Apparently if kites are flown high enough for long enough we can generate enuff energy to power huge cities. This is certainely an innovative solution to fighting the problem of global warming. Me suggests that we get all them kids off nintendo wii, xbox 360 and get them to fly them kites all day.

Seriously! watch this video of Saul Griffith and learn how kites can power your home today.

The second part is about a fellow  called  William Kamkwamba from Malawi who built a windmill from scratch to power his radio. Watch his green solution and see what potential Africa has to offer.

]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/Kumekucha/~3/juC3uRlhSxw/we-are-now-two-nations-under-god.html Sam Okello 2009-05-17T16:29:00-04:00 2009-05-17T16:29:00-04:00
Allow me to be candid again today. My retired old man always told me that when things go wrong don't sugarcoat anything. Talk candidly and talk with force until the wrong is corrected. I intend to do just that, but I must wonder about Kenya. Have we finally reached the point where nobody can bring this nation back to the unity we once experienced under the dictatorial regimes of Kenyatta and Moi?

Last week I watched with gloom as an event that should have been solemn was turned into just another sickening political show. I watched as the Kikuyu elite in the PNU led their pretend supporters like Noah Wekesa, Wokoli and others to the mass funeral of victims of the post election violence. In an instant an event that should have stopped each Kenyan for a few moments of reflection was turned into a Kikuyu affair. By so doing, I had to wonder what the intention of Kibaki and his handlers was. Were they calling for unity or reminding the Kikuyu Kingdom that there is an enemy out there? If so, was that funeral a call for Kenyan unity or a blatant call for GEMA unity? I'll let you be the judge.

The failure by the ODM, the coalition that brings Kenyans together against Kikuyu hegemony, also spoke volumes. What you saw was another case of Kenya being split right down the middle. You may choose to see it differently for fear of dealing with the consequences of the direction this nation is headed, but I see it for what it is. This nation is now two nations under God. We have Kenya, the bloc of six provinces that voted ODM and takes its marching orders from the Prime Minister. Then we have Central and Eastern, the bloc that voted PNU and now feels surrounded by an increasingly agitated fellow Kenyans.

I've taken calls from friends abroad who shake their heads at what they see as the inexplicable intransigence of Kenyans. Why are you so keen on destroying your country, they ask. But they don't understand. They don't understand that after the theft of elections last year, Kenya lost her innocence. We now feel just like another African country headed straight for the doldrums. Even that crap about Kenya being an island of peace sounds hollow to our ears...it doesn't hold the power to unite us for a purpose as it once did.

Two nations under God?

I invite you to a sober debate. I'm aware too that the Big Boys will come here in droves to dilute the impact of this post. They will fail. And may I just warn that I no longer use the blogger name Sam Okello, which the Big Boys have acquired as their own. What an honor.

We shall overcome, but what will it take?

On this sunny morning in Nairobi, I wish on each of you a cool breeze.Kumekucha

• Could be that my company has landed its biggest contract to date and I'm over the moon... OR
• Maybe its this half-Rwandese gal that's got me at sixes and sevens about what I feel
  

• I finally got over my galfriend of 5 years (fiance of the last of those years). We are now friends. Took me a year of avoiding her to get there but gladly that worked out swell.
• Met a one-in-a-lifetime type of gal. Totally messed up on that one and still trying to mend fences enough to be friends. She's one of those keepers even if it's just simply as friends.
• Got hired in one of those blue-chip companies as part of senior management. Got fired soon thereafter for being "a genius that refused to be tamed" KM, 2009.
• Back in school doing my MBA. Love it, love it, love it!!! A year and a half down the line and the effects are amazing. And the contracts I've been able to land, eish!!!
• Then there's my half-Rwandese gal. A bit too early to make a call on that one but boy, oh boy, Im in for an interesting ride. Lets see how that goes.

The system suitably named TULIPE solves the basic problem which is that in East Africa, (and Africa in general); E-Commerce Payments on the web are not well developed because of a low penetration of banking services (which means credit cards are not sufficient). However, there have been developments in the Mobile Money sphere and it serves the long tail of the unbanked. Tulipe aims to use this Mobile Money & Existing Bank accounts for online payments, as is the case with credit cards.

This brilliant idea is modelled on the US based PAYPAL.com which currently transacts billions of dollars every year in this way. Tulipe still on beta release has caught the eye of Kenyan investors who see in Tulipe a business model and solution that will help reduce the cost of transfering money to and from Kenya. This cost mostly brought about by thefts, delays and official corruption have been a major obstacle to doing business in Kenya.

- New blogs I’ve discovered/I like:
Musings of an Alien
The Gay Kenyan

- For the mamas, especially new mamas (who Google everything tehehe), this is a great resource.