“The most beautiful women on earth, the beauty that no amount of money can buy, the most powerful hair in Africa, the most wanted hair styles now in Africa, our business is to make ladies look beautiful. If you want to look beautiful, come to us now. The magic in weaving styles for beautiful women.”
I just had to buy this poster on River Road today. That is, where else do you get African beauty for 60 bob? :-)
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?
WSF opening blabla @ ~ 4pm.
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.
And this is where everything ends up. “Defence of the environment”??
Karibu to WSF Nairobi 2007!
>>Halb Afrika trägt chinesische Plastiklatschen, kocht mit chinesischen Töpfen, schaut in chinesische Fernsehkästen. »We are all over Africa now«, sagt Herr Li vom Handelsministerium. Wir sind jetzt überall in Afrika.<<
Bitte einfach mal lesen. Weil es so wahr ist.
“If blogging is your strength, then do that”, sista Kui told me some minutes ago. I told her about a message I had received this morning at 6 am which really disturbed me, and also relieved me to some extend. And that I would want to blog on it no matter what.
It’s about my father. My mum informed me this morning that my father had peacefully stopped breathing at about 3 am after a long illness we call Alzheimer’s disease.
“How are you feeling?”, people started asking me. Well, how am I supposed to feel? I don’t know. I know there is something inside that wants to break free and cry, and I feel this urge inside to put these emotions into words because that’s my way of expressing my feelings. It feels like there are a thousand words that describe the situation, and at the same time there is nothing left to say.
But I didn’t come here to tell you about my grief. I came here to tell you about a wonderful and positive experience I had this evening.
Right now I am staying at a friend’s place who’s running a children orphanage. Since everyone was kinda busy tonight, I was asked to take care of a little boy for a few hours. His 16year old mother had tried to abort him 2,5 years ago, and together with her mother and grandmother, they tried to get rid of him in a pit latrine after he had refused to die right after the abortion.
This very same boy is now very healthy and very smart. His joyful smile and vital way of learning new things showed me once again what life is all about. And it helped me a lot to let go and welcome new life. For me, meeting this young man showed me that I am the adult now, the 31year old dude who needs to get his own family and keep that life thing going. And I liked it. I am ready for it.
These days when life does strange things with you while you’re busy making other plans, it is good to close each day with a smile on your face and accept those things you can not change with some easiness that is driven by content from within.
—
Also, the older I become, I realize how much I resemble my father: his passion for arts, music, literature, antiques and other things. Heck, some of his older friends even tell me how much I look like him!
You see, he was about my age when he took up his first assignment in India in the mid 1960s as a German language teacher. Moving from Germany down to a chaotic New Delhi meant a lot during those days, but he somehow managed it, and it also shaped him in many ways. Some of his students are still keeping contact with us after all these years!
my father somewhere in India, 1966
And just like him, I decided to give up all these securities in Germany and move to Kenya with an uncertain future, taking into account that my father might die when I am abroad. It is this place here at this distance which allowed me to eventually think about a lot of things that happened in the past, how we used to take care of him and how he loved me and my sister, and especially my mum.
It is the distance between him and us due to this shitty Alzheimer’s disease that taught us a lot of things about family, love and being there for each other.
How am I supposed to feel grief inside if I keep on being remembered of the good things that came along with all this? Instead, it is this happiness inside that gives me the strength to keep on doing my thing in a way which somehow resembles his.
—
Talking about death, there’s one more thing I would like to mention: I told you about this funeral I’d been attending late last year somewhere in Mwingi district. During those 3 hours of a funeral service in a language I didn’t understand, where me and my colleagues where the guests of honour, I eventually realized the role death plays and how a funeral is regarded to be part of the culture here. At times when lots of people are dying before their age due to AIDS and other diseases, people have started to accept it being a part of their life. Contrary to a funeral in Germany, where everyone is dressed in dark clothes and just silent, this funeral in Mwingi included a choir singing warm songs and thus giving me, the outsider, an understanding of what this is all about. It made me realize that I am very much ready to accept these things and that I may just trust in my faith.
When I am going back to Germany now to attend his funeral and eventually finish my studies soon, I will try to export some of these spirits and remember how I was welcomed to this place I always considered my second home.
And to be honest, I have no idea when I will able to return and what this new year which has just started will have to offer. But at least I am not afraid anymore, and that’s a damn good feeling.
The real reason why fundis are working on Sunday afternoons is because most customers have worn out cars that require lots of tender/loving/care (TLC) on weekends. :-)
Like mine. Well, “ours”. Ok, Mbuzimoja’s. But I got it for the weekend and took the chance to apply some magic hands on its sexy curves. The car, that is.
The passenger seat had a problem and needed some welding. Since the last repair in October, the interior of this Suzuki Samurai SJ413 has become very familiar, so removing the chair took about 5 minutes. We ended up fixing some other small things as well which required some attention – all these small things you realize once you need them (like the windscreen washer system when it is raining buckets).
Being able to get your car repaired on a Sunday afternoon is just very very convenient, and if you know what you want and need, this is a fast job. Also, it’s just a nice way of getting around and seeing some things that don’t meet the eyes of those who never pay attention to the small things in life.
Pls note those Renaults being serviced. These KXGs & Co (~1986) are now used as Taxis as they are quite durable and still cheap. I saw about six Renault 4 today.
Old but good. Check the gear changer stick going from the middle of the dashboard to the very front of the motor. French cars!
Anyone needs some Kerosene? Get it directly pumped to your plastic bag from the petrol pump INSIDE the buildng!
And this is my favourite. Here in Gachie, there is something like “Pop-In 2.0″. Get your round of Football, GrandPrix, Ninja, Rally, Soldier, GrandTheftAuto, etc. games for Ksh. 10 – 20/= on either on the Playstation or on an XBOX. That map on the wall left to the TV sets actually is from GrandTheftAuto San Andreas. Yeah!
And how did you spend your sunday afternoon?
The early morning in downtown Nairobi allows you to do a lot of small things that had been neglected in the past.
Since reading about Safaricom’s new mobile payment system some time ago, which will in future revolutionize the way smaller amounts of money are transfered between mobile phone users (= 5 million Safaricom users and their families & friends!), I was longing to exchange my SIM card to a newer one. One where the internal SIM card set had been programmed to accomodate the M-PESA menu.
The other reason is that the SIM I am using had been given to me by Lady Mbuzimoja earlier last year, and she never gave me the SIM card adapter which holds the PIN2 and PUK numbers. In other words: I urgently needed to get hold of a new SIM with all supplied numbers.
SIM card exchange is FREE in Kenya! Imagine with Vodafone Germany (and Vodafone Plc. being a shareholder in Safaricom!) you pay between EUR 15,- to 17,- for the simple exchange of SIM cards and their resp. activation. This process takes about 2-3 days and the activation about 30 minutes. Now compare that to Kenya – you just walk into a Customer Care Centre and have it exchanged after some obligatory security questions (1.What’s your PIN?, 2.Which number do you call regularly?). Fast, free and very efficient. Also, the SIM cards issued in Kenya offer 255 entries in the telephone book. I’ve exchanged my Vodafone Germany SIM about 3-4 times since 1998 and was always hoping to get more than 200 entries on that SIM. Deploying the settings and telephone directories to a new phone can be a hassle with modern phones as not all of them are compatible to each other and even within the range of Nokia phones, the directories and ways how telephone numbers and addresses are stored differ from phone to phone. Maybe they do this to promote the “MyAdressbook” function on the network which enables users to store their numbers on the central server of the network and have it synchronized with their new phone.
M-PESA, as I was told by Asha at SCCC, is still in an internal testing phase and shall be activated for the public asap its functionality is proven. Now let’s wait and see how this fine service will boost the economy.
Ok so I started the morning by sorting some TOP 1:50.000 maps of Kenya which had been published in the 1970s. Due to the chronic lacking of a decent storage concept, these maps had been exposed to direct sunshine, rain (~ the obligatory leaky roof) and lots of dust during the last 30 years. They had been torn apart, written on and stuffed into some overcrowded drawers somewhere in the office.
The other day we had a delegation from the World Bank coming over from Nbo for a meeting and my colleague frantically searched for a specific map and – of course – couldn’t find it at all. Quite embarassing.
Upon arrrival in Embu, I suggested that we install something called “the data office”: a room where we’d keep maps and other data. After all, these guys here are “supposed to” have their own Graphical Information System (GIS) runing within the next two years – and right now we don’t even have a decent map with all boreholes within our catchment area, nor do we have any further data.
So I was fed up with the situation and started by pulling out some older drawers which I prepared to store these maps. My colleague, the guy who is supposed to be in charge of all data, did like the idea, but prefered to enjoy his morning in a rather Nyayo-style: reading the Daily Nation and sipping on his 10 a.m. tea. I asked him to join me on this job, but he kept on having this “Ati?, me I am not even getting paid to do this manual work….”-look on his face.
…
We see 5 p.m. approaching and a friend of mine awaits me with a towel outside the offices. Off we are to enjoy some rounds in the pool @ Izaak Walton Inn!
Swiming is Ksh. 200 /= for non-residents, the pool opens from 8am-6.30pm.
I shall return more often (ati, Mugo Holdings Ltd. – is there any discount for tenants?) and enjoy this little oasis of pleasure. Especially after such days when you’re just 2inches away from adopting the sometimes Nyayoesque lethargy of your colleagues…
There are lots of useful accessories for mobile phones sold in Kenya these days. It starts with the obligatory zipper bags for 50/=, battery chargers and replacement batteries and might end with mobile phone holders which are still hard to find. I guess one day someone will just start selling them and others will follow.
Among all these small parts that add value to your mobile telephone needs, there are two particular gadgets I really like:
1. A dual SIM card holder (~ 200 – 300 Kshs.)
Some time ago, these dual SIM card holders consisted of an adapter that goes into the SIM card bay, and is put between the battery and the backside cover. These adapters proved to be a bit agonizing, but still did their job.
And nowawadays, there’s a more sophisticated solution available: a tiny SIM card adaptor, offering enough space for two SIM cards.
See those yellow stickers on the picture? You just stick them on your Safaricom/Celtel SIM card, cut around the dotted line and place that golden part (the actual SIM) into the adapter. And because cutting those SIM cards often is a bit inaccurate, there are special pliers available with some fundis who just punch it out of its frame.
Placing two SIM cards into this adapter gives you the chance of having two lines in one phone – to activate each line, you just have to switch them on and off and it will select one SIM card / line. It’s a perfect way for those who can’t or won’t decide between the networks.
Also, since SIM card replacement doesn’t cost too much in Kenya (as opposed to e.g. Vodafone Germany, where the replacement of a simple SIM card + activation costs around EUR 17,-), it makes sense to sacrifice those SIMs (in case the fundi doesn’t get it right) and just try it out.
2. a universal charger (~ 100 – 200 Kshs.)
There are phones that have problems loading the battery. Sometimes it’s just the external charger which is faulty and can be replaced, but sometimes the phone just refuses to recharge even new batteries so it’s a problem inside the phone. Since most charging devices are directly soldered onto the phone’s PCB, locating the error might be a problem for the average (unexperienced) fundi.
A perfect work-around for such a nasty problem, where the phone otherwise is fully functional, is such a universal charger that just loads most phone batteries externally. A cheap solution that will surely extended the life of many mobile phones.