If I had come to the USA to run away from Kenya and its shenanigans, I would be stewing in a pot of disappointment today.
Sometimes I love the Internet, Internets if you're the W. Today isn't one of those days. Today I wish they'd shut down the cnn site and just leave me alone.
Not that CNN has done anything wrong. They haven't. they just picked a story from our local dailies and have placed it where the entire world can see it. It's fact. So it should be published. Still, I wish it wasn't published today. Usually I condemn our local dailies on reckless reporting that causes negative impact to our society. This is not one of those times. What they reported on, they needed to. It was a job well done. I'm not sure about CNN though. They do tend to jump on miserable stories from Africa. That's unfair. I know. I'm just bummed. Completely.
See this link has caused me nothing but chaos all day. It's a well known fact that I'm Kenyan and a fairly well known fact that I'm Kikuyu. I've been fielding all sorts of questions in regards to my home country and my tribes people all day. This is the hard part. How to do this while establishing damage control. You see, stories like these have me answering questions in regards to safety concerns like I was Brig Ali himself or his assistant. In regards to loving my country, I take this issue seriously. I sit there and explain as best as I can that it isn't an unsafe place as such. It's like New York. And that this is a gang and these actions are happening in the rural areas not the main cbd or tourist attraction areas. I say to these people that this is a huge issue, new to Kenyans and they are trying to deal with it. And then I used the T word. I said these are what you call local terrorists. tick... tock... tick... tock... could the silence be any more louder?
Well, the Mungiki are terrorists. By all definitions of the word. They are more terrorists than are the ghosts being chased in Iraq right now. Those people have a reason to be fighting back. The Mungiki are not fighting the cops back as such, they are making a point. That they are to be feared and allowed to perpetrate sheer madness unquestioned. They are not to be sought out to answer for their barbaric acts. They are to be left to run the country down and everyone should love it or accept it. Now if that isn't terrorism, what is?
Well, I will carry on with this day. Every new face will be a chance to explain the acts of these damn fools again. Why am I suffering for their stupid, cold blooded acts? "Ohhh so it's like black on black violence," I was asked today when I said its not a tribal war. They are Kikuyu killing Kikuyu. I said kinda. What else to say? Who had thought of that? But I said they'd kill anyone who opposed them. Stick with the terrorist theory.
I know the villagers know the people in this gang. They are their own best bets. If they are to be freed of this menace, they will need to toboa yote. Give names and pictures where available. And Brig. Ali; a shoot to Kill order executed to the max on these rogues. Hawa ni bubudiu tupu!
People are leaving me with a somewhat sad, concerned and thank goodness I'm not from the 3rd world feeling! Somehow, this is my fault. I challenged all these people to shun ignorance and read about Africa and ask intelligent questions. I turned them into the monsters that they are. Sigh! When will this day end?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Idle chit chat
First and foremost, let me begin by lamenting. I missed Barrack Obama despite having paid my dues to go and see him. Thanks sinus infection! Despite the fact that I wasn't impressed by who was allowed to ask questions. It didn't include me despite the fact that I didn't intend to ask any questions. I simply meant to attend for the experience. If it doesn't make sense to you, worry not. I don't quite grasp it either.
Growing up is proving to be rather tedious when it comes to making choices. Career moves, marriage or not; translating to dating types and even geographical location change decisions. I'm beginning to think that people get married so that they can burden others with decision making. It sure sounds like a good reason to get married right about now.
On a charitable note, have you ever thought about feeding the hungry? Whenever I say this, people assume I'm talking about huge charitable deeds. No. What I refer to is just keeping an open eye for a person who seems hungry and is struggling to find the cheapest thing to eat. It happens a lot around where people congregate to eat. once in a while, offer to buy one such person a meal. It's tricky here as people often get offended if they can afford their meals. But trust your gut instinct. I've been doing this for years and I'm yet to falsely identify a person in need.
On to some trivia. Did you know the Bronco O.J. Was driving around in on that fateful day was a Hertz rental? Yeah, he came from poster child to DNR (Do Not Rent)on the Hertz rentors list.
Could the Kenyan election politics get any more boring (boringier really was tempting to use here).
Midwest airlines is offering some redeemable miles for completing a sudoku puzzle. It was rather fun to note they had one after I had made sure to board the plane with a sudoku book at hand. I guess the fever has caught on everywhere. It's the favorite past time here at geeks square (IT professionals floor) at work. And this airline never ceases to amaze me. Great service! They delayed us for an almost 2 hours due to some problem with the airplane. As we deplaned, they were calling our names to give us $75 in discounts for our next purchases. Now, this was my first Midwest airlines delay and I can see how they don't make a habit of delaying people. It just seems airlines seemto thrive as smaller businesses.
Finals week. I guess I better pull myself back to being useful.
My condolences go out to all the family and friends of the KQ victims. And a speedy recovery is wished upon Kenya Airways as an organization and its employees as they recover from this tragedy.
Have a great week.
Growing up is proving to be rather tedious when it comes to making choices. Career moves, marriage or not; translating to dating types and even geographical location change decisions. I'm beginning to think that people get married so that they can burden others with decision making. It sure sounds like a good reason to get married right about now.
On a charitable note, have you ever thought about feeding the hungry? Whenever I say this, people assume I'm talking about huge charitable deeds. No. What I refer to is just keeping an open eye for a person who seems hungry and is struggling to find the cheapest thing to eat. It happens a lot around where people congregate to eat. once in a while, offer to buy one such person a meal. It's tricky here as people often get offended if they can afford their meals. But trust your gut instinct. I've been doing this for years and I'm yet to falsely identify a person in need.
On to some trivia. Did you know the Bronco O.J. Was driving around in on that fateful day was a Hertz rental? Yeah, he came from poster child to DNR (Do Not Rent)on the Hertz rentors list.
Could the Kenyan election politics get any more boring (boringier really was tempting to use here).
Midwest airlines is offering some redeemable miles for completing a sudoku puzzle. It was rather fun to note they had one after I had made sure to board the plane with a sudoku book at hand. I guess the fever has caught on everywhere. It's the favorite past time here at geeks square (IT professionals floor) at work. And this airline never ceases to amaze me. Great service! They delayed us for an almost 2 hours due to some problem with the airplane. As we deplaned, they were calling our names to give us $75 in discounts for our next purchases. Now, this was my first Midwest airlines delay and I can see how they don't make a habit of delaying people. It just seems airlines seemto thrive as smaller businesses.
Finals week. I guess I better pull myself back to being useful.
My condolences go out to all the family and friends of the KQ victims. And a speedy recovery is wished upon Kenya Airways as an organization and its employees as they recover from this tragedy.
Have a great week.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
In response to the announcement of free tuition for Secondary Education...
I say Kudos. Again and Again. Good move. A lot of people just saw an increase to their spending power. And therefore the economy gets a boost with these move as well. That's simple economics.
Now many will want to interject here and tell me how that's only about 20% of the entire cost and that boarding costs are the highest and blah and blah... Did anyone ever give you a 20% raise in your annual income? Did it make a difference to you? Or would it if anyone gave you a 20% raise to your income right now?
That is the weakest of that argument since many will say that the tuition fee amount does not constitute 20% of their earnings. I'm willing to bet it probably does for most because your kids usually school where you can afford, including demographic decisions since secondary schools are usually allotted that way, save for national schools.
The real issue is, is there a need for boarding schools? Is there a need to assess the allocation of schools to students so that they are closer to home and have the option to go to school and return home and thus, the parents rent or mortgage payments can cover parts of fees; because students that don't board won't need to pay for boarding. Why are Kenyans so hell bent on boarding schools anayway? Where, after experience, we all know we went into and spent the next several weeks counting days until we could go home? These are the moments when growing teens most need a stable environment, one where only parents can provide. The reality is a safe haven, where no matter what happened at school, 8 hours later, they can return to and have time to regroup can only be provided at home. With the exception of a few homes where home is a wretched place to be. And those can be identified and boarding subsidized by the government for these students. But those who want to board at a cost to them should definitely still have that option.
So again, great that the tuition was scrapped. Very happy. Now let's explore other ways to reduce these other costs. The way I see it, the simplest way is to scrap boarding schools or make them as optional a choice as it's possible to be! At the very least, it's food for thought, aye?
Now many will want to interject here and tell me how that's only about 20% of the entire cost and that boarding costs are the highest and blah and blah... Did anyone ever give you a 20% raise in your annual income? Did it make a difference to you? Or would it if anyone gave you a 20% raise to your income right now?
That is the weakest of that argument since many will say that the tuition fee amount does not constitute 20% of their earnings. I'm willing to bet it probably does for most because your kids usually school where you can afford, including demographic decisions since secondary schools are usually allotted that way, save for national schools.
The real issue is, is there a need for boarding schools? Is there a need to assess the allocation of schools to students so that they are closer to home and have the option to go to school and return home and thus, the parents rent or mortgage payments can cover parts of fees; because students that don't board won't need to pay for boarding. Why are Kenyans so hell bent on boarding schools anayway? Where, after experience, we all know we went into and spent the next several weeks counting days until we could go home? These are the moments when growing teens most need a stable environment, one where only parents can provide. The reality is a safe haven, where no matter what happened at school, 8 hours later, they can return to and have time to regroup can only be provided at home. With the exception of a few homes where home is a wretched place to be. And those can be identified and boarding subsidized by the government for these students. But those who want to board at a cost to them should definitely still have that option.
So again, great that the tuition was scrapped. Very happy. Now let's explore other ways to reduce these other costs. The way I see it, the simplest way is to scrap boarding schools or make them as optional a choice as it's possible to be! At the very least, it's food for thought, aye?
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