

POSTSCRIPT:

I came across the print version of Elias Makori's article on the above theme only around 2 p.m. today, several hours after posting my own piece.Then I knew there was an online version. Here it is: "NOCK officials must take the cane for the mess in London". It is much more informative than mine, and more to the point than Dr. Joshua Arimi's. Makori points out in detail what ails Kenya's athletics at the Olympics, and points to a string of solutions that must be introduced if there is to be hope for the future, and if Kenya's athletes are to become world beaters again. Let the conversation begin -- devoid of political grand-standing, but with some necessary finger-pointing.

Something About Haiku

I have posted a number of haikus on this blog. Many probably ask: What, really, is haiku? Well, here's a link to get you started: click here.

Another useful link, "Haiku of Kobayashi Issa", is here >> http://haikuguy.com/issa/index.html

Haiku has been described/labelled as a "one-breath poem". It is decidedly Japanese in origin, its rich history there going back several centuries, through which it has evolved appreciably. The essence of a haiku, written in Japanese, is that it is a seventeen-syllable poem in a 5-7-5 format. Many a Japanese haiku translated into English frame those 5-7-5 syllables in a three-line sequence. And that is the image that we have, those of us non-Japanese who write haiku. The Japanese haiku was traditionally a one-line affair, but times have changed (and places too).

It is difficult, though, for Japanese translations into English to maintain the 17-syllable mien, as you can discern in the translations that appear in the second link provided above. The English translations almost invariably have fewer syllables; since, experts note, the Japanese language tends toward the monosyllabic, and English toward the polysyllabic. Conversely, then, Japanese translations of English-language originals, and plenty of those are appearing every passing day in all sorts of places and sites (including Twitter), will usually appear to be on the higher side of -- that is, to violate -- the 5-7-5 rule. But as long as they are acknowledged as translations, this should not be a worry. Purists worry, though; and I detect that they would rather release those who dabble in Haiku-in-English from the "tyranny" of the rule, than see any haiku in the Japanese language, translated or "original", committing this hara... this error.

As I see it, however, the delightfulness, and the challenge, of the 5-7-5 format should not be missed or avoided just because a poet cannot communicate in Japanese -- or just because a poet cannot but communicates in English, or another language. There is enough poetic licence to get one through any jam. Let haiku be! Let it be 5-7-5 in any language!

I see that there is a tendency in many poets to write haikus without titles. That is something I personally avoid. Every child has a right to a name, we are told. Every haiku and every poem likewise.


P.S. (Monday, April 27, 2009):

Here is a Haiku in Swahili (with a Tanzanian accent) that I have written since this particular post was originally published last week.

Poromoko

Niri Tereza.
Dunia kitongoji.
Siku ri-zi-ka!

And here below is my English translation
of Poromoko, touched up using my poetic licence:

Found me on the skids.
The world's a marginal place.
I was not ass-u-aged!

[Alternatives to the last line: I was not satisfied
/I made no nothing / Day, be em-pow-ered]