Category: maisha

Das Sprachexperiment

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Liebe Freunde,

wenn so einer wie ich, der jahrelang von der religiösen Verwandtschaft mit gut gemeinten, frommen Sprüchen zugetextet wurde (und sich dann frug, wo die darauf folgende Handlung blieb), vom scheinbar fast schon fanatischen und intoleranten missionarischen Eifer einiger Besserwisser in Afrika sichtlich genervt wurde, dem (finanziellen) Zwang der Institution Kirche schon vor Jahren den Rücken gekehrt hat, öfter gerne mal einen sarkastischen Witz im TITANIC-Stil über die religiösen Führer dieser Welt macht und dann höchstens aus diplomatischen Beweggründen heraus nicht öffentlich darüber lacht – wenn so einer, der zu Hause auch mindestens zwei Bibelübersetzungen stehen hat und weiß, wo diese auch online in den verschiedensten Ausführungen zu finden sind, den Inhalt der Bibel aber nie so wörtlich genommen und das Ganze eher als Sinnbild verstanden hat, einige Wochen lang auf seine Amazon Bestellung der Volxbibel in der 2. Auflage wartet und sich dann so RICHTIG über das NT in dieser modernen Übersetzung (Leseprobe) freut und öffentlich zu einer Aussage wie: "Die Volxbibel find ich richtig geil!" verleiten lässt — ich glaube dann ist das ein sehr schönes Kompliment und Anreiz für alle Beteiligten, diesen Weg weiter zu gehen.

"Tatsächlich geht es darum, eine Beziehung mit Gott zu haben. Das ist das Einzige, worauf es ankommt." (S.566, VB)

@CG: viel Erfolg beim Wiki!
@Mbuzi: come and fetch your copy! :-)

P.S.: Sicherlich kann man zum Thema VB & JF noch viel viel mehr schreiben, und sicherlich gibt es da diesen starken Kontrast zwischen 100pro Befürwortern und Gegnern, diese Himmel & Hölle Aufteilung (wtf?!), etc….mir alles soooo egal!
Ich freue mich einfach über die Erkenntnis, dass sich Sprache mit der Zeit verändert und dementsprechend auch Bücher, die von Menschen für Menschen geschrieben wurden und eine Botschaft (welcher Art auch immer) verständlich machen wollen, neu geschrieben werden müssen. Oder anders gefragt: wieso eigentlich nicht? Ist es nicht gerade die Veränderung, die als Einziges Bestand hat?

AOB: Editors "open your arms"

En attendant Godot, part 2

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All you can eat for 500/- Kshs. (~ 5.70 EUR) @ Pizza Inn, Nairobi, Kenya. Offer valid 12-2 pm every day till February 3rd.
[Picture courtesy of Mbuzimoja].

"In order to negotiate our complex lives, Nairobi people have learned to have dual personalities. We move from one language to another, from one identity to another, navigating different worlds, some of which never meet." (Binyavanga Wainaina)

think, world

cyberNomads

“..is an online community for the international black Diaspora with focus Black Europe coming together to recover and document their own social, artistic and academic history establishing the “mothership” databank.

Our goals are:

  • academic information to tackle stereotypes and racism
  • decrease the social isolation by networking the community and its supporters
  • cultural and political change through technology”

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I wasn’t sure whether I should broach the issue of this on my blog – however, Sokari’s recent thoughts on racism over at Black Looks reminded me that there IS a need to talk about these things.

When I lived in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa – it never occured to me that I should associate with other WHITE people in order to explain Kenyans that stereotypes like white people = rich aren’t really true. As a heterosexual person, it also never occured to me that I should join other heterosexuals to support and explain my sexual orientation to others.

Sure, those are different situations & circumstances and just as it’s good to see people networking and helping each other, it is sad (for me!) to see that there’s an actual need for such groupings.
Why can’t the world just be tolerant enough to accept and respect others – without making a big fuss about it?

Why should I be regarded a stranger when I go to Kenya and apply for a job with e.g. dayliff.com as a water engineer just because I am a Mzungu? Why are people crying foul when I openly turn this subject around and ask a counter question of why there’s still a difference between skin colours & origin?

As for me, there’s no difference. Neither in Kenya nor in Germany.
But what about the other people?

If You See Kaye…

My roommate and I took these interesting weather conditions with their -11.4°C (+11.5°F) temperature & icy wind as a perfect incentive to eventually clean the unconspicuous cultural heart of this shared flat:

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Mr. Refrigerator a.k.a. kichaga bia

While outsourcing the contents of this beloved and very important beer container to the already frozen balcony, the low temperature had its share on my beer and stole the bottle with malt beer:

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Oettinger Malz Bier – EUR 0.39 / 0.5l (that’s what I call cheap!)

And then, right after that above mentioned box got its required TLC and everything else back in place, Bwana exceedingly smart JKE had this brilliant idea of opening up another deep frozen bottle of beer right in front of this computer…..with the consequence that the whole damn ******************!!!! content literally ejaculated on my pc screen, the keyboard, mouse and the rest of the table.

Good smell, though.

weekisaka

Sunday afternoon, time to note down some thoughts of the week. News that left a smile on my face, and the usual, inevitable rantings that keep on coming up.

Bad news first? – O.k.:

1. The Kamusi Project – Internet Living Swahili Dictionary needs our help: “Dear Visitors: The Kamusi Project will be suspended on January 31, 2006, unless we can raise funds immediately. Please do your part – even small donations will make a big difference. Click here to help.”

Since I often use this wonderful resource online, I would like to contribute with a small donation ( kichango, kuchangizana!) and like to encourage you to do the same if you use that website on a regular basis. Asante sana!

2. So I’ve been shopping in LG yesterday – went to H&M and bought some pants…

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Which came packaged in paper and some sort of soft plastic bag. I don’t know what kind of material that foil is made out of of since it only comes with the Resin identification code (number) 07 – which includes acrylic, polycarbonate, nylon or fiberglass as the possible polymers used on this packaging.
Sure, this bag also has the Green Dot® symbol on it (some dumb marketing trick by german packaging companies to avoid the costs of taking back packaging material from customers) so I know where to dispose off this bag after purchasing the clothes sealed within. However, it still makes me feel bad. So much material / resources used for preventing underwear from becoming dirty on their way from the manufacturer to the customer. No wonder H&M buy their clothes in China – the country where they treat environmental issues like we did in the 1950’s…the only difference being that we don’t seal everything a thousand times. Don’t believe me? Then go to a shop where they sell Asian Foodstuff, buy a pack of tea (=> Lo Han Kuo tea!) and take your time to analyse the different materials they use for sealing a half inch cube of powdered tea.
Back to my pants boxer shorts: H&M – please tell your manufacturers to change this sort of packaging. Thx!

3. The living costs in Nairobi are outrageous:

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check out this recent advertisment from UCHUMI supermarkets in Nairobi, Kenya. 199/= Kshs (~ EUR 2,26) for a 500gr piece of salted butter. I think a lot of Exilkenyaner are suffering from this. Next time you’re in Kenya, your auntie at home will have to buy you a meal, ama?

4. And here’s the good news: there’s DSL (BROADBAND INTERNET!!) available in Kisumu, Western Kenya for something like 5.000/= Kshs. (~ EUR 56,-). So now there’s NO excuse anymore for hiding in Ujerumani. (Oh Lord, please buy find me a nice shamba, an interesting job and lots of health for a bright future in EAK :-)

6. Anja of mwende.de has blogged a small dictionary of Kikamba-German. Great job, Kambamoja!

7. Still thinking about this 1000tags.com nini Hash has been talking on earlier this week…

associations

Small things that add up to the big picture: just the other day I found a very nice mashup version of Elvis  & The Wailers (!) performing "Crying in the Chapel" via Andreas wonderful blog (Germany’s most active blogger?), so I took that opportunity to change the mp3 ringtone on my mobile phone from "I Get Along" by The Libertines into "Crying In The Chapel" by Elvis Presley.
Yes, ringtones ARE important. Another favoured ringtone is Franco Luambo Makiadi‘s "Attention Na Sida". Some years ago, when Nokia mobiles could only be programmed with monotone ringtones, I succesfully managed to transcript/transfer Franco’s tune onto my mobile. Nowadays, all it takes is a decent (and free!) Audio editor like Audacity, cut the desired 10 to 40 seconds sequence, save it as mp3 and transfer it onto a mobile phone.
And there’s this link to Graham Chapman’s memorial service in 1989 (via Spreeblick &  Codingmonkeys) –  Graham played Brian in The Life of Brian. Yes, IMDB, the Internet Movie Data Base has it all. Right there, I found a pic of Elvis and realized that Graham and Elvis share the same Bday – January 8th. So, what’s the connection between both of them despite their bday? They are dead but continue to live in our memories and maybe also inspired some of us in one way or another.
And isn’t that what living is all about?

Kudos to Andreas for directing me to The Hype Machine! :-)