GENERAL
INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE COUNTRY OF KENYA.
Kenya officially the Republic of Kenya,
is a country in Africa and a founding member of the East
African Community
(EAC). Its capital and largest city is Nairobi. Kenya's territory lies on the equator and overlies the East African Rift covering a diverse and expansive
terrain that extends roughly from Lake Victoria to Lake Turkana (formerly called Lake Rudolph) and further south-east to the Indian Ocean. It is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya covers
581,309 km2 (224,445 sq mi), and had a population of
approximately 45 million people in July 2014.[1]
Kenya
has a warm and humid tropical climate on its Indian Ocean coastline. The climate is cooler in
the savannah grasslands around the capital city,
Nairobi, and especially closer to Mount Kenya, which has snow permanently on its
peaks. Further inland, in the Nyanza region, there is a hot and dry
climate which becomes humid around Lake Victoria, the largest tropical fresh-water
lake in the world[2].
This
gives way to temperate and forested hilly areas in the neighboring western
region. The north-eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia
are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Kenya is known for its safaris, diverse climate and geography, and
expansive wildlife reserves and national parks such as the East and West
Tsavo National Park,
the Maasai Mara, Lake
Nakuru National Park,
and Aberdares
National Park. Kenya
has several world heritage sites such as Lamu
and numerous beaches, including in Diani,
Bamburi and Kilifi, where international yachting
competitions are held every year.
The
African
Great Lakes region,
which Kenya is a part of, has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic period. By the first millennium AD,
the Bantu
expansion had reached
the area from West-Central Africa. The borders of the
modern state consequently comprise the crossroads of the Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan and Afroasiatic areas of the continent, representing
most major ethnolinguistic groups found in Africa. Bantu and Nilotic populations together constitute
around 97% of the nation's residents[3].
European and Arab presence in coastal Mombasa dates to the Early Modern period; European
exploration of the interior
began in the 19th century. The British Empire established the East
Africa Protectorate
in 1895, which starting in 1920 gave way to the Kenya Colony. Kenya obtained independence in
December 1963. Following a referendum in August 2010 and adoption of a new constitution, Kenya is now divided into 47
semi-autonomous counties, governed by elected governors.
The capital, Nairobi, is a
regional commercial hub. The economy
of Kenya is the largest by GDP in East and Central Africa. Ethiopia GDP purchasing power 2010: 86 billion. Imf.org. 14 September 2006. Kenya GDP purchasing
power 2010: 66 B llion. Imf.org. 14 September 2006.Agriculture
is a major employer; the country traditionally exports tea and coffee and has
more recently begun to export fresh flowers to Europe. The service
industry is also a major economic driver. Additionally, Kenya is
a member of the East African Community
trading bloc.
The
Republic of Kenya is named after Mount Kenya. The origin of the name Kenya is
not clear, but perhaps linked to the Kikuyu, Embu and Kamba words Kirinyaga,
Kirenyaa and Kiinyaa which mean "God's resting place" in all three
languages. If so, then the British may not so much have mispronounced it
('Keenya'), as misspelled it. Prehistoric volcanic eruptions of Mount Kenya
(now extinct) may have resulted in its association
with divinity and creation among the indigenous Bantu ethnic groups,
who are the native inhabitants of the agricultural land surrounding Mount
Kenya.[original research?]
In
the 19th century, the German explorer Johann
Ludwig Krapf was
staying with the Bantu Kamba people when he first spotted the mountain.
On asking for the name of the mountain, he was told "Kĩ-Nyaa" or "Kĩĩma- Kĩĩnyaa" probably because
the pattern of black rock and white snow on its peaks reminded them of the
feathers of the cock ostrich. The Agikuyu, who inhabit the slopes of Mt. Kenya,
call it Kĩrĩma Kĩrĩnyaga in Kikuyu, which is quite similar to the Kamba
name.
1. GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING OF KENYA.
Geography and climate
The climate of
Kenya varies by location, from mostly cool every day, to always warm/hot.The
climate along the coast is tropical. This means rainfall and temperatures are
higher throughout the year. At the coastal cities, Mombasa, Lamu and Malindi,
the air changes from cool to hot, almost every day.[4] " The further inside Kenya, the more
arid the climate becomes. An arid climate is nearly devoid of rainfall, and
temperature swings widely according to the general time of the day/night. For
many areas of Kenya, the daytime temperature rises about 12 C (corresponding to
a rise of about 22F), almost every day. [5]
2.
RELIGIOUS
SETTING OF KENYAN.
The vast majority of Kenyans are Christian
(83%), with 47.7% regarding themselves as Protestant and
23.5% as Roman Catholic of
the Latin
Rite.[114] Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya (31 August 2010) 2009
Population & Housing Census Results at
the Wayback Machine (archived 10 August 2013). Ministry of State for
Planning. knbs.or.ke The Presbyterian Church of East
Africa has 3 million followers in Kenya and the surrounding
countries.[115]
3.
HISTORICAL SETTING OF KENYA.
3.1 Pre-colonial
history
Around 2000
BC, Cushitic-speaking people from northern Africa settled in the part of East
Africa that is now Kenya. By the 1st Century AD, the Kenyan coast was
frequented by Arab traders, who due to Kenya's proximity to the Arabian Peninsula,
established Arab and Persian colonies there. The Nilotic and Bantu people also
moved into the region during the first millennium AD. and settled inland.
3.1.1The
Europeans:
Evolving from
a mixture of Bantu and Arabic, the Swahili language then developed as a lingua
franca for trade between the different peoples. When the Portuguese arrived in
1498, the Arab dominance on the coast was clipped, as the Port of Mombasa
became an important resupply stop for ships bound for the Far East. The
Portuguese gave way in turn to Islamic control under the Imam of Oman in the
1600s until another European influence came along, this time from the United
Kingdom during the 19th century.
3.2
Colonial History:
The roots of
the colonial history of Kenya go back to the Berlin Conference in 1885, when
East Africa was first divided into territories of influence by the European
powers. The British Government founded the East African Protectorate in 1895
and soon after, opened the fertile highlands to white settlers. Even before it
was officially declared a British colony in 1920, these settlers were allowed a
voice in government, while the Africans and the Asians were banned from direct
political participation until 1944. During this period thousands of Indians
were brought into Kenya to work on building the Kenya Uganda Railway Line and
subsequently settled there, whilst inviting many of their kith and kin who were
mainly traders from India to join them[6].
3.2.1 Resistance
to Colonialism -- the Mau Mau:
In
1942, members of the Kikuyu, Embu, Meru and Kamba tribes took an oath of unity
and secrecy to fight for freedom from British rule. The Mau Mau Movement began
with that oath and Kenya embarked on its long hard road to National
Sovereignty. In 1953, Jomo Kenyatta was charged with directing the Mau Mau and
sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. Another freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi was
arrested in 1956 for his role in the Mau Mau uprising as one of the leaders of
the struggle for independence and was subsequently hanged by the colonialists.
Kenya was put under a state of emergency from
October 1952 to December 1959, due to the Mau Mau rebellion against British
colonial rule and thousands of Kenyans were incarcerated in detention camps.
During this period, African participation in the political process increased
rapidly and in 1954 all three races (European, Asian and African) were admitted
into the Kenya Legislative Council on a representative basis[7].
3.3.0 Kenya
achieves independence:
In
1957, the first direct elections for Africans to the Legislative Council took
place and those elected increased the people's agitation for Jomo Kenyatta's
release from detention. In 1962 Kenyatta was released to become Kenya's first
Prime Minister, when Kenya finally gained independence on December 12, 1963.
The following year, Kenya became a Republic with Kenyatta as its first
President. In the same year Kenya joined the British Commonwealth[8].
4.
THE CONCEPT OF CREATION AMONG THE
KENYANS
In general, traditional Kenyan religions
involve belief in an eternal, unique and omnipotent creator God who is distant
from mankind, but not out of reach. God created and maintained the universe,
including man, who in many cosmologies was lowered from some other world.
Essentially, the Kenyan concept of God pretty similar to both the Muslim and Christian ideas. The name given to God changes from people to people, though those most frequently encountered are Ngai, Enkai, Akuj, Mulungu and Mungu, and variations thereof. God cannot be seen, and usually resides in the sky or on high mountains. God is associated with rain (and by extension grass, certain plants, animals, mountains, rainbows and prosperity), as well as with the consequences of not providing rain (drought, famine, disease and death).
Essentially, the Kenyan concept of God pretty similar to both the Muslim and Christian ideas. The name given to God changes from people to people, though those most frequently encountered are Ngai, Enkai, Akuj, Mulungu and Mungu, and variations thereof. God cannot be seen, and usually resides in the sky or on high mountains. God is associated with rain (and by extension grass, certain plants, animals, mountains, rainbows and prosperity), as well as with the consequences of not providing rain (drought, famine, disease and death).
God is also manifest in the sun, moon,
thunder and lighting, stars and in trees, especially the wild fig tree (also
called 'strangling fig'), which is sacred to many different Kenyan peoples.
Sometimes, different names are given to God according to the manifestation in
which he is apparent.
4.1. Ngai – The Supreme Creator
The Gĩkũyũ
were – and still are – monotheists believing in an omnipotent God whom they
refer to as Ngai. Both the Gĩkũyũ, Embu, and Kamba use this name.
Ngai was also known as Mũrungu by the Meru and Embu tribes, or Mũlungu (a
variant of a word meaning God which is found as far south as the Zambezi of
Zambia). The title Mwathani or Mwathi (the greatest ruler) comes from the
word gwatha meaning to rule or reign with authority, was and
is still used. All sacrifices to Ngai were performed under a sycomore tree (Mũkũyũ)
and if one was not available, a fig tree (Mũgumo)
would be used. The olive tree (Mũtamaiyũ)
was a sacred tree for women.[9]
4.2. Philosophy of the Traditional Kikuyu Religion
The cardinal
points in this Traditional Gĩkũyũ Religion Philosophy were
squarely based on the general Bantu peoples thought
as follows:
1. The universe
is composed of interacting and interconnected forces whose manifestation is the
physical things we see, including ourselves and those we don't see.
2. All those
forces (things) in the universe came from God who, from the beginning of time,
have had the vital divine force of creation within himself.
3. Everything
created by God retains a bond from God (Creator) to the created.
4. The first
humans who were created by God have the strongest vital force because they got
it directly from God.
5. Because
these first humans sit just below God in power, they are almost like Gods or
even can be Gods.
6. The current
parent of an individual is the link to God through the immediate dead and
through ancestors.
7. On Earth,
humans have the highest quantity of vital force.
8. All the
other things (forces) on Earth were created to enable human vital force (being)
become stronger.
9. All things
have vital force but some objects, plants and animals have higher vital force
than others.
10. A human can
use an animal to symbolize the level of his vital force compared to other
humans.
11. There is a
specific point within every physical manifestation (thing) of vital force where
most that force is concentrated.
12. A human can
easily manipulate things to his advantage or to their detriment by identifying
this point of concentration of vital force. There are human beings who have
more knowledge of these forces and can manipulate them at will usually by
invoking higher forces to assist.
13. Higher
forces are invoked by humans using lower forces (animal or plant sacrifice) as
intermediaries. To approach higher forces directly is thahu (abomination which
leads to a curse).
14. The human
society has some few elite people very skilled in the art of manipulating
forces to strengthen a human(s) force or diminish it, strengthen any force
below human force or diminish it.
15. The leader
of a human society is the one possessing the highest vital force as at that
time or the one closest to God or both. Since the leader of this human society
has the highest vital force and hence closer to God than any other person, he
should be able to nourish the rest of the people by linking them to the
ultimate God and by being able to command lower forces to act in such a way so
as to reinforce the other humans vital force.
16. The life
force of a dead ancestor can come back to life through the act of birth of a
new child, especially when the child is named after the departed ancestor and
all is seen to be well.
The Gĩkũyũ nation, being of Bantu family held a belief in the
interconnection of everything in the universe. To the Gĩkũyũ people, everything
we see had an inner spiritual force and the most sacred though unspoken
ontology was being is force. This spiritual vital force originated from
God, who had the power to create or destroy that life force. To the Gĩkũyũ
people, God was the supreme being in the universe and the giver(Mũgai/Ngai) of
this life force to everything that exists[10].
Gĩkũyũ people also believed that everything God created had a vital inner
force and a connection bond to Him by the mere fact that he created that thing
and gave it that inner force that makes it be and be manifested
physically. To the Agĩkũyũ, God had this life force within himself hence
He was the ultimate owner and ruler of everything in the universe. The latter
was the ultimate conception of God among the Gĩkũyũ people hence the name
Mũgai/Ngai.
To the Gĩkũyũ people, those who possessed the greatest life force, those
closest to God were the first parents created by God because God directly gave
them the vital living force. These first parents were so respected to be
treated almost like God himself. These were followed by the ancestors of the
people who inherited life force from the first parents, then followed by the
immediate dead and finally the eldest in the community. Hence when people
wanted to offer sacrifices, the eldest in the community would perform the
rites.
Children in the community had a link to God through their parents and that
chain would move upwards to parent parents, ancestors, first created parents
until it reaches God Himself. The Gĩkũyũ people believed the departed spirits
of the ancestors can be reborn again in this world when children are being
born, hence the rites performed during the child naming ceremonies[11].
The Gĩkũyũ people believed the vital life force or soul of a person can be
increased or diminished, thereby affecting the person's health. They also
believed that some people possessed power to manipulate the inner force in all
things. These people who increased the well being of a person spirit were
called medicine-men (Mũgo) while those who diminished the person's life force
were called witchdoctors (Mũrogi). They also believed that ordinary items can
have their spiritual powers increased such that they protect a person against
those bent on diminishing a person vital life force. Such an item with such
powers was called gĩthitũ. Thus, the philosophy of the Gĩkũyũ religion and
life in general was anchored on the understanding that everything in the
universe has an inner interlinked force that we do not see.
God among the Gĩkũyũ people was understood hence to be the owner and
distributor(Mũgai) of this inner life force in all things and He was worshiped
and praised to either increase the life force of all things (farm produce,
cattle, children) the Gĩkũyũ people possessed and minimize events that led to
catastrophes that would diminish the life force of the people or lead to death.
[12]
The leader of the Gĩkũyũ people was the person who was thought to possess
the greatest life force among the people or the person who had demonstrated the
greatest life force in taking care of the people, their families, their farm
produce, their cattle and their land. This person was hence thought to be
closer to God than anybody else living in that nation.The said person also had
to demonstrate and practice the highest levels of truth (maa) and justice (kihooto),
just like the supreme God of the Gĩkũyũ people would do.
Ngai or mwene-nyaga is the Supreme Creator and giver of all things. He
created the first Gĩkũyũ communities, and provided them with all the resources
necessary for life: land, rain, plants, and animals. Ngai cannot be seen but is
manifested in the sun, moon, stars, comets and meteors, thunder and lightning,
rain, rainbows, and in the great fig trees (Mugumo). These trees served as
places of worship and sacrifice and marked the spot at Mũkũrũe wa Gathanga
where Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi – the ancestors of the Gĩkũyũ in the oral legend – first
settled. [13]
Ngai has human characteristics, and although some say that he lives in the
sky or in the clouds, Gĩkũyũ lore also says that Ngai comes to earth from time
to time to inspect it, bestow blessings, and mete out punishment. When he
comes, Ngai rests on Mount Kenya and Kilimambogo (kĩrĩma
kĩa njahĩ). [14]
Thunder is interpreted to be the movement of Ngai and lightning is the
weapon used by Ngai to clear the way when moving from one sacred place to
another. Some people believe that Ngai’s abode is on Mount Kenya. In one
legend, Ngai made the mountain his resting place while on an inspection tour
of earth. Ngai then
took the first man, Gikuyu, to the top to point out the beauty of the land he
was giving him.
5. OBSERVATION
5.1. STRONG POINT
1. They
believe that the earth was created by Supreme Being
2. The Gĩkũyũ were – and still are – monotheists believing in an omnipotent
God whom they refer to as Ngai. Both the Gĩkũyũ, Embu, and Kamba
- All those forces (things) in the universe came
from God who, from the beginning of time, have had the vital divine force
of creation within himself.
5.2. WEAK POINT
1. Ngai or mwene-nyaga is the Supreme Creator and giver of all things. He
created the first Gĩkũyũ communities, and provided them with all the resources
necessary for life: land, rain, plants, and animals
2. To the Gĩkũyũ people, those who possessed the greatest life force, those
closest to God were the first parents created by God because God directly gave
them the vital living force. These first parents were so respected to be
treated almost like God himself.
3. That the world was created by the vital force and that human possess a
vital force
CONCLUSION
We can summarize by saying that the concept and
understanding of creation of God among
the Kenyans is based on the Supreme Being, this Supreme Being has some of the
characteristics of God of The Bible, they believed that the creator is
omnipresent, whom all things were created through. While the Creator God of the Bible informs us that
Adam and Eve were the first created human beings, the Gikuyu say that the Supreme being first
created the Gikuyu community, and gave them all things, that is animal, plants,
land, rain etc
REFERENCE
[3]
Asongu,
J. J. and Marr, Marvee (2007). Doing Business Abroad: A Handbook for
Expatriates. Greenview Publishing Co. pp. 12 & 112.
[4]
Mombasa, Kenya: Climate, Global
Warming, and Daylight Charts and Data", Climate-Charts.com, 2008,
[5] Ibd
[6]
Maloba,
Wunyabari O. (1993) Mau Mau and Kenya: An Analysis of Peasant Revolt,
Indiana University Press.
[9]
Kenyatta,
Jomo (1938). Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal
Life of the Gikuyu. London: Secker and Warburg.
[10]
Kenyatta,
Jomo (1938). Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal
Life of the Gikuyu. London: Secker and Warburg.
[11]
Lambert, Harold E. (1956). Kikuyu Social and Political
Institutions. London: Oxford University Press.
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