TALKING SHENG

Young people in Nairobi use Sheng, an urban, youth sociolect that mixes English, Kiswahili, and ethnic languages and shares many features with slang, to forge a new, hybrid identity. Sheng signifies the negotiations and struggles of youth's identity project. The institutions of family, church, school, and popular media present Kenyan youth with different possible identities. The voice of the family comes to them in ethnic languages that embody tradition and heritage. The voice of education asks them to place Kiswahili at the center of a multicultural ideology, but does so in English. The church calls to them in Kiswahili and English. The voice of the media comes to them in videos, movies, music, radio, and television and is heard mostly in English. Each of these languages represents a particular ideology of living in the world and young people respond through language. Sheng gives young people the wherewithal to question and challenge the ideologies and identities that attempt to define them. Sheng also signifies the construction of a linguistic third space between the global, represented by a transnational African diasporic culture, and the local, represented by tradition. ^ This dissertation also focuses on two groups of culture brokers that are helping to shape Sheng and, as a consequence, shape identity—rap musicians and Manambas. Manambas are young men who work on Kenya's privately owned public service vehicles popularly known as Matatus. Many of Kenya's rappers feel a sense of responsibility toward the youth; and as the voices of their generation they feel an obligation to promote the importance of African heritage in young people's definition of self. Manambas are the master innovators of Sheng, however, they do not share rappers' sense of responsibility nor do they have a coherent social agenda for young people. While rappers negotiate between tradition and modernity, Manambas stand in between the global and the local. Through their consumption of commodities, including fashion and music, transnational culture is given currency and symbolic power in the expression of identity. ^ The discourse on hybridity and globalization constitute the theoretical ground on which the empirical data is explored and analyzed.

HIDDEN IN EVERY PROBLEM IS AN OPPORTUNITY!

Life is an endless circular flow of ups and downs, good times and sad times, happy moments and moments when you would thank the ground for opening up and swallowing you alive. I choose not to focus on the happy moments of life when one is at peace with everything because most of us if not all have been there, at the top where you feel like you own the whole wide world. Here nothing and no one can stop you from pursuing whatever it is that you want too and miraculously it almost always ends up brightening not only your world a little bit more but also those around you.

The sad moments, that time when you feel so low, that season of your life in which nothing makes sense because of some negative experiences that we may have gone through is what brings most people crumbling down on their feet. Such situations and times in some people, marks the beginning of their downfall. Not because they willingly want to take that forbidden path of failure in life but because of the way, as humans, we are naturally programmed to always take the easy way out. We tend to unwillingly react negatively in such situations. If you are a student and seem not to be getting good grades, what do you do???Do you quit or do you give it your all. If you are fired from your job, do you stress over it, so much so that you end up messing with your health? Did you know that High levels of stress and negative pressure on yourself could lead to fatal ailments such as High Blood Pressure? Believe it or not, that is the truth. So instead of sending yourself to an early grave, why not view that as an opportunity to venture into self employment and decide to grab it with both hands and make the most out of it? It is easier and more fulfilling to create your own plan and eventually becoming your own boss. Sounds better than sitting on the sidelines to watch as others strive to make the days in their life count. What makes it even more worse is the self pity and tears that you shade which is amplified by the thought of you being the biggest looser around who was unable to go through life with your head held high like all the others who seem to be passing you by. All that negative thought coupled up with the High Blood Pressure is a sure recipe for disaster. I hate to say this but let’s call a spade a spade, all that accumulated over a period of time, not so long, is an early, avoidable, direct ticket to the grave. Think about this; no one ever promised us that the journey through life would be easy but at the end of it all, if lived well, will be worth all the struggles, the occasional confusion and oooooh don’t forget the sometimes persistent pain too. Did you know that overcoming all of that is what actually spices up life, making it interesting? You might be wondering why everybody but you, in your surroundings, always seems to be happy and can afford huge lovely smiles that brighten up everything they come across? We are all human and sometimes such weird feelings can overwhelm us. It is normal to feel this way but here is what this ‘’happy” people around you know that you may not. Being happy doesn’t mean that everything has to be perfect all the time. They know that life is in seasons and that different times and situations may play out differently in ways they did not expect. Each season comes and goes and they somehow manage to live through them all no matter how tough others may turn out to be. They understand that we may not always have control over everything. Understanding all that, they choose to look beyond their imperfections and the unending storms of life to focus their minds on a much greater goal. They understand that the smile they wear is what brightens up their life even when in the dark times. Their bright lights (smiles) at most times is what ends up guiding them out of the darkness. Why? Because it illuminates their paths, they can see ahead past the darkness and focus on achieving their greater goals. Perhaps that is the difference between the extra ordinary individuals and you. They simply see trouble as a gold mine.

What do you see when you look at the crisis you may be going through? Do you see doom and gloom or a booming chance, a springboard into superior realities of existence? Do you notice shame and embarrassment in your trouble or are you more aware of the difference, the variety and the strengths that challenges can birth? While in crisis, it is a bigger tragedy to have sight but no vision. Sight is good, but vision is greater. How you respond to your seasons of chaos has a lot to do with your ability to see beyond the smoke screen of trouble. Trouble reveals new things while pressure reveals the true nature of our character. Great people are known during crisis. Do not lose your focus just because the wind is blowing hard and the rain is beating your back with no signs of it coming to a stop anytime soon. Fix your eyes on the price. At the end of it all you either emerge a VICTIM or a VICTOR. It just depends on your ATTITUDE towards the problem and how you CHOOSE to RESPOND. HIDDEN IN EVERY PROBLEM IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Enjoy the week!!