Growing Beyond the Pull of the Tribe in Kenya
Most of all, they recognize that tribalism has caused many of Africa's problems and they are determined not to repeat the mistakes of their parents.
Yet outside the sturdy iron gates of their schools, young Kenyans are finding a different reality, where tribalism still infuses all aspects of society.
Christopher Khaemba, the principal of Alliance High School, one of the oldest and most prestigious boys' secondary schools in Kenya, said, "If Africa is to go forward, the next generation has to be able to develop national identities rather than tribal loyalties that have wreaked havoc across the continent."
Converging in the Cities
In Nairobi, the capital, the population has more than doubled in the past five years, as peasants have left their increasingly unprofitable fields of coffee and corn and squeezed into tin-roofed working-class slums in hopes of finding a job.
Migration to the cities is occurring across the continent, and while urban life weakens rural traditions and often breeds problems such as high crime rates, it also provides an environment for new ideas. The children of these urban migrants, representing their countries' various tribes, are living and studying side by side.
For the freshman class at State House Girls, speaking their parents' tribal languages has proved a messy and often hurtful teenage experience.
In her dorm room on a recent afternoon, Gloria Olembo, 15, who is from the Luhya tribe, said she felt angry and left out when girls around her spoke in Kikuyu.
"It was like they were passing notes behind my back that I couldn't read," she said. "I started thinking they might be talking and laughing about me."
The next day, one of the girls, Sharon Waringa, said she and her friends later realized they should not have spoken only in Kikuyu.
"It really wasn't right," said Sharon, 14, who has a puff of curly hair and large almond-shaped eyes. "At first we were just playing around. But then we realized that it can sting. I was thinking of my parents and how they used to talk among themselves before I could understand."
Sharing Culture
To lessen tensions over language, Sharon and her friends often speak in Sheng, a dialect born in the slums of Nairobi and spoken by young people who want their own common vocabulary. Sharon says that speaking Sheng is more fun and just far more hip than speaking in the tribal languages, which the girls call "shamby" -- a Sheng word meaning from the shamba or farm, old-fashioned.
Many teachers object to Sheng because they see it as crude and grammatically incorrect. But lately, the dialect has been finding its way into composition papers written by students in Leah Kabue's English literature class.
Christopher Khaemba, the principal of Alliance High School, one of the oldest and most prestigious boys' secondary schools in Kenya, said, "If Africa is to go forward, the next generation has to be able to develop national identities rather than tribal loyalties that have wreaked havoc across the continent."
Converging in the Cities
In Nairobi, the capital, the population has more than doubled in the past five years, as peasants have left their increasingly unprofitable fields of coffee and corn and squeezed into tin-roofed working-class slums in hopes of finding a job.
Migration to the cities is occurring across the continent, and while urban life weakens rural traditions and often breeds problems such as high crime rates, it also provides an environment for new ideas. The children of these urban migrants, representing their countries' various tribes, are living and studying side by side.
In her dorm room on a recent afternoon, Gloria Olembo, 15, who is from the Luhya tribe, said she felt angry and left out when girls around her spoke in Kikuyu.
"It was like they were passing notes behind my back that I couldn't read," she said. "I started thinking they might be talking and laughing about me."
The next day, one of the girls, Sharon Waringa, said she and her friends later realized they should not have spoken only in Kikuyu.
"It really wasn't right," said Sharon, 14, who has a puff of curly hair and large almond-shaped eyes. "At first we were just playing around. But then we realized that it can sting. I was thinking of my parents and how they used to talk among themselves before I could understand."
Sharing Culture
To lessen tensions over language, Sharon and her friends often speak in Sheng, a dialect born in the slums of Nairobi and spoken by young people who want their own common vocabulary. Sharon says that speaking Sheng is more fun and just far more hip than speaking in the tribal languages, which the girls call "shamby" -- a Sheng word meaning from the shamba or farm, old-fashioned.
Many teachers object to Sheng because they see it as crude and grammatically incorrect. But lately, the dialect has been finding its way into composition papers written by students in Leah Kabue's English literature class.
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