I wish I could forget.

It hurts a lot that we live in a country where fear is the only strength that we have left. The sounds of bullets, bomb blasts and the cries from horrific deaths are the songs that we can't stop our ears from hearing. Terror has painted horrific images in our hearts that we cant stop our eyes from seeing, dreams that we cant help to wake up from. Death after death, pain after pain, our eyes have shed painful tears that Only God can measure. 


I wish I could forget is a poem I created believing that One day, Kenya will be safe. 

I may forget everything,

but I cannot forget that stunning beauty that attracted all the nations to you. 
I cannot forget that innocent face,
and that dazzling smile that welcomed everyone home.
The charming queen you used to be, 
and that love that made us feel at home.

But what happened my motherland?
A country that grew up so beautiful, so peaceful, so colorful, so cheerful, 
so wealthy, so healthy,
and like mother-hen, you fed and protected all your family.
You were a home to the tourists, a hope to the refugees and a role model to many.

I believed in you Kenya,

and you raised my hopes so high above the planet's horizons,
only to find out my dreams shattered and scattered, by the winds of terror.
A nation that once taught me the meaning of brotherhood, has turned completely so foreign, so strange.
Home has never felt like home since you were torn apart.

What happened my motherland?

Why are you so gloomy?
Why are you so bloody?
Why have you turned to grey?

Look, Look, Look at the way we live in fear today
Who robbed your peace away?
Your confidence, your happiness your love, your strength, your beauty.
Why would you let them steal your peace and tear you into pieces?
Pieces that are no longer willing to unite again?

Where is the freedom that our heroes fought for?
Where is it, if we don’t feel safe in our own country, in our homes, in our schools, 
on our roads, not even in the church?

The movies we used to watch, have turned into reality. 
Hard to accept. Hard to forget.
And every day we watch a series of losses.
Losses of shortened innocent lives set to the graves.

How will we wake up from the nightmares of the post-election violence?

The violence that took our parents away?
Our siblings, our relatives, our neighbors, our friends.
That violence that left many crippled, disabled and depressed.
The violence that burnt many to ashes, to nothing.
That man-made violence that left orphans and widows, 
in the IDP Camps, in the streets anguished and alone.

How will we wake up from the horrific dreams of 

GARRISA GENOCIDE?  
MANDERA GENOCIDE?
WESTGATE ATTACK?  
KAPEDO ATTACKS? 
MPEKETONI ATTACKS?

MUNGIKI KILLINGS? 

ASSASINATIONS?   
ROAD ACCIDENTS?
BOMB BLASTS? 
ROBBERIES? 
RAPE? 

How will we wake up from them if you cannot protect us Kenya?
If the leaders we expect to protect us are the betrayers? 
So loathsome, so corrupt.
If we live in a country where the eyes of a five year–old, 
have already been taught how a tear gas tastes like, 
and that child knows clearly the difference between that teargas,
and the smoke that blazed their home down into ashes during an attack.
If we live in a country where a two year old knows clearly the difference between the sound of a bullet and that of a bomb blast.

The untold thoughts that live in our hearts, 

those thoughts that make us feel like there is a funeral within us. 
The unanswered questions, the pain, the fear. 
Can never disappear without peace, without security.

But I still believe in you My motherland, 
I still believe in you My government.
I still have a dream that you can make a history of Peace, Unity, 
a true story of Security.

I still believe that, ‘A people United shall never be defeated.'
And this time around, it’s no longer a song; it’s no longer a quote nor a slogan, 
but an action.

It’s never too late and you are never too weak KENYA, to do away with the first two letters of the word inSECURITY.

Written By Elizabeth Opiyo