“My baby he don’t talk sweet,
He aint got much to say,
But he loves me loves me, loves me, loves me,
I know that he loves me anyway,
And maybe he don’t dress fine,
But I don’t really mind,
‘Cause every time he pulls me near
I just want to cheer.
Let’s hear it for the boy,
Let’s give the boy a hand,
Let’s hear it for my baby,
You know you gotta understand”
Deniece Wiliams- Let’s Hear it For the Boy Columbia Records (1984)
I write this for all the good men in THIS COUNTRY. There have been quite a few in my life but as always the good boys never finish first :(. They never even got more than a thank you. I write this for all of you that go unnoticed. The man that opens a door for his lady and always lets her walk in front of him not because he is checking her out, but because he wants to have her in his view at all times for his piece of mind.
My source of inspiration this week is a blog post I read FOR SHE WHO COUNTS. Click here to read the post.
And so I begin
The stereotype Kenyan man we all know is the one that swears he has a right to at least one stable woman in his life and an occasional side dish just to keep things interesting. He thinks that it is his duty to save the gorgeous poor girl from the office from her life and get sexual favors in return (yes we know that that whole knight in shinning armour skit is a play to get laid). And worse still he thinks that his woman is only supposed to have him while he goes on to cannodle with everything in a skirt that sways past his eyes.
That is not the man that we are interested in but it doesn’t hurt to say that this is what we know.
Sometimes having grown up in this country, it looks like the Kenyan man is so many grades lower than what other women in the world have to endure, but we have to give them points for the four or five things that they can do right.
The average Kenyan man has very little to say about anything that goes beyond sex and football. I am not saying all of you fit into this mould but most of you do. But sometimes it’s so great not to have to hold a conversation with someone because you had such a bad day. For this one boys, standing ovation when you know I don’t want to talk; that I would rather just get a hug and a kiss on the forehead.
Sometime I wonder if people around the world have as much fun with the languages that they speak because English has never been as hot as Kiswahili is for me. We have to hand it to the Kenyan guy for his line dropping skills. They don’t bother about sweeping you off your feet, just something stupid enough to make you laugh so at least you turn back. Boys for this one I let the girls tell you how it makes a bad day better than it seemed.
The average Kenyan guy can roast you meat on the small jiko and make it taste like you went to heaven. And he didn’t even bother with marinating or if he did it is even better. They can’t cook anything beyond boiling water or frying an egg but when he gets his apron out for that roast… damn!! How come it never tastes like that when I make it? Boys, this is one of my favorite things y’all can do.
Let’s not forget their basic assumption that Kenyan women can’t drive. The government issues the driver’s license hun and I got one same us you, but it is always great to know that when we go out I can get plastered coz you automatically assumes I’ll give you the keys.
If I wrote a long list, I might make you think that we are glad to have you. We are lucky but not too much. Have a lovely week!
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Wacu Mureithi is a part time law student, full-time mother and all-time dreamer. Her work can be found on seriouslypoetic.blogspot.com.