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MAPENZI

  • Writer: Sammy Keter
    Sammy Keter
  • Oct 6, 2017
  • 2 min read

Mapenzi is a great Word. I am not all that good in languages but from the street slang it means to be loved. Beloved, if you want it short. It also goes further to those who owe allegiance to God. Mapenzi ya Mungu means God's Sovereign will. And we are told in Romans 8.28-29 that "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.".

So God foreknew and planned everything in advance. That is why almost everything in this entire World and Universe are unlike any other. Some so funny, some so ugly and some so lovely, just because of Gods' infinite ingenuity to design as He will. Why is the earth seemingly the only unique thing in the entire and visible universes? It is all Mapenzi ya Mungu. Why are you this or that colour, this or that height; why have you gone through this or another problem or heartbreak? It is all Mapenzi ya Mungu. If you accept it and work through it with God, it will work through it for your good.

I wrote this song, Mapenzi a little while ago, in broken Swahili and I sung it in broken Swahili. Called it Kalenjin Swahili. I didn't feel like changing it, because it expresses me so well. So if you Swahili speakers find something funny with it, well I did it my way, in the language that my natives would best understand me.

We all have a version of swahili where we were born. They say Swahili was born in Tanzania, Raised in Mombasa, got sick in Nairobi and died in Uganda. Ehe... that is not the end of it, It was buried in DRC. So all of us, watu wa Para, tunashinda. Watu wa DRC, mambo imbaya.

When we were young we could hardly differentiate between Ps and Bs, Ts and Ds; V, Fs and Ps. And we still struggle. When I came to Nairobi nothing was embarrassing than being mimicked by my friends for my slang of language. My sheng, you can say. Do you know how we used to differentiate Ps and Bs? We used to ask ourselves the question, "is it a P, with two stomachs or P with one?". Not funny. I have trained hard over the years, but boy I am old now but not out of the woods yet. Here is my Mapenzi song in broken Swahili.

Get the message in the song, don't check whether it is a P or B, T or D because i wouldn't differentiate sometimes. They say Jesus spoke street language and so if He lived in Nairobi, He would be speaking Sheng and calling dads Msae and moms mathee, That is why common people heard him gladly (Mark 12.37).

Hope you enjoy this video clip.

 
 
 

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