Kwani?

 

 Grennderungkwani.jpg

Martin Kimani of "African Bullets & Honey" already blogged about the "Funkiest Literary Journal This Side of Heaven" in July 05.

And you know what? Thanks to my secret agent Lady Kikuyumbuzi who provides me with all this funky stuff kama tapes with Kameme FM, interesting sniplets from the newspeahhpaa and other small bubudius to help a mZungu Kiuk in exile get goin’ – I eventually got my own copy of this GREAT book today!
(note to Mbuzimoja: Mapenzi ni kikohozi, hayawezi kufichika. :-)

Let me just quote from Binyavanga’s editorial: "…I prefer to see Kenya as a diverse place which needs diverse conversations: no publication or person can represent all of Kenya’s literary aspirations"…"Kwani? is a place for seekers. Not all seekers. Just some" (…) "I am beginning to see that Kenya (The Parliament and Sections Kenya..) is dying. (…) There is another Kenya growing out of these ashes. It has learnt to need nobody; to be competitive and creative. It speaks Sheng. It is the Kenya we are waiting for."

And then of course you open the book, read some pages and think to yourself: Ati??? WHAT has happened to Kenya? This IS GREAT, that’s what I’ve been waiting for all the time, this is MY GENERATION taking over now.  This is part of the new Kenya that actually blogs on the internet, this is Kenya with it’s mobile phone crazyness, it’s language mix-ups (Sheng et al)…. this is what my fellow Europeans need to have in mind when they are speaking to Kenyans. And I also think: the revolution will not be televised, no, it is right here, in the middle of everything and we’re part of it. And it has already started. We are here to ask questions, look back in history and create a positive future. This Kwani?3 book is just part of a new Kenya coming up. And it rocks!

If you happen to live in the London area, pls make sure to check out "AFRICAN VISIONS 2005 – Think Africa: A festival of African Literature, Culture and Politics" taking place at the British Library on October 15th-16th. => "…the UK launch of the exciting Kenyan-based New Writing magazine ‘Kwani?’."

Mbuzimoja, I owe you big times! :-)

Exodus

Ein sehr guter Artikel vom Afrikaliebhaber Dominic Johnson (von der taz) über die Einwanderungspolitik in Europa und die massiven Flüchtlingsströme vom afrikanischen Kontinent ist heute bei Spiegel Online (SPON) erschienen.

"Afrikanische Länder müssten selbst definieren, mit welchem Ziel und unter welchen Umständen sie ihre Bürger ziehen lassen wollen. Sonst werde irgendwann Europa einfach selbst die fähigsten Afrikaner absahnen – und den "brain drain" hochausgebildeter Mediziner, Wissenschaftler und diverser Experten in besser bezahlte Positionen in reichen Ländern, der Afrika jetzt schon ausblutet, noch verstärken. Diese Diskussion allerdings kann Afrika nur geeint mit Europa führen."

Und ich frage mich natürlich: wann wird man in Brüssel den afrikanischen Kontinent endlich als DEN Partner des nächsten Jahrhunderts verstehen? Oder anders gefragt: wie wollen wir in Zukunft leben? Was bringt uns diese Abschottung? Es geht doch nicht darum, die Symptome in Form des Massenexodus zu bekämpfen, sondern Anreize für die Menschen zu schaffen, vor Ort erfolgreich zu werden und etwas von Dauer aufzubauen.
Und: Wieso kann ich als Deutscher mal eben in Kenia einreisen, als Kenianer aber umso schwieriger nach Deutschland kommen?

unsere neue Regierung

Ich hab se zwar alle nich gewählt, aber irgendwas ganz tief hinten in meinem Kopf sagt mir, dass es grad eine interessante Mischung ist, die da in Form der neuen MinisterInnen auf uns zukommen wird.

Wobei ich mir natürlich Stoiber und Merkel noch nicht als äääh-Wirtschaftsminister oder grins-Bundeskanzlerin vorstellen kann. Und eine große Koalition? Wo bleibt da die Opposition? So wie in Bremen damals? Na suuuuuuuuupääährrrr…..

IHR wolltet es so.

kwenda uko!

Grennderung66New_kenya_slide_059.jpg

Some of you might already know this picture Christoph Grandt has published on his picturesque website some time ago.
I’d printed it out the other day and stuck it on the door.
Why? Three reasons:
1. The banana peel next to the signboard. A lovely detail.
2. The message is direct – if you have no-thing to do, do not do it here. (UKIKOSA ????)
3. This is Kenya. I have no additional information on this picture and in fact, I forgot to ask Bw Grandt about details on where exactly he took this pic (maybe in Kitui, as the other pics are from that area). If you look at this signboard, one instantly seems to think that the layout of the letters could have been better ~ is just horrible. Yaaani, I think that some Muhindi businessman draw this "arrangement" with his BIC® on a piece of KARATASI® paper and gave it to a "signboard artist". Now, Kenya being Kenya, the artist might have thought that it would be better to just do the job the way he’s used to. Of course he could have come up with his own idea of how to arrange the whole design/layout, but instead, he apparently just tried to make those letters fit onto the signboard.

And that exactly is the difference between Germany and Kenya, for instance. If you happen to find such an "artist" over here, he would most definitely tell you that it is not possible this way. Instead, he would tell you that he needs a bigger signboard or need to change something about it. And I remain with the question: what’s better?

iVlog

"If they announce the iPod video, I’m going to start videoblogging." [WeBreakStuff]

Does that mean we will have to wait for this iPod video to be released? What about mobile phones then? My Nokia 6230 already has the ability to play (3GP) videos. The downside? 1. picture quality, 2. an even smaller screen and (most importantly) 3. you know how long it takes to get the video on that damn phone/sd-card ? Yeah.

@Apple.com: iVlog® (®=JKE’s :-)

YES, and while I’m still thinking about Web2.0 and the future of all those nice things: what about a Flickr-styled website for videos instead of just pictures? (hint, hint :-) ….in any case, the future will be BETA! LOL (~flickr beta, google earth/rss/blogsearch/etc. beta, etc.)

Googlerss

googlerssreader.pngAnother beta product: Google’s RSS Reader.

THIS THING ROCKS! …i was playing with it for a few minutes and found it very useful. Why any hassle with installing RSS software if you can have it online? You’ll just need a gmail account (gmail accounts are given away upon invitation by other gmail users to avoid spam – if you still need one, drop your email below in the comment and I’ll send out an invitation) and that’s it.

I searched the reader for "Kikuyumoja" (of course) and came accross this Kiku’s Blogcasting Corporation (KBC) entry. LOL I am not a podcaster as of yet, but I did have an mp3 file linked to the story – and Google’s RSS Reader instantly switched on a player plugin for easy playback. The UI is just awesome. …. Now what’s next to come? A Google OS? A Google mobile phone/mp3 player/gadgetimojanini?
[found via andreas.de & techcrunch.com ("beautiful, needs work")]

“Oddities”

First_lessons_in_kikuyu.jpg>>While you are learning the first nine lessons it is most important that you should learn to pronounce Kikuyu properly. The best way is to get an intelligent educated Kikuyu to help you." (page 51)<<

>>Excercise IX/4/6 – Translate into English: "Nûû ûkûhûra Njoroge? // Key: Who will beat Njoroge? (page 60)<<

WTH????

Is it just me or are there any other people who are wondering about those strange words? They’re from this "First Lessons in Kikuyu" booklet as pictured at the left, by L.S.B. Leakey. (reprint of 1989, ex-1959!). I bought it at a Text Book Center in Nairobi. I think they’re still selling it. Even on Amazon…