the grave

SANY9028

Moi International Sports Centre – what a grave.

(a) Swimming costs 100/= Kshs for adults, 50/= for Kids.
Baptism 50/=, Photo sessions 1.000/= and Video sessions 5.000/=.

(b) What you see in front of the picture is the overgrown parking lot of the stadium. The lamps all lack their bulbs and the whole area behind the stadium resembles a small (bird) sanctuary – we even saw a guinea hen.

(c) With just a little bit of maintenance, this place could really look beautiful as the facilities still look very promising and were def. made to last longer.

SANY9030

Who is in charge of this place?

GIS in/for Kenya

I read this story on GIS services to be installed at the Police in Kenya (for crime tracking) and a conference/workshop that had been in held in Nairobi on this matter, organized by ESRI (GIS software company).

Someone was quoted as having said that all GIS services // data should be organized in a central database and made available to anyone who needs to work with it (free & against charges).

Earlier this week I started working on some GIS maps for Kenya and combining a pysical map of a water catchment area with local attributes (poverty figures, etc.). I do agree that such maps should be stored in a single database so that all organisations and instutions in Kenya are using the same maps and shouldn’t start coming up with their own homebrewn versions. There’s no need for double work.

Ppl in Kenya know this and I am not the first person who had this idea. Yani, between having the idea and actually maintaining such a database is a huge gap. Does anyone know where to obtain maps & figures for Kenya?

So far I have collected data from these online resources:

Depha.org – Data Exchange Platform For The Horn Of Africa (good!!)

GeoCommunnity (Kenya national data )

ILRI Kenya – International Livestock Research Institute (awesome collection)

…and another resource I just can’t remember right now…

While googling for free gis data, I came across a workshop that had been held recently in Nbo and which showed that the top officials of the Ministry/Authority I am currently working for had been officially informed on the proper use of GIS systems. So….these folks know about the advantages and received proper training I wish I could have enjoyed as well. It seems that GISystems have been introduced many times in Kenya and still there is no central database for such data. Or is there?

Which brings me to another thing I wanted to mention: Like in any other country, there are the ordinary wanainchi on the streets and some very smart and intellectual people that always impress me with their exact analysis and understanding of certain situations. Social, political, environmental – you name it, they can explain it – and even under a historical context. Koigi isn’t the only frustrated intellectual out there, there are many others who qualify to substitute even those typical 1970s university dons (with their hatred and aggregated mzungu aggressions) and help build this country.

Well, you see, the reason I mention this normality which otherwise would imply some sort of contemptuousness for the rest of the nation is that our former landlord G.Kirima – to name at least someone – used to be Deputy Major of Nairobi in 1974 ALTHOUGH he doesn’t even know how to write his name. Now that’s 32 years ago. And Kenya has changed kabisa. The nation of drunkards, as some like to call it, also knows that a beer never goes without a story. The intellectual wit, this desire to get an understanding for the overall context and mix everything to a big picture while at the same time keeping this timeline and analysing political circumstances with social developments – I think that’s one of Kenya’s biggest potentials.

Happy 144mio Kshs. Heroes Day!

the cost scheme

I am about to sell my old ’89 Volkswagen Golf II on sunday afternoon and just completed the excel sheet I have been maintaining over the last 5 years to keep track of car-related expenses. A cost overview where I would enter amounts spent on insurance, tax, repairs (maintenance) and – most importantly – petrol costs.

Different friends have been laughing about this to some extent, as I always noted down the mileage whenever I refueled the car and collected the bills. To their understanding, there would be no need in having an overview what the overall car costs are, also since the car is too old. It has been my first car though, which is why I wanted to have an overview of what I have repaired during the years and how much I’ve spent on this and that. Also, knowing how much petrol the car consumes indicates up-coming problems with the sparks, carburetor, petrol pump, etc. – just think of it as a regular, passive medical check-up.

Well, turns out I’ve driven the car for a total of ~ 71.000 kms during Feb. 2001 and Sept. 2006 (68 months), spent ~ EUR 895,- on tax costs, ~ EUR 2063,- on insurance costs, ~ EUR 2.892,- on repairs (cheap!) and ~ EUR 4.687,- on petrol – which generates a total of ~ EUR 10.537,-. And please be reminded – I bought the car for ~ EUR 1.636,- EUR in Feb. 2001 ( DEM 3.200,-).

Now, I did a lot of minor repairs by myself and have a friend who runs a garage and we had this deal that I would help him out with some computer stuff and he would repair my car whenever professional work would be needed. I bought spare parts at a wholesale price level and even ordered a new exhaust system via Ebay one day for a very jua kali price. Tax costs could have been lower by installing a different engine starter which would have lowered the tax classification from Euro1 to Euro2 – but it didn’t make sense for such an old car. Insurance costs where relatively cheap as I had registered the car on my Mzee’s name who got a huge discount. Petrol costs in Germany have risen for at least 27% during 2001 and 2006, which also explains why I’ve travelled even less kilometres with the car during the last two years (2005: 7.000km, 2006: 4.000km).

I think it’s interesting to know that you can buy a car for a small price but are forced to spend huge amounts on maintaining it. Also, when I look at unavoidable costs like insurance, tax and petrol (average consumption ~ 8l/100km), it seems that I did the right thing by buying an old (very old) car instead of leasing a new one. After all, I spent an average of about EUR 0,17 per driven kilometre – which is cheaper than what I would have spent on a new Toyota or so.

Now what is needed is to compare these expenses with others in Kenya and the US (for instance). Anyone?

on dropping informations

The downside of this blogging business is that there are a lot of things happening ONLY online – like the following quiz:

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I found this via Andreas, who also blogs on the Spreeblick platform, and – although it says to be copyrighted as early as 2002 – the quiz is quite new to me. So, do YOU know your ecological footprint?

Exactly.

I took the quiz and it says for me that if everyone on this earth lives like me, we’d need at least 1.3 planet(s) earth.

Another peculiar trouvaille is The Living Library – an event that took part in Berlin, Germany on September 9, 2006 with 112 writers, artists, activists and social entrepeneurs from around the world and who gathered around a vast Table of Free Voices where they discussed our questions. Our?
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I remember I recently picked up this one free postcard which asked for my ecological footprint and provided a url to the Living Library event. How come I only learned of these events now? Because I am living upcountry, in a small village in Northern Germany with about 3.000 inhabitants (hell, what brought me here in the first place?!)? Well, I do have internet – so how come an interesting event like this one has been hidden from the masses? You know, I found this advertising postcard in Munich – 700kms away from home. And Berlin is about 300kms away. Wawaweewah! – Strongly reminds me of the Cluetrain debate which started in 1999 and never really reached the masses, only the usual suspects.
Also, pls check out this awesome 360° panorama view of the event. [via]

==> And make sure to check out the already existing user input – a search for the usual keywords (Kenya, Nairobi, etc.) reveals some interesting details…

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(click to enlarge)

aufm Schrottplatz

Eines meiner liebsten Hobbies ist das Herumstöbern auf Schrottplätzen.

In diesem Fall ging es um eine “neue” Blende für das Heizungs-Bedienteil in meinem alten Golf 2 – der Einbrecher von Samstag Nacht war nicht gerade sorgfältig mit dem Armaturenbrett umgegangen und hatte im Zuge des gewaltsamen Ausbaus einige Kratzer & Dellen hinterlassen. Da ich eh grad unterwegs war, kam der Besuch aufm Schrottplatz sehr gelegen – auch wenn ich mich jedes Mal über diesen Muffel aufrege, der den Schrottplatz leitet. Anscheinend hat er jeden Tag mit Randgruppen zu tun, so daß Worte wie Kundenfreundlichkeit, Lächeln oder Auskunftswilligkeit Fremdworte sind. Aber nicht ärgern, nur wundern – was ich brauche finde ich eh alleine.
Zwischen all den verbeulten, zerquetschten Unfallwagen, bei denen man sich immer wieder fragt ob das jemand überlebt haben kann, findet man gelegentlich auch interessante Details. Abgesehen von teilweise hochwertigen Inneneinrichtungen, für die andere im Sammelsurium Ebay ein kleines Vermögen hinblättern, liegen in den ausrangierten Autos neben den typsichen Autoextras (Warndreieck, Werkzeug – hallo, das kostet doch Geld?!) oft noch persönliche Gegenstände, Geld oder auch Fotos der Besitzer. Und es nicht so, dass man explizit und fast schon voyeuristisch danach sucht – meistens waren schon andere Schrottplatzstöberer am Werk und haben dann das gesuchte Bauteil quer durch den Innenraum verteilt. Es hat nen bißchen was von Ostereier suchen, oder auch Pilze sammeln. Mal hat man Glück und findet sofort was man braucht, aber oft sind die begehrten Teile alle schon entwendet und/oder irgendwie versteckt worden.

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An den getunten und geschrotteten Prollkutschen aka Eierschaukeln aka tiefergelegten Polos und Golfs erkennt man dann aber doch sehr schnell, dass wir uns hier immer noch auf dem Land befinden. Nachdem ich schon Schrottplätze in Bremen und Freiburg (als Städte, zum Vergleich) kennengelernt habe, finde ich es immer wieder amüsant, wie sehr dieses Hobby des Autotunings vor allem bei der Landbevölkerung zu finden ist. Manchmal habe ich das Gefühl, dass wir hier in Dland in so einer Art Optimierungsgesellschaft leben – Menschen, die schon alles haben und innerhalb eines bestimmten Maßstabs ihre Häuser, Autos und Einrichtungen immer weiter optimieren. Mich irritiert das immer ein wenig, da ich bei all diesen Aktionen immer wieder die Kreativität vermisse. Sogar die Computer werden nach einem bestimmten Muster “gecasemodded” – an sich ne sehr geile Sache – nur wird hierfür auch oft nur auf fertige Bauteile zurückgegriffen. So auch mit den getunten Autos – die tiefergelegten, verbreiterten, verspoilerten Karren sehen für mich aus der Ferne immer wieder gleich aus. Ob nun Chamaelonlack, “böser Blick” oder Tribaltatoo-Muster auf der C-Säule – es nimmt sich nicht viel (an Kreativität). Das meine ich mit Maßstab – sie möchten sich durch ein eigenes Design von der Masse abheben, bedienen sich dann aber an Standardelementen und -bauteilen, die wenig eigenes Design erkennen lassen. Schade.

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Und der krönende Abschluss der Suchaktion ist dann folgender Fund: eine selbstgebrannte CD von….naaa? Richtig! Den Onkelz.

Ich meine, das hätte ja schließlich auch ne Best of Fetenhits oder noch schlimmer: von PUR sein können.

(Note to myself: 5 Jahre aufm Land reichen, lieber JKE – überleg Dir mal sehr genau, wo Du danach hinziehen möchtest.)

Dear IKEA….

Oh, one more thing: I just opened the brand-new 2007 edition of IKEA’s catalog for the German market (nice, really nice this time) and stumbled across an irritating statement by the designer of a new carpet called “ANDREA”:

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“The ANDREA carpet”, as the designer is quoted here on page 243 of the german edition, “represents (to me) a meeting between Africa and Asia. A meeting between traditional patterns and modern design. I hope (that) I could catch the atmosphere of this exciting meeting”. (translated)

And just as well as I could easily dismiss this as the usual marketing blabla, it did make me wonder for a moment WHAT exactly the designer had in mind when he thought about Africa and Asia.
Now, I spent some years of my life on the Asian and on the African continent – and instead of trying to imagine what’s so African or Asian about this design / where the stereotyped ethno symbols are coming from, I instead wonder what others would associate with Europe and let’s say the North American continent? What kind of symbols, design would you associate with those worlds? At the moment, I can’t think of anything in particular that could describe those continents as a whole except maybe for currency symbols ($ & €).

IKEA – a microcosm full of controversial messages? Wait, wait…isn’t this typcial scandinavian humour?

AOB: August 31st is BlogDay! [hat tip, Hash!]

AAOB: “If you have a goat worth twenty Dollar, you can buy shares here for twenty Dollar.” [via] (Mbuzimoja, my dear, please: on our next trip to Hoima, let us pls stop in Kampala and check out the exchange rate, ok? I know you are priceless to me, but this will help to negotiate the dowry with your mum :-)