What a grueling festival
it has been! Nai Ni Who (sheng for who is Nairobi) is coming to a season finale
of the celebrations of our rich diversity; culture and neighborhoods. But before
that; I’m getting way ahead of myself! Here is what happened over the weekend.
The friends of Nai Ni
Who; coordinators and volunteers met up with the friends of City Park to help
hype the event around Ngara; Highridge and Parklands through dishing out fliers
to the community.
Friday 26th
July saw the festival begin on a high note at the Sarakasi Dome with an
exciting performance by the lovely Iddi Achieng; backed by the Sarakasi Dancers
at the Sarakasi Dome from 7pm till late.
Come Saturday morning;
and the good God favored us with clear skies and the sunshine was just amazing
and perfect for a perfect day. Youth groups; fans; volunteers and friends of
Nai Ni Who Festival; began the long parade march from the Sarakasi Dome to the City
Park.
The Salvation Army
Band was in tow; churning out popular tunes and a number of old classics; evens
as song, dance and merriment marked the boisterous parade. Like a ”chuku-chaka”
train; the parade; proud like a peacock wound its way around the market; bus
stop; estate’s shopping and residential areas. This is the eleventh of 12 such
celebrations that were scheduled across the city for 12 weeks.
Along Limuru Road;
there was a change of guard as the Aga Khan band took over the lead from the Salvation
Army band in a peculiar; yet refreshing way.
The loud parade brought
traffic and the neighborhoods to a standstill a sit mad its way into City Park.
People came out of their gates; homes and apartments’ balconies to just catch a
glimpse and take pictures. The police were of much help and they kept the flow
of traffic steady but moving.
City Park once again
came to life! Bettina Ng’weno writes; “as
a child growing up in Nairobi in the 1940s and 1950s; my father; Hilary Ng’weno,
would visit City Park regularly. Part of a gang of children from Muthurwa;
Pumwani; Shauri Moyo and Kaloleni; he would walk across town on a Sunday to
hear the Police or Army marching Bands play in the bandstand.
The children would
then head for the maze; where Kenyans of all walks of life; Africans, Asians, Europeans,
the young, the old, in families and couples, would be seen. The children, being
regulars at City Park; had figured out how to get to the middle of the maze and
out again.
How clever they felt
as they watched adults get lost in the maze…”
And that is what this weekend has been for City PARK. It came alive
once again with art exhibitions; culture shows; mural paintings; dances;
acrobatics and many more performances.
The birds came out
chirping; in tune with the sound track of nature. The monkeys and squirrels made
the escape into nature even fun.
The older generation wept;
dawned with tears after for the first time in over 30 years; a band played at
the bandstand. And not just one; but two great bands- the Aga Khan and
Salvation Army Bands.
The weekend saw great
and fun activities in and out of the park. On Sunday the Wheels of Africa made
their way into the park for a bicycle tour of the neighborhoods.
There were bird
walks; nature walks and dud walks through the vast and only municipal park with
indigenous forest. Later in the evening; people were treated to a new culture
of Hinduism religion at the Haveli Temple in Parklands opened its wide doors to
the public.
What’s next for NAI
NI WHO? I posed the same question to Joy Mboya; Go down Arts Centre Director
and one of those who played a big role in this whole festival; “well, honestly
Vincent I don’t know but we do hope that the corporate world and the
communities at large will embrace this!”
