Yesterday I was called a misogynist on twitter. Which means someone thought I hate women. That I want nothing but to erase them from the world and instigate their downfall. Oh, well, every day you learn something new about yourself. As I sat in a corner, contemplating my ugly misogynistic ways, someone told me that I was trending. I was astonished because I hadn’t applied for a UK visa, so I went to the trending topic “Biko” and read through a mishmash of mentions that ranged from freedom fighting and South Africa’s Steve Biko to me and the Jadudi saga.
If you are on twitter, by now you have probably read the brouhaha around #1miliforjadudi – the sequel. Because I wrote the story here and asked you to donate for this ailing chap and you guys came out abundantly and in grace, I would like to make a few things clear here, because I owe you (and myself) that.
First, I think we all know the history of the Jadudi campaign. Zawadi approached me and asked me to be part of that campaign to help him go for treatment in India. My role was to tell his story.
Fact: The campaign wasn’t my brainchild.
Fact: I knew squat about crowd funding.
Later, I was accused of not crediting Zawadi Nyong’o, the person who spearheaded this campaign in a couple of articles thereafter. I should have given to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but in an error of tragic omissions, I didn’t. I remain very regretful of that oversight and to that effect I emailed Zawadi yesterday and apologized to her for not acknowledging her contribution.
I want to state here that after my last Jadudi post on this blog, thanking you guys for coming through the way you did, I stepped back into the shadows. With the exception of a BBC-radio phone interview, I intentionally avoided any and all media engagement. But it’s not only media I avoided, I also distanced myself from the post & the furor and excitement it generated. I mentioned here that I was not going to be involved in any of the financial aspects of the money raised or in any dealings between Jadudi and the Africa Cancer Foundation (ACF). I communicated here what I was told by ACF: that the money was going to be held in Trust for Jadudi and disbursed when his medical needs called for it.
Since then I have not been involved in any financial, management or social undertakings of Jadudi. I have not been in his interviews or press briefings. Although we WhatsApp once in a while, I have never revisited his topic in this blog or elsewhere. I don’t have any email correspondences between myself and ACF relating to Jadudi. I’m not a signatory to any account and no red cent from this campaign ever landed on my hands, directly or by proxies. Which means that when news broke out on Twitter that NHIF took care of all his hospital bills, I learnt of it the same way you did, through twitter. To that end my nose and conscious remain untainted.
I am a writer. I write then I step back into my cave which offers me the familiarity and comfort of obscurity. Bright lights are not for me. There was never any bigger agenda in writing Jadudi’s story other than to help him raise funds for his surgery.
It is unfortunate that we are here. That such horror can come from such a good place, a place of compassion and humanity and generosity. I’m honestly quite distressed about this whole Jadudi hoo-hah and how it might affect the giving nature of Kenyans. This was supposed to be about us helping a boy fight a ghastly disease, not a mud-slinging jamboree, and if I knew it would turn into this circus, I would have easily walked away from it all.
But nevertheless, here we are, and I pray that sobriety and good sense prevails.
Yours,
Chocolate Man. (Couldn’t help it)