ARE KENYANS BURNED OUT?

I have been doing a series of health talks for various organizations on stress and stress management. I have come across numerous people working in these organizations who have high levels of stress and at various degrees of burn out.

What is burn out in the first place? Burn out is defined as the state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion brought about by long term exposure to stress and stressful conditions. This state of exhaustion is accompanied by a loss of interest, cynicism and irritability.

The main outcome of burn out is that there is a reduction in overall performance by the individual and their work output suffers.

Who are more likely to be affected by burn out?

1. Those who work in organizations with dysfunctional dynamics and poor communication structures.
2. Those who do not have a balance between social and work life
3. Those who feel powerless to make decisions
4. Those who are in monotonous or chaotic environments

As I was meditating about the feedback I received from the health talks, I began to reflect on the similarities of how people burn who are stressed get burned out and how a country full of stressed people burns out. This similarity makes sense to me because a country is its citizens. If the citizens are stressed so is the country. Thinking about this, there have been several events occurring in Kenya that makes me think that Kenyans are stressed and in various stages of burn out.

1. There was an announcement in the media that money for free education was stolen. I was expecting an avalanche of complaints but there has been not much of an outcry.
2. There has been a lot of activity going on regarding the draft constitution. I have observed that many people do not appear too interested to air their view as passionately as during the referendum in 2005. The most noise is coming from mainly NGO’s and the politicians.
3. 150 million shillings is directly pocketed by a group of people selling a farming scheme in ukambani on behalf of the members of that scheme. There is little outcry.
4. There is an expose on TV about corruption at the ports of Mombasa that barely raises a whimper. There is belief that there not much we can do.
5. A car rolls and 8 occupants die. Not much of concern. It’s just another accident like any other.

From these few examples, do you think Kenyans are burned out?

Let me elucidate on my hypothesis.

A good number of Kenyans have become numb and exhausted by numerous scandals that are brought to light on a daily basis. Are we exhausted? Do we lack interest in the follow up to these scandals? Are we cynical to any attempt to right these wrongs? To me, all these questions produce a big YES!

Why are we in this state?

We are in this state because of the following factors:

A. We live in a country with dysfunctional dynamics (we do not relate well) and poor communication structures. I will highlight some examples of this dysfunction.

1. The Post Election Violence in 2008 was a great emotional stressor. It was the biggest negative emotional event we experienced as a nation since the 1982 coup. This great emotional demand that was placed on us scarred psyche and we still bear the fear of uncertainty of what will happen during the next election. The site of people being killed and raped is one that weighs heavy on our emotions.
2. Our government is always bickering about one issue after another and thus we are unable to focus on progress as a nation. This constant bickering weighs heavily on Kenyans leading to exhaustion and losing interest.
3. There is a lot of selfishness amongst people in Kenya where the sense of brotherhood is being eroded by our “men eat man” mentality. This mentality began with our forefathers and now it has reached proportions where we steal money meant for HIV drugs and for free primary education. Don’t we care? Do we listen to our brothers and sisters? I do not think so.

B. Kenya is a country  where we do not have a balance between politics and economics

The unfortunate thing about Kenya is that we politik from one election to the next nonstop. We are unable to extensively discuss nation building initiatives other than politics! What makes it worse is that the media has been unable to check this situation. The mainstream media actually is part of this problem. Main stream media does not have the guts to break from the fold and venture into positive reporting away from politics. The main stream media sticks to its herding instincts and just do whatever the rest does. Kenya has so much going for it if only we just take a closer look.

Discussion of politics continuously has lead to exhaustion and people who do not care anymore. Politics does not bring food to the table (unless for a chosen few), economics does!

C. Kenyans feel powerless to make decisions

As we speak, Kenyans are not holding their breath as the draft constitution moves to parliament. Busy bodies have been making empty threats to the legislature to pass the draft constitution. What is tragically funny is that the legislature may do what it wants. They have the power. They have the power to decide. The 30 day exercise to get views from Kenyan was an exercise in futility because the legislature will make its own recommendations. What can Kenyans do? Nothing! We are powerless. We are pawns to be used at will by the political class who have benefited from a draconian constitution. .With our country in politics mode 24/7 we are destined for doom. People are tired of being played like fools. They simply do not care.

Do you think we are in burn out as a country? Are we heading for break down?

Methinks so. When man is pushed to this limit there is chance for doing irrational things because there is nothing to lose.

We have to find solutions to our issues and avoid going into breakdown as individuals and as a nation.

What do you think?

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