Mashada Blogs » November 24, 2008

Kikuyumoja's realm: Afrika BarCamp in Wien im Januar 09

2008-11-24T20:09:21-05:00

Eben via ICT4D feed entdeckt: AfrikaCamp Wien Jaenner 2009

Wieso ich das gut finde?

Follow-up zum BarCampAfrica in Mountain View
Afrika muss imho viel mehr in den Fokus des europäischen Bewusstseins gerückt werden (gibt es so etwas überhaupt? Jedenfalls: Afrika + Europa = imho gemeinsame Zukunft)
Ich war noch nie in Wien und würde dann gerne auch Afrah und Garen besuchen.
BarCamps = lohnen sich fast immer in vielerlei Hinsicht
ich könnte einen Vortrag über Afrigadget.com & Ushahidi.com halten
idealer Grund um endlich mal wieder Zeit in afritwit.com zu investieren (Pool von afrikanischen Twitterbenutzern bzw. solchen die einen Bezug zu “Afrika” haben)

Wer kommt mit?

For Love and Money: Taking Profits

2008-11-24T15:27:00-05:00

Taking Profits

You Missed This: A Letter to Kenyans In The Diaspora

2008-11-24T03:06:00-05:00

Dear "Diasporians",

I hope you are doing well in the States, Europe, Australia, India or wherever you are on the face of this planet. Judging by the volume of e-mails I've received from some of you on topical issues in Kenya, it seems like you think Kenya is about to explode in violence, and that our nation is just moments away from going the Somalia way. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Before you adjust your weight in that cozy Minneapolis or Arlington or New York chair, let me tell you why you need to rethink how you view Kenya.

I'll start with the Waki Report. You've seen our politicians debate this matter with incredible intensity. You've heard some call for full implementation, while others plead that it be shredded and fed to the nearest trash can. You've interpreted that lively debate as a sign that Kenyans are about to squeeze their grip around each other's throat. That's not the case. If this kind of debate happened in London or Washington D.C. you'd call it democracy. Now that it's happening in Nairobi you call it...the guilty run when nobody is chasing them. Truth is, what sober Kenyans have been asking for is that there be a local tribunal, and that it be guided by a Kenyan judge of impeccable integrity. And you know what, we seem to have a consensus now. A local tribunal it is. Does that sound to you like a nation in peril?

Let me move on to the state of the roads. To say that the roads in Nairobi and Kisumu and Nakuru and Eldoret and Mombasa and other towns are horrible is an understatement. There are gaping potholes all over the place. In fact, there are roads that have ceased to exist in the way you last saw them. But here is the news you need to hear. Thika Road is about to be made a superhighway with four lanes. And the government is set to give each constituency seventeen million shillings for roads upgrade. Now, should you come home and find the roads in your constituency in a deplorable state, ask your Member of Parliament what he did with the money. Matter of fact, if you wanted a place to channel your energies, let it be in tracking the progress of the roads upgrade all over the country. Can you do that?

Now to rural electrification. Last time I was in shags, I saw with my own eyes the incredible progress the Rural Electrification Board...or whatever it's called...has made. Deep in the valley that I come from, I saw an electric poll. When I asked how soon power will be available for my retired Mama and Papa, who've been using solar panel, the man in charge told me that it would not be another six months before we're good to go. I was assured that this is the case in most of the country. It seems a little slow, but umeme is on the way, folks. Isn't that something to be proud of? Kenya is on the march!
As for the economy, I'm simply astounded. This country has vastly expanded its economy, and you can sense that the expansion will continue. The nation is getting rich. We've become the hub of regional communication, transport, peace initiatives and all kinds of issues that go on around here. So other than our political disagreements, this nation's people are optimistic, and there's a sense in the air that if our politicians and government officials use the public funds they control for the purposes they are intended to be used, sky is the limit for Kenya. The only downside, which I hope our leaders will address, is the sizable number of Kenyans who are being left behind by our march to a developed nation status. The government must ensure that we're all in this together. The first place to start of course is with our brothers and sisters in the IDP camps.

Moving on. Did you know that we now have several TV channels? Ok, I can see you laughing...saying to yourself: How long has this guy been gone from Kenya? Truth be told, it's been a while. When I was last in Kenya, President Moi had us hooked to KBC, where news was all about him. Not anymore. This is one regard in which President Kibaki must be commended. He's truly expanded freedom in Kenya. You can now watch local singers, actors, and even effective talk programmes like that of Julie Gichuru on Citizen, my friend Jeff Koinange on K-24 and that other dude called Loise Otieno...hope I spelled his first name right. The newspapers are not left behind. There are a number, and they are free to write whatever they want...as long as their facts are sound. And by the way, our women anchors are incredible. Not too thin, not too fat. And they dress like tomorrow will never come.

Need I go on? I think I've given you the picture. What I'm trying to tell you is this...be proud of Kenya. The nation appreciates the millions of shillings you remit every year, but what she doesn't appreciate is the constant whining about this or that. How do some of you expect Kenya to be like the States or Europe when we've been around for just forty five years? America has been going for more than two hundred years, most of Europe for longer than that. So cut Kenya some slack, guys. Check us out in fifty years and tell us what you see then.

Look, I just thought I might share with you my impressions of the nation some of you left behind many years ago, just like I did. Things are okay, and once we deal with Waki, it will get even better. The teething problems we have, all nations went through them. The last thing we need is those nations who experienced them earlier telling us how to experience ours now. We are now a sovereign state...and we will defend our right to self-determination from foreigners, be they Americans, Europeans or Kenyans who look down on the motherland.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Okello

Street theatre can sell products in East Africa (scroll down to see Churchill live himself)

Brand new DVD releases, Nairobi, Kenya

What An African Woman Thinks: The Raila Mutahi Ngunyi Sees, The Raila I See

2008-11-24T02:25:00-05:00

I had a mind to respond to Mutahi Ngunyi’s Sunday column once again in this space, and then I decided I wouldn’t. I don’t want to make a habit of it. I now realise that he’s been baiting me for weeks on end, and that, to his delight, I’ve been biting time and again.

Not so today. I’m the wiser.

I will repeat a comment I made in class a couple of weeks ago, however.

There was a time when Raila Odinga was difficult for me to understand and therefore to relate to because he was an unknown quantity. The more I see of him and hear from him, however, the more I like him. And, even, grow to admire him. I’ve been surprised a number of times in the recent past when he’s side-stepped the opportunity to make a politically-calculated move and opted instead to display a steady statesmanship.

Sometimes I cannot help but be afraid for him. Kenya being what it is, his courage may very well be the thing that trips up his political career. I certainly hope not. I hope and I pray and I watch.

So Raila, where Mutahi Ngunyi berates, I applaud you.

But you know, there’s one issue on which you could show leadership where instead you’ve been conspicuously silent: the stubborn refusal by our selfish Members of Parliament to pay taxes on their benefits. Now there’s a place where you could show real leadership, even though in this instance you’ve already been upstaged by Johnstone Muthama.It's my window, but I don't own the view.

What An African Woman Thinks: ENOUGH: NAVIGATING PAST BALI TO JAMAICA (Or, the Souls Travels and Travails)

2008-11-24T01:50:00-05:00

Last I heard, there were tens of millions of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Eat Pray and Love in print. I for one will not argue with that particular use of ink by the barrel.

It took me through a dark tunnel recently, and while I did not immediately emerge into the light at the reading of it, it provided welcome flashes of artificial light, and some genuine holler-out-loud, make-them-think-you’re-crazy, moments into the bargain.

We hold fairly divergent views on things spiritual, Elizabeth and I, (just so you know) but I could not help but admire her courage and her insight. And as often is the case in these things, I found that there were also a swath of convergence and there was much to learn from her particular experience.

One thing that stayed with me and struck a chord was a particular sombre description of Bali.

She describes the expatriate society in Bali as very high calibre people whose lives once embodied great promise but who have “been so ill-treated and badly worn by life that they’ve dropped the whole struggle and decide to camp out in Bali indefinitely” so that what unites them now is the way that they have “completely and forever” abandoned ambition.

Sobering thought, this.

Figuratively-speaking, I always believed that, if and when I lost my groove, all I would need to do was to travel to Jamaica, where grooves go to repose I’m reliably informed, and get it back. If Stella could do it, so could I. It was as simple as that.

But now Elizabeth Gilbert has complicated things by introducing the notion of a Bali.

Jamaica is a temporary place where you go to recover your groove. Bali is a place where you go to give up because your groove left you and went to Jamaica and you have no intention of getting it back either because you can’t, or because you won’t.

Jamaica is where people go to recuperate. Bali is where they go to give up.

If I sighed and mumbled beneath my breath the thing that was resonating so deeply inside of me in that hour of darkness: “Life is hard”, walls of humanity would have absorbed it and tossed back crescendoeing echoes of it. “Life is hard, Life is hard, Life is hard.”

Because it can be. Hard.

Sometimes, we just want it to stop for a moment: we want to step away from the fray, to get away from it all. We want to scamper away to the private place and lick our wounds. We want freedom and the space to rail against the unfairness of it all. Sometimes, it’s what we need.

The trick is in knowing how long to allow ourselves to wallow and in having the discipline to tell ourselves: Enough.

By me, Enough is one of the most meaningful words in the English dictionary. It cuts off too little from too much, moderating between glut and dearth to restore balance to life as we know it. I like the word Enough. Enough is a word we should use more often.

Sometimes, we’re in our right to allow ourselves to wallow, but we must bracket that wallowing with a resounding Enough. We can allow ourselves to go to our emotional Jamaica, but not to detour to Bali, build a house and buy a cow.

Here’s to bypassing Bali and going to Jamaica. Figuratively-speaking only, of course. And not just because there’s the very real possibility of someday maybe perhaps bumping into Usain Bolt. Although of course that would be a bonus.It's my window, but I don't own the view.

Kenya Imagine: Blinkered Justice

2008-11-24T01:30:00-05:00

Now that one of the most vocal critics of the Waki Report, Hon. William Ruto, has backtracked and acceded to its implementation, the question is: What quo is he getting for his quid?
Keep reading.

My part of the world.......: Back To The Grind........

2008-11-24T01:27:00-05:00

I'm not a big fan of American commercials but this ad cracked me up big time! I mean that kid had to have been in the possession of some hard core porn for his mum to be so shaken that badly. Also how the issues just kept on coming, I bet he had a year's worth under there! But he has one get away free card...say it belongs to dad!

They say a sucker is born every minute, I think this woman was born for an hour in that case. I'll let you read the story and come up with your own conclusion.

A friend of mine sent me this article. All I could say is, why in the world can't people read directions?! One way of doing things right, but 10,000 ways of screwing it up!

Another great example of irony below.

A "conscious" rapper doing a song an advert about keeping it real, sponsored by a multi-billion dollar corporation ie Coke. Yes Common, you is a ho! That's the simplest way to put it, I think he just turned into the subject of "I used to love h.e.r."

Could someone out there please tell me the meaning of this article. I read it, and I must say that it is completely and utterly pointless!

To cap off what was an okay weekend, I found a Farmer's Market that is not too far away from my place. Other than the fresh fruit and veggies you can get there, some of which you won't get in regular supermarkets is the unexpected treats that you do find there. I found sugarcane! I've never shared this info before but The Acolyte loves to chew sugarcane. When I was younger back home, my mum used to know the one thing she should bring me from the market was sugarcane. I was such a pro that I got to know if sugarcane was sweet or not just by looking at it, and needless to say my skills didn't desert me this weekend. So I ended up being quite a site walking out of a shop with a 4 foot long stalk of sugarcane, some white dude actually asked me what I was going to do with it; so now you know how unfamiliar people out here are when it comes to certain things. Anyway seeing as Monday is here it's time to get ready to be back on grind, too bad I can't bring my knife and my sugar cane to work...............