Overflowing love for Kenya at the Olympics

By Omulo Okoth

Kenyans, who migrated to London years ago and are happy with their quiet lives there, have come out to identify with Team Kenya.

With the Olympics within their vicinity, they have come in their hundreds to reconnect with their homeland through interacting with Kenyan competitors, journalists and spectators at the event. In the process, they are also getting to know other Kenyans living in their neighbourhoods.

Miniature flags
They range from retirees to students and business people.

You can spot them from a distance at the stadia or the Olympic Village sporting Kenyan attires. When they mix with Team Kenya, all they ask for are team pins and miniature flags.

They ask all sorts of questions from buildings they remember to politicians, some who died long ago.

We meet Nazir Ahmed, 70. He left Kenya for London in 1974 and settled in Yorkshire. His wife, Shamym, grew up in Nanyuki.

Apparently, Nazir was close to Kenyan politicians of that time. He thinks the late Ronald Ngala would have made a good president.

Good man
“He was a very good man, jovial and polite. Look, if Moi was his deputy in Kadu, and he (Moi) went on to rule for 24 years, don’t you think Ngala would have done better?” asks Nazir, cheekily.

“(The late Paul) Ngei was also another good man — generous and helpful. He used to come fuel at my Park Service station along Thika Road. Gerishon Kirima was also a very close friend those days. I hear he died last year? Very unfortunate.”

“Argwings Kodhek was intelligent . . .” Nazir goes on and on about the politicians of post-independent Kenya.

Apart from socialising with politicians, he was renowned cricketer who played for Sir Ali Cricket Club.

Hitesh Modi, a former Kenyan cricketer, running an off-licence shop in Buckinghamshire and two businessmen running provision stores in theBourough of Hiddington, near Heathrow Airport, are the other Kenyans eager to be associated with Team Kenya.

More of these Kenyans, the young and old, are meeting in the side lines of the Olympics and sharing memories of Kenya in days gone by. The younger generation only marvel at what must have been before they were born.

Reconnect
George Osore works in London. He says he is looking forward to reconnect with Kenyan brothers and sisters, the Olympics having offered Osore and his friends the opportunity.

“We arranged a ‘Kenya Nite’ last weekend and many Kenyans came and enjoyed Nyama choma and Tusker,” Osore, who is a former employee of Crown Paints, told The Standard.

Accompanied by fellow West Enders Gordon Osodo and Denis Orero, Osore says although they have worked and lived in London for long, they always think of their motherland, Kenya.

“The coming here of President Kibaki and the top civil servants (who were in London on a tour to brand Kenya and encourage tourists to visit the country) has made us think hard about our birthplace, and we now have a desire to exploit economic and investment opportunities available,” he said.

It is the Stratford area near the Olympic Village where the Kenyan colours literally cause people to fall over one another for recognition.

Nostalgia
They include security personnel and volunteers. Makau and Mutua are in security section while Elizabeth Muchuchu is in the turnstiles.

When they see a Kenyan they switch to Kiswahili and one easily notices nostalgia taking controlling conversation.

Whether this happens to other nationalities or just to Kenyans is hard to tell.

In the Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets, where Kenyan athletes were training on Wednesday, there is a huge mural depicting people from all over the world.

Dubbed ‘The World in London’, the mural captures people from different countries.

The picture of Kenya shows three black men sporting aristocratic attire, two holding umbrellas while the third smokes a cigar.

While the ‘Kenyanness’ mood is intense, these men are not a true representation. Perhaps a moran or beaded girls could have done it for the country.