Letter from Kenya #6
My dear Nsenga,
To continue where I left off: Pope Francis’s visit to Kenya. I’ll leave to one side your questions about the estimated population of the State of the Vatican City, its demographics, current social struggles, etc. You ask if they’re expecting a revolution over there, like we are back home. Never mind that city-state populated solely by priests and nuns, where there are no pregnancies or nursery schools, and where they seem to have mortgaged their future. I’ll do my best to paint a picture of the sovereign pontiff’s visit to the land of the Mau Mau. It was November 26, 2015, three months after President Obama’s visit. The Pope rode in a small Honda from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the State House, as the Kenyan presidential palace is called. There was no commotion in the city; everyone went about their business as usual. As the head of state of the smallest country in the world, with a population less than the Kibera bidonville in Nairobi, Pope Francis reviewed the troops, after which he planted a “tree of friendship” in the State House garden. But the most memorable part of his visit was when he held mass at the University of Nairobi, which was attended by almost everyone in the city and its surroundings, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, or indeed class. In many ways a priest like any other, Pope Francis stands out for his natural humility. His famous Popemobile is not a “beast”; it’s a simple pickup truck—you can easily imagine it being used, between papal processions, to transport hay on a farm. The greatness of a man of God who is open to everyone and unafraid of anyone: that was my impression of this Latin American son of Italian immigrants who has returned to the navel that is the Vatican, that hill in Rome from which he addresses the city and the world—urbi et orbi. Unfortunately, just as every rose has its thorn, some dubious ushers took advantage of the sea of congregants in the street to make off with part of the collection plate! That is all I have to say about the Pope’s visit, my dear Nsenga. Now let’s get down to brass tacks; playtime is over. Rwanda needs us. We must not forget the people of the hills, who we’re fighting for, who we will continue to fight for, and for whom we are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, if necessary.
Till soon, my brothers.
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Letter from Kenya #7
My dear Nsenga,
Please keep me apprised of the progress being made on the preparatory work for the constitution that will guide the Rwanda of tomorrow. And please let me know what the team there thinks about my insistence that the new constitution be drafted in Philadelphia, like the constitution that was written in the year of our Lord 1787, which shaped the destiny of the United States and remains in force even now, more than two centuries later. Thank you for your indomitable team spirit. I hope your trip to Alaska to see the state constitution inspired you. The experts in your team have called on the Popular Movement of the Revolution to give you our manifesto, so that you may draw inspiration from it before finalizing the constitution. I hereby promise that it will be sent to you without delay.
I wish you luck and till soon.
Translated by Louis Greenwood Lüthi
