Before you read the following small article, I wanted to give a brief introduction to a talented writer I met online recently. Sylvia Otieno is the owner of the Tumblr site The Gay Atheist. She is Kenyan, going to school, living life, and watching the world intently from Nairobi. In her different essays, she also shares not only her national
visions for her country, but that of the greater world and humanity. This proves interesting since she goes against her own socially accepted religious grain by being an atheist. I hope to get an interview with her before too long, but this piece I’m sharing of hers below is a terrific reflection about coming out, and the hope it inspired within her, and how many others are being motivated too.
I think we Americans forget about other country members who are watching us. Sometimes inspired, sometimes confused, but nonetheless watching and forming outlooks on what they see us do, and that of other countries around them. I did take the liberty of mild editing, but no rewriting. Please check out her website for further written essays and thoughts. She has a very compact style that nails the points clearly, the message vividly shared. Thank you for reading her work. <3 Bluegrass Skeptic
When I first realized that I was an atheist I never knew there were people like me out there. I thought I was the only one and that Kenyans can’t possibly be atheists. I felt alone and I needed someone to talk to. So I searched on Facebook for Kenyan atheists and I found the Freethinkers Initiative Kenya; a group of freethinkers like me who aren’t afraid to speak their mind. I joined their debates, but I kept it from my mother and father cause I was afraid of what they’ll think of me. Until one day, I just decided to come out and speak my mind and I’ve never looked back.
I enjoy the discussions from Kenyan freethinkers, and I’ve met a ton of new friends who think more or less like me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Thus was the platform to speak my mind and learn new things about science and free thought. I realize now that people need to come out in numbers cause there’s a lot more atheists out there than we think. They just don’t know who to talk to and we’re not that well advertised cause we’re really stigmatized in society.
I don’t blame the militant atheists for going a step further as to attack religion. I think they give us the guts we need cause they’re doing what we really wanna do, but just can’t cause we fear losing our friends, we fear losing our families, and we fear losing our jobs. But as soon as we got that platform to speak our minds, I realized we’re on our way to success as an organization.
I think we’re living in an era where all the information is out there in the open, yet 
people choose to remain ignorant and complacent to religious ideologies that make no sense. The more they hear about us, the more it resonates in their minds that we are a force to be reckoned with and we’re not sparing anyone. We have over 7,000 members on Facebook and about 200,000 Kenyan atheist according to the last census.
We’re growing in numbers. And I think we’re on the right side of history. I think many atheists will look back at us as heroes who defied the odds and promoted science and free thought. We are creating the way for our future children. And their children.
