Whose Responsibility is it? By Masinde Alex (08-0035)

Do you remember the days we used to accompany our parents to church? The friendly congregants who sat next to your mum; smile and do faces at you? Do you remember the memory verses we used to recite during Christmas? What about the kids who used to take the biscuits our parents bought us on our way to church? And do you remember how you used to stare at the choir members and tried to sing along with little or no success?

Those were the days’ going to church wasn’t a matter of bargain. You might wonder why am saying all this. I come from a Christian background. Taking a brief look at me now and comparing to then, a lot has changed. Should I attribute these changes to time, age, stage or a person? This is the question that bothers me.

Every community has its own beliefs, values and guiding principles. I find it easy to adapt in a community where we have certain significant similarities. Having said this: I don’t mean it’s hard to adapt in those without similarities because I have not found myself in such a setting.

…to be a distinguished, Christian-Centred, African Institution of Higher Learning for the transformation of Church and Society. If you come from or have gone through the community am now residing, you might have heard or come across this statement in one way or another.

If you haven’t, I think this will help refresh your memory: To develop managers, Professionals, Scholar and Researchers to be effective Christian Servant Leaders through the integration of Christian Faith and Holistic Learning for the transformation of Church and Society.

This is the statement of faith that I suppose guides a number of us through our day to day life within the community I currently reside in. When I joined this community, I had already created images about it. I had my expectations right under my nose and like a judge I placed myself on the throne.

The word chapel is synonymous with spiritual discipline within this community. I remember one day a friend of mine over lunch brought the issue of chapel attendance to our attention. He was of the opinion that the Institution should make chapel attendance optional or scrap off midweek services. The kind of support he got from my other friends, made me hold back my comment to avoid losing my appetite.

Talking about chapel, I am expected to attend services at least twice a week for spiritual nourishment. I find it necessary for my faith in order to remain on course. I guess the problem I have nowadays is laziness. I find myself looking for excuses not to attend chapel sessions. I remember the days when I was a freshman I hardly missed chapel. I was always punctual and I participated in majority of the events organised by the Daystar Christian Fellowship.

According to Nkhoma, my classmate, Daystar University students know the University’s stand on faith but deliberately refuse to follow it. Being young, wanting to rebel is one of the reasons that he attributed to these. “Some of the students are devoted to their faith and they came here because they wanted to be in a Christian environment. But others just came here because wanted to be in a university.”

“My faith is based on the relationship between me and my saviour; am a born again Christian. I read the bible and fellowship with other believers. I don’t believe we should be forced to attend chapel. So, when I came to Daystar I didn’t know we had to go to chapel. The first semester I attended every chapel but immediately I found out that I was being forced to attend rather than being internally compelled, so I stopped. We don’t have to go to chapel to prove we are Christians.”

I remember after joining Daystar in my first semester of study, I encountered financial difficulty, I suppose my parents had not planned adequately for my return into the new semester. So, my school fee was not ready after the first week into the semester. My account had started attracting fines each day I failed to register. During that time if a student failed to register within the first three days into the start of the semester, it attracted a fine each day due. If there was ever a prayerful time for me in Daystar, then that was it.

Have you ever found yourself in a tight situation where you felt you needed help straight from above? Or you just wished for a hand to come from above and embrace you relax? I believe in God just like my friends do but I seriously call on his name when I am in trouble. In trouble I become so prayerful. Granted this is a weakness.

Joyadams Munene believes that faith is more of a practical thing than theoretical. “Leadership starts from above; we always watch what the administration is doing. If for example they fail in their part to exercise Christian faith in their actions, the students will follow suit. No matter how much they remind us of our statement of faith”.

The times I have spent in this community, God has always been in the forefront. Whenever we are travelling for a school event we open with a word of prayer before commencing the journey and upon arrival we close with prayer. I have also noted that majority of the students send prayer requests when in need. And for thanks giving, who does that?

It has come to my realization that the issue of faith starts with me. It is a journey. Before I look at what my neighbour does, I have to look at myself as a person. Evaluate myself with the yardstick that I use to evaluate others. If I may ask, is there any standard way of looking at things for me to make my judgment? Who came up with this idea of, this is the proper way for a Christian to behave?

I have always been biased in my judgments. I treat myself so charitably in comparison to how I treat others. Why shouldn’t I become the good-good example to others? I wish I could go back to the days, when I was a child. The days I never used to question much and give excuses to my deeds. The days I would not complain about sermons. The days I enjoyed going to church. Can someone please tell me what is happening to me? Did I lose my track somewhere along the way? I’ll always strive to trace my former ways and trod onto the ancient path that seems forgotten. As the saying goes, “On a long journey of human life, faith is the best of companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest property.”

TO LEAD IS TO SERVE - 08-0739

TO LEAD IS TO SERVE

Every respectable position in society comes with an increased level of pressure. This is especially so since the media makes a point to scrutinize those that hold leadership positions. When it comes to national politics, the spy glasses are wider due to the public’s involvement and their incessant need to check whether their leaders are making good on their promises as they vowed to in their manifestos. Why shouldn’t they? After all, the vote into office was solely cast in faith that change and good will come of those they put in power and that good leaders keep their promises.

So what is a good leader? The question boggles many a mind due to its weighty nature and scarcity of exemplary individuals who fit the profile. Few icons of great leadership have had a chance to stand on the Kenyan national stage long enough to leave a lasting impact and those who have had their lives cut short through ailments or assassination such as the late Tom Mboya or the late Wangari Maathai.

Lao Tzu, a Chinese Taoist philosopher and author of ‘The Book of the Way’ is quoted as having said, “To lead the people, walk behind them.” He goes on further to add that a leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, such that the people say, “We did it ourselves.” A concept that has long permeated the political scene and corporate leadership platforms is that of leadership as service as the mark of a good leader. This is whereby, rather than stand ahead of the masses and bellow orders at his followers; a leader should instead walk side by side with the people and mobilize them to assist him in meeting their needs. Therefore, a servant leader helps his people meet their goals rather than task others to accomplish responsibilities for him. In essence, he cannot do it all himself.

One such leader that comes to mind as I had mentioned before is the late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai. Even before the media and the world shed light on her work and put her up on a pedestal, she fervently pursued her life goal to preserve the environment and to mobilize other women to plant trees to ensure that the world remained green, pure and unpolluted through their organization The Greenbelt Movement. After securing a position in the NARC government and later gaining worldwide recognition by winning a Nobel Peace prize, she remained humble and used her fame and popularity to sensitize many to be environmental stewards. Through it all, she remained true to her cause.

Many use their leadership positions as a way to see through their vested interests rather than to benefit the people by being corrupt or failing in their duties. I find it interesting how quickly leaders sometimes forget where they came from and who they should be grateful for where they are today. It is true that power tends to corrupt the purest and noblest of characters causing them to dwell on themselves rather than the people he leads. A servant leader therefore has to fight against this to fulfill his vow to his people to cause change and better their lives. Henry A. Kissinger said it best: “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”

In Kenya however, the bulk of the leadership cake tends to automatically go to those who hitch free rides into the corridors of power by being affiliated with political dynasties  such as the Kenyattas, Odingas, and Mois just to name a few. In contrast, people who display great leadership qualities are accorded some degree of respect but are never taken as seriously as their dynastic counterparts. The notion behind this is that due to the politician’s association with a former great leader, they too must therefore have great leadership traits in them when in most cases, this is not so.

Unfortunately, Kenyans still uphold political archetypes that proved successful in the past when yet times have changed. For far too long have we let incompetent people masquerading as leaders take the reigns of power to steer their families into obscene levels of exponential wealth as their people languish in poverty. There are honourable men and women such as Esther Passaris doing great things for the country that fail to get the acclaim and opportunity to extend their great works to a national scale because we are myopic in our definition of a good leader. We are the ones to blame. If we do not change our attitudes then we shall continue to cry foul every time a leader abuses his office and forgets us. Let us not forget: there is power in the ballot.

(800 words)

THINK, UH, WRITE BEFORE YOU SPEAK - 08-0739

THINK, UH, WRITE BEFORE YOU SPEAK

There is something about the way a well developed plot and cast moves us and make the characters’ experiences our own. That is the beauty of a good movie or television series that has us glued to the screen from start to end. Those that prefer relaxing with a book in hand and music playing in the background tune in to their favourite show on a radio station of their choice to unwind. Some people term it a form of escapism or recharging after a long day but I like to call it dreaming eyes wide open. Thus, broadcast corporations put in a lot of hard work and money trying to satisfy this growing demand for entertainment and information needs. However, if one is on the receiving end of broadcast material, it is harder to appreciate the effort and work that goes into producing anything from radio show programmes to television works.

Behind the scenes in the initial stages of developing broadcast content, producers are faced with the challenge as to whether a script is needed to guide the production or to have the presenter speak spontaneously. Depending on the direction chosen, a show can end up having an absolutely different feel and produce varying results in the end. When it comes down to it, the question producers and presenters must answer is for what purpose the production is meant to serve.

Take spontaneous talk for example. When one speaks from the top of their mind, there are bound to be long pauses the moment when the speaker tries to organize their thoughts. Depending on how a speaker recovers from this, the results can vary from bad to fine especially if they are camera shy. In addition, one tends to use simple sentences that are fragmented when speaking spontaneously. This leads to making a lot of errors such as repetition and thus the speaker makes a lot of corrections. I learnt this the hard way when a few colleagues and I had to work on a five minute on air set for class on a topic of our choice. We chose an easy route and went with a show on relationships because the wide array of discussion topics revolving around the subject were numerous. In the end, because we were unsure about what to comment on, we spent a lot more time editing the five minute recording so as to make it as cohesive as possible. It was quite hard and very time consuming coming up with a significant final product which even in the end lacked the punch we intended for it.

On a broadcast platform, a presenter or reporter who speaks spontaneously risks coming off as unprofessional as it can make them lose credibility of what they are speaking about among the audience. This is depicted clearly when rookie and unseasoned reporters are sent to report on important news. The false starts and hesitations covered by filters such as ‘um’ and ‘uh’ when speaking may make it tasking for the audience to internalize the piece of information and may even make them lose interest in the programme altogether.

An important thing to note, however, is that spontaneous talk sounds and feels more natural because essentially, one is speaking from their mind and they usually do. The ease and transition between two ideas if well planned helps to make the production much friendlier, a task that many scripted works tend to lack. There is place for spontaneous talk in live debates such as in programmes that have guest speakers like the old show Crosstalk on KTN.

On a different note, the late Alfred North Whitehead, a British philosopher and Mathematician, is famously quoted for saying, “Actors are loved because they are unoriginal. Actors stick to their script.” Think about a movie that has no script with actors that can essentially do what they think and want at will. The result is likely to be haphazard and costly. This is why a script is important. It helps to manage time better because rather than spend time thinking of what to say, the early preparation of a written guide helps to bring out a message clearly. Most times, without a script information can get lost in translation or fail to have a desired impact.

Furthermore, when one uses a script, they are able to be more organized and thus, bring out the ideas they intended clearly than when speaking spontaneously. Shows like XYZ need to have a script. This is because the satire is brought out by what the characters say as the meaning is rooted in their words. Without it, the show would not have as great an impact as it does. As expected, sometimes scripted talk in broadcast can come off as unnatural. The trick is to be familiar with the content of the script before using it so as to make it feel more conversational.

There is a middle-ground that producers and presenters favour and that is the production of semi-scripted shows. A good example is such as the many formats breakfast shows on television stations use as they tend to be interview based with several invited guests per show. Rather than read from a teleprompter, the presenters write a few notes on the topic and questions to be asked so as to maintain the flow and focus of the content. This allows for improvisation and the end result is normally pleasing.

In the end, the one thing that holds true is that practice makes perfect. Great presenters and producers are as a result of many trials and errors so as to find a suitable fit. Depending on a person, scripted shows or spontaneous shows may be preferred. I believe, however, that it is better to have a form of script when working on a programme. It helps to give a rough idea of what final result is intended and to exhaust any ideas on the subject spoken about lest memory fails when one opts for the spontaneous talk route. After all, didn’t the American sages remind us to be safe than sorry?