These are the real Kenyan Heroes

Kenyans annually celebrate Mashujaa Day to remember the heroes and heroines who liberated the country from colonialists. But in the new constitution the meaning of the Mashujaa Day is not only limited to the honoring the freedom fighters but rather honoring all Kenya’s heroes at large.

So who is a Kenyan hero? My definition of a Kenyan hero is a Kenyan citizen who is in a position to sacrifice his or her own personal concern or life and ready to pursue a greater common course that will in the very end have some positive impact in the lives of his fellow Kenyans.

An example of our today’s hero who deserves to be recognized in such a public holiday event is Salah Farah Salah, a Muslim teacher in the North Eastern part of the country, protected his fellow Kenyans (Christians) on a bus after it was attacked by Islamist Militia and later died from a bullet wound. Salah heroic statements were “…if you want to kill us kill us all...” <!--[endif]-->

He refused to be divided from the other Kenyans on religious grounds and held tightly to his arms the words umoja ni nguvu. Now that is an example of a real shujaa that Kenya needs. His character is what we as Kenyans need to embrace and if indeed we can embrace it then we can and remove the thorns on the flesh of this nation such as ethnicity and terrorism.

Another example of a Kenyan hero is First Lady Margaret Kenyatta. Through her initiative-The Beyond Zero Campaign-she has indeed impacted positively in the lives of many Kenyans by reducing the maternal fatalities in the country. In her efforts, she has managed to bring Kenyans from all walks of lives and raised funds that have enabled her to donate mobile clinics to most of the referral hospitals in the country.

One cannot talk of the Kenya’s heroes without mentioning our Kenya Defense Forces who have sacrificed their own lives to pursue a human course in the neighboring country in Somalia. Our defenders have been able to cool down the threats of terror that was robbing us our fellow Kenyans and even hurting our economy. They have indeed played a big role in ensuring that not only Kenya is safe, but also the East Africa at large. Despite several challenges they have faced and which they continue to experience they have remained to be loyal country. Heko! To our soldiers. <!--[endif]-->

In the recently ended Olympic games and also the ones of the past our athletes have raised the Kenyan flag high and made other people from the other nations to fall in love with the tune of our national anthem. They have positively sold the image of the country and inspired other Kenyans to improve and work on their talents. Our rugby team on the hand has also proved its worth on international competitions and also deserves to be recognized.

Another hero is Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Little has been done to push forward her agenda, which focused on poverty reduction and environmental conservation.The Green Belt Movement, one of her initiatives, worked to reduce the effect of deforestation and provided forums for women to be creative and become leaders.