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Ciku Kimeria is a Kenyan author "Of goats and poisoned oranges" - (https://www.amazon.com/goats-poisoned-oranges-Ciku-Kimeria-ebook/dp/B00HBBWPI6), development consultant, adventurer and travel blogger (www.thekenyanexplorer.com). She writes both fiction and non-fiction focusing on African stories that need telling. She has worked on diverse pieces for various international and local publications including Quartz, Ozy, The East African etc. She has travelled to 45 countries – 16 of them in Africa. 153 countries to go and 63 territories!
"Of goats and poisoned oranges" has been extremely well received in Kenya and beyond. It tells the story of a Kenyan middle aged power couple and their complicated marriage. The novel explores issues of greed, revenge, betrayal and murder. It runs from the 1960s to 2013. It has been described as “Wicked, funny, poignant, wacky, human, a big ball of fun and danger”, “A unique and captivating book”, “Fun and intriguing”, “Impossible to put down once you start reading.”
She recently moved to Dakar, Senegal from Kenya to work on her second novel. She also works at as the Africa Communication Manager at a leading global strategy consulting firm.
She holds a B.S. in Management Science from MIT with minors in Urban Planning and International development studies.
The African Philosopher Who Came Up With Enlightenment Ideals Before Locke, Hume And Kant
A century before the days of the European Enlightenment philosophers, there was an Ethiopian hermit philosopher who had come up with the ideals of enlightenment while living in solitude in a cave. He had already questioned the supremacy of any religion or belief system over another, already written that husband and wife are equal in marriage — an argument that even his Western counterparts had not yet come to centuries later. Yacob in his cave had questioned a lot about religion.
Chapter four of the Hatäta starts with a radical question: ‘Is everything that is written in the Holy Scriptures true?’ He goes on to point out that all the different religions claim theirs is the true faith...In chapter five, Yacob applies rational investigation to the different religious laws. He criticizes Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Indian religions equally.
What fascinates me is also how he believed in gender equality — for me this is one of the rebuttals for when it is said that feminism is unAfrican. There have been thousands of champions for gender equality on the continent long before the formal concept of feminism came into the continent — matriarchal systems, women warriors and powerful queens.
After Yacob left the cave, he proposed to a poor maiden named Hirut, who served a rich family. Yacob argued with her master, who did not think a servant woman was equal to an educated man, but Yacob prevailed. When Hirut gladly accepted his proposal, Yacob pointed out that she should no longer be a servant, but rather his peer, because ‘husband and wife are equal in marriage’.
To contrast this, Kant wrote a century later: "A woman is embarrassed little that she does not possess certain high insights." His writings also showed that he believed the only real reason men desire women is for sex. However, Yakob, his Ethiopian predecessor from over a century earlier, cherished his wife’s intelligence, and he stressed their mutual and individualistic love for one another.
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thanks for this piq! great find!