Mashada Blogs » June 1, 2009

The African Accent: Bling Bling, Money Ain't A Thing ... Arrgh!

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:02:00 -0400

So I'm browsing the Internet, desperate to find an interesting read, when I come across this article titled, "Yo, ho, ho and a million-dollar mansion" published on June 2nd 2009.

Ever wonder what those Somali pirates do with all the cash they get? Yeah, besides re-arming to the bloody teeth? Well, according to Shashank Bengali, reporter for McClatchy Newspapers, the recent economic boom amongst Somali businessmen in Kenya is no magical feat.

Read on, courtesy of Taiwan News Online.
Come back when you are done ...
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You Missed This: Mutula, Tell Those Hypocrites We Can Handle Our Affairs

Sam Okello — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:03:00 -0400

Mutula, Saitoti and Wako are off to an important meeting. Those three guys are going out there to defend the Kenyan government against accusations of orchestrated police brutality, bordering on heninous acts like extra-judicial killings and other acts so despicable they've warranted the intervention of the international community.

As the three gentlemen go out there, I've been stunned by the discord displayed by the government regarding Professor Helston's report. It is true that the ODM should have been consulted over this matter so that a coordinated and agreed upon response be formulated. I however think it was wrong for the ODM to come out and essentially walk away from what initial response of the government. There must be matters that we can handle differently, especially where we deal with hypocritical entities like the Western watchdog institutions.

Before anybody accuses me of condoning the mass killings that went on in Kenya and the troubling extra-judicial killings that may still be going on, let me say that I deplore any acts that are not in comformity with the laws of our land. What I can't stand is the hypocricy of an international community that will let a man like George Bush go free after killing thousands of Iraqis and flaggrantly trampling on international law to attack another state while calling on Kibaki to defend himself. Why is Kenya called to account and not the United States?

And wasn't it just recently that they arrested Ms. Kabuye, the aide to President Kagame, accusing her of involvement in the unfortunate acts that sparked the killings in Rwanda? Tell me again why they would want to come after this lady and not Donald Rumsfeld and the bunch of Neo-cons in the U.S. who thought out and sanctioned the war that has left the Middle East in flames. What is the difference.

Look, Kenya is a sovereign state that can hadnle its affairs just fine. This crap about Kenya walking on the brink of collapse and becoming a failed state is rubbish. Our democratic institutions are alive even though they need to be streamlined and made to work in a more efficient manner. What we need to do is make the Judiciary, Parliament and the Press function in a manner reflective of the existance of a vibrant free-market democracy.

We will do it.

So, Bwana Mutula, go look those hypocrites in the eye and tell them to go to hell. But you may want to know that when you come back home we will demand answers from you, Saitoti and Wako over what reallly happened? We will want to know who instituted the silent policy of killings within the police force and how many Kenyans have lost their lives in such a fashion. In the end, we will demand that the chief of police and all those who knew about this matter but kept quiet be held accountable...here in Kenya.

For now, show those hypocrites what we are made of, will you?

God bless Kenya!Kumekucha

The African Accent: A Happy Madaraka Day Kenya

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:11:00 -0400

Is it really? Kenya celebrates freedom on June 1st. It marks a milestone in the growth of a nation that was united against colonial rule, as well as in its self confidence to govern. However, 46 years after the first celebration, the Nation is struggling to preserve these freedoms that we take for granted. We are ripe for role models who will bring back the pride, and responsibility that we celebrate on Madaraka Day.

Kenya was once considered a beacon of regional stability in Africa. Now, we are increasingly being painted with the same brush strokes as other potential failed states. Mention weak leadership, institutional corruption, tribalism, rising poverty, political instability, and Kenya is increasingly fitting the bill.

But all is not lost. The country has a post-independence generation that is seemingly forever optimistic. Those who are fortunate enough to get their post-secondary education abroad are coming back home in droves. Even with the current climate of uncertainty, brain drain seems to be at a minimal. In addition, those that choose to remain in foreign countries still hold their nationhood very dear.

Development is at a snail's pace, but it is still there. Though majority of the population is dependant on agriculture [which is mostly dependant on rainfall], service and industrial opportunities continue to grow. Notable is the undersea communication cables, officially launching end of this month, that will provide a major boost to business, and public Internet connectivity.

Hope alone can not be sufficient. We must be able to correct the mistakes of the past, and present in order to justify this hope. We owe it to ourselves, and future generations, to be a responsible country that is accountable for itself. Anything less, and we will be cheating ourselves out of Madaraka Day's spirit.

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What An African Woman Thinks: Everything is Not About You

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:15:00 -0400

** This post comes as a respite from some of the really heavy stuff I've been inclined to blog about lately. It also speaks to one of the best lessons I ever learned.
Everything is not about you. Really, it isn’t.

There’s a striking anecdote I stumbled upon once, in a booklet on Eastern Religion. I remember the concept better than the detail so I proceed to adapt and embellish.

You are walking down the street going from place A to place X. Suddenly someone comes out of their house carrying a bag of garbage, and places it along your logical path. You’re puzzled. Why would he do that, you wonder? Nonetheless, when you get to where he has dumped the bag, you pick it up, swing it over your shoulder and onto your back, and continue on your way. As you walk down the street, various other people come out of their houses and do the same thing. They put their garbage out on the street, along your path. You obligingly go picking it up and carrying it with you.

Soon, you’re walking down the street weighed down to a bend under a load of other people’s garbage.

You happen to bump into a friend who raises a quizzical eyebrow and wants to know, “what’s up?” Naturally.

You attempt an explanation:

“People seem to be determined to give me all their garbage today,” you say. To tell the truth, you’re upset, and you’re puzzled, and you’re more than a little insulted.

“Eh?” She’s responds. She’s not getting it. You need to pad that explanation a little, details please.

“Well, I’m walking down the street, going from A to X, as usual, and everybody’s coming out of their houses and giving me their garbage. I’m tired, and weighed down and the garbage smells, it really does, but what am I to do, they gave it to me.”

Your friend, who’s sane, which you clearly aren’t, folds her arms, takes a deep breath, and speaks to you slowly, clicking deliberately on the consonants, to be clear.

“Have you considered that people are putting out their garbage because it’s garbage day and the garbage truck is coming?”

All together now: Duh.

In case you’re wondering, this is one of those anecdotes that comes complete with moral. Package deal and all of that. You’re welcome.

The moral of the story is that sometimes people will put out their garbage because it is what they do, and then some other crazy people who don’t have enough trouble of their own will go right to where it is and pick it up, take it personally and own it, bank it, copyright it even.

Some people, we’ve all come across them I’m certain, are just plain nasty. They’re just as nasty to you as they are to the next person. It’s equal opportunity nastiness. They do nasty, they say nasty, they are nasty. But still, you take that nastiness to heart and cling to it and waste precious hours holding it against them when really, it’s their garbage.

They’re putting it out there, true, but you can just cross the street and walk on the other side of the road. Or bar that, nimbly side step it, honouring it with nary a glance and keep whistling down the street because you’ve got your own life to live and you’re not responsible for other people’s garbage, in the end and it’s not about you.

Other people are just having a bad day when you happen to stroll by and they have neither the self-restraint nor the courtesy to put the bad day away when you come by. So you walk into a colleague’s office and they’ve just come off an irritating half hour conversation and you ask something, all polite and friendly, and they snap at you impatiently and you recoil and go away and smart in your corner wondering what you did wrong when all the while, it’s not about you.

It’s quite possible you didn’t do anything to make your partner angry, he is just fuming because he got stuck in traffic for forty-five minutes which ate into the time he’d set aside to do the final work on that presentation before the meeting, which meant he wasn’t as confident as he could have been when he made the presentation and he sort of botched it and now there goes the prospect of that promotion he’d been angling for and all you did was try to have a conversation about what baby girl
did in school today and how you’re going to deal with it and he snapped. It’s not about you.

Really, everything is not about you.

The waiter’s being unbelievable gruff manner and he shouldn’t be, of course, but in the end it is not an indictment on your hairstyle, even though he did appear to do a double-take when first he glanced at you. It’s just that he’s just had a run in with the chef behind the revolving door about the special order he just brought in and he’s still smarting from that.

Again I say, everything is not about you.

You are under obligation to take responsibility for your own actions, certainly. But, you do not have control of other people’s reactions.

You need to learn not to go around picking up all the garbage that people put out, because really, it’s not about yIt's my window, but I don't own the view.

Kenya Imagine: Son et lumière

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:55:00 -0400

But Prof. Wangari Mathai is the epitome of a prophet outside her home. Which is why I say, writing of the legendary African novelist Chinua Achebe that, 'a poet's accolades, supercedes the rest.' Here we pay tribute to this gallant girl.

Khainga serenades Prof. Wangari Maathai.

Kenya Imagine: Catholics, the Holy Spirit and recent discontent

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:02:00 -0400

Observers will recall the moment when, made uncomfortable by charismatics at All Saints Cathedral, former Attorney General Charles Njonjo not so delicately averred that those interested should take a walk to the Church higher up on the hill (Nairobi Pentecostal Church) to preserve the peace.

Jesse returns to our pages.

AfriGadget: Distilling water from volcanic steam vents

Paula — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:09:47 -0400

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A unique water harvesting method has been devised in the drought ridden crater of Mt. Suswa, which is dotted with continuously puffing scorching steam vents.

Tapping steam for condensation

Taking advantage of the steam vents that dot this landscape, local Masai have ingeniously tapped the vents for steam that is condensed on long plastic pipes that drip continuously into drums. The local Masai claim that these vents can fill half a drum (approx 30 lt) per hour (though it seemed very unlikely to us). The water is sweet and apparently it feeds a community of several hundred people and their cattle with fresh and clean water.

We saw at tens of these contraptions in a particular zone within the outer crater of Mt Suswa. All were protected from animals by thorn bushes. There seemed to be an ownership structure amongst the users, some were better constructed, had longer pipes, were better protected and maintained. We were told that the systems were installed fifteen years earlier and it did not look like any modifications had been done since then.

The water distilling system used here is permanent and produces a continuous supply of clean water that is collected regularly by the local community. The system we observed was in the area called Kishalu – just beyond a school. The system could be more efficient at trapping condensation – much steam was wasted as pipes were quite short, and collection drums were left uncovered and open to evaporation. The beauty of the system is that it works overnight. These water distilleries were introduced to enable the community to survive the dry season when rain water catchments had dried up.

The Suswa system is infinitely better than the water distilling process on the edge of Lake Elamentaita. Here the local Masai Women daily place a piece of zinc sheeting over a steam vent to capture condensation. They produce only 2 liters per day; a days work to produce enough drinking water for a small family for one day.

If there’s an Afrigadget award out there, the Suswa water distilleries deserve it.

For more information about Mt Suswa check out Roving Rasta, and Wild about Africa for satellite images and details about hiking and caves