I consider this one of the big tragedies of our time and a sign of a larger underlying problem. That is,a belief that white represents the penultimate in anything. It is unfortunate that most African gavas have not pro-actively moved to re-educate the masses on why black is beautiful.

Think about what we are exposed to every day:

1.The before and after Fair & Lovely adverts - Girl (a Miss Kenya of all people) gets a date because her skin lightens. What BS is that? What do the young girls that look up to her understand from that advert?

2.The long-running Phantom cartoon in the Sunday Nation (the guy who is always rescuing the black jamaas from killing themselves). The thing should have been banned eons ago.

3. Almost exclusive use of mzungu mannequins in our shops 45 years after independence (it is interesting that S.Africa attained madaraka after us but you will find they stock many more black mannequins and black dolls than we do),

4.Weight loss adverts in our newspaper classifieds that feature pictures of white chics (This in Kenya! I swear I feel like eating someone when I see them)

5.Kenyan journalists falling over themselves to cover the US or UK diplomats and giving them front page/prime time coverage even when all they are doing is shopping for new underwear. Cmon! Let us have some sense of pride.

There is simply too much subliminal communication going around. This has battered the self-esteem of not only the average African woman but the general population as a whole.

The lack of self-confidence manifests in more than just skin lighteners. It is why every Kenyan nowadays has a twang. Never mind that the longest he has stayed abroad is a 3-day seminar in Turkey (the guys barely speak English). But alas,An American accent accompanied by an avalanche of 'wannas' and 'gonnas'.

Nothing against twangs esp. for people that have lived longer abroad. Just that I think most people in Kenya today clearly overdo it.

But I digress (an SK tradition).

As you may have already figured,obviously it is a no to skin lighteners for me.