Africa: Kenya’s inspiring ‘exports’

• 27 July 2015
 
• From the section Africa

Froome used to go mountain biking in the Rift Valley with his Kenyan mentor David Kinjah (C)

In our series of letters from African journalists, film-maker and columnist Farai Sevenzo considers some of Kenya's greatest "exports".

There may really only be one story in town if your town is Nairobi and you happen to be a sports fan. 

Chris Froome has won the Tour de France - a competitive, gruelling and punishing race by bicycle that takes the rider up mountains in all manner of weather over many days - and he has won this race for the second time in his ridiculously young life. 

If you are a sports fan in Nairobi you will know that this cycling champion was born in the Kenyan capital 30 years ago and represented Kenya in many cycle races before competing for his father's homeland - the United Kingdom.

You will know too that his mentor and training partner well into his twenties was the Kenyan professional cyclist David Kinjah.

In the same city this last weekend another man, who has been in the fabric of our newsreels almost continuously for the last seven years, landed in his father's homeland for the first time as president of the United States of America. 

Barack Obama first went to Kenya in 1987

President Obama's father said it was important his son visit Kenya to "know your people"

Gone was the anonymity of his previous trips as a young man who sat outside his father's village huts with a cigarette in hand, instead a swoon fest was gripping Nairobi as politicians and ambassadors fell over to be in his presence; and the men in charge of security had a hernia or two.

Barack Obama told a gathering on Saturday night: "Obviously there are emotions to a visit like this, memories come rushing back."

He recounted how he had once written to his father and told his Kenyan parent of his hope to visit.

"And he wrote me back saying, 'Dear son, even if it's only for a few days, the important thing is that you know your people," the US leader told his audience.

Farai Sevenzo:

"From Harare to Hargeisa you would be a very unlucky person not to bump into a US dollar millionaire"

For the cyclist and the president, "their people", are clearly delighted at what the fates have sprung from their soil, despite America and Britain's eagerness to claim these two men for themselves.

And yes, we know that Africa is "on the move", as Mr Obama put it.

From Harare to Hargeisa you would be a very unlucky person not to bump into a US dollar millionaire.

The entrepreneurs are throwing up ideas, the technological future is being harnessed by bright young African minds and the superpowers from Beijing to Washington are well aware of the dormant economic clout of a continent with a rising middle class and rich resources.

Obama’s trip to Kenya: 12 things

Both Froome and Mr Obama are unlikely fruit from the Kenyan tree - which clearly has a steely determination as one of its attributes. 

The cyclist was born in Kenya, studied in South Africa and has been on his bike longer than most footballers have been kicking a ball.

We learn too that he has been subjected to a torrent of abuse during this tour - allegedly urine has been thrown at him as he raced because of allegations of doping.

As the next US election gathers steam and the son of a Kenyan prepares to leave the stage to set up his presidential library, pens are being sharpened to sum up the Obama presidency. No write up will be complete without the words "against all odds" .

So when it comes down to it, Africa's secret weapon is in her people and their offspring who, when champions and influential leaders sprout from the same place, remind us all that we are more than the sum of the headlines.