Category: mapenzi

Baobab Family Project

Ich muss das jetzt einfach mal posten hier…. ein Videomitschnitt der ARTE Tracks Sendung vom 06. April 2006 über das Baobab Family Project in Mombasa, Kenia, welches im April bei YouTube.com hochgeladen wurde.

This video is about the Baobab Family Project in Mombasa, Kenya, someone recorded from the french/german tv channel ARTE and uploaded to YouTube. Andreas Triebel, the founder of this NGO at the coast, came to Kenya the other day, fell in love with the country and its people and saw a need to actually do someting about these many orphans and homeless young mothers. He consequently invested all his money and built a children’s home that aims to give the children a perspective, shelter and lots of love. Kudos and respect to him for this great task!

The reasons I posted this here is because a) Jahcoustix, one of the musicians in the video who contributed his earnings of a concert in Bremen earlier this year to the Baobab Family Project, is an old friend with whom we have been schooling back in the days, b) I would like to see even MORE of these projects being pulled up by ordinary wanainchii who could equally create something like this (just think of Wangari – a lonesome fighter during all those years) and c) I would still like to see the GoK ease up their daily bureaucratic hassle of NGOs and their work.
While I agree that some NGOs are heavily overfunded and wasting a lot of mbeca on overhead expenses (which has spoilt the general opinion on their work), others are struggling hard to be acknowleged for their work and are doing this purely on humanitarian grounds without asking for any allowances or the typical “what’s in it for me?” questions (and you know I could endlessly elaborate rant on this inherited cultural phenomenon where people put “money first, work later” and wealth-accumulating-schemes in the foreground which is SO counterproductive for the mutual growth of a nation… just like those Agwambos talking politics on Mashada & Co. – what a waste of intellectual capacity!).

the Chronicoool

Speaking of Dan and his artworks that inspired me and many others out there, I just had a quick stroll through his early journals and came across this:

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The (Karengata) Chronicle / Nairobi, Saturday, October 12, 1985 / Price 3/50 (!)

An article by Nick Russel from 1985 – eternalised in Dan’s sketchbook.
Nick, editor & publisher of the Karen & Langata Chronicle since 21 years, recently commented on the Nairobi lowdown story and nowadays runs an online edition of the Chronicle.

@Nick: have you ever thought about installing a free blogging software such as the WordPress release on your webspace and maybe even joining the ever-growing Kenyan blogosphere?
The basic idea behind using a blogging tool is that it a) makes it easier to publish content on the internet, b) interact with your readers and c) you won’t need any IT guru in the background to fix the layout of your pages. Sijui about your webspace deals, but WordPress (as a start) is free of charge and just requires a MySQL database in the background. An alternative solution are the free, “ready-to-run” blogging services like wordpress.com or blogger.com as used by many other bloggers throughout the world. Another advantage is that you can easily switch the website’s layout by using (style) templates (again, free) or even adjust it to look like a newspaper (instead of a diary). This, I think, is easier to maintain and better than any pure content management system (cms) that otherwise requires lots of adjustments and technicooool knowledge. Hope this helps! :-)

pimp my sunbubudiu!

…so what do you do in between the games?

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Ok, I was a bit borred and thought about a small modification I wanted to do with this awful sunbubudiu (sunscreen?). After all, Germany’s Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH & Co. KG never paid me for this free advertisment on my car so something needed to be done about it. I *urgently* needed to pimp my sunbubudiu! :-)
My alternative choices included the following Kangas, Kikois:

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“WATU KWA AMANI”….ehhrr…well, a bit too big + strange, ama?

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Well…I am crazy, yes, but not THAT crazy… LOL…. :-)

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Perfect! A blue Kikoy from Kenya I received some years ago from Christine (5Z4LL).
I just love this colour! There are indeed so many purposes for a Kikoi and the next thing I’ll do with this material is to refurbish the interior of an old ’88 Suzuki Samurai…can’t wait for that, argh! (you hear me, Mbuzimoja?)

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Glue glue glue….
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Finished! :-)

the acceptance

Last evening, I saw a documentary on tv that portrayed Germans whose fathers had been British soldiers stationed in Germany right after the end of WWII. One of these ex-soldiers – now living in a nursing home in Canada – has children from romances all over the world who regularly visit him. “Being loved by all my children and knowing that they take care of me”, he said, “is what’s worth living for”. True.

Now, I don’t have children yet – and I hope there aren’t too many women out there whose hearts I’ve broken in the past.
What I do have, though, are really good friends – people from different corners of the world who have a very big heart and whose friendship and love I really appreciate.

One of those close friends decided to order a CREATIVE ZEN VISION:M from Amazon and have it send to me. JUST LIKE THAT! It isn’t my Bday or anything like that. Ok, maybe because of Easter, but the point is: the person told me: “You might want this for use on your journeys…”. Hola!

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This Creative Zen Vision:M is a mobile audio/video player (like an Ipod Video) with 30 GB of hard disk space and battery runtime of up to 11hrs. It plays audio files such as mp3s, videos such as AVIs, shows photos, has a built-in FM radio, a microphone and extras like a calendar or a contact & tasks manager for synchronization with my computer. And the best part: it connects to the computer like an external harddrive, so I won’t have to search for another external hdd solution.

Apart from the fact that the person who has given this to me isn’t too rich to give “just like that”, I am having problems accepting this as a present. It is so nice and such a joy to give to others – but it is very hard to accept such blessings in the same way. While I am very grateful for the honour given me through this gift, I think the easiest way to accept it is by sharing it. So, my dear friend – i know you’re reading this – thengiu muno for this lovely joy and rest assured: I’ll use it now and give it to you later on this year. Sawa? :-)

Waruku

I was taking down some pictures from the wall because I am planing to move out of this place a.s.a.p. and came across some pictures my sis had prepared for and presented to me as a collage some years ago. The initial plan was to stick them into my sketchbook(s), which is my very own way of personalizing memories…

Sooo…while going through these pictures, I found the following snapshot, taken in Waruku, Kangemi, Nairobi, Kenya:

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Who’s this? :-)

And of course, being the caaariiaas (curious) mzungu freak, I googled for “Waruku Kangemi” and came accross this interesting & sad story, featuring the following picture of a very very good old friend of mine:

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Mzee Stephen Kamau wa Gitau with his grandchildren.

You know, I thought he’s already dead. Now, since I know he’s still around, I shall try to visit him when I am back in EAK sometime in May ’06…. Ikinya r? m?k?r? r?kinyaga m?runa.