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18:02
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Why Live 8 Sucked and What You Can Do About It?
Hey,
If you didn’t think I was odd before, get ready to believe I am. I was reading a great free report by Rich Schefren and in the midst of it, he asked us to create a faux-advertisement to hire staff to our organization.
Rich proposed that instead of thinking of what we offer as simply a job we should think of our firm as standing for a higher purpose and giving folks a chance to join that.
Now, I don’t own a firm, hence, the unedited, unproofed, “quite different” article today. Felt good to write it, pretty darn good.
Some time ago, some frat kids, some rock stars and a whole lot of celebrities got together and held Live 8. The premise of Live8 was to end poverty, particularly African poverty forever. Now, I know that you, just like me, knew that Live 8 wouldn’t result in much. Sure we knew they would sign dance and wave their glow sticks. We also knew that like politicians since time immemorial, the G8 leaders would step forward and present their latest way to increase the compound interest loans that have helped keep Africa under their boot while declaring it “relief” or “charity” or “their divine gift to us”
Sadly we all knew that a few weeks later, no one would remember Live 8 and more importantly, no one would remember your family and mine who are still living in a poverty that they never helped create.
Well it is time to put an end to that. My name is Tony Chomba Mwangi Njanja and I am going to tell you how.
First of all we need to change our focus. The focus of Live 8 was to make poverty history. We need to first change our focus to creating wealth today. I should be clear though, I am not just talking about Mercedes Benzes and 5 Star mansions. I am talking about a depth of spirit, relationships based on love, respect and friendship and a country and environment that we can genuinely feel proud to leave to the next generation. So, instead of focussing on how we will get our family members out of poverty and into that vacuum where they will now be middle class and ignorant, let’s change our focus to making them the best human beings possible and leave signs of divine blessings all over them.
The question then becomes, how can we help them create wealth. The answer is quite simple. By creating wealth ourselves and then teaching them how to do it. This is where you come in. For the last 8 months, I have run the blog, theDisplacedAfrican.com, where I have poured my heart and soul into revealing the best knowledge I had on how we can become true stewards of wealth in this world.
Over the past few months, it became increasingly clear to me, that trying to teach a hungry man how to have a better psychology is like trying to play tennis with an elephant as a racquet: very illogical to the point of being ludicrous. So I paused to reflect and realized something:
I wasn’t helping people take enough action.
I mean, you and I both know that this is where the success truly lies. When we take the greatest gift that God gave us, our free will and use it to take action and bring about results. My blog, however, was nothing more than an intellectual pitstop. A place where people could stop by and feel good about themselves, bad about me, bad about others, inspired, relieved etc etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love inspiring people, and I love having positive nurturing debates. But we don’t need any more Pursuit of Happyness movies, what we need are Chris Gardiners. We need more people so dedicated to results that they take action each and every single day.
And so, I expanded the Displaced African and opened up the Displaced African mentorship program. Here, I take all my successes, the successes of all the great African immigrants I can find and process all this into a practical, get it done course, dedicated to helping people take action and achieve results in their life.
This is where you come in. You see, most people don’t understand immigrant law. In truth, most of us, don’t care. When we do, it’s usually because we have problems. We usually only care when we have a DUI that threatens to deport us, or our visa expired but we had no money for the ticket home or our friend has been arrested and we want to help them stay in the country. But a lot of this time, these people have nowhere to turn even in these desperate moments.
The Displaced African is committed to putting an end to that. We want to ensure that no matter the day, someone always has access to a sound mind that is well versed in immigration law. And so, I am inviting you to join my mentorship program as an immigration consultant, as part of my emergency team.
Whereas it may seem like the emergency team isn’t linked to the Live 8 goal ( remember that), I can assure you it is and I’ll tell you how.
Mark has been working so hard on creating a business thanks to the strategies presented in the Displaced African course that he doesn’t realize that his Visa application is due.
He is in a bind and doesn’t know what his options are.
One call to the helpline and his mind is put completely at ease: He can apply for the next six months, which he does through the firm and two weeks later he has his Visa in the mail.
Mark continues to work on his business which turns into the largest supplier of faux fur to the Alaskan people since the Eskimoes left.
He is wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.
One of the conditions of attending the course is that you must find a way to use your wealth to both educate and resource permanently the leaders and growth of our great home. Mark has no problem with this because he has had this gnawing desire to go home and work on something meaningful for a while.
Upon returning to his homeland of Kenya he realizes that he can quickly and easily revive and expand the late great Fideli’s MICH project which took certain parts of Nyanza from poverty to excess. Using the business skills he picked up abroad, he expands the project so quickly that within 2 years it is not only in Nyanza province but the whole East African region, with plans to expand to Central Africa.
While he does this, he notices that the level of rape in his native community of Nyeri is quite high. Using skills he learned from the mentoring program, he starts up, and much to everyone’s surprise, succesfully implements sexual sublimation classes. Who knew men didn’t always have to succumb to their base level desires? They can just redirect the stuff. This program is also so succesful that it becomes part and parcel of the revivied MICH program and begins to expand throughout the region.
I could go on and on and on, talking about how he creates a church for young men committed to taking positive, aggressive action to improve the community every single day. I could talk about his Sri Lankan wife, who he actually chose as opposed to settled for. I could also talk about his business building courses which he teaches every Sunday.
Instead, I will remind you, that all this happened because on that fateful day, when Mark could have been deported, you were there. You gave him guidance, you have him comfort and now, you have given Africa a future.
Do you want to be that missing piece in our jigsaw puzzle. If so, call XXX-XXXX and let’s talk about whether you are right for the vision of the company. Are you just looking for a Just Over Broke (JOB) that will pay your bills do not apply? Do you just want paper? Next!
We want people who care so much about the mission above that even if they were poor paupers living on the Street in sackcloth, that’s what they would work on. We want people who have such a gnawing in their heart to see African immigrants and Africa do better that they will come to the office early and leave late every single day. We care about your heart much more than we do about your credentials, though we definitely need for you to have credentials in…………………………….
So if that is you, and I have described a place where you want Africans to be, then please call XXX-XXX and speak to Tendai about coming in to speak to us.
Have an absolutely magnificent day,
Mwangi
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17:26
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Kenyan politics never lacks sparks and spices. The heat in each political party seems to hitting a crescendo every weekend. The product is an interesting and potentially explosive mix ambition and tension. While ODM is trying to contain its so-called rebels, the iron lady is going bare knuckles with Uhuru and all the pretenders of the throne waiting in the wings for coronation. And the calculative Dr. Steve is waiting in the wings to bag the trophy from the resulting spoils of war.
Behind all present political scheming lurk ambitions cleverly clothed lest the players burn their political houses by acquiring the traitor tag. These smart politico are torn between the competing tenets of ambition and its unavoidable side effect tension. But that doesn’t stop Martha from going for the jugular and aiming at Jomo Junior’s soft under belly.
Poor Uhuru must be gritting his teeth anytime Karua takes the microphone. And she never disappoints just like she did again this weekend by reminding all and sundry that the era of propping political PROJECTS ended with the previous regime and would not work in the prevailing political situation.
The fluid Kenyan politics can sometime even confound the most experienced. Prof Kiarie Kinuthia is left torn between political pragmatism and respect. While Kajiado councilors would want George to do the necessary by throwing his hat into the ring, the good Topology professor knows better that THERE COMES A TIME! In Muthengi you find a mathematician who truly values time and knows the benefits derivable from perfect timing.
At stake in all these schemes is the Gema vote basket. Prof Kimya must be dutifully praying that Karua burns both her political bridges and fingers and the son of Jomo retreats to the warmth of shell Kanu. And abracadabra miracles galore once the political coast is clear.
Payback time
No politician will stake his or her neck without a price. And if you don’t give it them, they come out fighting for it. How smartly they do that may as well demarcate the difference between success and failure. One Bill is doing it and cannot wait any longer to play second fiddle to son of Moses in the Pentagon hierarchy business.
Now enter Martha and you witness Wangari's intestines boiling with rage and disappointment after being sidestepped and seeing the dividends from her LABOUR directed to UK's political bank account. The lady from Gichugu is firing from all cylinders and out fighting tooth and nail. Only time will tell her destiny with certainty.
The next four years promises interesting political times for Kenya with plenty of twists and turns. Pretending to predict or have a roadmap of how Kenya's political landscape will evolve is to be naive at best or merely engaging in an OBTUSE EGO trip at worse.
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15:44
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
“Dear American Voter” is inviting you to be a part of a global dialogue featuring responses from around the world to the question, “What should Americans think about as they cast their ballot? ” (Uumm…if you vote for McCain…goodbye USA, hello Russia and China).
You can participate by sending in your videos, photos and [...]
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5:44
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
When the acronym LGBTI hit the headlines the first thing a friend’s sister said was, “I don’t give a toss about all that Lesbian, gay, transgender, transsexual stuff if you ask me. We are all human, all that is about identity”. I wasn’t asking her but she said it, anyway. When I [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Make amends now or fall!", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/09/make_amends_now_or_fall.html" });
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4:49
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
I just read a post by Hathor on being old and singular which made me feel quite sad……….
I have been called bitter, because I thought I had deserved more in life and said so. I am invisible, because I am older and I am also singular.
I became a singular person during [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Old age and stories of periwinkles and mudfish", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/09/old_age_and_stories_of_periwinkles_and_mudfish.html" });
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16:38
From: Walk of Kings:
Read This Entry & More At Walk of Kings:
Change and Guts .
Its hard when you know the right thing to do
Its hard when you need to change
Its hard when you cant master the guts to change
Its hard when you understand change
its hard to change
Its even harder to change and have the guts to change
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16:48
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
TAKE ACTION!
Completely Abolish U.S. HIV Travel Ban: Please write your Representative now!
Dear Friend,
Recently we celebrated the passage into law of H.R. 5501, the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (PL 110-293), which reauthorized the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to a [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Completely Abolish U.S. HIV Travel Ban", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/09/completely_abolish_us_hiv_travel_ban.html" });
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3:29
From: The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business
Read This Entry & More At The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business
As expected, John McCain lived up to his billing as a war monger during his acceptance speech at the RNC. He called on Americans from all walks of life to continue the Bush administration doctrine to stand up and fight. "I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. I know how the world works. I know the good and the evil in it." he said "And I've found just the right partner to help me shake up Washington, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. I'm not in the habit of breaking promises to my country and neither is Governor Palin. We've got a record of doing just that, and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you. We believe in a strong defense." he added "I liked to bend a few rules, and pick a few fights for the fun of it. But I did it for my own pleasure; my own pride. Now I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party." Fight with me. Fight with me. Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history. And I will fight.........for as long as I draw breath, so help me God....... CLICK THIS LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE SPEECH Also Related: ************************************* Barack Obama's historic nomination full speech to the Democratic National Convention in Denver
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1:53
From: My part of the world.......
Read This Entry & More At My part of the world.......
Whenever I tell people that I am eccentric and that I have many interesting quirks they usually discount it until they meet me in person. I was just thinking of one of my quirks that I was sharing with a friend. It really turns my stomach when people use "da" instead of "the" ie da beat instead of the beat. I know it's meant to be cool and hip but whenever I hear that it sounds like nails on chalkboard to me. But no I do not speak in Ye Old English, I do use slang but irregardless "da" really bothers me. In other news I think I am going through severe dog withdrawal, you see before I came out here I have always had a dog or dogs. So coming out here and not having a pet would get to me sooner or later, me getting a dog of my own is out of the question. I don't think it would be fair to coop up a dog in an apartment the whole day while I'm at work, at least in Kenya they could run around in your compound when you were gone. So I have come up with a solution, I am going to start dating a woman who has a dog, preferably a gold labrador retriever with a friendly disposition. I can see some of you scowling, at least I'm not planning on using her for sex. This would be a beneficial relationship for the three of us; me, her and rover. I think I should begin drafting my must have a dog personal ad right now, wish me luck! I was reading this article in a scientific journal that posed the theory that, it is not that we forget things over time, it's just that we are unable to recall them. I've noticed that even though I forget alot of things like everyone else, in my mind I tend to like alot of things and that helps me recall somethings I was never even thinking about in the first place. I was online and I saw a picture of a comic called Secret Six, the next thought that came in mind was Secret Seven and after that the next thing I remembered was the name of the author of the Secret Seven, Enid Blyton. I was not a big fan of her books but I do remember that in primary school the library had quite a few of her books for the younger students. I guess the big lesson here is that if you want to remember something easily, associate something with it so recall will become a whole lot easier. Thats my PSA message for today. I have decided to take a break from highlighting fashion disasters to instead sharing some funny cartoons I found online.   The cartoon above is funny to me because many techno songs are actually that repetitive! If you have the first 30 secs you have the whole song! Have a nice weekend people!
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19:57
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
I was perusing the BD Africa Technology section and they’re a whole bunch of companies that are trying to strategically place themselves in the right place in order to take advantage of this high speed cable line that is supposedly coming.
Now, I know a lot of Kenyans are still hung up on “old” industries like [...]
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17:12
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
So I’ve tinkered in a lot of activism / tree-hugging / save the world type endeavors in the last few (or more) years most of which have not achieved the notoriety of Mzalendo or Ushahidi…largely because I’ve been unable to clone myself, sometimes inertia, and then there’s that pesky problem of paying the bills. [...]
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13:16
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
 William Samoiye Ruto may have made history in 2006 by defying his godfather ex-President Moi while still serving as KANU secretary general to declare that he would be vying for presidency; but this history is something Raila Odinga had done way back in 2001, while Moi was still a serving powerful president, and even went further to persuade reluctant KANU hawks like Kalonzo Musyoka, Joseph Kamotho, William Ole Ntimama, Mody Awori, George Saitoti ,et al to defy Moi and join opposition – five whole years before William Ruto could master any guts. Sadly for those of us who held the NARC dream dear and are presently holding the ODM dream close to their hearts, the political activities of William Ruto – who was literally assisted into political rehabilitation and continues to be sheltered from powerful foes – are being interpreted in ODM circles as a direct affront to the stability of the party and a threat to the political targets of the millions of party supporters. If these fears are confirmed, then it will be a massive betrayal by one person who was selected to negotiate the national peace accord with PNU on behalf of ODM. Read this link where fearless Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo makes reference to an unnamed senior cabinet minister undermining ODM. Whereas ODM democracy encourages fair internal competition amongst members, it is critical that party loyalty is observed given our laws and political circumstances. Unfortunately, emerging information indicates that Ruto’s underground activities are nothing but pure subversion. The fact remains that politicians commonly engage in scheming and strategy so as to retain or win powerful offices. Businesses do the same to remain competitive and any student of management will tell you that “strategy” is a core subject at any level in university. Perhaps because of panic or excitement, Ruto is assuming that strategy and subversion are two similar words. One myth being peddled around is that William Ruto has now come of age and has set his eyes on the country’s top seat. Ruto is glorified in Kenyan press as being in total control of the expansive Rift Valley vote and that all that is now required is to revive Kamatusa, through an alliance with say Uhuru Kenyatta or Martha Karua and H.E. President William S. Ruto will be made a reality. This is the biggest joke that has now become a thorn in the flesh of ODM. The last time I heard this myth, ex-president Moi was in ‘total control’ of the same constituency and that the votes in this province would go wherever the elder Moi led them to. To the amazement of many, the 2007 elections shattered the Moi myth to smithereens. This weekend, who-is-who in ODM are retreating to Naivasha to discuss ‘the party constitution’. Those of us in the know are aware party discipline is a major agenda. Additionally, the god-sent political parties act and the forthcoming ODM grassroot elections will be discussed. If naivety prevails and any politician fail to strategise or scheme poorly, they will most certainly find themselves unceremoniously thrown out of the game. Through ODM, William Ruto made an unsuccessful bid for the presidential ticket last year where he was beaten to a distant third behind second placed Musalia Mudavadi and unanimous winner Raila Odinga. That was despite the usual misinformed predictions that Raila would be given a run for his money by Ruto who was then purportedly controlling more delegates by virtue of being the Rift Valley candidate. You and I know Raila made mince meat of the Ruto myth in Kasarani historic primaries, but was then kind enough to extend a third critical lifeline by creating and drafting Ruto as a senior member of one of the most exciting and most prestigious political politburos ever witnessed since the NARC summit – the ODM PENTAGON. The first lifeline was when Ruto had to be guided into freely declaring his interest in the presidency when he was still serving as KANU SG amidst Moi’s massive shadow, while the second was when predicable Kalonzo puppets Maanzo and Chepkonga took off with ODM-K party certificate leaving many a naked souls less than six months to the general elections and no one knew where to take cover until Raila came to the rescue with his ODM scoop – a party whose ticket Ruto and many Rift Valley MPs were re-elected back to parliament and appointed to cabinet by Raila! It will therefore come as a great surprise to many that William Ruto is the man being fingered to be behind the rebellion gripping the ODM. It is an open secret that Ruto has been unable to tame his ambition and has since January 2008, been spoiling for a political duel with DPM Musalia Mudavadi so as to upstage him as deputy captain and in the process place himself in a strategic position to, at most, run for president in the next elections or, at worst, land the PM’s seat. But what is really driving Arap Ruto’s ambition? Is it qualification, self-belief, or the huge Rift Valley vote basket that he supposedly controls? Is it a bold attempt to keep Y2K mega-deals buried or maybe it is the fear of having to be made answerable for involvement in post election violence? Perhaps it is an attempt to keep the existing court process at arm’s length? Only time (read-elections) will tell. If one asks Musakari Kombo, Raphael Tuju, Simeon Nyachae, Shem Ochuodho, Njenga Karume, Mukhisa Kituyi, Kalembe Ndile, Daniel arap Moi, or even Mwai Kibaki himself; poor political scheming and strategizing does have serious pitfalls. If it is intended to serve one’s individual interests without causing injury, harm or violence to others or the country, then it is all well and good. This is normally treated as acceptable behaviour that is within political ethics. But scheming to secure personal political advantages through the use of diabolical schemes such as violence, betrayal, infiltration and backstabbing is as destructive and diseased as the minds that conceptualize them. Remember gentlemen and ladies, just a few months after being sworn in, ODM – the people’s party – has already lost the lives of four sitting MPs through violence and accident(s) that so far remain unresolved.
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7:37
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
What happened to the shares of Crown Berger last Friday was an anomaly that gives a bad impression of the NSE. The company announced an increase in pre-tax profits on Thursday only for their shares to nose dive from Kshs. 38 to Kshs. 8 on Friday, before settling at 19.75, about 48% lower – on a volume of just 10,000 shares. Still as the running thread of NSE insiders shows, such one day spike trades have usually on the upper side (Equity, Citi Trust, CFC, to name a few), and don’t merit much complaint, except from skeptics. But if I was a shareholder of Crown (used to be one two years ago), I’d be very upset that 50% of my portfolio in an otherwise sound company has been wiped out in one day. What Crown is going through is no different than any manufacturing company as this time of high oil prices; they have even had mostly good press - expanding regionally, attained Super brand status recently etc. There’s a supposed 10% rule on price moves following market information, which is selectively applied. This unusual trade was sloppy or sinister, should never have been allowed.
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7:34
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
Wann weiß man(n) eigentlich, wann man die Richtige (Lebensabschnittsgefährtin) gefunden hat?
Wird das dann irgendwo angezeigt oder bekommt man es gesagt?
Neulich stand ich in einem Laden und sah eine sehr schöne Lederjacke. “Boah, die isset…”, dachte ich mir, “…aber der Preis…naa…kann ich mir nicht wirklich leisten”. Angezogen sah sie aber wirklich gut aus und war genau (!) das wonach ich geschaut hatte.
1 Woche später habe ich sie mir dann gekauft und bin seitdem glücklich damit.
Geht das auch so leicht mit Beziehungen? Wann weiß man, ob es die richtige Partnerin ist? Wenn man sie mit den Exen vergleicht? Oder mit der erstellten Liste der Traumfraumerkmale? Und was ist mit den christlichen Freunden, die irgendwie alle schon so (gefühlt)vorzeitig heiraten? Haben die ihre Wahl jemals bereut?
Not that I haven’t made up my mind on this. Ich glaube aber im Leben eines Mannes gibt es diese “George Clooney-ich-will-mich-nicht-festlegen” Momente. Ob das gut ist? Keine Ahnung.
Die Erkenntnis jedoch, dass man mit einer Person wirklich bis zum Ende zusammen sein und alles teilen möchte - das ist meiner Meinung nach genauso wichtig wie über evtl. Zweifel zu diskutieren. Daher die Frage: inweit darf, kann oder muss eine Entscheidung zur Partnerschaft eine Bauchentscheidung sein?
Oder anders gefragt: welcher Maßstab muss zur Beurteilung des eigenen Befindlichkeitzustandes angelegt werden? - Wie weiß man, wann es einem gut geht?
  
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7:12
From: The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business
Read This Entry & More At The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business
The U.S. practices selective proliferation with India , and selective sovereignty with those it chooses (today Pakistan , tomorrow someone other than Pakistan ), while at the same time violating the sovereignty of other states- depending on its whim at the time. If he becomes the next US president (God Forbid), John McCain has vowed to stay put in Iraq to bring more misery to the Iraqis . On the other hand, the Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has elaborated a pull out plan but says he will send more US soldiers into Afghanistan. The extension of the war on terror by the U.S. is bad for a number of reasons: the perspective of the international Muslim community; the fact that a military solution has not worked thus far, so why keep kicking a dead horse ; the delicate balance of power in the immediate theatre and in the broader region; the likely negative reaction of other states; and last but not least, its potential impact on the price and availability of oil. Have you ever thought What would happen should the US find itself at war with the entire world ...READ MORE
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6:33
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
Most of June I spent in Kenya, much of that time talking to developers and getting ready for the next big Ushahidi push. During that time there was a new article about Ushahidi being one of the “Ten Startups to Watch” in the Technology Review, which was exciting for us to say the least!
July and August have been spent working hard on getting the application rebuilt, the site redesigned and creating partnerships with other organizations. September is about launching the NEW Ushahidi.
A New Website
Now we’re off and running with a new website design, live today, that shows how our goals and focus have changed since things blew up in Kenya. (get a new Ushahidi button for your site.)
Funding
I’m very happy to announce that we’ve secured more than the $25,000 prize money from NetSquared (which has allowed us to do so much already). We have also just secured a grant of $200,000 from Humanity United!
 Humanity United is an independent grantmaking organization committed to building a world where modern-day slavery and mass atrocities are no longer possible. They support efforts that empower affected communities and address the root causes of conflict and modern-day slavery to build lasting peace.
There is an obvious fit between Humanity United and Ushahidi, after all, we were founded on the same beliefs back in January in Kenya. Though we’re creating the Ushahidi engine as an open source project, our goal remains to see it used to better understand, give warning of, and recover from mass atrocities.
The Vision
Ushahidi is moving from being a one-time mashup covering the post-election violence in Kenya to something bigger. We are setting out to create an engine that will allow anyone to do what we did. A free and open source tool that will help in the crowdsourcing of information - with our personal focus on crisis and early warning information.
We see this tool being used in two ways:
- First, to crowdsource crisis information by creating an online space that allows “everyday” people all over the world to report what they see during a crisis situation, and whose reports are generally overlooked or under reported by most media and governments.
- Second, make that software engine free and available to the world, so that others can benefit from a tool that allows distributed data gathering and data visualizations.
We’re aiming to release an alpha version of it in just a few weeks for internal testing, and for alpha testing with pre-screened pilot organizations.
Volunteer Devs, Designers and Others
One of the reasons Ory and I were in Kenya was to talk to developers about helping with Ushahidi. We were overwhelmed with the amount of interest and the quality of the people who stepped up. So far we have a team working on mobile phones, a designers group, and a number of PHP experts. Go ahead and take a look at the development wiki as well.
If you’d like to play a part, get in touch and we’ll see where you can best fit in. You don’t have to be a developer or designer either.
[Credits: Richard “Ochie” Flores for the excellent design, Kwame Nyong’o for the beautiful illustrations, and Ivan Bernat for the spotless HTML/CSS markup.)
Press Release: Ushahidi Funding & New Website (PDF)
 
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5:35
From: AfriGadget
Read This Entry & More At AfriGadget
 Kibera from space
Google Earth is one way to appreciate the crush in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. Not surprisingly popular images of people living in desperate conditions aren’t far from the truth when it comes to this corner of Nairobi - but out of the madness comes a little hope.
 Raw sewage flows above ground
I witnessed some amazing innovations in Kibera and conclude that people have adjusted to their situation and are making the most of it. Because of the stress associated with limitations on land, energy, water, and food the people have found innovative ways of surviving. This post is mainly about farming.
Vertical farming
like this guy and his vertical garden which feeds his family and he even sells some produce. It’s a variation on what JKE wrote about in the post on Keyhole gardens in Botswana.
 Like the key hole garden of Swaziland, this veggie patch serves a family on a tiny piece of land
Finding land in rubbish
Now a local organic farming company Green Dreams has been documenting the progress of transforming a garbage dump to an organic farm on the Green Dreams blog. They are working with a local youth group comprising reformed criminals in converting garbage into organic manure, and garbage dumps into organic farms.
 Before the clean up and farming
 Clearing land of garbage
 installing irrigation
Irrigation taps the mains water and supplies nutrient rich feeds from organic fertilizer produced on the site from crops and worms, yes they harvested local earthworms to start vermiculture.
 Worm farm - just a tray with kitchen wastes feeds a bunch of earthworms that produce organic liquid manure
 Planting seedlings, cleared waste is bundled under shade cloth and planted with pumpkin to create a green soil erosion barrier
Check out the planting implements, a PVC Pipe adapted to deliver seeds into a perfectly dug hole! This was invented to help with the back breaking work of planting.
 Scarecrow
 Garbage dump transformed this is the Kibera organic farm - 3 months after clearing the dump
After 3 months the community of 30 families were harvesting, eating and selling organic produce. Yum! Impossible to ignore how a dirty dump turned green, everyone wants a farm in Kibera now. This group is now selling their expertise to raise funds and help others.
Natural Bean Tenderizer
There was a smouldering fire where banana leaves were being reduced to ash, then the ash dissolved in water and the brown murky astringent solution sold for Ksh 50 ($.80) per 250 ml in vodka bottles! This is a bean tenderizer reducing the time to boil red kidney beans by 50%! Imagine the savings on charcoal/fuel.
Safe Dispensing of Fuel
 Kerosene is dispensed from a caged petrol pump for security
Notice that there was no protection around the farm or it’s equipment. Apparently the reputation of these ‘reformed criminals’ is enough of a deterrent.
 Kids in Kibera
Life might be hard in Kibera but yet when you visit you can’t ignore the vibrancy, colorfulness, camaraderie amongst the inhabitants it was one time that I got the feeling that people here love life
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5:34
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
South Africa is the only safe zone in Africa for LGBTI but how welcome are asylum seekers?
SA IS one of only seven countries in the world that grants refugee status on the basis of sexual orientation. But people seeking that relief are battling as much as other refugees in the country.
Asylum in Greece Campaign [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Quick Links", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/09/quick_links-12.html" });
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5:10
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
La Chola reminds us reminds us (just in case we’ve forgotten) “Why that police brutality stuff matters”
I think that for violence against women to end, violence on all levels must be questioned, challenged and interrogated–violence on all levels regardless of who is committing it, must stop making sense. Police brutality at protest events matter because [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Police brutality matters", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/09/police_brutality_matters.html" });
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2:07
From: Rants, Raves & Reviews
Read This Entry & More At Rants, Raves & Reviews
Not my usual topic... but is mswati of Swaziland a paedophile? Whereas there may be some cultural reason or justification... I just can't wrap my mind around it. It is abhorrent to me. Or am I being Euro-centric? He is 40 years & is looking at marrying girls who are barely 16 years. He could have daughters that old! In Kenya, we have the founder of Java Coffee House in court on charges of paedophelia. Should mswati be allowed to enter Kenya? Has he ever been to Kenya? (My advice... if mswati is in town... lock up your daughters!) What say you? P.S. My personal opinion is mswati should be deposed, castrated then jailed for life.
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18:49
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
Something tells me that this gadgetimoja will become very popular in some parts of Kenya….
[via]
AOB: my first post from Ubuntu! Earlier this week, a colleague of mine asked me which firewall software he should use next to his Avira antivirus scanner on WinXP. I told him to try Ubuntu instead if all he does is surfing the web + some office tasks. Why? Because it may just be what he needs.
As for me, I’ve switched from Kubuntu (KDE 3.x + 4.x) back to Ubuntu (Gnome) earlier this week as I realized that Ubuntu is what I need on my laptop here. A perfect alternative to WinXP. The only thing I dislike about Ubuntu & Co so far is that it really only makes sense if you have an internet connection that provides enough bandwidth for updates (I am still to figure out how to download updates to an offline repository). Slowly switching from WinXP to Ubuntu apparently also includes the realization that a limited availability of programms (see also Apple Mac) isn’t necessarily that bad. Hey, it even connects to my phone! And printer installation….wooohaaa! 25 minutes / 800 MB software package to install an AIO HP OfficeJet 7210 printer within WinXP, but less than one minute within Ubuntu. Sure, this will only cover the driver, but then - even the driver package alone is ~70MB on WinXP.
  
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14:24
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
While we cannot underestimate Kalonzo Musyoka's household need for that extra Ksh. 400,000.00 (somebody has to pay for that honey bee keeping project on his farm) we must continue encouraging Pauline to follow suit. In fact, we must ask Lucy Kibaki to refund the millions of shillings she has pocketed...courtesy of our paychecks. Lazima arudishe pesa zetu. I mean, when was the last time we heard or read about Lucy's grand cash donation to any women's/children organization? You see, that is the excuse these top-dog wives have been using…..ati they need state taxpayer funds to hold harambees and host delegations on behalf of the country. Nonsense!!
What I fail to understand is why we continue to allow these 'leaders' to continue fleecing us. Here we are today funding a bloated cabinet alongside fantastic MP salaries while the majority of us who cannot eat sukuma-wiki for an entire week resort to boiled leaves from wild bushes. For proteins we swallow mushrooms. If you go to Turkana district, you will find sovereign Kenyan folk eating juicy cactus and paying exorbitant taxes to feed and cloth our MPs, their several wives and their rugby-playing, carnivore-going, national-school-backdoor-entry children. Mpaka lini?
Kenyans, we must rise up….especially when it comes to our money. Mexico City has seen its populous demonstrate against high insecurity. Is there any explanation why Kenyans cannot demonstrate against exorbitant taxes? Other than eating NGO money, what is the responsibility of civil societies?
My friends, it’s a trickle down effect. To sustain and increase the girth size of our MPs pot bellies, businesses are paying unwarranted taxes and consequently cannot afford to employ the youth. It is these unemployed youth who join banned sects then go around slashing the foreheads of other jobless Kenyan folk. In the meantime, Lucy Kibaki is purchasing blueberry pancakes and fried eggs at Wimpy….with our tax money.
Our proudest moment is captured when we see that Kenyan flag draped E-class Mercedes Benz dropping off our beautiful high school girls in the middle of the night. "Bendera imefika!" we shout in delight.
Fellas, when it comes to wifely salaries, I'm just pissed off.
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5:23
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
half year to June 30 2008
Pre-Tax Profit: Barclays 4,295 million shillings [$64 million], KCB 3,394, Equity 2,997, Standard Chartered 2,321, Citibank 1,694, Cooperative 1,664, National Bank of Kenya 902, Commercial Bank of Africa 847, Investment & Mortgages 767, CFCStanbic 698 [$10.4 million]
12 month profit change : Ecobank 633% (to Kshs. 66m), Family 290%, Equity 189%,
Bank Africa 105%, Prime 98%, Giro 86%, Dubai 85%, KCB 77%, Guardian 76%, Citibank 75% then Consolidated, Cooperative, NBK, Credit, I&M
Deposits: Barclays 128,765 million shillings [$1.92 billion], KCB 93,372, Standard Chartered 73,512, Cooperative 59,072, CFCStanbic 57,040, Equity 42,116, Commercial Bank of Africa 35,135, National Bank of Kenya, 34,020, NIC 30, 165, Citibank Kenya 27,836 [$415 million]
12 month deposit growth: Equity 78%, Chase 58%, Prime 57%, Development Bank 41%, Diamond trust 38%, Fidelity 36%, CFCStanbic 33%, Oriental 32%, NIC 31%, Equatorial 29%, Transnational 23%, Barclays and Imperial 22% then KCB, Bank Africa, ABC.
Loans: Barclays 106,691 [$1.59 billion], KCB 60,165, Standard Chartered 45,351, Cooperative 43,411, CFCStanbic 38,746, Equity 34,273, NIC 25,727, Diamond Trust 22,320, Commercial Bank of Africa 21,803, Investment & Mortgages 20,703 [$309 million]
12 month loan growth: Equity 139%, Chase 88%, Prime 66%, Baroda 57%, Development Bank 54%, Commercial Bank of Africa 52%, Family Bank 51%, Co-op Bank 44%, Credit 44%, Fidelity 41%, then NIC, Bank of Africa, Diamond trust, I&M, CFCStanbic, Fina, Barclays.
Where to work: high employers - 6 month staff expenses; Barclays 3,287 million [$49 million], KCB 2,767, Cooperative 1,387, Standard Chartered 1,306, Equity 1,245, National Bank of Kenya 864, Commercial Bank of Africa 423, Citibank Kenya 416, CFCStanbic 389, Diamond Trust 330
directors; Standard Chartered 61 [$910,000], KCB 57, Cooperative 26, Commercial Bank of Africa 25, NIC 22, CFCStanbic 21, National Bank of Kenya 17, K-Rep 17, Southern Credit 14, Diamond Trust 12
Assets: 12 month asset growth: Equity 135%, Chase 76%, KCB 66%, Citibank 65%, Prime 59%, CFCStanbic 42%, Diamond trust 40%, Family bank 39%, I&M 33%, Bank of Africa 23%, Barclays 22%
Return on assets: Equity 4.28%, Citibank 2.85%, India 2.84%, Barclays 2.58%, Stanchart 2.45%, Coop Bank 2.31%
Non-performing assets: Cooperative Kshs. 8,841 million ($132m) , KCB 6,982, Barclays 5,986, Ecobank/EABS 3,492, CFCStanbic 3,435, National Bank of Kenya 2,559, Housing Finance 2,302, Standard Chartered 2,045, Equity 1,845, Commercial Bank of Africa 1,540
Sgare capital : Barclays Kshs. 19,233 ($287 million), Equity 19,005, Standard Chartered 9,615, KCB 9,591, Citibank Kenya 7,791, CFCStanbic 6,865, Cooperative 6,710, National Bank of Kenya 4,912, NIC 4,649, Diamond Trust 4,259
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23:55
From: The Shikwekwes - An African Webcomic
Read This Entry & More At The Shikwekwes - An African Webcomic
The Olympics were pretty eventful for Kenya. It was a moment of great pride and joy to see the national anthem played on the final day for all to hear. Pamela Jelimo stormed her way to the first gold for a female athlete. But one of the most intriguing stories was about the underage Chinese girls who competed in Gymnastics. It was pretty obvious that the government had gone to great lengths to alter their ages. Which may have gotten Phyllis thinking…
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21:18
From: Marian's Blog
Read This Entry & More At Marian's Blog
Below, in sharp relief, are details of the constant, intimate and deeply disturbing interaction of U.S. "business" and "commerce" with Black American genealogy and history, and our ongoing attempts to save, locate, help and protect ourselves and each other (including...
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21:04
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
My co-host on SARFM radio (I get tickled silly that I can say that), Pammy, sent me an email asking me to check out a video.
The Topic of the Video: Should You Move in with Him?
It was 3 African women discussing whether or not they should move in with a man while living in the disapora. Check out the Youtube video right here:
What’s Very Cool About the Video?
Is its something that’s relevant to me and that I can relate to: I have many friends and acquaintances who have moved in with their romantic and sexual partners.
Sure its very common for Westerners to do it, actually here in Oz de facto couples have almost equal rights to marriage couples depending on the duration of their union, but very rarely is it discussed by us for us.
So Check Out the Video
Leave some Youtube comments and let them know what you think. If you have anything to add to the topic area, you are free to leave a comment below.
Have an awesome day,
Mwangi
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20:10
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Age?
I keep telling myself that the guys who are frantically trying to change the law to bar Prime Minister Raila Odinga from running for president again are kidding. If they were not, when did it occur to them that age is a liability to effective governance? Did you hear any of these guys worry about Moi's age when he repeatedly sought reelection? Did they stay up late to agonize about President Kibaki's age? There's a reason they didn't.
I'm not going to bore you with a chronology of cultural evolution, where African communities placed a high premium on age. Indeed, grayness was equated with wisdom. When adolescent boys were around the elderly folk, they were required to be still and absorb the wisdom that emanated from years of experience...years of watching the world. The elders were supposed to be wise. And they were. Why is that we'd suddenly view such a noble cultural blessing as a liability?
The answer in cynicism.
If these people who are now calling for a change of the laws had a track record of pushing for this change over the years, we'd have taken them seriously. As it is, we have to believe they are doing this only for the sake of blocking an eventual Odinga candidacy. The sad thing about an approach like this is that it's profoundly stupid. It reflects poorly on the people who are for such draconian measures, and it exposes them for the charlatans they are. Do they think politics is an eternal game? At some point they have to realize that once they are elected they carry people's lives in their hands. Children and mothers and struggling fathers look up to them daily, yet they are spending their time scheming how to deny some people a chance to lead.
How outrageous is this!
Common sense should of course dictate that at a certain age a man or a woman is too old to seek the highest office in the land. That age is debatable, so I won't be firm on a figure. I would put it at anywhere between sixty-eight and and seventy-two for anybody seeking a first term. And for the sake of molding a vibrant, working society, it would be wise to engrave an agreed upon age limit in the constitution. That way we'll not be sidetracked by people who never saw a tunnel they didn't want to crawl under.
Indeed, the MPs who are wasting our time with this matter need to be reminded that their constituents are looking to them for development, not perpetual politicking. 2012 is four years away, just imagine how much they could do if they focused their energies on themes that unite the nation and build their constituencies rather than always looking for an angle to score points.
But can a bat start flying in broad daylight?
Mmhhh....
Some of these guys have no clue what it means to be a representative.
They shame themselves!
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17:12
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
Marian Douglas-Ungaro with some very provocative thoughts on the nomination and possible presidency of Barack Obama….. her view may not be a popular mainstream one but it is an important one and at least encourages a debate away from the cultist mass worship of “Obamatronics” which is gathering momentum in Africa, the Americas and Caribbean………..
Speaking [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Ethnicity is not solely race, nor vice versa.....", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/09/ethnicity_is_not_solely_race_nor_vice_versa.html" });
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13:13
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Nekessa Opoti: What began as peaceful protests in St. Paul, Minnesota today ended in the arrests of close to 150 people. Many of the protesters were anti-war activists. Some had been preparing for at least a year to protest the Republican National Convention (RNC). Others just showed up today. At least 10,000 people, from Minnesota and the rest of the US, showed up on the streets of downtown St. Paul.
Read more here.
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13:01
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Nanjala Nyabola: Two weeks ago, I was one of a group of about 16 meeting in Kibera to review the success of a few development projects and look for a variety of ways to get involved. About 10 in the group were foreign students – 8 white Europeans and 2 Chinese – and the rest of us were African. The group spilt into two groups where each group would inspect a couple of projects, meet back at a central location and then swap projects to inspect. It emerged however, that the (almost entirely white) group didn’t want to inspect a project but preferred to walk around “just to see”. Now, this is where the hair stood on the back of my neck and a part of my spirit cried, “No!” Read more here.
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11:05
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to participate in a documentary on the Ethiopian youth who live in commission housing in a suburb called Carlton.
Considering my shallow understanding of the topic area, I invited along a friend of mine from church - big up to U - who just happened to be of Ethiopi | |
