Every Day Is Special: Kenya

Showing posts with label Kenya. Show all posts

June 1 - Madaraka Day in Kenya

Posted on June 1, 2022

This is an update of my post published on June 1, 2011:

This national day commemorates the day that Kenya attained self-rule in 1963. (The nation was fully independent from the United Kingdom by December of the same year.) Kenyans will celebrate the day with speeches and shows. You can get idea of the sorts of shows are being put on today by watching this short video from last year's celebration.

In Kenya, as in other countries, there are folks who
wear traditional clothing - at least at times, such as
when performing or to celebrate special days - and
folks who wear "modern" clothing that can be seen
all over the world.

Kenya - the cradle of humanity?

Many archeologists, such as Richard Leakey, believe that humanity began in what we now call Kenya, because they have found ancient human skeletons and also skeletons from pre-human ancestors. One example is Turkana boy, who was Homo erectus. Other pre-human skeletons such as Lucy, the famous Australopithecus afarensis, have been found in nearby Ethiopia. And of course, although we know from the fossil record that humankind began in Africa, there are multiple claims of exactly WHERE in this huge continent. For example:

This photo of "the cradle of [hu]mankind" was
taken in South Africa, some 4 to 5 thousand
kilometers away from Kenya!

Read about early pre-humans and prehistoric humans with this video.

Learn more...

Here's a quick quiz about Kenya.

Here's a map game about all of Africa.

International Children's Day in Croatia

Clean Air Day in Canada
(First Wednesday in June)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

June holidays

June birthdays

Historical anniversaries in June

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

April 1 - Happy Birthday, Wangari Maathai

Posted on April 1, 2019

She was the first African woman to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was also the first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Born on this date in 1940, in Kenya, Wangari Maathai was educated in two universities in the U.S. as well as in the University of Nairobi in Kenya. She studied biology and veterinary science. Out of school, she married and had children, and she began to teach at the university level.

For a while there, in every job Maathai held, she was the first woman to have held that job: first female senior lecturer in anatomy, first female chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, first female associate professor...

In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization that focused on planting trees, conserving the environment, and developing and safeguarding women's rights.

Maathai was eventually elected a member of Parliament and served with an administration as an assistant minister for environmental resources. She even became part of the World Future Council.

Check out some of Maathai's wisdom:

Also on this date:

April Fool's Day

Anniversary of a Google Joke

St. Stupid's Day Parade

Reading Is Funny Day

Mathematician Sophie Germain's birthday

National Kite Month

Greek Cypriot Day in Cyprus

Republic Day in Iran

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

October 10 – Moi Day in Kenya

Posted October 10, 2018

It was a holiday.

Then it wasn't.

Then it was again.

Do you know how official holidays are created? In the United States, Congress has the authority to create holidays for federal institutions (such as national parks) and employees, and for the District of Columbia (D.C.). State and city governments have the authority to create state and city holidays in addition to the federal holidays - and they sometimes do.

Banks and post offices and public schools, and a lot of other institutions, usually close on federal holidays. Private businesses can choose whether or not to close. Of course, there are people whose work is classified as "essential services" who may have to work even on a holiday. Even some federal employees are in this category.

In Kenya, there may well be a similar process of establishing holidays. Moi Day was an official holiday celebrated on October 10 every year. It is a recognition of Daniel Moi, the second President of Kenya, and it was first established to celebrate Moi's 10 years in power (hence, I guess, the holiday being celebrated on 10/10). He ended up ruling for 24 years, much of that time acting like more of a despot or tyrant than a president.

When Kenya's new constitution was created in 2010, the holiday was scrapped. So 10 / 10 / 10 was the first day that Kenyans did not celebrate Moi Day since it was first begun.

In 2017, a judge ruled that removing the holiday without Parliament changing the Public Holidays Act or without the appropriate minister subbing in another holiday was illegal. The workers were supposed to have that day off as a paid holiday, and so the judge restored Moi Day.

Many Kenyans tweeted thanks to the judge for getting their holiday back, and some even tweeted that they should have an entire week off because of seven years of missed holidays. But some Kenyans don't want the holiday to be named for Moi. Moi started off popular but was hated by many by the time he finally retired in 2002. Why not name the holiday for environmental activist Wangari Maathai, at least one Kenyan suggested.

In the past when Moi was serving as president, there were sort of "our glorious leader" type ceremonies, with soldiers marching past the president, a fly-by, and tribal dancing. Today will be the first 10 / 10 "Moi Day" celebration since 2009, so it will be interesting to see if and how it's celebrated other than most folks just staying home from work!