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15:16
Ugandan LGBT activists arrested
» Black Looks Three Ugandan LGBT activists have been arrested in Uganda whilst attending the HIV/AIDS Implementers Conference in Kampala. The LGBT and HIV / AIDS activists were protesting against comments made by the head of the Ugandan AIDS Commission that no funds would be given to AIDS programmes working with men who have sex with [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Ugandan LGBT activists arrested", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/06/1959.html" });
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14:10
announcement
» Kenya Imagine Hey Everyone,
Pole we have been gone for a while. We have still been publishing on kenyaimagine, so check us out to get the latest articles.
Over the past year, the Kenya Imagine team has struggled to see how best to meet all your needs. kenyaimagine.com/test will be our new home soon. Please check us out and send emails to editor@kenyaimagine.com and make suggestions and comments on what we have. Looking forward to hearing from you.
cheers!
-nekessa
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13:55
World Environment Day @ work
» Kikuyumoja's realm So today is World Environment Day and I had actually planed not to cover this special day as I am dealing with environmental issues almost every day and would actually have to blog on it every day then. Just similar to what World Water Day means to me (not much as a *special occasion* from my very own pov, that is).
However, as I went for lunch with my colleagues today, we found the following flyer(s?) on our tables and I instantly thought: hey, i’ve gotta blog this. ..
.So, here you go:
And? What’s the message?
- Locally grown carrots produce less carbon dioxide emissions than avocados that were imported via airplanes.
- Argentinian beef steak has a (calculated) carbon emission of 6,79kg/kg if transported via ship.
- Energy saving / compact fluorescent lamps of 11W save an equivalent of 469kg of carbon emissions when compared to conventional bulbs @60W and a life expectancy of 15.000h.
- Take your bike to work and contribute to a better environment
(which would be ~ 12 km one way for me). - …and: calculate your own carbon footprint - which takes into account ALL data. Average carbon emission of Joe User in Germany (according to this site!) is around 10t/a, and I was just below it with ~ 8t/a. Still, lots of room for improvements. My colleague had ~ 25t/a! What’s yours?
Lesson learned: everything is interconnected, interwoven to a huge network of reasons and causes. Eating expensive and imported avocados from Kenya that cost at least 1,- EUR each and come at the size of an egg (sic!) are much more problematic than local food.
It prolly produces even more carbon emissions than the printing and distribution of such flyers to a staff / target group that is already sensitized for the world’s burning issues (health, water, sanitation, energy, transport, urbanisation, HIV, Malaria, war, greed, etc. etc.). …No, seriously, World Environment Day is here to remind all of us that environmental protection starts with our own environmental awareness and that we can not just sit back and wait for some Messiah to come and give us a working solution. Rethink your actual behaviour and identify the potential.
(And this, although I am a strong defender of the Braungart/McDonough theory, e.g. how nice it would be to have a 2nd - green - industrial revolution where the reduction of *bad behaviour* isn’t a solution (= consuming less is still harmful), but instead identifying and using materials whose biological and technical nutrients remain in an loop. Ecosan is one of such approaches….but that’s another story :-). -
die Schreibschutzschalter Story (rant)
» Kikuyumoja's realm Wenn man bei einem Büroversand (”Büroartikel- und Schreibwarenversand für Firmen und Gewerbetreibende mit breitgefächertem Warensortiment”) einen bestimmten Artikel bestellt und dieser wiederholt falsch geliefert wird - was denkt man sich dann?
*Ärgerlich*?
Es gibt bei den zZt angebotenen USB Sticks am Markt ungefähr 2-3 Modelle, die über einen Schreibschutzschalter verfügen. Da meine Kollegen hier öfters verreisen und dabei auf internationalen Konferenzen Dateien über USB Speichersticks austauschen, habe ich hier eingeführt, dass wir nach Möglichkeit nur noch Schreibgeschützte USB Sticks verwenden, um zumindest das Infektionsrisiko durch Malware zu verringern. Ebenso hatte ich angeregt, als Austauschplattform ein freies OS von LiveCD (~ Ubuntu, etc.) laufen zu lassen, auf dem sich malware vom Speicherstick nicht vermehren kann.
Bestellt hatte ich dann den HAMA USB Fancy 4 GB Stick, der an der Seite über einen Schreibtschutzschalter vefügt und damit sein Manko - eine lahme Geschwindigkeit - wieder einigermaßen ausgleicht:
Aufgrund der Tatsache, dass es hier so ein halbstaatlicher Verein ist und abrechnungstechnisch nur gegen Rechnung bestellt kann, hatte ich dann bei o.g. Büroversand drei Stück bestellt.
Geliefert wurden am nächsten Tag 3 SanDisk Micro Cruzer 4 GB, mit ätzender U3 Software und natürlich alles ohne Schalter.
Retour, Ware wurde wieder abgeholt und neu versandt. Dieses Mal kamen dann tatsächlich drei HAMA USB Fancy Sticks - allerdings ohne Schalter.Klar, zwischen der Bestellannahme und dem Disponenten im Lager gibts meist keine direkte Kommunikation. Schade. Denn wenn die Bestellannahme in einem extra Infofeld der Lagerfachkraft mal eben mitteilen könnte, dass der Kunde einen Schreibschutzschalter am Gerät wünscht und hierfür extra einen lahmen und überteuerten USB Stick von HAMA bestellt, dann könnte sich der Typ auch mal 10 Sekunden Zeit nehmen und durch die Blisterpackung deutlich erkennen, ob das Gerät einen Schalter hat. So etwas wird aber nicht gemacht. Stattdessen geht meine Arbeitszeit dafür drauf, falsch gelieferte Ware nachzubessern (von der Umweltbilanz ganz zu schweigen).
Ärgerlich.
Bei HAMA gab es vor einiger Zeit aufgrund von falsch gelieferter Ware eine Rückrufauktion, die sich endlich der allgemeinen Qualitätsproblematik bei USB Sticks annahm, wie sie hier auch schon an anderer Stelle erwähnt wurde.
Ein kurzes Telefonat mit der Serviceabteilung bei HAMA und innerhalb einer Woche wurden alle schalterlosen Sticks (die ja nicht defekt waren, nur eben keinen Schalter hatten) kulant ausgetauscht. Fein! Problem gelöst. Vorerst.Vorgestern hatte ich dann noch zwei weitere USB Sticks mit Schalter bestellt, es kam sogar einer mit Schalter - der andere kam heute und war ein schalterloser von SanDisk.
Ärgerlich.
Es ist für mich absolut unverständlich, wieso es mittlerweile so wenige USB Sticks mit Schreibschutzschalter gibt. Gerade in großen Firmen, die oft nur einen unzureichenden Malwareschutz haben und ihre Firewall hauptsächlich in Richtung Internet aufbauen, ist ein verantwortungsvoller Umgang mit USB Sticks Voraussetzung für ein sicheres Arbeiten.
Irgendwie ist das Thema “Schreibschutzschalter” noch nicht bei allen Verantwortlichen ankommen.
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12:04 What Did You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
» The Displaced African 
The Difference That Geography Makes: Part One
I remember sitting in a high school class somewhere in Kenya, some moment in time. There were about 80 of us. Our mission was simple: say what we wanted to be when we grew up. As we neared student number 30, one would have thought we were listening listening to a song that had the same beat repeated over and over and over again:
Doctor
Lawyer
Pilot
Doctor
Lawyer
Pilot
These were some of the most brilliant minds in the country (well, we were only the best in my first year there but we were always in the top 10..er….er…so the 10th most brilliant minds)
Finally it was my time to shine! I put the biggest grin I could on my face and said with pride:
Music producer.
“Idiot,”, must have been my nickname for quite a while afterwards.
Different Geography, Same People: Part two
I used to have a running script that I used to repeat over and over again whenever I met a new college student from the continent. I would think to myself:
“So, are you going to school to work in business, law, finance or to eventually work for some NGO?”
Whenever I met someone who did not fit into those categories, I would get very confused. Surely, there can only be one person who exists outside of the bell curve?
Then I would get very intimidated? You’re taking my spot.
Then I would fall in love? You’re abnormal like I am.
Seriously though, it’s remarkable how now many years later, the career paths that Africans chose can actually be recited by heart and described with such clarity:
A professional who has to wear some uniform or a suit of some sort. He/She wants to be relatively high up in the hierarchy but don’t want to be the ones who did all the grunt work to build it up. He wants a fancy job title with a fantastic salary that gives him a big house, a big car and the respect and love of his community as a “boss man/boss lady!” or ” they just want to make that paper paper paper paper”
Different Geography, Different People: Part Three
I didn’t even know some careers existed or were worth pursuing until I came down under.
“I want to be a sparky! (electrician)”
“I want to open my own brothel ! The licence costs half a mil but its still worth a go!”
“I want to make movies”
“I want to be a zookeeper”
“I want to be a park ranger”
“I want to be a drummer”
“I want to be a comic book penciler”
“I want to be a professional poker player”
The weirdest one of all, post high school, a HUGE chunk of Australians decide either before or during semester one of University that they want to:
“Take some time off, go backpacking and discover me!”
Now granted, discover me usually means go and have sex, drugs and rock and roll with a lot of foreign strangers but that concept of a “gap year” is blasphemy in Africa even among wealthy and middle class families.
What Does That Say About Us and About Them?
I think at the end of the day it says that human beings are smart creatures. We adapt to whatever circumstances and whatever roll of the dice God or this life gives us.
In Africa, most people can’t afford to take a gap year because they have no safety nets, or rather welfare nets, to support them in those years.
In the West folks can afford to go round the world sipping from goon bags and swapping spit with locals only to come back and open a costume shop because those who came before him fought for him to have those rights.
Today’s Lesson
The only thing I implore you is don’t assume that other people’s rules are your own. The limitations that you have in occupation aren’t necessarily the same ones your father had or your sister has or your best friend has. Get to know you, what your passionate about, what you can do well and where you can have the biggest impact. Go there. Please don’t be a robot. We already have enough of those.
I end by asking:
So what do you want to be when you grow up? Why?
Are you becoming who you wanted to be when you grew up?
What does that say about you?
To explore the human condition across cultures some more, stay on the email list or the RSS feed reader list.
Be blessed and bless other people all around ya,
Mwangi
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links for 2008-06-05
» Black Looks Risking it All to Find Safety by Kai Wright On the margines of Queer America - being young Black and gay on the wrong side of town (tags: LGBT usa africanamerican) Rights Groups Fear for Gays in West Africa (tags: LGBT africa humanrights) Roundtable on g8 Resistance: Perspectives for the Next Phase of Global Anti-Capitalist Uprisings (tags: capitalism globalisation g8) Naomi Klein [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "links for 2008-06-05", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/06/links_for_2008-06-05.html" });
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9:20
Where is the World Going To?
» What An African Woman Thinks Is it me or can anyone else feel the tectonic plates shifting ever so slightly under their feet?
First, a couple of weeks ago, Saudi Arabia made a donation of "unprecedented size and generosity" to the World Food Program: all of 500 million US dollars. Saudi Arabia. A whooping 500 million US dollars. The WFP had sent out an appeal for 755 million US dollars. With Saudi Arabia's contribution, they will meet their target easily.
(if you're wondering why this is so remarkable, it's because Saudi Arabia has not traditionally been one of the UN's major donor countries. Plus the sum is eye-popping and exclamation-worthy.)
Then this past weekend, Shane Warne, an Australian Cricketer led the Rajasthan Royals to victory in the Indian Premier League. Up until now, all lucrative sporting action has taken place in the Global North. The rest of us have sent our best there and watched from a wistful distance, hoping and praying that they will do well for themselves and therefore, by tenuous extension, for us.
Witness for example, the spectre of the English Premier League. Zoom in, if you will, on the Arsenal bench.
But then along came the Indian Premier League to buck that trend, drawing cricket players from around the world to their country with lure of fame and fortune. And if the 1 Billion that the Cricket Board of India (BCCI) is set to earn over the next ten years is anything to go by, we can at least tick the box next to fortune.
And to crown it all, this week, after a gruelling battle, Obama becomes the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party and makes history by becoming the first black man nominated by a major party as their candidate in the US presidential elections.
Heady times we're living in. So much change. So much history in the making. Shifts in the balance of power all over the place. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself to sit up and pay attention, lest I miss the signs.It's my window, but I don't own the view.
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7:57
Wajukuu Exhibition(Children Art) at Le Rustique Restaurant.
» Kenyanpoet 
Wajukuu (Swahili for “Grandchildren”) is a community based visual art centre in the Mukuru area of Nairobi, an industrial are surrounded by several slum communities. Wajukuu was formed in 2005 by a group of young artists from Mukuru and currently has 15 youth and 35 child members (many of whom are orphans). The centre’s vision is to foster artistic talent, nurture a sense of dignity and self-worth among the youth and children of Mukuru, and to contribute creatively to the development of their environment.“As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical” -
East Africa's Finest AfroJazz live at Alliance Francaise, June 6th 2008
» Kenyanpoet June 6th at Alliance Francaise gardens, Meet Hellon, East Africa's AfroJazz Maestro
To sample his music and possibly buy his album, visit SoundAfrica. Acquaint yourself with other great Kenyan Afro fusion artists as well.“As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical”
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6:29
The Big Boys: Raila’s Enters Global Political Arena in Style
» You Missed This As V-P leads ministers in prematurely absolving ECK of electoral malpractices
The Big Boys:Nkurunziza, Mutharika, Mbeki, Schwab, Kufuor, Odinga
(WEF 04/06/2008) (Picture courtesy World Economic Forum)
In his first official trip abroad as Prime Minister, Raila is significantly representing Kenya at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa where more than a dozen African leaders together with over 800 participants from 50 countries are participating in the 18th World Economic Forum on Africa. WEF is a prestigious global event which brings together senior government figures and high-level international business leaders in order to plan for a more integrated world and at the same time help both groups make connections which will boost investments.
That Raila Odinga is leading Kenya’s high powered delegation to WEF speaks volumes about the elevated status of Kenya’s statesman. His opening remarks at the conference clearly indicate the formal emergence of Raila in global politics. It also signifies a new chapter in Kenya’s dormant foreign affairs policy.
In a keynote speech at the opening plenary session yesterday, Raila was accorded a thunderous applause by conference delegates when he rebuked African leaders whom he accused of turning a blind eye to poor governance and disrespect of democracy. Said Raila: "The mediocrity with which Africa has been ruled is what is responsible for African underdevelopment."
To more applause, he also attacked Zimbabwe's government: "Still today, it is unfortunate that in an African country elections can be held and no results are announced for more than one month, and African leaders are silent about it. It would not happen in Europe."
These remarks were made in front of six African Heads of State including Thabo Mbeki of South Africa who many hold directly responsible for sustaining the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. No other African leader, even within the SADC, has ever told-off Mbeki to his face on his preferred and obviously unworkable method of ‘quiet-diplomacy’ while the majority of Zimbabwean citizens languish in poverty and widespread hunger. Read the news report on Raila's speech here.
Back in Kenya, in an even more politically significant development, the Nairobi Star daily newspaper published an interesting report today that said Raila is due to be reinvented when he shall be installed as a Kikuyu Elder in a ceremony to be held on July 20 at the famous Riringu Stadium a few miles from Mukuruwe wa Nyagathanga – the mythical home of the Kikuyu Adam and Eve – Gikuyu and Mumbi. The ceremony is being organized by a group of Kikuyu elders and politicians operating under the umbrella of economic inclined MEGA – a breakaway faction of the tribal inclined GEMA – which incidentally also held a meeting recently in a bid to reinvent itself.
The same day Raila was addressing the WEF conference, a group of cabinet ministers led by V-P Kalonzo Musyoka were making categorical and shocking remarks that not one single individual in the ECK will ever be charged in a court of law for events that led to the post election violence last December! Kalonzo insisted that ECK Commissioners did not commit any electoral malpractices and that Kivuitu and all his fellow commissioners would go ahead a serve their full terms.
While Raila is representing Kenya at economically beneficial event in SA, the PNU crowd are busy opening healed wounds and trying very hard to trigger ethnic divisions in Embakasi constituency in the name of campaigning for a PNU candidate.
What has shocked observers is that although the Kriegler commission has just begun its work, it seems Kenyans are being prepared in advance to accept that whatever the findings of the Kriegler team, its recommendations will not be acted upon. This was the Vice President of Kenya speaking without batting an eyelid.
The conduct of leaders in handling public affairs has never been under so much scrutiny. What has happened in this country since December 2007 has clearly built and fortified the image of Raila to an impregnable level and he is now a depiction of an accomplished African statesman who has shown great level of restraint, torelance and leadership at a time when Kalonzo, Uhuru, Karua and their henchmen are hell bent on driving this nation towards ruin. The principals of good governance that Raila spoke about at the WEF conference cannot be seen in the utterances of any of our local PNU leaders.
This is why I am today making a prediction that many will agree with. Barring an assassination, continental pundits, including yours trully, have already placed their bets that Raila will be Kenya’s next president and ODM will leave the Kalonzo/Uhuru/Karua axis trailing a distant second.
The next elections are scheduled for 2012 but may come as early as 2010 depending on the unity of the grand coalition government and also whether or not a new constitution passes the referendum test.
Have you placed your bet yet?
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“illegality is not an identity; it is a status that can be mended”
» Black Looks This article “The Great Immigration Panic” is set in the US but in many ways speaks to the whole issue of immigration across the world including Europe and South Africa……….. Immigrants in detention languish without lawyers and decent medical care even when they are mortally ill. Lawmakers are struggling to impose standards and oversight on a [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ""illegality is not an identity; it is a status that can be mended"", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/06/illegality_is_not_an_identity_it_is_a_status_that_can_be_mended.html" });
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0:45
Sierra Leone Ports: Is Privatization the Answer?
» The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business Sierra Leone Ports: Is Privatization the Answer?: "For centuries, economists and political leaders have debated the issue of privatization versus non-privatization and private versus public sector ownership as a major means of production and distribution.In all of these debates, the strategic importance and national security implications of utilities like water, gas and electricity, communication (telephone cable and wireless) and urban transit made it possible for them to be treated as Natural Monopolies.
Natural Monopolies which were established by government were regulated interms of prices to charge quality of service and items produced. As a result, only one company was given the go ahead to produce anyone of the items or services identified earlier.
Incidentally, this was done because of the huge expenditure involved in setting up such enterprises. Also the decision to grant such a privilege to only one company was taken into account in order to avoid waste of resources through duplication of assets; to avoid confusion and risk to consumers coupled with the desire to maximize profits and minimize losses.
The ideas, which were primarily western, were later transferred to the colonies of the metropolitan power. Public utilities in the colonial era were akin to pure monopolies because they produced items/services for which there were no known close substitutes. It was therefore the absence of competition that created the environment for the practice of “benign neglect."
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