“If This Country Burns…” – A Message From Kuweni Serious

This video was made almost three years ago but this might be an apt time to watch it.

Kuweni Serious believes in a better Kenya and “Fighting the EVIL powers of apathy,” so about two years ago they made this short video about Kenyans taking responsibility for their country. It is less about keeping peace and more about taking active participation on issues concerning the country.

The video was produced and directed by Mbithi Masya (also editor) and Jim Chuchu (also writing and score) for Kuweni Serious. The narration is done by Bill Sellanga. They are three of the four members of experimental music group, Just-A-Band.

Check out the video below and the transcript follows after.

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“There is a difference between the one who rents a house and the one who owns a house. The one who rents a house doesn’t care if the walls crack and crumble, they can always move to another house.

The one who owns a house knows that no one else will take care of it, thus they paint the walls and mend the cracks.

More than 60% of Kenya’s population consists of young men and women like us.

The problem is that we behave like tenants of Kenya. We have let the older generation tear this country apart. We have let them use us to fight their battles. We have let them loot this country. We have let them fool us into thinking that we’re not fit to run this country ourselves.

So we hide in our alcohol, in our religions and on the Internet as if there is some other Kenya out there that we shall move to when this one crumbles. We sit at home and wait for others to fight for us on the streets.

We want green cards instead of voter’s cards. We are angry, but we are too scared to do anything about it. It is not Obama’s job to save this country. It is not the donors’ job, and the government has shown that it is not their job, either.

Responsibility is not shared, it is earned. Freedom is not given, it is taken.

When we decide we want freedom, we will have to get it ourselves.

Because if this country burns, we burn with it.“