Essay on "Worries of the Heart"

Essay 2 pages (746 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Community members and relatives would sometimes 'pitch in' to help but overall, the suffering of widows was disproportionate, when compared with other populations.

However, after independence, widows began to use the language of citizenship to demand their full rights, and protest against the paranoia about women's chastity that had festered, even after the end of the war. When these demands were not always answered, combined with the privations they faced, the recent colonial past began to look better and better in the eyes of all Kenyans but particularly women. Former British subjects waxed nostalgic about the better hospitals, teachers, politicians, and roads they enjoyed then, versus the unsanitary conditions and incompetence of the present. The failure of realizing the promise of full enjoyment of liberty was galling to all Kenyans, although Mutongi notes her own frustration at the refusal of her subjects to say what she wants them to say. "Our leaders have failed us...their living standards had sharply deteriorated since independence" they told her (Mutongi 196).

This deterioration affected almost all Kenyans, but was particularly difficult for the weakest and most vulnerable members of society -- namely the women. Denied the promise of a better life, they were particularly angry at what they saw as the corruption of their rulers. Black Africans were supposed to take care of their 'worries of the heart' better than the British, and instead did a far, far worse job regarding the provision of basic social services. Poverty eroded the sense of obligation and networks of community interdependence that had once protected widows.

This is not a defense of colonialism; rather it is an accurate portrayal of the difficulties of decolonization. Merely because a society is independent does not necessarily means that it provides a 'good life' for its subjects. Perhaps the best question to ask is not if colonialism was beneficial or not beneficial, but how does Africa move forward? Greater attention must be paid, according to Mutongi, to the relationships of Africans with other Africans as well as to rehashing the evils of colonialism (Mutongi 198).

Work Cited

Mutongi, Kenda. Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya. Chicago:

University of Chicago… READ MORE

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