November 17, 2006

People fighting for food: twice this week…

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The past week, I visited the Nairobi informal settlement Mathare where thousands of people had to flee their homes. I am just back from refugee camp Dadaab in North Eastern part of Kenya where at least tens of thousands of Somali refugees were chased from their homes, due to heavy rains and floods. Some of them were new arrivals fleeing from Somalia because they fear insecurity: some of them have to wait six months until they are recognised as a refugee. The only shelter people had was a small blanket, and small construction made out of branches from shrubs. ‘No big news’, international media houses would say, because this is how it works. We need ‘big numbers’ Twice this week, I saw people fight for food: a small box of BP5 biscuits, a small box of UHT Milk. Meanwhile rain
November 16, 2006

BBC broadcasts halted in Kenya? KBC in London?

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Just picked up this story from the BBC World site: comments, ideas and opinions get a warm welcome! Kenya could halt BBC broadcasts Foreign radio stations in Kenya may be prevented from broadcasting if reciprocal licences are not granted, a government minister has warned. The UK, US and China had all been put on notice, Assistant Information Minister Koigi wa Wamwere said. “If we are allowing BBC to broadcast in Kenya, KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) should also be in London,” Mr Wamwere said at a state function. He said a refusal to reciprocate would be treating Kenyans “like idiots”. The BBC has some 12 million listeners in Kenya – with about half that number listening in Swahili. KBC should also be allowed to broadcast in Washington and Beijing, he added, as Voice of America and Radio China broadcast in Kenya.
October 24, 2006

Mobile communication in Africa

This is possible: I wrote this posting on my mobile phone somewhere in the middle of nowhere in East Africa. Could post it thanks to GPRS. This is not Europe. This is Africa. As you can see: (sometimes it is hard to admit) but… we are booking some progress here!
August 31, 2006

Obama for president?

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US-Senator Obama visited Kenya. The media were full about his visit. What surprised me most, was that Obama spoke out about a lot of things and that his ideas were taken just as if he was a veteran statesman. But he wasn’t, It felt just as if he was hired to do so. But is a US-senator supposed to criticize the government of the country where his father was born? Obama’s only connection with Kenya is, that his father migrated to the United States long time ago, but he was received like a long lost son. He criticized the government of president Kibaki, he criticized tribalism and he criticized the raid on newspaper The Standard this year. Why did he not promote Kenyan business in the United States, but instead choose to go with the Kenyan political flow? This is