The Animal Farm by George Orwell

The animal farm is centered on the life of animals in the Manor Farm owned and run by Mr. Jones.  One night, one of the older boars calls the animals to a meeting to convey a message he received in a dream of a farm managed by animals without humans benefiting from their labor. He explains to them how the life of an animal is nasty, arduous and full of anguish; a state brought about by their subjugation to man. He calls for animal comradeship with a goal of achieving emancipation from the domination of human beings. The idealism is rich and the animals are all fired up and the phrase “four legs good and two legs bad” is quickly coined. There couldn’t have been stronger unity among the animals than at this point, they even learn and sing a song which works to embolden the dream their freedom.

When the old boar dies, two young ambitious pigs—Napoleon and Snowball—decide to carry on the dream of attaining animal freedom. Unexpectedly and without much planning, the animals stage a revolt and manage to kick Mr. Jones out of the farm, finally gaining their much-awaited freedom. There is jubilation and song, the event is so emotional that most of them weep. They write down the seven rules of the animal farm, key of which is “All animals are equal”.

With their new-found enthusiasm, the farm is more efficient as the animals work together towards a common goal. However, it is soon noted that the pigs do not do much manual labour which they claim is due to their role as the think-tank of the farm. Napoleon and Snowball take over the organization of the affairs of the farm but cannot seem to agree on anything. Napoleon ends up chasing Snowball from the farm using dogs reared for that purpose. The animals are told that Snowball was the enemy of the revolution, he is said to be in collusion with humans to defeat the animal cause. From then on, although excommunicated, anything bad that happens on the farm is attributed to Snowball and any animal suspected to be his associate is promptly killed and paraded as a means of deterring rebellion. We often see, in the real world, in the excuses given to sanitize the injustice meted out on independent minds. The independent thoughts are often attributed to perceived influence from external and rebellious characters like Snowball. 

The book is a satirical allegory about the abuse of power which I still find applicable today. It is a story of “pretend” revolutionaries who are in actual oppressors. In recent African history, we have seen dictatorships begin with idealistic and revolutionary leaders who slowly surrender to their selfish and personal interests. The author uses different animals to mirror real-life roles people carry out for their leaders. “Squealer”, a pig, is Napoleon’s right hand man and chief propagandist. When "enemies of the revolution" are killed, he promptly comes up with a story of how the animal committed a crime against the ideals of the animals. He concocts a story of how Snowball was a traitor to the cause. Squealer is a prime example of the intelligent members of society who use their intelligence for selfish purposes to distort facts in order to prop up authoritarian or repressive leadership. What a waste of talent!

In the book, the sheep bleat whatever Napoleon through squealer tells them. They are manipulated into thinking that they must protect Napoleon as one of their own without noticing their being used as and when required. Echoing to a great extent the tribal nature of our local politics in elections and organizations where people are often mobilized to “protect their own”. The sheep are initially taught to bleat ‘four legs good and two legs bad’ as a means of shushing any opposing views or questions whenever the rules are changed. Finally, when Napoleon decides to walk on two legs like a human against the rules of the farm, Squealer easily brainwashes them to bleat ‘four legs good two legs better’. Ring a bell?

Napoleon uses the dogs, which he reared away from the other animals to intimidate and undermine his opponents. Whenever threatened, he deploys his loyal dogs to the ground to defend or attack. They do get some extra biscuits for their dirty work of course but they remain dogs to be used by Napoleon whenever and however he wishes. What truly puzzles me is their blind loyalty and failure to realize that they could be more than dogs, they could be Napoleon! It makes you wonder what makes this animal or a human for that matter be so subdued and surrender its power so easily.

Benjamin the cynical donkey refuses to be influenced by the events surrounding him. He believes change of leadership does not affect his life. Of all the animals, he alone understands and documents the changes that take place but is unwilling to intervene. Benjamin is the stereotypical “middle class” Kenyan, an intellectual who instead of taking any action airs critical views on social media including arguing against voting or supporting inept leadership in a workplace because they believe that regardless of the regime nothing about their status will change.  One might even argue that the Enron scandal was the organizational quintessence of the Animal Farm. Some of the animals were considered as more intelligent and formed a clique that governed through hubris refusing to be advised by those they deemed less worthy eventually leading to the downfall of the company. The donkeys in the Enron farm who thought nothing could affect their status quo learnt too late that this was not the case.

Boxer is a rather magnificent animal, a fine horse of incredible strength, loyalty and energy and who plays a key role in the construction of a windmill, the farm’s priority project. His efforts however amount to naught. To him, his twin motto ‘I shall work harder’, and ‘Napoleon is always right’ is the solution to all problems. He is avoidant and fails to think independently, naively relying on the decisions of the pigs. He over-exerts himself holding on to the belief that his arduous work shall be rewarded once he attains the age of retirement and is offered a space on the farm on which he will graze on for the rest of his days.  Unfortunately, once his muscles are worn out and he collapses Napoleon sells him for his hide despite promising to send him to the veterinarian for treatment. A few days later, Squealer reports that Boxer died in the hospital while receiving the “best possible care.”

Over the years, much like its human mirror, the seven rules the animals set are either watered down or broken. At times, it is made to seem that the rules are for the ruled and not the rulers or their cronies. Napoleon is quick to mention that other animals should endure food rationing despite the intense physical labour they are engaged in on the farm for the sake of the prosperity of the farm. He, on the other hand does not apply this to himself, the pigs and the dogs as they partake of animal products including eggs, milk and cheese that other animals are prohibited from eating. Ring a bell?

In the end, the pigs evolve to be more and more like human beings, walking upright, carrying whips, and wearing clothes. The seven principles of Animalism inscribed on the side of the barn are reduced to one “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Napoleon declares his intent to ally himself with the human farmers against the laboring classes of both the human and animal communities and changes the name of Animal Farm back to the Manor Farm. Looking in at the party of elites through the farmhouse window, the common animals can no longer tell which are the pigs and which are the human beings. 

Animal Farm is a brilliant book worth a read that you can relate to on so many levels currently. While reading, try to pick out which animal you are in the farm and hence your role in society. It will not disappoint. 

LEAN IN: Women, Work and The Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

I first read this book in 2014 when I had just joined my current place of work and I have recommended it to so many women over the years in the hope of raising awareness and creating a culture in which women can understand that what they go through at the work place is not unique to the individual but is universal. I hope that after they read the book they can begin a conversation in their various places of work that will help achieve women empowerment. I also watched her TED talk, why we have too few women leaders.

https://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread

The author of the book is Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg who introduces the book with her own struggle as a pregnant woman working at Google. For those of us who have been pregnant and by pregnant, I mean pregnant as in you look like you swallowed a whale, you know what waddling is. I remember an incident during my pregnancy while at the Kenya School of Law. When I went in for my oral exams in July the lecturers just couldn’t reconcile the person they were looking at with the one on the picture in the school ID which had only been taken in January. They took turns to laugh under the table assuming my pregnancy brain wouldn’t notice. I will not even try to explain how the questioning went but it had me constantly asking “please repeat, sorry? What?” Yes, short-term memory is a thing! I don’t know if Sheryl had short-term memory loss but she was this kind of pregnant and one day she arrives late for a meeting and in her struggle to rush (waddle) to the meeting room she realizes that the parking is too far off and that’s when it hits her that other women must be going through the same ordeal. She negotiates parking space closer to the building for pregnant women and given that she’s a senior woman in the company, the wish is granted. She realizes that men do run the world which means that when it comes to making the decisions that most affect women, women’s voices are not heard equally.

Sheryl refers to various studies, which bring out the inequality ranging from the numbers of female presidents, women parliamentarians, women in leadership positions in the corporate world and board memberships. She tells of a story where she travelled to Manhattan to represent her company at a meeting.  During a break, when she turns to ask a senior executive where the women’s bathroom is, the man stares at her blankly.  She asks him how long he has been there and he answers one year. She asks if she’s the only woman to have pitched a deal there the entire year. He answers that he thinks so or that maybe she is the only one who has had to use the bathroom. Out of this, she further realizes that women face real obstacles in the professional world including blatant and subtle sexism, discrimination and sexual harassment. The sexism is so subtle that, unless female, you would miss it.

During my early days when I joined my place of work, I remember being referred to as “young girl” or “mrembo” at some of the meetings I attended. Please note I was there to provide legal counsel. What these words connote is that you’re a young girl lacking in experience and throughout this engagement I would like you to keep that in mind. The beautiful is associated with being a blonde. This means that you are only here to be seen because that is the only thing notable about you. I was very uncomfortable with this situation and in some cases I had to ask politely that someone refrains from referring to me in that way because it is unprofessional. Over time and as most of the men realized that there could be something in between my ears the titles kept changing from young girl to young lady, to lady and finally these days I simply go by Susan.

In the first chapter of the book the author talks about the leadership ambition gap. She argues that highly qualified women are scaling back and dropping out of the workforce and in turn most institutions and mentors opt to invest more in men who are more likely to stay in the workforce. She notes that the there is no doubt that women do have the skills to lead at the workplace with studies indicating that more girls are doing much better in school than boys. These academic gains however are yet to be translated into significantly higher numbers of women in top jobs. It’s quite worrying that although the workforce is full of women at the entry level, by the time the system is filling leadership positions, it is overwhelmingly stocked with men. She attributes this dwindling in numbers to the leadership ambition gap which in many ways is caused by our societal expectations. Whereas a man is expected to aspire to high levels of his career, it is not so for a woman.

Two months after having my baby, I was expected to sit for my bar exams.  Motherhood is not easy and on top of it, I developed mastitis and had to go for surgery after a month of nursing. I contemplated not sitting for the bar exam. My mother in law is a strong woman and when she heard of this, she sat me down and gave me a talk about how I could do it and how the worst thing a woman could do is be unempowered. Deferring the exam would have prolonged my state of being unempowered. I proceeded to do my exam and I am always thankful for that encouragement as I now realize that I would have been short-changing myself.

Sheryl highlights the word “ambitious” which, though considered a compliment for a man, is negative for a woman. In my own experience, I have been referred to as ambitious and not in the best connotation of the word. This has often baffled me because I always knew that a woman ought to be ambitious and aggressive at whatever she wants in life. I saw this in my mother who went to college while in her 40s all the while raising four girls on her own so I find it strange that an ambitious woman is held in negative light. This then leaves women who are highly qualified thinking that their only reason for existence is to find a man. At this point, I would recommend the TED Talk by Dame Stephanie Shirley "why do ambitious women have flat heads?".

https://www.ted.com/talks/dame_stephanie_shirley_why_do_ambitious_women_have_flat_heads?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread

The socialization that women cannot make it to leadership out of sheer hard work has worked to ingrain insecurity into women with regard to their abilities. To emphasise this, Sheryl talks about how in a meeting a woman is more likely to be interjected while speaking by men, while this occurs less when it comes to men. This has happened to me severally and I have learnt over time to continue speaking because that is what men do when someone attempts to interject while they are making a point.

In one chapter the author encourages women to sit at the table. She narrates how one time she attended a meeting and noted the women, though entitled to attend the meeting, chose to sit in chairs off to the side of the room, which made them seem more like spectators than participants. This is unlike the men who grabbed their food first and sat at the table. This is not an uncommon phenomenon and the author remembers a keynote address from Peggy McIntosh from the Wellesley Centres for Women titled “feeling like a fraud” in which she explained that most people especially women feel fraudulent when praised for their accomplishments. Most women therefore fail to put themselves forward despite their expertise in various fields. Personally, I would say I was born with this innate dose of high self-esteem that would not allow me to shy away from taking a seat earned through hard work.

The one chapter that tugged at my heart was the one on “Success and Likeability”. It had such a profound effect on me because my husband has given me pep talks over the issue of likeability a million times, my friend Ann became my therapist at one point over the issue and my mother and sister Mercy too have played psychiatrist over it. This was before a turning point that occurred and finally my mind accepted that not everyone will like you and they really do not have to anyway.

The author tells of a research that was conducted in 2003 at the Columbia Business School by Professor Frank Flynn and New York University Professor Cameron Anderson to test perceptions of men and women in the workplace. They started with a Harvard Business School case study about a real-life entrepreneur named Heidi Roizen. The case described how Roizen became a successful venture capitalist by using her outgoing personality and vast professional network that included many of the most powerful business leaders in the technology sector. The two professors assigned half of the students to read Heidi’s story and gave the other half the same story, changing the subject’s name from Heidi to Howard. The students rated both Heidi and Howard as equally competent yet while they respected both, Howard came across as a more appealing colleague while Heidi was viewed as selfish and not the type of person they would want to hire or work for. Seriously???!!

The author articulates that this experiment supports what research has already clearly shown; success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. She argues that because of such stereotypes most women have been afraid to take on powerful positions for fear of being disliked. The dynamics play out when a woman excels at her job, both male and female colleagues will remark that “she may be accomplishing a lot but she is not well liked by her peers”. She is probably “too aggressive”, “not a team player”, “a bit political”, “can’t be trusted” or “difficult”. In my experience, I have found that those titles often follow a woman who is sure of herself, who is not afraid to speak her mind and most of all is not a damsel in distress. A woman who fails to conform to these societal expectations and excels more than is approved of by the society will pay the price. To assert this point the author lists the derogatory descriptions of some of the first female world leaders. Margaret Thatcher was called “Attila the Hen”, Golda Meir was “the only man in the Cabinet, Indira Gandhi was referred to as “the old witch” and Angela Merkel has been dubbed “the iron frau”. Closer home you know what Martha Karua has been referred to.

Another vital chapter in the book is one in which women are encouraged to find a real partner. The author advises women that the most important career decision they will make is whether to have a life partner and who that partner will be. She goes on to explain the expectations of the society on raising children. It is expected that a woman’s career will take a dip once she gives birth, which is not the same for men. So, this means that a working mother has two full time jobs, which most definitely will cause burnout. Only women with real partners survive in the workforce. A real partner splits the roles 50/50 and knows that they are also a parent. I will tie this to the chapter where she tackles the myth of doing it all. The number one question that women are asked is how do you do it all? I have been asked severally how it is that I do it all, I’m a lawyer, a mother and I still have time for this blog and other social activities how do I do it all? To be honest and in the words of Sheryl… I don’t.

I have a husband who is a real partner to me. From the day our son was born we have never had an argument on his role as a father. I could disappear for weeks and know that they will be fine. Last November he travelled and it was expected that as a parent I would remember to attend our son’s open day with the teacher. Though it was at the back of my mind, it completely escaped my mind on the material day. Only much later when he asked did I remember. Now he created reminders on the google calendar which pop up a day before the event to avoid such.  He encourages me to read more, to do more professional courses, to work harder and waits for me on the days that I work late. A real partner. As I read this book I was nodding and laughing as the author shares similar experiences that I have been through. She once took her son to school wearing a blue t-shirt on a day meant for green. My son has worn games shorts on days he’s meant to wear regular school uniform, but hey that’s not the point.  The point is that as women we have the need to be perfect and do it all and when the inevitable happens and we fall short of perfection we become hard on ourselves which allows feelings of guilt and doubt fill our minds. I wanted to reach out to her and high five her over a glass of wine.

Finally, the book encourages women to come together and work for equality. Many women view each other as competition instead of working together against an unfair system. This bickering has not worked for women and never will. Lord Laro’s song “Women Rule” aptly describes female cat fights and further cements the stereotype that women are their worst enemies. He sings that under women rule a world war will be caused by stories about how “she said and she said”. This “she said she said” diminishes the standing of women as leaders at the workplace. I believe women can rise above this. As former U.S secretary of state Madeline Albright once said “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

I highly recommend the book. It contains topics on mentorship, seeking and speaking your truth, and not leaving before you leave which I could not cover without writing another book. I hope to write about my experiences someday but for now as all women and men read this, they should appreciate that men too have a responsibility to raise and mentor daughters who shall not be afraid to lean in to their careers and whatever it is that makes them happy.

THE LOOTING MACHINE: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth By Tom Burgis

It took me a while to complete this book. It is the kind of book that one has to dissect and digest, as the themes it explores are those, which all Africans have pondered over at least once in their lives. I have pondered over these themes since back when I was still in the NGO world when my boss sent me to represent my organization at a workshop that brought together human rights organizations from across Africa to explore the grievance mechanisms for communities that had suffered human rights abuses by multinational companies. The workshop informed my choice of topic for my master’s degree in corporate governance thesis examining the human rights violations by multi nationals in Africa vis-a-vis the guidelines issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is a hard topic to think about and an even harder one for anyone directly affected or who has witnessed the conflicts in various parts of the continent. The author covered one of the massacres that occurred in Jos, Nigeria and landed in a psychiatric ward getting treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. If you remember the Marikana massacre in South Africa, you may have questioned yourself as to what Africa’s problem is. (As for me, I was livid!). Africa is the richest continent in terms of resources, so what ails us?

The author attempts to get an answer to this question in his travails across Africa, especially the resource rich countries, Asia in particular the giant economy of China and a visit to Wall Street. In the process he uncovers a seemingly well-orchestrated system of looting that robs ordinary Africans of a share of its precious resource wealth.

Burgis begins by explaining “the resource curse”, a situation where the income generated by a nation’s resource distorts the rest of its economy. In states whose exports from resources form more than a quarter of the income, it is considered likely that the phenomenon of the resource curse will occur. There are exceptions to this of course but rarely in Africa. He proceeds to explain that because a resource rich country earns most of its income from the resource, its government is in most cases not obliged to uphold its social contract with the citizenry as it does not rely on taxes as a source of revenue. This is very interesting, as you will note that the richest countries in terms of resources have had series of coups and autocratic governments.

Angola is considered a heavyweight in the production of crude in Africa and it is here that the author begins the journey to expose the kleptocracy, corruption and downright plunder perpetuated in some countries within sub-Saharan Africa. He takes us back through the history of the country and the formation of a shadow state by one of the president’s closest aides with the sole purpose of diverting oil money to a few individuals, the ‘futungo’. Manuel Vicente, head of the national oil company, strikes deals with a company from China owned by one Sam Pa to effectively loot Angola’s oil wealth. The line between public and private interests becomes increasingly blurry as a web of companies registered locally and in notorious tax havens ensure that most of the income generated from the national oil company ends up in the pockets of the ‘futungo’ and their associates rather than being channeled to the Angolan government as should be. Sam Pa soon establishes a network in which African autocrats can rely on for financial aid whenever they find themselves facing sanctions by the west because of violations in their countries.

The author then takes us to the richest country in Africa in terms of resources—the Democratic Republic of Congo. One thing I enjoyed about this book is how the author highlights the painstaking research he undertook. In DRC we are taken through the dynamics that contribute to the guerilla warfare in the country with the aim of plundering its resources, from the guise by Rwandese army of pursuing the ‘interahamwe’ and its various sponsored rebel groups to the armed rebellion led by the late Laurent Kabila. Just as in Angola, the DRC has its own clique of individuals who form a shadow government whose activities include the transfer of ownership of assets from the state mining sector to private corporations. Katumba Mwanke is highlighted as a key figure behind the looting machine in DRC. A close ally of the president (Joseph Kabila) he was a powerful man who controlled Congo’s minerals especially in the Katanga region known for its vast deposits in Cobalt. Mining assets under the ownership of the state were transferred from the state to private companies under the control of Katumba and his allies. Katumba died in a plane accident in 2012. In this chapter, the author outlines the connection between a young Israeli who came to Congo in search of a legacy and diamonds and his connection with Sam Pa. He also highlights the inescapable fact that regardless of what the various militias in the Congo claim to be fighting for; the bottom line is that they are all mining.

The Nigerian story is one described as one of gross corruption which has made way for a thriving smuggling business and a deluge of counterfeits from China. The Nigerian textile industry is said to have taken a hit with the influx of cheaper counterfeit textiles from China labelled as “Made in Nigeria”. Do you believe this my Kitenge pips? In this chapter, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal is named as the figure behind a smuggling business which has continued to thrive at the expense of Nigeria’s textile industry. When questioned about his role in the loss of jobs and death of the local industry, he simply states that he is merely providing logistics and if he were not the one doing it somebody else would. To some extent, you are tempted to agree with the man, as the role of the government is to ensure that contraband items do not enter into the country. But then again, does his argument hold?

Deeper into the Niger Delta, which produces vast amounts of oil, the story told is that of corruption, war and looting of resources disguised in tribal and religious wars. The rise of boko haram and other militias is represented as part of a struggle for self-enrichment. To get rid of the warmongers, multinationals have to pay for protection money while through private companies and banks, kleptocrats make away with millions of plundered dollars whose origins are concealed in offshore tax havens. When the ill-gotten loot is laundered back into the economy, it distorts of the fair market value of ordinary commodities and real estate. It is in this Chapter that the author explores the correlation between a massacre in the Niger Delta and the spiking of oil prices and how this may be part of a grand scheme. The interests of multinationals also come into play and you will understand how and why the corporations fund militias.

The below quote got me thinking.

“These networks vary by country, creed and commodity but they have some traits in common. They fuse private interests with public office; they operate in the underbelly of globalization, where criminal enterprises and international trade overlap and they depend on the power of mining industries to create narrow economies in which access to wealth is concentrated in the hands of small repressive ruling classes and those who bribe their way to favour”

The colonialists came to Africa to loot its resources with guns and found African collaborators who gladly sold their kin for gifts. In modern day colonialism by China, this is done voluntarily through contracts in which the Chinese promise to build infrastructure for African countries while they make away with mining rights and concessions to secure a future for their industrialization. The Africans on the other hand produce raw crude, which ends up back in Africa after manufacture and pricier than it left the continent. With no prospects for industrialization and manufacturing plants in Africa, it is hard to see how this will end.

Modern day colonialism has its collaborators who are the main beneficiaries of the looting. The few influential Africans who have sold their countries for their own enrichment continue to live lavishly in sharp contrast to their subjects who continue to suffer in deep penury. In South Africa, a few blacks were able to benefit from the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Programme after the abolishment of apartheid. Cyril Ramaphosa was once the chairman of the national association of mine workers and construction union and one of the beneficiaries of BEE. The author finds it rather ironic that wearing his hat a Board Member of Lonmin, in 2010 Ramaphosa claimed the strike by workers at Marikana Mine was ‘plainly dastardly criminal’. Thirty-Four miners died in the massacre by police at Marikana. Watch the documentary “Miners shot down” to get a feel of how sad this event was.

In equatorial Guinea, the president’s son Teodorin Obiang is said to lead an obscenely rich lifestyle owning a mansion in Malibu, properties in Cape Town and Paris, a fleet of Ferraris and Rolls Royces and one of Michael Jacksons crystal encrusted gloves. The gap between the rich and the poor in his country continues to expand with no sign of narrowing.

The corruption, tribalism and religious differences within Africa continue to grease the looting machine and looters capitalize on this as they continue in their plunder. The complicity by the west and the World Bank and IMF has further contributed to the machine. In these African countries, few individuals working for the public institutions have found a way of fusing their public role with private business through a network of companies registered offshore. These illicit activities work to turn elections into a struggle for survival literally fueled by tribal tensions in which every tribe hopes to place its ethnic leader in a position where they can access a share of the loot. What is currently happening in Gambia and DRC is all part of this struggle. In the book the story is told of Zimbabwe and the struggle between the president and opposition when the power sharing agreement placed the finance ministry under Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. The ever-present Sam Pa is touted to have saved the day and contributed to Mugabe’s political survival and return to absolute power.

Please read the book, it will shock you, challenge you and perhaps inspire you to come up with a solution for our beloved continent. I believe not all is lost...

Quiet- The Power Of Introverts In A World That Cant Stop Talking

As a young child, I remember my mother being constantly barraged with questions like “what is wrong with her?” I was shy around people; extremely uncomfortable around them.  If visitors came to our place I would hide in the darkest corner of the bedroom so that they would not find me. For a long time I thought I had some sort of disorder and people would often remark “huyu mtoto hapendi watu”. It sounded criminal that I would prefer to stay away from people I didn’t know very well or generally people I just didn’t think I clicked with. You see even now into my adulthood people refer to me as “mpole” or “humble” and mostly…. “deep”. To the people who know me well—that is the ones I allow into my shell— I am anything but “mpole”. My best friend who is constantly harassed about being the most likely to commit crimes as opposed to me is usually at pains to explain how I’m the crazy one. Good luck with that Ann!

I love watching TED talks and that is where I first saw Susan Cain’s talk touching on this book. It was almost as if she was speaking about me as she spoke of her own journey as an introvert and how it shaped her and finally how she came about to writing the book. I searched everywhere for this book, I went to one of my favorite bookshops in town and begged the attendants to get it just for me. My husband had to drive me to these supermarkets and bookshops in the areas where expats live (I told you he has seen it all) because I figured surely the book vendors must have figured that is where the expected readers live. When I finally found it at the books first at Nakumatt Mega I screamed! Yes, I was that excited.

I did not need to get past page one to know I was in love with the book. The book begins with a list of 10 very accurate statements titled “a manifesto for introverts”. Number 7 in particular grabbed me:

It is OK to cross the street to avoid making small talk.

Extroverts may never understand this but I am sure that some introverts in here who cringe at the point in a conversation where someone uses the word “otherwise” know exactly what I’m talking about. You see…..introverts value deep and meaningful conversations. So small talk, and in the middle of the street, we all know that this is pure torture. I cannot begin to count the number of times that I’ve had to run for fear of this small talk. Later on in the review you will get to know that what triggers this response is the stimulation of my amygdala.

She begins the book with the story of Rosa Parks. In her introduction, the author contrasts between the character of Rosa Parks and the vocal Martin Luther King and how these two types of people complement each other. In another chapter in the book, she brings out this complementary dynamic as was seen in the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, an extrovert, and his wife Eleanor, an introvert, which proved to be the greatest asset in his administration.

The book talks about the extrovert ideal and how we have been socialized to think that if someone is not bold/assertive and social they have no place in the current society. Through the influx of millions of self-help books that talk about charismatic leadership, how to win friends and influence people and what not, we are constantly being fed the extrovert ideal where we are urged to develop an extroverted personality for us to be considered successful. Being an extrovert is currently considered the better/superior personality.

In the book, the author actually debunks the myth that extroverts make the ideal leader. She establishes this through a study conducted at Harvard Business School. In her research she discovered that an introvert leader tends to listen more and to incorporate the ideas of their team in their decisions. This is much unlike the decisions likely to be made by an extrovert who may tend to impose their singular view.

One chapter of the book made me really think about this thing we call “team work” and the dangers of group think. This is something I have always struggled with as an introvert. How essential is collaboration when we want to achieve a result, and more importantly….does collaboration inhibit creativity? She begins the chapter with the story of Stephen Wozniak as a young man who had been obsessed with electronics from the age of 3. He attends a meeting of fellow engineers determined to make computers accessible to regular people. If you know the history of computers you know that they were bulky and common people did not have access to them. I digress. Although Wozniak is excited to be around what he calls kindred spirits, he only designs the first sketch of the computer when he is alone and later builds the first prototype of the machine. In his memoir, he gives advice to kids who aspire to great creativity as;

“I do not believe anything revolutionary has been invented by a committee. Work alone. You are going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you are working on your own. Not on a committee, not on a team.”

Before I leave that chapter and because it is very important for me as an advocate of non-conformism, one thing caught my eye. In the book, a psychologist named Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments on the dangers of group influence. In one of the studies, he had the subjects take a vision test and when he subsequently asked them questions individually, 95% answered correctly. He then planted actors who confidently volunteered an incorrect answer and in this case, the number of correct answers plummeted to 25%! This shows the power of conformity. So why do we conform? Would you believe that the reduction in percentages is not attributable to the fact that the people did not know that the answer was incorrect while in the group but that they knew the answer but decided to go along for fear of rejection?!!! The stimulation of the amygdala plays a part in this.

The book is full of numerous studies and examples that I found quite fascinating and I hope you will too. In particular, I loved the chapter on the crash of Wall Street (I recently developed a weird fascination with Wall Street after reading the Big Short by Michael Lewis). The chapter explores how introverts and extroverts think and process dopamine differently. The concept brought out in this chapter is that of reward sensitivity.  A lot of research has been conducted on the last crash of Wall Street in an attempt to establish what was the reason behind it. For the persons interested in examining it from an angle of personality dynamics, they would know that extroverts are what is termed as reward sensitive. This means that the dopamine levels of extroverts increase significantly with the promise of rewards. Hence, extroverts are more likely to gamble more, take more uncalculated risks and experience over stimulation at the promise of rewards. Whereas introverts take risks, they tend to do so in a more calculated way and are more cautious. One of the examples of scandals given is that of one of my favorite, the Enron scandal. One of the few people who tried to sound the alarm—Vincent Kaminski—found himself stripped of his power to review company deals. The Enron President once scolded him for not helping people “to do transactions” and instead “acting like a cop”. In his own words, he says, “the problem is that, on one side you have a rainmaker making money for the company and is treated like a superstar and on the other side you have an introverted nerd. So who do you think wins”? So then, does this mean that extroverts lead most of the companies that are bound to take a great fall? I reserve my opinion until you read the book and share your deductions.

As to the question of whether the extrovert ideal is hailed in all cultures, the author dissects the business culture of Asians and actually finds that it is influenced a lot by the Confucian philosophy. You only need to read the Analects of Confucius to know that a man of contemplation is “slow to speak, slow to anger and is mild mannered”. As per Confucius, which the writer agrees with, the principles of filial piety and deep humility set out the difference between the superior man and the inferior man. When I think about it, I know that most of my deeply held values are shaped by the Analects of Confucius. The Book then makes you wonder if the self-restraint that is the cornerstone of this culture works for its adherents as opposed to the bold brash nature of other cultures. I tend to think that a human being should be balanced in his or her temperament…especially in our modern day society that I would say is a bit sensitive to partisan views.

The book makes a case for the previously shunned introverts. The author urges everyone not to overlook introverts but to generally identify their strengths as deep thinkers, strategists and analysts. For parents who are blessed to have introvert children, there is a must read chapter. For those who are yearning to understand their introvert spouse/friend/colleague, the author introduces a fascinating concept of a free trait agreement. I shall not spoil the joy of the chapter. You will love reading and applying it.

As much as  the book talks about introverts and makes a case for us, overall, I recommend it to everyone and especially persons in leadership positions who are struggling to understand the thinking of their subordinates. I assure you that this is not the ordinary self-help book, the author actually goes against the general grain. The book will not disappoint you. Thank me later.

A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiongo

Because the book is about retribution and forgiveness, I shall begin with a confession that this is my first time reading a Ngugi book. Imagine the shame! The book came highly recommended by my husband who couldn’t reserve his judgment over the fact that I hadn’t read it. He spoke of how the book begins with the quote from 1 Corinthians 15:36 "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain”. He closed his eyes as he described it and made it sound so spiritual like this is the one book whose reading improves one’s chances at the pearly gates. Knowing I may need all the bargaining tools before St. Peter, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. He gave me an overview of what he thought the book was all about, but as you know no two persons ever read the same book. So I decided to read it for myself if only to redeem myself in his eyes.

It is only four days to independence and the people of Rungei village and Kenya in general are excited that finally “uhuru” is here. The atmosphere is charged with anticipation of the black man’s freedom. There is singing; random dancing and preparations for the ceremony in the village are on full gear. While the narration emphasizes on the essence of “uhuru” and the festivities around, the writer seems to be on a mission to ensure that the reader is not lost on the struggles that ordinary people underwent to achieve the feat.

This is a story of sacrifice. A story of the power of choice and what exactly influences man to determine his path in life. Most importantly, it is a story of guilt and redemption. The protagonist Mugo is an unusual man, he is quiet and aloof to the events surrounding the attainment of “uhuru”. Us quiet people always seem suspicious to extroverts who are ever unable to predict our plans or actions. The mystery gives us power over people and disarms them in a way. This is the case with Mugo. He is the village hero for his actions in detention. He is the man who stood against the whipping of a pregnant woman, the leader of a hunger strike in detention. Despite of being whipped and placed in solitary confinement, he did not break and, most importantly, he did not confess the oath. The villagers are full of song for their hero but are set to be shocked out of their dreamland on Independence Day when Mugo finally makes his confession. When you read the book please don’t jump to conclusion that all the quiet people are as messed up as Mugo just because I said we’re deep and dark.

Kihika is portrayed as an idealist dedicated to the cause of black self-rule. He kills a white District Officer, plans and executes the attack of a police station among many other “heroic” acts. He’s deemed a true warrior and is willing to die for his country. Actually he does die. One morning the residents wake up to his body inexplicably dangling on a tree. His death causes panic, despair, bitterness and a thirst for revenge. What will thrill you is the story of how Kihika meets his death.

Gikonyo, Karanja and Kihika are childhood friends. Growing up, they went to see the “long iron snake” together, sang and played the guitar together. While Kihika was making his idealistic speeches about liberation to anyone who would listen, Gikonyo and Karanja were chasing after Mumbi, the village beauty. Gikonyo finally wins this contest of charms. The two get married and spend a few months together in bliss but soon the white man comes knocking on the doors of those who were perceived to be aiding the movement. The men are required to confess their oath or be taken to detention camps. Kihika and Gikonyo refuse to confess. Karanja confesses and becomes a home guard. He turns out to be the most a ruthless piece of work, treating fellow Africans worse than animals, whipping, hunting and killing them with brutal force.

Before you put that self-righteous hat on, think again about what you would do for your selfish interests.  Think of how quickly you hawk your soul to the system for a few coins, think of how easily you would step over colleagues backs to get that promotion or small favour. Think of how easily you take that bribe or give it out to avoid an “uncomfortable situation”. Think of how you’d watch the man with the money skin a man alive and not stand up to object. There’s a little Karanja in all of us. I digress, back to the review.

Eventually Karanja is made Chief, and even at some point sires a child with Mumbi….of course if you read the book you’ll get to know how that happened.

Gikonyo spends six years in detention dreaming of better days and his return home to Mumbi. Thoughts of her keep gnawing at him and he longs for the day that he will be back in her arms again. The years in detention are not easy and a man can break. When he has had enough, he confesses his oath and is set free. You can imagine the guilt weighing on him as he walks back home to his wife and mother having betrayed the cause. You can also imagine the slap to his face when he finds his wife nursing Karanja’s baby.

What sacrifices would you have made for the cause? Would you have conceded and been the white man’s lapdog or would you rather have lived and died for the cause as Kihika did? This is how Karanja rationalizes it when Mumbi spits at him for not being man enough to go to the forest and fight like the others had. He says” the coward lived to see his mother while the brave was left dead on the battlefield.”

Each of the characters in the story is made to pick a battle. They choose differently and for various reasons and as I said this is a story of choices and guilt but most importantly it is a story of retribution. The book was first published in 1967; four years after independence when the collaborators had seemingly gotten the best that self-rule had to offer. As the others had been busy fighting in the forest, some collaborated and were given positions of influence with their children being schooled in the white man’s ways and language. At independence, those who went to the forest felt betrayed and harboured bitter feelings.  The book seems to be a rallying call for all Kenyans to unite regardless of the past and build a new nation. The story gives hope to the freedom fighters that in the new Kenya they too can find their place as long as they bury the feelings of the past.

Reading this book made my understanding of right and wrong a bit blurred. What defines a hero? Are villains inherently bad people or victims of circumstances well outside their control? Can choices be made rationally or are they mere games of chance that nevertheless burden you with unexpected consequences. My head hurts from thinking. You have a read and share what the book evokes.

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg

Imagine a girl being raised as a boy because of societal pressure. Imagine after years of living under this guise, a person having to readjust into a woman in their adulthood because the same society requires them to get married for purposes of reproduction. To be more precise, reproduce a male child. Imagine the psychological effect of this and imagine that this is real and happened as recently as 2011.

The author of this book is a Swedish investigative journalist who goes to Afghanistan hoping to understand the issues affecting women parliamentarians. What she stumbles upon is even more telling than what she’d set out to find. The story is told through the actual lives and experiences of five women. The author visits Azita to interview her on her experience as a woman parliamentarian in the post-Taliban government. It is here that she makes a rather unexpected discovery that Azita is raising one of her four girls as a boy. Fate has not looked favourably upon her (at least according to her society) and she has had the bad luck of giving birth to girls only.

Raising one of her girls as a boy is not deemed unusual in her society and apparently reflects a path taken by many others before her in various cultures across the world to correct the “defect”. Her society actually lauds this effort believing that raising one of your daughters as a boy brings good luck and increases a mother’s chance of conceiving a real boy next time. You see…..in her culture, it is better to be anything but a woman. Having a son, even a made up one, brings her honour in the society and raises her profile more so now that she’s a representative of the people.

In her travails, the author discovers that the practice is commonplace in Kabul. The different lives and circumstances of these girls bring out various themes. It becomes apparent to her that an afghan woman is predestined to get married and reproduce. She is a commodity that men trade at the time of marriage and her value is determined by her physical beauty, virginity and reputation. She is to bear as many children as her husband desires. She is to submit to her father’s will and must at all times during her entire life be under the protection of a man. Should she want to leave her house, she must be accompanied by a male; the absurdity of a seventy-year old woman being “protected” by a 7 year old boy notwithstanding.

One of the girls raised as a boy (bacha posh) her entire life has reached puberty and is expected to make the switch from being a boy into womanhood. Any lingering on her part and continued association with boys could tarnish her reputation and damage her chances of finding a good husband. In Afghanistan “reputation is more than symbolic; it is a commodity that is hard to restore once it has been damaged”. She resists this transition expected of her and argues that she is a boy! She insists on this despite numerous talks with her mother who is desperate to convince her to ditch her boyish ways and accept her femininity.

This then poses the question as to whether gender is inborn or a matter of nurturing. How can a child who has been raised as a boy be expected to switch back to womanhood and be a wife and be a mother? She plans to escape this new “reality” by either running away to her relatives in America or undergoing surgery in Iran to become a boy and cement her freedom.

Another former bacha posh, now married, admits to various struggles in her married life and questions that constantly plague her mind. How does a man sleep with another man? When questioned as to whether she’d prefer to be with a woman, she replies in the negative…..she views women as weak. How is a boy expected to be a mother? She is a wife and a mother and she still questions her identity. In the story she ends up been given talaq (divorce) and wonders if it had something to do with the fact that she was a boy who turned into a woman. To an afghan woman, divorce means losing everything, she has to return to her father because a woman must be under a male at all times and as a result loses her children because the man “makes” the children (note this double standard: while trying to conceive, a woman with no sons is accused of not being capable of making a boy child).

The bottom line of the story and the struggles of a bacha posh are all centred on the main difference between a girl and a boy in this patriarchal society which is freedom. The boys have it, the girls do not. Azita was also a bacha posh in her youth and tries to explain to the author why the non-governmental organisations churning billions into programmes geared toward empowerment of women have miserably failed. She notes how these organizations are terribly misguided about the afghan woman’s situation by thinking that their problems can be solved by discarding the burka. She muses that she’d gladly wear two burkas for the promise of freedom to choose whatever is good for her. According to her “a great many people in this world would be willing to throw their gender in a second if it could be traded for freedom”.

Closer home, ours is also a patriarchal society. I must concede that women have made considerable gains in recent times.However, the effects of patriarchy still linger and some practices are still deeply rooted. I remember having a discussion with one of my friends (my mothers’ age) who had the rotten luck of only “making” girls. She recounted how she had endured pregnancies and labour (women who’ve undergone labour can relate) trying to get a boy. Despite three failed attempts to her name, she was determined to do it a fourth “lucky” time. She endured yet another difficult pregnancy and long labour and finally brought another being into the world. These were the days where there was no way of telling the sex of the baby before delivery, one had to wait patiently until the baby’s arrival.

Weak from fatigue and about to see how well she’d done (because you know… it’s a test of womanhood), the nurse held the baby up for her asking cheerfully “what sex is it?”  In her frail state all she could manage was a scream!! It was that of desperation. Another failed attempt!!!

Research indicates that with the advancement in technology which has enabled women to know the sex of the child as early as nineteen weeks into the pregnancy, millions of female foetuses have been aborted throughout the world. The rejection of girls by society is not only manifest from the millions of abortions of female foetuses. Women have claimed their space in politics, corporates and other professions. Here, is where the real ugliness and true rejection of the woman in our modern day society takes place. A woman who dares to excel more than permitted by the society is shunned not only by men but mostly by fellow women. As the author notes “No group can be truly suppressed until its members are trained and convinced to suppress one another”.

In the corporate world an unhealthy competition is created between women who are set up as each other’s competition often to their detriment. In the political world a woman is often shamed as immoral and (oddly so) “unwomanly” for working late hours with men. In the book, this is one of the potent weapons used by Azita’s husband to extort money from her. He threatens to accuse her of being a common whore who sleeps with her male colleagues, confident that this would hasten her fall from grace.

This culture of shaming women is evident in our society where it is considered so unfathomable that a woman could be good at her job and that her ascent to the top must have been aided by a series of trysts with her superiors! This is the means by which women are being robbed of their power, because to accept that a woman can be as efficient as a man would be acknowledging that she is not the weaker sex.

So the real question is how free are we as women?!

The book will challenge all you think you know about gender, identity and some of the societal contradictions that we are forced to grapple with on a daily basis. It leaves you with a feeling of hope for the women of Afghanistan and also a dark feeling of despair. On a personal level, it greatly disturbed me that women have to go through this in modern day world. I’m still coming to terms with the feelings it evoked. That’s why you should read it.

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

I recently traveled to Kisii town via Kisumu. In my bag I had two books, Robert Greene’s 48 laws of power—which is a permanent fixture— and How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie. You’d think I had enough books for the trip right? Wrong!! As I waited for my flight back to Nairobi, I went into the bookshop to check out the books as I always do whenever I’m at the Kisumu Airport. I looked around and obviously I loved everything I saw but this time I had to restrain myself and walk out with only one book.  It was a close tie between Good to great by Jim Collins and the Godfather by Mario Puzo. The Godfather won.

I’ve heard people talk about the movie adaptation which I haven’t watched by the way. And just as well because I am a firm believer that the book is always better than the movie….a true book lover knows this. Oh please I’ll not even debate this with you, you…movie person!

“Italians have a little joke that the world is so hard a man must have two fathers to look after him, and that's why they have godfathers.” 

The book sets out a compelling story on the Italian mafia in America and its origins in Sicily. The running theme is the constant struggle in the life of the protagonist Michael Corleone whose father is a mafia boss, to accept the life he was born into or to rebel against it and live a normal all American life. In part-rebellion, he enlists as a US marine defying his father and dates an American girl whom he makes sure doesn’t have a drop of Italian blood.

His struggle to merge the two worlds is however apparent and this first comes out at his younger sister’s wedding. While trying to explain what his father does to his girlfriend Kay, he repeatedly defends his father for the crimes he does (which he doesn’t consider to be crimes by the way). At some point it seems that Michael could succeed in staying completely out of the Corleone family business until his father the Don Corleone is shot. Michael finally snaps when his father’s associates and competitors persistently try to kill him.

He approaches his older brother Sonnie Corleone who is holding fort while his father is in hospital and offers to kill the man who conspired to kill his father. This he does in the most brazen attack at an Italian hotel and in broad daylight! That is an open act of aggression and is bound to spark a war of the mafia families, which it promptly does and Michael discreetly flees to Sicily for safety.

While in Sicily, he receives news of Sonnie’s death and it becomes more apparent that he should take over the family business after his father. He learns of the origins of the mafia which helps put his father’s life into perspective. As a rebellion against the government and its systems; the mafia was viewed by the Sicilians as a means by which one could get the type of justice which was not guaranteed by formal government.  The people relied on a “godfather” to sort out their troubles and get justice. The Mafia’s golden rule was and remains a code of silence, an unwritten rule to keep the government out of their affairs (“Omerta”).

In one of the scenes in the book, the Don is approached by a man who had all along believed in the justice system and vowed not to seek the help of the mafia. He’d educated his children in the system, paid his taxes and generally been a good citizen. His American dream was shattered when his daughter is defiled, beaten to a pulp and left for dead. Being a good citizen and believing he’d get justice in the courts, the man sits through the proceedings until conclusion.  When the system finally delivers its justice, he sits in disbelief as the boys are handed a suspended sentence and walk free!!!

At this point, as a reader, one is prompted to think of what they would do in the man’s shoes. The empathetic know exactly what they would do if they had the option of a godfather.  Again, one is further prompted to think about the different vigilante groups in our country and their origins and whether failures in our systems could be the reason why gangs like Mungiki, Sungu sungu get formed and gain myriad followers and sympathizers.

On my part, my mind starts racing through pages of my memory back to the days that I worked in the NGO sectors with groups in the informal settlements (Mathare, Korogocho, Kibera and Kiambiu) in Nairobi.  As a lawyer I would preach the gospel of law and the justice system. What I would always see whenever I would speak to the groups about the law or the justice system was hopelessness, in fact it was a collective sigh of “not again” “another clueless person who doesn’t realize that these laws she talks about are just but empty words which don’t apply to us…those with the money own justice”. One conversation had me seriously questioning the fairness of the system:

Participant: You say that I shouldn’t take money if my child is defiled by my neighbour?

Me: Yes you can go to the police and report, the person will be apprehended and taken to Court and your daughter will get justice.

Participant: What if the defiler has money to give to the police and when I go to report I end up being arrested myself?

Me: What? That can never happen…um…you can engage one of the NGOs like ours we’ll take up the case for you for free.

Participant: Then where will I live?!

Me: (Speechless)!

May be one needs a godfather after all. Find time and read the book. It’s Epic, for lack of a better word.