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A NEW TYPE OF ART


BY: JULIET AWUOR.
A few weeks ago, an exposure was made on the media concerning women being conned in search for love.
This four letter word puzzles me many a times. One would go to unbelievable heights to try and keep it. With technology, there are all sorts of platforms to look for your special one. Top on that list is the internet. I don’t have anything against technology, in fact, I happen to be a member of one such online dating site. I have met some really interesting personalities there; one asked me to help him with 200 dollars, and that was the end of our communications with him.
Problem is things are changing with time. A few years ago, it was a common thing to hear of a lady being a gold digger. Nowadays there is a new breed of men out there to get money from ladies. I call them opportunists- it’s no longer a woman’s exclusive domain.
Women should be on the lookout for such men who are out to draw cash from ready ATMs, unsuspecting victims who are either blinded by desperation from years of loneliness, or by the “charms” that these con artists may be using.
These opportunists will look for your weak spot and prey on it. I happen to have one weak spot- I tend to be soft and sometimes I prefer to reserve my comments even if something offends me. I’ve learned the hard way; I met a guy in the neighborhood and he clung to me like a leech from the time we met.
He told me he was a program coordinator for a renowned organization; he spoke big concerning himself all the time, perhaps to impress me. Stories of him having been to Europe, owning land that is under construction and perhaps the most absurd of them all, having a wife with whom they are at loggerheads and that was the reason he came to live in the neighborhood.
Wonders don’t cease, this man wanted to know the amount I paid for my rent wanting to chip in, even after telling him that I don’t deal with married men. He then changed his tactics to the “Brother in Christ”, coming daily to share his unwarranted devotions; after finding out that I was a Christian.
After two weeks of coming to my house and leaving at odd hours, and my being silent in the name of being nice, he surprised me by asking me for 3000 shillings to sort someone and he would refund me in two days. Of course I didn’t give him the money- where could a student get that money? He persisted until I gave him 500 shillings which he never returned.
A week later, he borrowed my camera which he never returned. On following it up, he had stories that he had been arrested for getting into a fight with his wife. The shameless thing still was asking me to send him a thousand shillings via M-pesa.
Gone is my camera, probably never to return- that was in February this year. I just thank God that he didn’t find the nerve to borrow my laptop. Look out for this type of artists- con artists; or should I call them opportunists.

October 14, 2009 | 5:18 AM Comments  0 comments

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THE CITY I LONG FOR.
Related to country: Kenya

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


Nairobi, the city under the sun- one would call it a home away from home, with all the beautiful scenery at the national park, sky scrappers in the central business district, the beautiful roundabouts, the diversity of cultures and many other fascinating sights for the visitors’ eyes. It can also be called the home of hospitality- one can not get stranded in such a city, all you have to do in case you lose your bearings is to look for a face that looks friendly, of which you will always find and ask for directions- some people are always heart-warming with their welcoming attitude and willingness to help.
Who said that a breath-taking place does not have shortcomings? Well, Nairobi just like any other big city is not exempted from its fair share of flaws. From pollution, to pickpockets, to overpopulation- you name it. Kenya actually offers one of the largest markets for imported vehicles in Africa. This provides a paradox because you would expect it to be up-to-date with the road network. Sadly, the vehicles seem to outnumber the people- One would be stuck in the traffic jam for hours on end. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get to where they are going, but the jam keeps slowing them down. Kenya’s population is on the rapid growth, with the cosmopolitan Nairobi having approximately 3 million people. -The irony is that our infrastructure has failed to keep the pace with our growth, resulting in one of the worst traffic jams in the continent.
With jams there are the traffic rules which seem to be a waste of time for some ruthless motorists. One morning I witnessed an ugly scene on my way to school- a man was knocked by a public service vehicle also known as a Matatu and to add salt to injury, it was at a zebra crossing. I am sure that the person who invented the black and white lines did not intend them to be mere decorations. Then there’s this issue of un-roadworthy vehicles that emit exhaust fumes which add to the air pollution.
Speaking of pollution, there are days when I walk on the streets carrying a ticket from my bus ride, or a wrapper from a finished piece of candy on my hand- it would be much easier to just drop it down and comfortably walk away- but my conscience does not allow me to do it. Unfortunately, not everyone is like minded, so you’ll find litter everywhere. During the strolls, I still see papers everywhere. It is a good thing that the Nairobi City council endorsed tough rules against throwing of things haphazardly in the city centre. Ever since, the Nairobi Central Business District has been in prim shape, but I am almost sure that without such stringent regulations- we would surely bounce back to our old ways. My worry ceases to be with the city centre; instead it is with the estates that lack dustbins on the streets and have no one to keep watch of the occupants’ conduct. Worse still, with the informal settlements, where any open ground seems to have a silent name on it, “dumpsite”.
This prompts me on the largest problem that is now faced by the capital. The gap between the rich and poor is daily on the increase, more and more people still migrate from the rural areas to come to the capital in search of jobs which always are nowhere to be found. The cost of living on the other hand is ascending daily, leading to the development of urban slums due to expensive proper housing. The vast majority, actually two thirds of Nairobi’s population lives in these slums, with horrid living conditions. Of course one can not deny the fact that many plans to upgrade the slum areas have been put in place, but have instead been met with contempt from the dwellers. This is because they predict that once the housing has been upgraded, they will not afford the rents.
Behind nearly every posh estate you will most probably find the slums. The problems in these settlements are numerous; they lack proper sanitation, poor road system, indecent housing, overpopulation, lack of healthcare facilities and insecurity among others. The Government on the other hand does not recognize them in the allocation of social amenities. Officials say that the settlements have to be organised; by upgrading them first before they can be considered in allocation of basic facilities; like schools and health centres. I have worked in the slum community and had a first-hand experience on these challenges. One of the most recent and vivid ordeals is with City Carton slum area in the Eastland’s part of Nairobi. There was an upgrading program that was targeting land allocation to squatters in 2007- this is an activity that made City Cotton among the news items, with residents complaining about the mode of allocation.
The thing that annoyed me with the allocation; was that the residents insisted to be allocated every piece of available land, overlooking the fact that they only have one public toilet serving an entire population of over five thousand people. They were to build their own houses with individual toilets- which up to now, some have not gotten the money to set up even a basic structure. They end up selling their plots of land due to the frustration; they also continue with their use of the infamous “flying toilets”.
There is also this issue of traffic jam that extends to the slum in the evenings. Vehicles using the main road divert into the shortcut of the slum in avoidance of the traffic. Some of the drivers drive very recklessly, not considering that there might be children playing along that path which they have turned into a highway. It is usually not a pleasant experience walking along the dusty path during these times of trying to distinguish your way through the dust. This poses another health hazard to the residents by causing respiratory infections for example asthma and bronchitis.
Another example is clean tapped water – until August 2007, the residents were purchasing water from illegally diverted pipes which were from the neighbouring Buruburu Phase one estate. This water was not even safe for drinking, because plastic pipes were being used for supply throughout the area. The problem with the plastic pipes was that they would burst and since they passed underground; the dirt would seep in, endangering the health of the consumers. Thanks to the city council, all the illegal water supply was cut off. They then installed communal taps for the residents to access free and safe water. After two months, some of the pipes started disappearing. Simply put, these people did not own the noble gesture that was meant to relieve them from the agony of buying water from unscrupulous dealers.
WHAT DO I LONG FOR IN NAIROBI?
In September 2000, 189 nations came together under the United Nations and agreed on eight goals that must be achieved by 2015; to ensure the world is a better place for everyone. Among the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) are: goal number one- To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and goal number seven- To ensure environmental sustainability. Many efforts have been put in place to reach these goals but in my view, we still have a very long way to go. But that does not mean that these are overly ambitious and unrealistic wishes that can never be met. I see them as a possibility especially in Nairobi.
The Nairobi I long for is one that has well organised, more hygienic slums with basic social amenities such as health centres, schools and proper housing. City Cotton is just an example of the numerous informal settlements with challenges in the city of Nairobi. There are more than two hundred similar, even more densely populated than City Cotton. I don’t think that it is fair for human beings should live in such indecent conditions. Achieving these enviable dreams is a possibility. We may have a resort of blame game- that our leaders have let us down; overlooking the part we ought to play in making these dreams a reality.
AVENUES FOR ACTION WITH MY PEERS.
We have been trying the same tired tactics over and over again. Community based clean-ups for instance- I have nothing against them, but I’m looking at it from a realist’s perspective; it takes a lot of time, logistics and planning to arrange for a one day’s clean up and yet, the majority of the young people living in the community are left out in the planning of the whole event- this leads to apathy from the community members towards a well intended projects. I think that a community should own initiatives targeted at improving their environment.
We can start small initiatives targeted at improving the environment. An ideal starting point would be by sensitizing the communities around informal settlements on hygienic practices. We could do this by magnet theatre- where you play short educative skits, in the process drawing an audience; and educating them on cleanliness. I could mobilize my peers and we start working in these communities. We could also as a result, start small income generating activities with the youth by: - garbage collection, general clean ups involving the peers who live in the informal settlements, setting up groups of young people who ensure that no one destroys the resources that have been put in place and that everyone co-operates with the efforts to make the environment a pleasant place to live in.
A pleasant place to live in starts with our houses; I think that we should develop a habit of garbage separation even in our homes, and spread the habit to our peers. People should be made to see the worth of keeping something they discard as waste; and a good way is to sell the idea of storing plastics for sale- to them. With the garbage collection, we could do garbage separation and sell different categories of the garbage to recyclers who transform the things we dismiss as useless; into beautiful things that we later buy. Some products made out of waste plastic material are: - colourful baskets, mats and jewellery weaved from pure waste plastic bags and roofing slabs made of molten plastic. In fact, the thing we see as a nuisance could bean avenue for our success. We could actually get cheap building material from plastic. I believe where there is a will there is a way and we could organize for capacity building; from the people with the technical know how. Some of these organizations are like the city garbage recyclers.
These groups can form self help groups that could enable them to raise money for building their houses. They could as a result use cheap building material made from recycled garbage; like the plastic roofing slabs made from molten plastics. We can also use bricks made from mud and cement. These ideas may actually reduce the cost of building.
We could also seek audience with our Members of parliament, councillors and local leaders so as to keep them on their toes regarding development of informal settlements. This tradition of seeing our politicians just near the election; when they are desperate for our votes and the next time we see them is after five years. Politicians have resorted to buying their way into the leadership positions by bribing constituents, who are more than willing to sell their votes. It has become a vicious cycle that must be broken in order to realise tangible development. We are the employers of our political leaders, so we should monitor their work.
This should be followed up by proposals to the Community Development funds (CDF) and Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP) among other funds that are available for the development in our communities. It is our full right to access these monies. Only after all these efforts can we sit back and analyse who is failing us. Knowing that we have played our part, we could also use the media to inform our leaders of our disappointments with their leadership strategies. Along with proposals to government bodies, there are also Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), both local and international that would be interested in funding similar projects. Through our activities and networking with various groups, we may end up attracting the external donors’ interest. This indeed is possible, because I have witnessed groups form and start activities that now earn them a living.
Our fascinating city has all kinds of imaginable talents, some of which would even surprise you; examples are Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) football team, the Eco-sandals industry which makes sandals out of recycled tyres, the City garbage recyclers in the east lands estate; Makadara , local musicians, Koch FM- a radio station in Korogocho slum, several youth groups and numerous other enterprises initiated especially by young people- most of whom live in resource strained suburbs of the capital. With these talents also comes innumerable untapped potential, which may be discovered during the youth activities. The vast population living in the slums is majorly jobless, or living under a dollar a day. The initiatives would be a good job creation strategy that could be appreciated by the people. I believe that together we stand, divided we fall.



July 15, 2008 | 4:09 AM Comments  0 comments

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Kenya must come to its sences
Related to country: Kenya

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

KENYA MUST COME TO ITS SENCES.
Some things that we take for granted are so important to be thankful for. Say getting the daily bread when you are in possession of money, finding airtime for your cell phone or even the tranquility of our daily lives. Not until we lose them, then we start to treasure what little privileges we have.
I have grown to know our country Kenya as a peaceful nation; in my short life on this earth. We have always lived as brother and sister in a country that has a diversity of over forty tribes. Not until the democracy of our country was put into question. Kenya is believed to be one of the most democratic countries in the continent. Immediately after announcement of December 27th poll results, brother turned against brother. The whole country was painted red in bloodshed.
Scores of people were displaced and hundreds others lost dear life. Property worth millions were looted others burned and people raped, injured and killed and what’s worse? Vehicles sometimes were not allowed to the city centre so whatever happens to you, whether you are injured or raped; walk to the hospital. All these because of politics and yet the people we are fighting for are living in the comfort of their homes at the end of the day.
People in the slum areas were the most affected and are still nursing their wounds. Many people in the informal settlements are the quick target of incitement, and though they may think they have nothing to lose while engaging in acts of hooliganism, they are the worst hit by their act, on the contrary. They are the very ones that now rely on relief food from well wishers in temporary camps set in their own country.
Indeed I agree that vote rigging, if there was any, is a very serious offence against Kenyans who exercised their right to vote. But come to think of it, was your neighbour among those who were involved in the rigging exercise? As Esther Passaris of Adopt a Light said in a press conference recently, “your neighbour is not your enemy”.
We hear and read stories of the Rwandan genocide which stared in a much similar way- division among tribal lines. Rwanda is better off because there were two major tribes, which were fighting against each other. If the same incidence were to happen in our country today, if this madness were witnessing daily continues, just stop and ask yourselves- forty two tribes fighting against each other and living in mistrust- who would remain? We have been raised up knowing each other as brother and sister despite where we come from, what example do we want to set to the young children who will lead this country tomorrow?
I am speaking as a Kenyan citizen who is pained by all the madness that has been going on in our country for the past few weeks. I think we saw the example that our politicians gave us in parliament. Though they had reasonable doubts about the fairness of the general elections; they did not throw stones at each other or burn each other’s vehicles. There were even handshakes exchanged across the floor.
I am also glad that finally the two gentlemen who hold the destiny of this country, finally sat together to negotiate on the way forward; under the chair of the former UN secretary general his honourable Kofi Anan. We hope that what we saw on the media; the two shaking hands despite their differences; will have a positive outcome in ending the current political stalemate. Lives of innocent people have been lost, property destroyed and the country continues to be destroyed. Is it really worth the unnecessary suffering? I appeal to all Kenyans to come to their senses and stop the madness!
By: Juliet Jacqline Awuor Otieno.
Student (Daystar University)
awuorjuliet@yahoo.com / juliejacqui@gmail.com
Cell phone- 0724-175684
Address- P. O. Box, 9030-00300, Nairobi, Kenya



January 30, 2008 | 8:06 PM Comments  3 comments

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