NAIROBI (Xinhua) – It is February again and Kenyans are gearing up to mark a day when lovers drop their guard to shower each other with affection. Though not a red letter day, Kenyans celebrate Valentine’s Day in with uncharacteristic loyalty by its die-hard devotees who mostly consist of the middle and upper classes.
The Day which will be celebrated globally on Tuesday February 14th is also spurned in equal measure by low income earners who see every penny spent towards the occasion as money down the drain. Coming soon after the long holiday coupled with harsh economic realities, observers have developed a wait- and-see attitude as to how Kenyans will celebrate the day when love flies in the air.
However, count on cupid-stuck couples to go to great lengths to prove their love. “I have never missed celebrating the day ever since cupid struck my heart. Each year the magnitude of my celebratory status gets bigger and this year will be no exception,” Mr Donald Wechuli, insurance broker told Xinhua on Saturday. “Without Valentine’s Day, my love life will be uneventful as it is the glue that makes it our paradise. I wouldn’t want to experiment how it would feel not to celebrate it because I don’t know what outcome it would have in our relationship.”
Mr Wechuli and his fiancée spent about 500 dollars last Valentine’ s Day, an enormous sum by Kenyan standards, to mark their bliss and he intends to go a notch higher on Tuesday. Christine Okal reckons it is her right to be spoilt with gifts and a romantic evening on the big day.
“It is my husband who proposed to marry me and so it is his duty to shower me with love. Mine is only to reciprocate the gesture,” says the company secretary. “I don’t know what he has planned for this year since he is playing his cards close to his chest. As is the tradition, my husband always wants it to have a surprise element. I am keeping my fingers crossed.”
A walk around Nairobi reveals signs of businesses positioning themselves to go for a killing come the blissful day. Restaurants are planning special menus that will be charged far more than their usual rates. Bookshops and street vendors are displaying heart-shaped cards whereas leading supermarkets have designated a ‘Valentine’s corner’ where they are selling special packages for their disciples including bouquets which are going for 18 dollars apiece.
Airline companies are reportedly doing good business as people making reservations for 2500 dollar helicopter rides. However there are also those who rue the day if their past experience is anything to go by, either through overindulgence or being left with broken hearts.
Elijah Njagi is still smarting from a calamity that left him a joyless and broke man last Valentine’s Day. “I took an overdraft of 600 U.S. dollars to use in impressing a lady I had dated for only three months. No sooner had the day ended than she took off saying she did not want anything to do with me because I am a spendthrift who leaves beyond his means.”
He says if he could have his way, he would sleep the day over and wake up the following day so as not to recall the events of last year. Then there are the lonely hearts like Sarah Kinya who says she has already placed an order which will be delivered to her at the office so as to look like the rest.
“Most of my female colleagues are married or those in a steady relationship. If I won’t receive a gift it will be the talking point in the office for the rest of the year.” In the midst of all this are cries from environmentalist who say cultivation of roses to meet demand for Valentine’s Day is affecting the local ecology of Lake Naivasha around where most of Kenya’s roses are grown.
Green Africa Foundation Chairman Isaac Kalua says consumer appetite for cuts roses for Valentine’s Day is bleeding the country dry by threatening the region’s precarious ecology. “Many flower farms don’t care how much damage they do to the lake. This has to change for the future of the industry as well as the lake and the country,” said Kalua. (XINHUA)
