Forget The President Led Mashujaa Day Celebrations At Nyayo, The Real Celebration Was and Is Still At Kenya National Archives (Photos)

The stare from the eyes is in sharp focus, partly taking all around them, partly daring you to ignore them. You try the first time but there is something about those eyes that you just can’t get let up so you look again and there they are watching over like the guardians they are.

So you move closer not wanting to be part of the idling crowd, but you as you get closer, you keep on walking, not away but across the whole spectacle and into the journey through history tracing the real heroes. In a short while you forget about your hurry and company, and start asking why you did not get to learn this in school.

The exhibition opposite the National Archives is something fresh, different and long overdue. Such a collection of the country’s heroes cross cutting different fields has never been staged. Imagine a place where the portrait of Joginder Singh sits comfortably next to that of Dedan Kimathi and sandwhiching that of Chelegat Mutai. It is a feast for sore eyes, an inspiration for worn spirits and an aesthetic for torn souls.

The ‘Change starts With You’ mirror is a direct challenge the Gado cartoon collections a surgically accurate albeit bitingly sarcastic view of our society. There are heroes who have not dominated the usual heroes’ dialogue, Photographer the late Hos Maina for example. These along with the harrowing tortures the Mau Mau faced remind you how daily we overlook the living heroes amongst us while taking for granted the very freedoms and privileges their sacrifices earned us. This mix of art captures the meaning of Mashujaa Day than the uninspiring speeches delivered at Nyayo can ever do.

It is a testimony of the exhibition’s effect that two nights on no damage has come upon the pieces.  Crowds throng in of all classes and without a guide and slowly take in to their fill. The impact is personal and long lasting. Here not at any other stadium or platform politicians took or will take, is where Mashujaa Day was marked. Take a stroll sometime and partake of the treasure.

(Photos Courtesy of Team Courage)