'Kenya Ain't no Poo-pah Team'

(Barbados Advocate)

First things first. Let me start this morning by apologising to the Kenyan cricket team. In last week?s column, I was griping about the West Indies not making the Super Six of the ICC World Cup now being played in South Africa.

Furthermore, I went on to say that we ain?t there in the Super Six, but a li?l poo-pah monkey team like Kenya that we beat so bad in the same competition, get in the super six and left we.

However, even though most of you agreed with the column, one or two people took offence to the phrase "poo-pah monkey team" in reference to the Kenyans. It wasn't so much that them was saying that Kenya is a big name team but them had a problem with the word monkey when talking ?bout a black team from Africa, and said that the phrase could be easily taken as a racist statement. This concern was raised by one or two people from the Caribbean and outside the region.

Well for that I have to apologise to anyone who felt offended, because it was never my intention to paint a picture of black monkeys in uniforms playing cricket. You see, here in Barbados and some territories, there is a saying which goes, ?look at monkey handling gun?. This saying is used to describe someone performing a task or participating in something that you would never expect to see them doing or you believe it would be hard for them to succeed at the task because of the lack of experience.

So by extension here in Barbados the word monkey is often used to describe something which ain?t look right. Like a fellow would say, ?man I had a monkey carpenter working on my house and he mek me waste a lot o? money?. Or you liable to hear a fellow say, ?man, my wife like she feel I is a monkey man, that she encouraging so and so round my house?.

So again let me apologise if somebody misunderstood the statement. But not only that, I got to apologise again, cause the Kenyan team like them ain?t even a poo-pah team like I thought. These fellows like them for real. Not only did they make it to the Super Six, but day before them beat Zimbabwe real, real bad and now them in the semi-finals. Yes them had a bit of luck on the way, but at least them there, so I can?t call them a poo-pah team no more. I would now have to reserve that phrase for you know who.

But I was reminded that there is something called the will and desire, and when you put these with self-confidence you have the key ingredients for success, and that is what the Kenyans are demonstrating. Just like the Australians. If you bowl out Australia for ten runs, they have the will, the desire and the self-belief, they believe that they can bowl you out for nine runs.

I will give you an example. The average woman can?t lift up a bag of cement, but if that same bag of cement was on one of her children?s legs and them was trapped in a burning building, you would see how easy she would get that bag of cement lift up. You understand what I mean?

We always believe that you need a big axe to cut down a big tree. Similarly a lot of men believe that them woman would never leave them despite the nonsense that them doing. So them take things including other men for granted.

Some of we believe that an ugly man can?t horn we, or a fellow who ain?t got no pretty job can?t carry away we girl. But this isn?t often the case, just like the Kenyans, sometimes a fellow not only capitalises on your over confidence and mistakes, but he also sticks to the basics and do them well.

So while you believe that the woman looking for money, sometimes the ugly man with no pretty job would send she a single rose with a card with the right words, and even though to you he is a monkey man, ?cause to you he ain?t got the right credentials to be a horner, he doing the little things the right way.

That is why we out of this World Cup, when the Kenyans was taking catches, we was dropping ours. When the Kenyans was bowling line and length, we was bowling wides and no balls. When the Kenyans was saving the ones and twos by diving all over the place and grating up them skin, the ball was going through we legs and the opposition was picking up the extra runs.

The Kenyans ain?t got no big names, at times they look a li?l clumsy, but them keeping to the basics and doing them right, and on top of that them have the will, the desire and the self confidence, and with them ingredients anything could happen. See ya.