As the summer heat began to regress, a season of “Open Houses” and harambees in Kenya-Stockholm also began to open up following a series of bereavements among Kenyans in the city. The trend has not relented because this Saturday the 9th of August, a harambee has been called by the St Klara Church to raise funds for the transportation to Tanzania of the body of Mr. Emanuel Seka, a 26 year old Tanzanian national who lost his life last week after drowning in a lake at Södertölje in the suburbs of Stockholm.
Emanuel was a special individual to a section of Kenyans who knew him in life. He was the Youth leader at the Swahili congregation at St Klara Church where many Kenyans worship on Sundays. The harambee will be led by Pastor Beatrice Kamau of St Klara Church who was one of the last people to speak to Emanuel last Wednesday before he left us without notice.
The Harambee will be held at Skarpnäck Alle 31-34 from 12.00 – 22 hrs and will bring together East Africans, friends, sympathizers and well wishers who have been so much touched by the sudden demise of Emanuel, a jolly boy who looked like he had the future set before him following his arrival in Sweden about a year ago before death struck on a Sunny afternoon.
Last Saturday, Mrs Nancy Osumba, a Kenyan, had a harambee at her residence in Rinkeby following the demise of her step daughter in Kenya. The 40 year old mother of five passed away after an attack by high blood pressure, a disease she had been living with for years since her husband died ten years ago.
Funeral harambees have become more of personal engagements for many Kenyans in Stockholm than official mass functions they used to be and of late, attendance has been strictly based on personal Networks.
According to a survey conducted by KSB, some Kenyans believe that people should not organize harambees simply because a relative has died in Kenya. The thinking among these Kenyans is that funeral harambees should be reserved for close relatives such as a brother, a sister, a father or a mother.
The argument is that if everybody were to call harambee because a cousin, an uncle, an in-law, a step father, an aunt, a grandpa, a neighbour and what have you amekitoa, then the Kenya-Stockholm community will be kept extremely busy digging into their wallets “round the clock”, an undertaking which, some Kenyans told KSB, is impossible under the difficult economic conditions in Stockholm.
The argument is that at any given time in Kenya-Stockholm world, someone is losing a relative and that if every Kenyan were to call a matanga-related harambee, some Kenyans in this city may have to be evicted from their homes for failure to pay rent if they have to attend every harambee that pops up.
AVOIDING HARAMBEES BECAUSE OF INKASSO PROBLEMS
Others may have to go without Internet connections at home and read KSB at work or elsewhere while others may have to archive their mobile phone sets because of harambee related bankruptcies that might render them incapable of paying their bills, detouring to the liquor store or having one at Vasa to gather the latest hot gossip in town.
Another Kenyan told me that some harambees just embarrass him because a very close friend calls a harambee following the death of a niece who passes after a long illness. His problem is that if he doesn’t attend because his classification is that it is a “bogus harambee”, his absence may destabilize the friendship while if he attends, he might end up contributing nothing because his economy is on the rocks with some bills hanging dangerously at Kronofogden where he has a “payment program” while others are lazing around at Inkasso and he has to make several phone calls to prevent these bills from acquiring wings to fly to the Kingdom of Kronofogden.
If you are not versed in the terminolgy, Inkasso is where the Swedes retire your bill when you first become unable to pay it after two warnings and Kronofogden is the agency that could descend on your door-step to collect your valuables in the house for sale to recover debts if you fail to respond to Inkasso demands. Kronofogden can also attach your salary and make life impossible for you in Sweden. A bill of 200 kr could spiral to 1000 kr within two months and even if you manage to pay later, you will have a computerized “economic stigma” on your record for five years making life hell on earth here at the North pole.
Because of the strong belief among some Kenyans that harambees should not just be called because someone you are related to has kicked the bucket, DJ Jimmy had problems recently when his mother in law passed away and he called a fund raising. Anti-Jimmy propagandists called an emergency meeting at a joint in Sveavägen to analyze the situation and to chart out a response to the harambee.
When they emerged, they were not even concerned that Jimmy had lost a dear In-Law. They claimed that Jimmy did not have an In-Law in the first place because he was single. To spice up the tale, they claimed that Jimmy was probably one of the most well known bachelors in Stockholm whose seductive powers only rivals those of another Kenyan whom some ladies nick-named Mufyekaji.
According to experts who spoke to KSB, the Kenyan had allegedly downloaded almost every pant among Kenyan ladies in Stockholm while he is also known to have installed some kids among Swedish women. The ladies came to “respect him”, not because of the way he had treated them but because of his dexterity in soothing romantic nerves and constructing mega highways leading to the bed room. They were falling like trees being swept by typhoon Fyeka and before they knew it, they had climaxed. It is for this reason that they nicknamed him Mufyekaji. Others called him Kifagio (broom) while others thought he was a “sweeper”.
“REWINDING A CASE OF DEATH” TO FUND-RAISE FOR HOLIDAY IN KENYA
Despite the Kenya-Stockholm harambee politics, Kenyans still attended the Nancy harambee together with the Jimmy harambee even though those who passed away did not fall into the bracket of “close relatives” as far as some Kenyans are concerned.
Jimmy later called KSB to clarify his position and to attack those who were peddling lies that he faked the death of his Mother in Law to cone Kenyans out of their money. This is how serious it got and at a time when a fellow countryman was in deep mourning.
I attended both “Open Houses” and interestingly, no one was talking about the supposed controversial nature of the “Open Houses”. Instead, the discussions focused on social life in Stockholm, politics and culture and everyone seemed happy. But once people left the venues, stories began to surface. This is how some Kenyans operate. They can’t face you and say that this or that is not correct but once the event is over, they begin to say that “I don’t know what is wrong with Nani these days. He shouldn’t have called that harambee…”. If you are new, welcome to Kenya Stockholm.
One day, Githuku wa Muirani called a harambee because he had lost three relatives in the United States. People rushed to Muirani’s residence to pray, console the family, donate cash and show their solidarity. But once the harambee was over, maneno began to spread – eti those who died in the US were not Muirani’s relatives and that the Prayer meeting that was called by the Kenyan was designed to cone Kenyans out of their money through the exploitation of a tragic case of murder.
Imagine, Muirani had to release a statement through KSB to answer Kenyans who claimed that the 8,000 kr or so that was raised was never even sent to Kenya in the first place but was converted to private use by Muirani.
A copy of a Western Union receipt had o be scanned and published at KSB to silence these critics. After the publication of the evidence that cash was sent, critics went silent. That is Kenya-Stockholm. The propaganda professionals retreated to await for another opportunity to get to work.
Okoth Osewe
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