It brought me to systems, the networks that supports such outfits. It is claimed that the commanders of Al Shabaab are in Kenya's Eastleigh Estate. They command a port that brings them Ksh. 5 Billion per annum at the expense of some youth out fighting a holy war. Like the confusion in Mogadishu, it is difficult to differentiate the head from the tail in Eastleigh. The systems that operate here are known only to the people who run and fund them.
A college classmate came to mind. Alvin Lee Oguga (RIP) was one bright man. This is a man who I believe like many others was messed up by our own education system. We were doing a Science degree, but all indications in him were clear that he was an 'artist' at heart. His command of English was exceptional, the books he read and his thought process betrayed his disdain for Geology and Mathematics. He drowned his frustrations in alcohol until he could not complete his studies.
What brought Lee (as we called him) to mind was a tag line he would have used in the Luo spirit of pakruok. He claimed to be the first man to have made love to a woman in the rebel held town of Kisangani. It was the time when Eastern Congo had the combined forces of Rwandese and Ugandan forces as well as the Intarahamwe and Banyamulenge rebel militia armies.
Today as I take a look at social systems that should make life better but end up to make it worse for some people. I honour Lee, who made our college life worth the hustle of proving and deriving equations. His humour, love for rhumba and easy demeanor added to a true sense of Luo nyadhi and pakruok was off the hook. Today he would gleefully quip that he was the first man to make love to a woman in the Al Shabab held port of Kismayu.
May we all tweek our personal, corporate and social systems for the sake of social good and sharp minds like Lee.
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