‘A Christian is someone who is struggling for Liberation- James Cone’

‘I have come to set you free’- Jesus

It’s 5:30 pm, I am walking from one meeting, running late for the next. I see a woman, holding her loudly wailing baby. She is hiding from someone. The look on her face tells me all that I need to know.  She has been running all her life. However, this time, she is running from the city council askaris. They have this cat and mouse game on lockdown. She is the mouse. They are the cats. She is never safe, they are never satisfied.

I look a few metres past her and I see lemons, green lemons scattered all over the potholed street. The City Council is meant to repair these streets…

I just came from a meeting about justice in the city

I am headed for another meeting about justice in the city.

This woman’s threadbare leso and the wailing of her child makes me wonder if the meetings that I attend hold any weight.

Will justice ever be her shield and defender?

She is here searching for daily bread

They are here searching for daily chai

She went to church on Sunday, she was asked to tithe

They went to church on Sunday, they were the ushers

Oppressor and oppressed.

All under one roof

What does their faith have to do with the scattered lemons on the streets of Nairobi?

What is her liberation? Her salvation?

Is her salvation her liberation? Is her liberation her  salvation?

Everyday she walks past churches, government offices, NGO offices, they have all given her a name- She is Wanjiku

Wanjiku whose house is surrounded by  sewer yet  has no toilet to call her own

Wanjiku whose name is used to solicit for funds from big corporations

Wanjiku who is a nobody – she is everybody’s  nobody.

Her body belong’s to whoever is holding the grandest workshop in the city’s  grandest of spaces

Spaces her feet will never grace- or soil

If I were asked to give the symbol of pain in Nairobi- It would be the city council askari van

You see, this van represents the brokenness of this city, of our country

This van is  only seen  in the streets chasing after those whom the  system has failed

This van targets the most vulnerable in our society- the poor woman, with a baby tied behind her back – selling lemons to make a living.

This van is the symbol of systemic failure, torture and collective pain.

The hawkers have to make a living; the askari’s have to ensure that they do not.

Every time a woman is pushed into this van and her wares scattered all over the streets- her God image is cracked.

In this van, she is crucified with Christ

Every time an askari scatters her vegies on the streets – the askari’s God image is cracked. He becomes one with the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross, doing the will of  Empire but  maybe recognizing the God image of the crucified Christ, of the wailing child  and of the despondent mother.

With this action, Empire reminds her who is  to be feared…

This cycle of constant dehumanization

Constantly crucifying on the cross

Constantly hearing the wails  of the child on the back of the woman searching for daily bread-

My God my God, why have you forsaken me?

The lemons scattered on the street,

The water splashing from His wounded side… When will it ever be truly finished?