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23:54
Monica Arac De Nyeko- Caine Prize 2007
» Kenyanpoet Monica Arac De Nyeko- Caine Prize 2007
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22:06 Setting up a call center in Kenya
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com It looks like this is becoming a big topic as talk of the fiber optic cable looms. There’s a short article in the Nation about this and it looks like the Indians are already looking at Kenya (why? why? why? can’t they just stay put in India?) — it would really depress me if [...]
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21:12
African Digerati: Ken Banks
» White African 
Ken Banks is the 6th in the African Digerati series of interviews. Ken has become a recognized leader in the mobile space in Africa, primarily through his open source text messaging hub called FrontlineSMS. He speaks regularly around the world on the use of mobile technologies to meet the demands of the real world in places like Africa.
Blog and/or website:
You can find more information on Ken Banks at www.kiwanja.net. Including information on his projects, his mobile database, pictures and blog. It’s one of the best resources for information on mobile technology for Africa on the web.What do you do?
I use a mix of 22 years in IT, 14 years working on and off in various parts of Africa, and a degree in Social Anthropology with Development Studies to help local, national and international non-profit organisations make better use of information and communications technology – particularly mobile – in their work. I’m usually based out of the UK (where I have a small flat in a lovely Cambridgeshire village), but am currently a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University on the Reuters Digital Vision Program. To pay the bills I do a mixture of paid consultancy and pro-bono work for a range of NGOs, working mostly at grassroots level, a place where I strongly believe the greatest change will come
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18:45
never buy anything from those time square computer shops
» Learning to play You know the ones that have all the fancy electronics on the window display with tantalizing prices plastered all over them. Yeah you know the ones... well they are a scam! Avery well tuned one too if i may say so myself. The price they have for the sexy canon camera in the window is actually the one for a crappy useless on that they have on the inside.
On the rare occasion that they do have the actual price written in the window, don't be surprised to be told that they only have the window unit in stock and that that it is for display only. Whatever you buy there is marked up at least 200% and no matter how good a deal you think your getting, rest assured that you are being scammed.
If you remain obstinate and decide to go in anyway please please ask them to tell you the price you will be paying for the gadget verbally. Yes, even if you have already read the little red sticker on the packaging. And do this before the quickly pull out a razor blade and cut open the packaging making the item unreturnable.
My advice though, stick to companies that you can actually sue if the scam you. And if your a staunch bargain hunter, you'd rather even go get your gadget on ebay or something, just don't subject yourself these con-artists.
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14:41
Kenyan women and Public office
» Kenya Imagine Leso Munala responding to former President Moi's call to women to take on responsibility as leaders in the community.It is one thing to say that qualified women should fight for positions in public
office but another to actually create policies that will enable this to happen.
Women, given the opportunity are going for the highest level of education they
can attain in their various fields of interest. They too are ambitious and want
the very best for Kenya. Just like their males counterparts in Kenya, they
should not have to fight for positions in public office if they have the
relevant education and experience. This mindset will only change if the nation
as a whole embraces the notion that character, relevant training and experience
rather than gender should be the driving force when considering who to elect as
public officials to serve the country.
Read more here.
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12:32
m.uhuru.de & co
» Kikuyumoja's realm Earlier this year in March, I discovered that the WP-ShorStat plugin I had been using for a long time actually congested my database, so I cleaned up the database by simply deleting all WP-SS values on my db.
I had to do the same today, as - just in a time span of 4 months - WP-ShortStat again bloated my db to an extent I just didn’t like. Mzeecedric already suggested the other day to use external statistic tools only - which is a very smart idea to keep your WP-database clean.
While visiting Christian at his desk on friday afternoon, we talked about using Google Analytics, and I really have to admit that I am a bit slow when it comes to implementing new stuff on my site. ‘Nways, I consequently switched all my statistics to Google Analytics and currently looking for a plugin that implements some important stats (= whatever you like to appear on your GoogleAnalytics dashboard) to the WP dashboard - just what WP-ShortStat did, but much better.
Oh, and in case you’re using WP on your site + are tired of implementing the code into you site, pls try this awesome GoogleAnalytics plugin that does a bit more than simply adding the GA code.
Also, I took this opportunity to activate the WordPress Mobile Plugin by Andy Moore, who is an active member of the dotMobi group.
Considering that mobile phones are rapidly becoming the IT platform / interface for those who don’t use a desktop pc / notebook, it does make sense to prepare websites so that they run on the tiny screens of most mobile phones. Oh, and Andy also blogged on the upcoming Mobile Web 2.0 conference… :-)You know these ppl want you to register another domain ending on the top level .mobi - which I think is a bit absurd, as subdomains actually do the job:
m.uhuru.de ==> blog.uhuru.de, optimized* for mobile phones
Using the “m” subdomain makes much more sense to me (and others), unless of course you’re Mzeecedric who is already using the m. subdomain to extend his zung.us domain into m.zung.us :-)
*[at the moment, m.uhuru.de is just a redirector to my blog, which has the above mentioned WP Mobile Plugin installed - so the optimized content is only visible through mobile phones or emulators…]
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9:43
Dangerous Presidents-In-Waiting…
» You Missed This It is amazing how very few Kenyans are able to see the ticking time bomb that is in the country today. Even now when it is before our very eyes in increased violence and unexplainable crime wave levels.
One of the things that the Moi administration did was to dramatically increase the number of university graduates the country churns out every year. This is both a good thing and also a very bad thing. A good thing in that Kenya is now reaping dividends in massive foreign exchange inflows from professionals working abroad. In fact repatriated cash from Kenyans working in virtually every country of the world you can think of is the highest foreign exchange earner currently.
It is a bad thing in that a lot of these highly educated young people are jobless and frustrated. The most dangerous thing for Kenya is the fact that we have too many people who are frustrated and have nothing to lose. That is one of the reasons why the Mungiki terror gang continues to recruit in large numbers.
There is nothing more dangerous than having millions of people who go around mostly hungry and have no idea where their next meal is going to come from. These are extremely dangerous masses to have because they really have nothing to lose. The situation exactly shortly before the bloody French Revolution.
Yet none of the men who want to be president has seriously addressed this issue which is already breaking up the country. And if they have, it is to suggest that the people eat cakes if bread is scarce...
Read more...
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9:39
Complications
» Black Looks Complication City by Ibou Ndoye - Art Works Share This:
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Bizarre Kenyan Economy: Shilling Strengthens But Prices Rise Steeply
» You Missed This One does not need to be an economist to grasp a simple truth.
When the currency of a country strengthens against major foreign currencies, it means that imported inputs become cheaper and costs of production and distribution of products and services should fall (and this impacts everybody because goods also need to be transported and a stronger shilling means that we need less shillings to buy petrol for example). In other words it is rather obvious that prices should fall.
But look at the situation in Kenya today. As the shilling continues to strengthen, the prices continue to go up.
So what's wrong?
Read more...
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40 years and still
» Black Looks 40 years on from the decriminalisation of gay sex in the UK, protected against discrimination and equal under the law. Social acceptance has moved on to the point where 75% of parents wouldn’t mind if their child’s teacher was gay and 95% would be happy if a member of our football team was gay. [...]
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8:08
The Next Message
» Cock And Bull Since writing the previous post, I have been feeling pretty low, lousy and lost since it made me go to a place in my mind that I do not visit often, and touched a spot in my heart that is obviously still very tender. However, a few moments after posting it online, I opened an email which contained the words, “The next message you need is right where you are” at the very bottom. The message in the email was very timely since it talked about the significance of painful memories from the past and how to handle them. Do you believe in coincidences or do you believe that everything happens for a reason? As I write this, I already feel much better.
Here is the complete text I extracted from today’s edition of an electronic newsletter from [higherawareness.com]:
Let go of the past
“Your journey has molded you for your greater good, and it was exactly what it needed to be. Don’t think that you’ve lost time. There is no short-cutting to life. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now. And now is right on time.”
- Asha Tyson
No regrets. As we become more aware, we begin to realize that there’s a purpose to everything that happens. This builds our trust, and supports us in being willing to be more open and daring to really experience life as it unfolds.
If we pay attention to what’s happening in each moment, we will discover that life continually brings us opportunities to heal our past wounds. When a painful memory surfaces, we can take the time to feel it fully, give compassion to ourselves and any others and allow the energy to release. As we deal with the past in this way IN THE PRESENT, we free ourselves to more fully connect with life.
“The next message you need is right where you are.”
- Ram Dass
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6:53
Losing Guess
» Cock And Bull Last evening, I saw the conspicuous Toyota Corolla that belongs to a middle aged man who lives in my neighborhood. It was sandwiched between two other cars, in a parking lot at the local shopping centre. And as if its bright red color was not visible enough, it was liberally covered in a film of fine red dust. The dust comes from the red coffee soil that is predominant in Kiambu District. I then recalled that it must have been the day that the middle aged man buried his daughter who passed away earlier in the week after being involved in as accident in Northern Kenya.
Each time I contemplate what it might feel like for a parent to lose a child, I often remember what I witnessed when my older sister died 10 years ago. It was 10 days before the Christmas of 1996, and everyone around us was clearly in the festive mood. That evening, I remember hearing music and happy voices from a neighbor’s house as the family celebrated the graduation of their daughter from the university. In contrast, the mood in our household was somber as friends and relatives began trickling in to console us. Everything seemed like a dream. Earlier that day, I had witnessed the anguish that my parents went through when they learnt that my sister had died.
She had been in hospital for a few days and on that Saturday, she was bright and cheery since apart from her husband, parents, brothers and sister, many other friends and relatives had stopped by to say hello. And then at a moment that only my mother was at her bedside, she died.
When we saw my hysterical mother running from her room while screaming at the top of her voice and an emergency team running into the same room from the opposite direction, we were all thrown into confusion. Personally, I thought it was all a mistake since I had just spoken with her a short while before. But within a short while, our worst fears were confirmed. It was around 3.30 in the afternoon.
No one seemed to know what to do. My mother was still hysterical, and my brother and I were trying to contain her. My father seemed dazed. And then as if snapping out of a trance, he came over and took hold of his wife’s hand. He then looked into her streaming eyes and asked in his stern Kikuyu voice, “Nyina wa Masharia, nĩ maũndũ maigana tũonete hamwe?” What that meant was, “How many other storms have we weathered together?” As soon as her husband asked her that question, she immediately calmed down and was to remain composed throughout the mourning period. I could tell from both their faces that something big had changed in their lives. I wonder if the man with the red car has a similar look in his face.
When my second born sister died at 29, my parents had been married for over 30 years. Now they have been together for over 40 years. What ups and downs have they experienced together in those years? One thing that I am sure about is that they are each other’s greatest supporters. I remember once when I walked away in indignation after a protracted argument with my father, my mother ran after me. On catching up, she said one of those things that people like her say only once in a very long time; “Your father is a difficult man. Consider what you would do if you had to live with him every day? You should try to understand him and take him as he is.”
What she had just told me is that she had managed to live with my father all those years because she tried to understand him and chose to accept him just the way he is. I suppose that for them to get through each day together, they had to make that decision daily. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and months into years. And through it all, people go through ups and downs together, weathering storms that only the two of them know about.
In these days when relationships seem so hard to sustain, a person might be tempted to give up on longer term arrangements like marriage. Many individuals who have dreams of getting married cannot seem to find the ‘right’ partner with whom they can stay with long enough to make the short walk down the aisle. Something always seems to be lacking. And yet, many other couples are deciding to give themselves to each other each day. Whether we are by ourselves or with a partner in this journey, let us continue to ask God for trust, belief and faith in ourselves and in others.
Guess, you still are in our minds.
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thoughts that stop you from sleeping
» Black Looks Enclosure: [download]
I have been thinking about the rapes and murders. Wondering about the safety of my friends. I do want to know the why and the who of rapes of women. I am sure much has been written on why men rape and who these men are. But I [...]