Eric Wamanji
Folks, you see, nature has a way of constructing peace. And such is the element that chaps from Kapedo, Suguta or Baragoi should be focusing in pursuit of pacification.
This frontier may have been shunned and written off as a badland, but it never ceases to amaze. It is robust and beautiful. Its intrinsic form is art. Dominated by breath-taking scenery of volcanic complexes punctuated by calderas, volcanic cones, faults, cliffs, pristine lakes and gorges. This picturesque outpost is poetry to the adventurous tourist. Once visitors troop in, the youth, who understand the terrain, will soon be gainfully engaged as guides or better still own tourist concerns. And why not when the coast gets a berth.
I have been to Kapedo, and the hot springs here, splashing against a crag amid sunrise or sunset is hypnotic. I’ve also flown over the Barrier Volcanic Complex with the umpteen tantalising cones like a painter’s strokes on canvas, while the immaculate Logipi, a crater lake along the Suguta Valley, with its hue of pink flamingo is just but alluring. It is such little gems that tourists and scholars hanker for.
You see, with geothermal potential upward of 3000 MW, it means that massive hot water from power plants can be utilised for recreation. While during the day it is hot, at night temperature plummet and tourists can have fun in the hot water pools. You know what, in Iceland, the iconic blue lagoon, an accidental geothermal lake, attracts about 500, 000 visitors per year.
Couple the terrain with a culture that is itself weaved in lore and legend and you have a tourist’s paradise. Shouldn’t then the elites of the county and the national governments be cracking their heads on how to convert these resources to dollars, peace and dignity?
Narratives
Narratives are critical in shaping ideologies and worldviews. It should then impress upon the storytellers to redesign their narratives for cohesion. Celebrating ethnocentrism should slowly thaw to hailing unity in diversity. When the sage narrate triumphant exploits of their warriors or when the chaperons construct desires to concur and maul enemies to initiates, it sows seeds of discord. Yet, this lore platform can be converted into a peace construction apparatus.
This way, those who tell the narratives of communities here, will expand the worldviews of the upcoming generation. The narrators are also in schools, churches, and even drinking dens. It should be compulsory for children to attend school, and the syllabus should emphasise cohesion while opening wider vistas for the children.
People need hope and meaning. Such is built through worldview. Yet, the worldview here today is still limited. Thus, children and youth should be afforded continuous exposure opportunities to other lifestyles and people. It helps to open mind and heart.
But for all this to happen county and central governments must be committed to the cause of the north. The so-called local elite, should tame their poisonous tongues and support strategies to open up the region. It sucks to see the so-called professionals from the region calling press conferences, frothing on the mouth of how they will not allow development in the area. That is immoral.
Folks, to pacify the last Eldorado, it needs tectonic shifts in commerce and social-cultural worldview. This will organically redesign new cultural values and spawn harmony.