The Walk of Hope: Report Card and the way forward.

For the first time, Northerners - the good people of the restive Noth-Eastern - had something to identify with. As Northerners. It's such a shame that we are still hopeful after 52 years of self rule. But that is a point well driven home besides he who has hope has everything. Albert Einstein once said, "learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." We thank Allah that we are still hopeful.

The walk has inspired many Northerners as expected because of the levels of despair among them. Despite the poor planning and the failure to maximize on the occasion at many fronts, credit to the walkers who reached Border Point One- the first point the colonialists marked when they were drawing the map of kenya.

Now what next? The Walk of Hope seemed very fragile from the outlook and now enters the next phase of the dream, where challenges of group dynamics set in. How this stage is managed will be crucial to the aroused dreams of our people.
In a group of individuals with differing opinions and interests, some with celebrated unpopular history of rigidity that can give obstinance a new meaning, I pray wisdom will prevail and the hope of Northerners shall be to no avail.

From my own observation, the Walk of Hope is well represented at least at the core faces involved. Noordin Bedel from Garissa, Salah Abdi Sheikh from Wajir and Dr Abdinasir Mohamed Khalif from Mandera.
Building on these three pillar stones, the Walk of Hope can take Northerners to the promised land if and only if:

1) They are accommodating, and are willing to work with all divergent views without the rigidity and inflexibility that characterized the onset of the walk.

2) They can bridge the gap between the existing structures of clan hegemony and new, young and restless generation from the North in a smooth transition devoid of disrespect and negative discourse.
3) They put the community before their personal glory. There were instances where the walk seemed an individual morning stroll with individual goals of using it as a launching pad platform for personal political projects.
4) They are willing to learn from past mistakes in the many attempts to forge a unity of purpose in the north.

Considering the above and many other factors are put into perspective, I pray that the feelings of Northerners do not end up a subject of trial and error.