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22:45 Girls Gone Wild….
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com I wasn’t going to write a piece on these high school students in Kenya behaving like hooligans, but this video caught my attention because now the girls are behaving badly. They even torched a school. Whaaaat? Women don’t tend to behave like this, so this suggests that something very wrong is taking place [...]
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22:08
Supporting Barack Obama
» For Love and Money Supporting Barack Obama
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15:01
Who Else Wants the Cheapest Flights to Africa?
» The Displaced African To share this article on Facebook, click here.
Are you going to be flying to Africa later this year? Do you want to save as much money as possible on airfare?
Without too much build up, this page was created to be a resource list to help you get the cheapest flights to Africa.
I am writing this article from Australia, but a significant share of resources that I recommend are international and Internet based.
Request Line
I only have two humble requests:
1) If you know a cheaper or a better way to get airline tickets, please leave a comment below and let us know.
2) Should you decide to use one of the resources I suggest please use the links within this article, a lot of them (not all sadly
) are affiliate links and it’s a great way to support the site if I can get a little cash boost from your flying back home.The prices are the same regardless of how you visit the site, but if you visit the site via my website I get a commission. No obligation of course, but if you can do that, thanks in advance.
The Resource List
I will list the resources in order, beginning with the most cost effective.
1) Student Flights
This one applies only to people in Australia and as far as I can tell you need a student card to use this service. HOWEVER, their prices simply cannot be beat. Scroll down to the bottom of this page and watch the video where I hired a VA to investigate cheap ticket prices and compare those results with the Student Flight prices….no comparison.
If you ever needed a reason to re-enrol in school here it is.
So pay a visit to the Student Flights website first if you are living in Australia
2) Kayak
Kayak is to airfare, what Google is to information, it is the search engine for the cheapest flights. Kayak is an absolutely phenomenal resource for a number of reasons:
1) They peruse through 450+ travel sites including Orbitz and Cheap cheap flights
2) They have a fantastic affiliate program
3) Outside of Student Flights, they have the cheapest prices I have seen thus far, even for flights from Australia.
4) Whereas Student Flights is restricted to Australia, Kayak is an international resource.
3) African travel agents
This one is a general tip I have heard from other people who have traveled to and from Kenya. If you are going to buy a plane ticket, browse around and search for travel agents within the African country you are traveling too and buy from them. Apparently they are cheaper. If anyone has anything to add to this idea please leave a comment below.
4) Intrepid Travel
Classify this one under, you probably would never have heard of this company had you not visited the Displaced African.
I first heard about Intrepid when the founder of the firm came to my former business school to give a talk. As always I sat there jaw open and fascinated by how people can take intangible ideas and use them to produce tangible results. Anyway, I digress………..
The firm specializes in giving tourists and backpackers cheap, affordable glimpses into authentic native cultures.
If it wasn’t for the restrictive nature of the travel with this firm (you’re entire trip is scheduled by the firm beforehand) this is BBBBYYYYY FAAAARRRRR one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest way for someone living in Australia to travel back to their native country.
Don’t believe me? Check out the Intrepid Travel Website and compare their airfare rates with rates from any other firm. Never used this firm so I don’t know if there are any extras involved. Worth checking out anyway.
NB: No affiliate link for this website
5) The V. A. Experiment
As part of my 4 hour work week journey, I thought I would see what type of results I would get if I hired a virtual assistant from Rentacoder.com for $7 and commissioned them to find the cheapest airflight tickets they could for the year 2008 between Melbourne, Australia and my hometown of Nairobi Kenya.
I think the investment is so minimal that everyone should experiment with this. You will probably save yourself a few hundred dollars but sadly I didn’t get the huge savings of thousands I was expecting. The VA actually got their cheapest rates from Kayak. But still definitely worth testing out.Check out the Rentacoder website by clicking on this link
6) You Tell Me?
Any tips, tricks, resources and ideas to share for those of us who want to save as much money and have as much fun and happiness during our trips back to Mama Africa?
Yet again my humble request that you please use the resources provided in this article….in some cases I make as little as $5 but in some cases, your buying a ticket using the links provided ( a ticket which costs the same regardless anyway) can be enough to pay for the domain hosting for this site for the next 5 years with enough left over to get me a brand new pair of shoes
To share this article on Facebook, click here.
Hope this is of service to you,
Mwangi
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14:42
KPLC = mini-KRA
» Rants, Raves & Reviews KPLC is in a bind...
The firm has done rather well during the past 3 years - since the Manitoba guys came in - but there are dark clouds on the horizon.
KPLC has the following:- Oodles of cash on the balance sheet
- Cash generating/collection capability
- Large procurement needs
Things got so bad that the GoK was forced to appoint the Canadians - if KPLC wanted financing - to run the firm. After bringing KPLC back into the light... they are being dumped...
Furthermore, the GoK & KRA have made KPLC one of their 'collectors'... KPLC has to use fuel to produce electricity... the fuel is heavily taxed... and this is passed onto consumers making KPLC look like the bad guy! KPLC is also forced to charge VAT thus increasing the burden on the consumers & KPLC...
So KPLC has become a tax collector of sorts for KRA & GoK... - Oodles of cash on the balance sheet
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12:50
Memes, Markets and Africa
» Afromusing I’ve been on the road since late last month, and I am afraid this space has been left quite neglected. So if there are any remaining readers…heres to a comeback.
I had the chance to speak at TTI Vanguard early this month and my topic of discussion was Innovation in Africa[pdf pg 10 and 11]. I gave a brief overview of the tech landscape in Africa, and engaged mostly in conversations around what is happening now. Since then, the article ‘Inside Nairobi, the Next Palo Alto?’ by G. Pascal Zachary in the NY times became the 7th most emailed article in the NYT world business section, spurring some discussion around the theme of Innovation, ‘light tech’ and localization of technology in Kenya.
As we all know there is this persisting perception of Africa as this sort of backward mess. Ethan Zuckerman has been writing for a few years about ‘rebranding Africa’ and more recently he wrote about David Weinberger’s Ninja Gap. Do read the whole piece, the bit that is relevant to this post is in part…
Context matters, Galtung argues. If we’ve got a mental image of Africa as a backwards and technically retrograde place, we’re likely to miss stories about innovation in mobile commerce (see the lead story in issue 407…) or success in venture capital. Galtung’s fifth maxim is closely linked to the idea of cognitive dissonance - it’s uncomfortable to attempt to resolve new information that conflicts with existing perceptions, beliefs and behaviors.
Well, its quite an experience to have an encounter with someone who clearly brings this cognitive dissonance to light…I wont go there though. Suffice to say Africa, we have a long way to go. The overarching meme about Africa is still one of poverty, corruption, despots, famine and stunning sunsets…yeah, you know. Oh perhaps the stunning sunsets meme is one I would totally agree to and actively propagate, but I digress.This is with no small thanks to foreign correspondents who cover African news with the aforementioned brushstrokes.
So, while we African bloggers and digerati wrestle with not quite so positive images of Africa, debate Aid Vs Trade, couple that with our current reality of immense potential that is muffled by worrisome politics, rising inflation, environmental degradation and many other factors; I am
trying to think of the bigger picture, a way to wrap my mind around things.
Years ago, my friends’ mom told me about a ‘bad-good-shot’. When you swing that golf club and you know that you missed the green by considerable measure, yet the ball hits a tree and deflects onto a reasonable section of the course, then you get to make a better than expected shot. There are some projects and tech that arise out of challenges like dearth of broadband, and in reaction to the bad choices our leaders make. In Africa, we get some of those really bad shots, sometimes, something good arises out it and perhaps we can position ourselves for a much better shot at prosperity. I do not know if we can, but we can definitely aspire to it.
I think TEDGlobal Arusha had started that rebranding process, by bringing to Africa a mix of intellectuals, scientists, technologists…you name it; to experience an alternate African reality of sorts. Last monday, I was reminded by Sean to not underestimate the value in bringing prospective investors to Africa, so they can have a different context, and perhaps get over that ‘cognitive dissonance’. As I look back to TEDGlobal, I remember that I was in awe of my fellow Africans, I was inspired by them, and felt that we had just gotten to the ‘jumping off point’. I am still inspired by their talks as they are released on TED.com. Well, December 30th 2007 came, when the meme of ‘Kenya’s potential’ suffered quite a blow. It will take awhile to rebuild that confidence in my mind, let alone the minds of others. I think other countries in Africa have a positive meme attached to them and boy, am I envious. My Ghanaian friends, please guard the positive meme of Ghana with all you’ve got. As a Kenyan, and also as an African I still believe that we can redefine/ we are redefining what it means to be African.
When it comes to markets and the potential in disruptive technology, I would strongly suggest you subscribe to Sean Park’s blog, and Bankelele’s too. These guys give you the meat and potatoes when it comes to evaluating not only the economics but the potential in mobile banking and other sectors of African/Kenyan economies. Because aspirations are well, good and awesome (really!), but at the end of the day, fundamentals of investing should always be rock solid.
So there is the perception problem, but that can be tackled by hard data. Speaking of market data, AfriMonitor launched earlier this month.
It will be a great resource as the bid to rebrand Africa continues. Various conferences will be happening throughout the year, and will be invaluable in bringing together many of you who see this alternate African technological reality. I am still bummed that I did not make it to Barcamp Nairobi in June, but I am making every effort to make sure I do not miss the next one. Last but not least, I just want to salute Wilfred Mworia, all the geeks and volunteers at Ushahidi, Josiah Mugambi, Dorcas Muthoni of Linux chix Africa, Riyaz, all the Skunkworks geeks, Kasahorow crew, JAB, techies in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and other African countries. Here is to not just the next Palo Alto, but the next Nairobi, Accra, Abuja, Capetown, Johannesburg, Lusaka etc.
Thank you Hash for the cool graphics, they are based on one I found on Memehuffer
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12:16
Bamako’s Digital Multimedia Bookshop
» AfriGadget In downtown Bamako, Mali an entrepreneurial bookshop owner, Mamadou Coulibaly, has been attracting an ever-increasing number of clients and curious onlookers since the owner set up an odd-looking computer. “The Source” is a handmade computer box that acts as an offline distributor of online multimedia material. Anyone can step up to the kiosk and pick up anything from Wikipedia pages to local music. Their most popular requests: the Koran and Malian music.
[video link]
“Our goal is to give people a wider access to educational and cultural material, so this can help to trigger their desire to learn and expand their knowledge.”
This type of innovation really brings home the slow, or expensive, capacity of local internet connections. Bypassing internet cafes (slow) for local, or more static content, can be done through local-only internet hosting too. However, what’s ingenious here is the idea that most people in Bamako don’t need the internet connection at all. That by acting as a simple distribution node for dynamic information and media (the web) they are successfully filling the needs of the local population.
It’s always good to see local-level entrepreneurs benefiting from taking outside ideas and making them work for their needs in Africa. Many times a completely new solution isn’t needed, just a culturally relevant one.
[More on "The Source"]
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11:03
The DIY Wireless Mesh Guide for Africa
» White African Spurred on by a question from a reader about successful implementation of wireless mesh networks in Africa, I started to do a little digging. The appeal of wireless meshes is especially high in very remote and unconnected areas of Africa, primarily because it allows simple (though limited) connectivity where it wasn’t available before.
A good example of a deployment in Africa, and the reasons behind it, is Wireless Africa’s Mpumulanga deployment in South Africa. Here they answer, “what problem is being addressed?“:
“The main thrust is to connect the clinic to its community hospice and thus allow them to extend their computer facilities to the hospice (practise management software and statistics gathering). This is most easily achieved through a wireless network and more specifically a mesh because of the terrain.
A mesh network requires a number of nodes in areas not owned by the clinic but that are part of the commuity: schools and farmers. The main thrust of the research question is to implement the network in such a way that the firstly the clinic and secondly the community have taken ownership of the network. That they have created systems that ensure that the infrastructure is maintained and expanded by the users of the network.”
A DIY Wireless Mesh Guide (3.2Mb PDF) based on Freifunk was put out by Wireless Africa late last year.
Looking for More Success StoriesI’m still looking for cases of successful wireless mesh networks in Africa. If you have heard of one, please comment below, or use the contact form.
I realize that there have been some larger, industrial strength, deployments by the likes of KDN in Kenya with their Butterfly Network (though I haven’t heard to many stories of people actually getting online with it). But what I’m more interested in right now is examples of use in the more rural areas of Africa.
More Resources:Wireless Lab Website
Open Mesh - open source mesh
Meraki Mesh - business solution
Mesh Dynamics
Wire.Less.DK
Older, but good, conversation on O’Reilly Net
MIT’s Roofnet
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9:26
Blaming Petrol Prices & Post Election Violence
» KA-INVESTOR KPLC thinks we are morons: In the late 90’s, during the frequent blackouts/power outages, KPLC used to give us flimsy excuses of how the water levels had fallen in the dams due to ‘drought’ even when it was raining heavily, or how sedimentation is reducing the level of power output (during Elnino) or any other thing they could come up with. Now they have just found another excuse, in the name of ‘high petrol prices’, to blame the high electricity bills on. Figure this out; you get a bill reading month consumption – Ksh.454 while the petrol charge is at Ksh.645. Does this mean you consumed more petrol than electricity? So what’s the benefit of using electricity?
Sameer Africa (almost) sees red: Sameer Africa pre-tax profit dropped by a whooping 96% in their half year announcement. The company’s earnings dropped to Ksh.2.8 million compared to ksh.84.2 million in the same period last year. Once again this has been blamed on post election violence and increase in production cost due to high oil prices.
Econet roll out deadline moved to September: it seems we will have to wait much longer for Econet to roll out their network as now their roll out deadline has been moved to September 30 from July 31, 2008. Once again it has been blamed on post election violence, but I have a strong feeling they will not be rolling out any time this year.
To be launched on August 1st- Celtel will officially changed its name to Zain
- Nation Media New Radio station that will have Nyambane as its morning host is set to be launched tomorrow.
Almost rhetoric: What’s the probability that Britak and Equity Bank directors won’t offload their stake in the bank after the lock in period is over?
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8:40
Mau Mau Film Festival 6th - 10th August
» Kenyanpoet The Kenya Human Rights Commission(KHRC) brings you Mau Mau Film Festival from 6th – 10th Augustat the Alliance Francaise Auditorium. Entry is free.
Opening Night
Wed 6 Aug| 8pm
Mau Mau
a rock price hollywood production
8.45 pmitungati: the mau mau story
a khrc production
Thur 7 aug |6.30 PmMau MauI: images of colonisation & independence in kenya
7.3opm
mighty times: the legacy of Rosa Parks
fri 8 aug |6.3o pm1857: the rising - the ballad ofmangal pandeyIndia's first uprising against British colonialism
sat 9 aug | 2.30 pm commandante: oliver stone interviews fidel castro
4.30 pm white man’s countryII: images of colonisation & independence in kenya
6.00 pm the revolution will not be televised people power defeats coup against president chavez
sun 10 aug 2.30 pmkenyatta Ill: images of colonisation & independence in kenya
4.00 pm
the process: the cuban five - the untold story 1o years hands deals with their trial in usa
5:30 pm malcolm celebrates the whole sweep of an american life
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7:29
The Joker is wild
» Black Looks A couple of years ago - maybe a year I cant remember - I read a blog post by Keguro on things he thought of / wanted to blog about but didn’t. Thinking about blogging on something and not doing it is a sure sign of blogger paralysis / disinterest / being blogged out [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Joker is wild", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/07/the_joker_is_wild.html" });
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7:01
Live blog session 3
» REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG Live blog session 3
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6:57
Mau Mau Film Festival in Nairobi
» Kenyan Pundit Details available here.
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6:52
Old Mutual, Credit Reference, Insular TZ
» bankelele Old mutual loosens up: Old Mutual , the pioneer of unit trusts in Kenya has made some radical changes to it contractual savings plans to cope with a changing market place with many unit trust choices from a competitive fund and insurance industry. Changes include;
- Plans will no longer lapse if premium payments are stopped. E.g. when people get retrenched
- Savings (in a lapsed plan) will remain invested until maturity or can be paid out early
- If your saving plan was terminated without a payout, consider it reinstated!
Credit reference rules: Former finance minister Amos Kimunya was able to gazette the rules for operations of credit reference bureaus in Kenya before he left office. Provisions include;
- Bureaus will be licensed by the central bank
- Signup costs are 100,000 shillings ($1,500), a bank guarantee for 1 million and another fee of 100,000 per year
- Bureaus may share info only with a customers’ permission (which happens when you sign for a loan)
- They may only share information for business decision making (evaluate credit prospects)
- Bureaus must keep track of all information they share
- Customers are entitled to one free report a year, and within 30 days of a negative referral
- if a customer complains, and bureau not able to complete an investigation of disputed information within a month, information will be deleted as request by customer
Undugu at work: More Tanzanian IPO news with the upcoming sale of 21% of the Tanzanian Government shares of the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) to raise 63 billion shillings ($54 million) and later to be listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. But the offer is open to to individual Tanzanians and companies that are whole owned by Tanzanians - unlike Stanbic (Ug) and Safaricom (Ke) (which Tanzanians were also barred from subscribing to)
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5:40
Is Kenya Hurtling Towards A Revolution?
» You Missed This The rolling strikes in Kenyan secondary schools have caught most of us by surprise. We are stunned that the kids we sent to school to learn have turned into stone-throwing, book-hating thugs with the capacity to wreck untold havoc on property and their own future. We've watched with dismay as boys and girls have gone on the rampage ostensibly to avoid doing some exams called MOCK. And since the start of this shameful orgy, we've all watched as politicians, from the president down, have peddled prescriptions that serve no useful purpose except to remind us of their infuriating lack of depth.
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Also published in Kumekucha today: Where did you guys meet?
Small Business Kenya: How wild animals can teach you about marketing
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At this point it has become clear that the strikes rolling through the undulating landscape of the Kenyan secondary school has absolutely nothing to do with MOCKs. The only mock-thing about them is that they are mocking us for having such a limited understanding of what goes on in the mind of our youths. Lest we forget the example we have set to them, I want us to look ourselves in the mirror and see what those boys and girls have seen in us. Are you ready?
The Mirror: 1. Lack of Opportunity. These kids have grown up in a nation where they've been repeatedly told that opportunity comes to those who stick it out in school, work hard and play by the rules. These are lofty ideals that sound noble even to the youth. Except that when they look around them, what they see is their brothers and sisters who've worked had, graduated from universities across Kenya, but are now reduced to roasting corn/maize at the bus stops and marketplaces in the nation. Some have even seen their parents fired and out of work for months. In the face of such reality, do we expect the kids not to despair?
2. Tribalism. Since the sixties, our nation has struggled to eradicate this very negative vice. We have failed. And now, just when things started looking up, Kenya has regressed into one of the worst periods as far as tribal relations in the country go. As the boys and girls in our schools look at the picture we've presented to them, what they see is a father in Kisumu cursing that Jarabuon father in Kiambu. They see the mother in Nyeri calling the mother in Tinderet something ugly. They see their brothers and sisters bite their lip in anger every time some one from a different tribe is on TV saying something. Hate, hate, hate. That's what we've given them. These are the kids we've sent to school to study next to that boy or girl they heard being cursed and called ugly words at home. And we wonder why they mock us?
3. Corruption. Most of these kids came of age in the days of John Githongo. When they read the newspapers, what they see is stories about massive corruption in the country, and the vice is perpetrated by men who should be the example. When they read about Anglo-Leasing, Goldenberg, Turkwell, Ken-Ren and now the Grand Regency, what these kids see is a society where the rules don't matter. What seems to matter is how high up you can go by literally looting from Kenyans...and this only when you are well connected. Now, how many of these kids are well connected? Do we put ourselves in their shoes and wonder how they see Kenya? Do we?
4. A Culture of Impunity. Mta Do? Folks, whether we like it or not, the kids have only us to learn from. It would be nice if they followed the example of the penguins, which form binding communities where the young are cared for and trained to be effective adults. Unfortunately for our youth, what they have as an example is a president who blatantly steals an election and asks Mta Do? They have a police commissioner who sits at the Waki Commission and proclaims that he'd do everything exactly the way he did it if what happened in January happened today. Does he remember that people were killed by his forces? Does he recall the shoot-to-kill order by Grace kahindi? What should the kids learn from a man like that? And how about the fact that Kiraitu Muriungi is a minister after the Githongo tapes? Look, what the kids learn from this is simple. Impunity pays. Can we blame them when they get discouraged? Or when they think they can get away with burning dorms and classes?
5. Violence. Unfortunately, when confronted with a deaf and blind leadership, most societies resort to violence. That's what we did after the elections were stolen. But have we stopped to wonder what the kids saw when Kenya went through that meltdown? In those classrooms where we sent those kids, there were some of them who saw a friend killed, a father hacked to death, a sister burnt alive, a brother kill someone, a child left hungry, a home burnt. The list is endless. Yes, those kids saw a lot. But again, have they been given any counselling about the trauma they faced? At what point are we going to realize that our continued inability to do things right is creating a society of future delinquents and felons? Through our violent ways, we've legitimized violence as a means of resolving issues. So why are we stunned when the kids do what they've learnt from us? They are looking at our condemnation of them now and saying...what a bunch of hypocrites!
Fellow Countrymen, that's what the kids see when they look at us. We stink, don't we? But what makes it worse is that we now sit in judgement of them. We must take away their cell phones, we say. We must cane them. We must charge them in a court of law. Their parents must pay. We must expel the ringleaders. This is all bullshit. What must be done is for us adults to start acting our age, and be a good example to these kids. But that is a long-term solution. Here is what can be done to have an immediate impact in schools.
Prescription:
I. Let's avail books in schools in equal measure throughout the country. When I went to Kanga High School in the late eighties, the late Hezekiah Oyugi made sure our school was well stocked with books, excellent teachers and even good food. I turned around and looked at neighbouring schools like Rakwaro and Iterio and wondered how the kids in those other schools were expected to compete with us. It seemed unfair. If the government implemented a blind policy that treated all schools equally, in terms of resource allocation, the kids might actually fall in love with the MOCKs. What's keeping us from doing this?
II. Parents must start being there for their children. Admittedly, it's hard to be an effective parent when you must struggle to even put food on the table. Still, parents must be proactive in their children's lives. A father must teach his son how to be a God-fearing, law-abiding citizen. A mother must teach her daughter how to take good care of herself and handle herself with dignity. We must all remember that what society teaches our children is in addition to a foundation of learning started at home.
III. Family Planning must be brought back as a means of managing our resources and enhancing effective parenting. Whatever it takes, we need to work toward a society where we bring into this world only that number of children we can take good care of. It doesn't make much sense to have a third child when one can't take care of the first one, does it?
IV. We can make the MOCKs a school-specific issue. Let Kanga High School carry on its MOCKs. Let Lenana carry on its. And let Chebwai carry on its. That way the pressure to compete bigger schools right now, at a time when those bigger schools are more well endowed and resourced, is eliminated.
V. Finally, let me suggest that a society where God is not worshipped with the humility and reverence He deserves is hurtling toward self-destruction. There was once a time when the name of God, uttered in our presence, made each of us sit and take notice. Today God is just another name. I pray that we can focus the attention of our youths on God once again. We must do all we can to make God relevant. The best thing that can and will ever be said about the youth in Kenya is...They know Jesus christ as their personal saviour. That's when Kenya will have arrived.
This is not a conclusive or exhaustive prescription by any means, it's just my way of weeping for a nation that must turn a corner right now, or watch as we all hurtle toward a revolution!
For Love of Country,
Guest column by Sam O. Okello
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Liveblog session 2
» REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG Liveblog session 2 -
Live blog session- stakeholders forum
» REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG Live blog session- stakeholders forum