Kenyan Students in China Need Famine Relief!

We received a rather interesting letter yesterday from the Kenyan Embassy in Beijing. What an insult! The Embassy has no doubt improved since the last change of guard. Admittedly the previous Ambassador was a total disappointment. When he was replaced by Her Excellency Madam Solitei, those of us who had had some run-ins with the previous boss were relieved. Actually, since the arrival of the new Ambassador, the embassy has adopted a very positive trend where the kenyan community was constantly appraised on anything of interest to us here. It is in this light that I wish to loud the officials concerned who have given us a sense of belonging.

The students in China from the third world countries are the most underpriviledged. At US$100 and US$185 a month as stipend for undergraduate and PhD students, respectively, with those masters students somewhere between the two, many students have to get some help from their home governements one way or another. However, we kenyan students are doomed to the mercy of the host government. So when the plea came yelling down at us in our email boxes today, all of us felt it was an insult! And not without reason. Any Kenyan who has had a problem in China and sought help from the embassy has wished for once that he were not called a Kenyan at all! I had a nasty brash with them on one occassion, and I'd rather not talk about it. Suffice it to say that it is more urgent for them sometimes to deal with a dead student than to pre-empt it. Thank God for the abundant health that we continue to enjoy in this land, a kenyn would rot in pieces, abandoned just like that!

Granted that the government has never seen it wise to supplement the measly resources we are given by the host, is it a wonder that many an educated Kenyan runs away from our motherland in serach of greener pastures! Last year, it was reported that Kenya contributed to brain drain from Africa in proportions that were alarming. If this goes on, the report was shy to conclude, the country will be left in the hands of artisans with professionals running to Botswana, Namibia, UK, USA and Australia. For why would one be asked to be patriotic on an empty stomach?

On this note, therefore, I call upon the embassy in Beijing to liaise with the government back in Nairobi to ensure we are well fed and clothed before they come begging from us the few ren min bi. Imagine how many students have to ask for colleagues from other countries for a couple of hundred yuan at one time or another which is to be returned at end of the month, only for the cycle to be repeated mid-month. How many Kenyan students are persevering in this jungle without ever having to afford a computer which goes for as low as 5000Yuan, whereas those from Uganda, Tanzania and rwanda are wallowing in excesses provided by their governement? What do I say, for just like the Kenyans in Wajir need famine relief, Kenyan students in China need famine relief!