Category: mazingira

WTF WSF

I was enjoying a cold Mango milkshake in my beloved Nairobi, sitting here in that one popular café (free WLAN) and thought about the past week.

Monday started with the message, Tuesday saw me going to arrange some travel dates, Wednesday going to the Nbo office and rearranging some details, on Thursday I decided to stay and on Friday we saw Eric Wainaina introducing his new album. Well….life goes on. Somehow.

And then there was Saturday. Start of the World Social Forum at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. Curiosity lured me to that venue – especially since the view from there on Nairobi’s skyline is just beautiful.

The Forum itself? Hmm. I don’t know. And I won’t have the time to attend the various workshops. Mbuzimoja has to attend it though, and told me about the various costs of renting that stand at Kasarani, printing flyers and importing external consultants from Europe. Hmmmm.

“Say no to rape”, it said somewhere. Aha…
So, rape victims always have a choice and might just as well refuse to be raped?

“Another world is possible”, this year’s motto (“clarion call”) says. Oh yeah, those slogans. As if the worlds problems, HIV+, poverty, etc etc etc could be solved by nice slogans.

Just WHAT am I supposed to think of such events? The folks I’ve seen today strongly remind me of those typical Attac jamaas, the modern festival rockers (as I call them), and of my friends at the students parliament & senate: lots of discussions, sympathy against the unjustice out there in the world, pure fight against capitalism as the root of all evil – or as they officially stated it “social justice, international solidarity, gender equality, peace and defence of the environment (are) on the agenda of the world’s peoples”.

And then there is this chart showing the registration fees:

Individual participants? ? ? Kes ? ? ? ? ? Euro ? ? ? USD

Africa ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 450? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 5? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 7

Rest of the South? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2.000? ? ? ? ? 20? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 28

Northern Nationals? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 7.900? ? ? ? ? ? ? 80? ? ? ? ? ? ? 110

Yeah. Africa, Rest of the South and Northern Nationals.

In other words:
Africa = very poor, Rest of the South = poorer, Northern Nationals = rich.

World SOCIAL Forum?

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WSF opening blabla @ ~ 4pm.

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Alex from Central Kenya with a true message.

Imagine the cost of all these flyers, brochures, advertisment, etc and how it could have been used for something better instead.

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And this is where everything ends up. “Defence of the environment”??

Karibu to WSF Nairobi 2007!

the sunrise & Kikuyu Kenyatta Beach

Oh my oh my….SOOO many impressions from sunny Mombasa – and the most lasting one is the good food. Nice! And the weather is was much better.

For those who couldn’t make it to the beach last year, here are some visual impressions. Enjoy! :-)

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@ 40 Thieves, Diani Beach on January 1st, 2007

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All it takes is a matatu from Mombasa via Likoni ferry to Ukunda (70/= ), and from there good luck in form of a good samaritan (as all Matatus were awfully overcrowded at 10:30 pm) who stopped a minibus for us (thx, Pastor ??? of ??? Church in Ukunda! :-) belonging to girlshope.de. Now, what a coincidence. Anyways, thx for the free ride to 40 thieves!

There’s nothing better than celebrating New Year’s morning somewhere at the beach, and starting the year by swiming in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Hola Twigamoja – I started the new year in a very dutch way :-)

One “funny” incidence that won’t leave my brain for some time was the skipper of a typical Glass Bottom Boat approaching a Kenyan of indian origin at Diani Beach. The guy was SOOOO pissed off about being treated like a typical tourist (~ 3.000/= for a 2h trip with the boat) that he told the skipper in Kiswahili “I am even more Kenyan than you”. That phrase really made my day.

The agonizing reality of being a mzungu at the beach of course is that you’ll always be regarded as a walking money box. It sometimes stops by replying in Kiswahili or showing any local ID – but some of these beach boys operators are very persistent or maybe just dumb?

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And then – of course – a nasty “traffic jam” of wananchi queueing for Likoni ferry on Monday afternoon. Waiting for 30 minutes in direct sunshine makes you feel like a Kuku @ Kenchic. Also, this is a disaster waiting to happen – if someone faints, there’s no emergency exit.

Reasons for going to Diani instead of other beaches are: Sitting is free!

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Chairs = 50 bob At Kenyatta Beach. A PUBLIC beach!

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Please note the “lifebelts” (inflated car tyre tubes) as well as other accessoiries such as swimsuits for rent to the public. There should be more public beaches – but then: Diani Beach is also open to the public. And better. Public in terms of affordable prices for the masses? Hmm..

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“Jomo Kenyatta Community Beach CleanUp Coordination Committee”

A matatu from downtown Mombasa to Bamburi & Kenyatta Beach costs about 30/= ==> you don’t need to stay in an expensive hotel at the beach, but can instead rely on public transport, chose a cheaper bed&breakfast place downtown and also enjoy the typical Swahili cuisine in oldtown Mombasa. Beef Kebap, Swahili Pizza, etc. – I just WISH someone smart could introduce that kind of food to rural areas in Central Kenya (hint, hint!). Oh my…

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a huge tortoise at René Haller Park

Another tourist attraction is René Haller Park, or Bamburi Nature Trail as it used to be called when I was there the first time in 1991. For an entrance fee of Ksh 200/= for Kenya residents (tourist 600/=) you get to see some animals (many many crocodiles) and, most importantly, a healthy forrest where there was nothing some 30+ years ago.

The bottom line to all this is that Kenya has so many different sceneries and interesting landscapes to offer, different cultures and customs which all mix up in cities like Mombasa. Spending the holidays in this hot and laid-back city just proved to be a very smart idea!

the green card, part 1

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“committed to supporting Kenya’s environment”

Yeah, right.

Dear Bw Michael Joseph,

if you really want to support Kenya’s environment (yeah, the Mt Kenya fencing project is a good thing – restoring Kenya’s 5 water towers etc.), you better stop selling your “green cards” sealed in a plastic cover.
Also, I’d prefer if we could find an alternative material for these cards. Something like starch or even just maize leaves (!) that could do the job of being printed with (environmentally friendly) ink. After all, these cards just have a life expectancy of a few weeks, ama? Even better though: the electronical transfer of credit which doesn’t require any cards.

Most consumers in Kenya and elsewhere just throw their used cards away and thereby pollute our environment. Now, instead of teaching them what to do with this waste, I suggest we instead give them biological material that dissolves / decomposes after use and remains as nutrients within the biological cycle.

Becos otherwise, the only good thing I can think of while being confronted with these cards is to stick them into one of my sketchbooks and modify them in a Dan Eldon way.

yours truly,

jke

Garissa Floods (2)

You may have seen it on the news – Tana River at Garissa has bursts its banks and left 2500 people homeless. The meter reading on 4G01 Tana Garissa (national) station reads a level of 5.65m at the moment. When we arrived on Thursday the reading was 3.90m.

To give you an impression what such floods also do, check this:

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The slaughterhouse on the way to Garissa on Friday.

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The same slaughterhouse on Sunday evening.

Now, this is not the first time Tana River has flooded the area. Heavy rainfall as well as the opening of the dam added to this situation. People had been warned on Thursday by the local authorities and the Red Cross – but it’s always the same: people just wait until the situation has become worse. Is that really needed?

Also, Garissa is a heavily over-funded, way-too-fast growing City where plots (100×100) cost around Ksh 1 Mill.. As I mentioned earlier, there has been so much financial aid in this area, and yet people are blaming the government for failing to protect them. I think it’s about time for them to take care of themselves instead of always blaming others for their failures.

A very badily hit village was Bakuyu on the shores of Tana River. A police helicopter arrived and picked up the children one by one. When we arrived, 25 out of 85 were already rescued. I was told there are five helicopters available in Garissa by different organizations.

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When you meet a little 6 year old girl whose parents have just drowned you start wondering why the surrounding folks need so much time to eventually assist that girl by giving her water, for instance. We gave her water to drink – she had stayed without food for the last three days. Some women took care of her and took her in their custody.

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The helicopter dropped them at a Muslim Childrens Home and nearby school compound.

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F.T.C. – Farmers Training College in Garissa – flooded.

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These people have been displaced by the floods – but will return asap.

All these things are happening while far away in Nairobi politicians are busy with pre-election campaigns and other money-wasting activities…

Garissa!

Has anyone ever blogged from Garissa? Yes? No?
Could be, actually, as I’ve seen a very nice office here in Garissa where the dudes had a well working DSL connection. And I’ve never seen a place SO full of 4WD cars with short wave antennas – most of them of course donated by foreign governments and / or churches. This place sure is interesting – it’s my first day here until the end of this week, and I somehow like it.

Now for those who don’t know what & where Garissa is: it’s a town city in North Eastern Province in Kenya with a population of about 66.000, located on Tana River. Which is why we‘ve come here…

On the way to Garissa, we’ve passed this blocked flood bridge, where the floods actually looked for another way OVER the street….

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..and had their share of the tarmac.

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Upon arrival in Garissa, we went to the local office and found this automatic rain gauging station that had been installed by the Japanese (JICA) in 1989 – and never been serviced since then. Now that’s what I call wrong development aid. We removed it, took it with us for repairs and gave our Garissa jamaa a manual, very jua kali-made rain gauge instead. Which works and doesn’t require much service.

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We’re here in Garissa to asses the renovation costs of our local branch, and do some river gaugings on Tana river.

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Now that’s nothing else but taking a propeller-styled device, lowering it into the river from a bridge and measuring its revolutions within a certain amount of time which then translates into the discharge of the river at this specific point.

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And although there’s nothing much you can actually see, such experiments of course attract lots of people who all look down from the bridge, trying to see what these people are doing.

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In the end of the day we continued working until the rains really intensified and I ended up being completely soaked to the bones!

Doing such work also gives you the chance to see such wonderful colours:

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That thing down right is the water intake for Garissa’s water supply!