Is it really necessary??

I have come to realize that our leaders ask for unnecessary attention. Whenever they are using a road, highway that ordinary citizens use, it has to be closed completely. are we really that dangerous that if we use the same road with these dignitaries we will attack them? are we that desperate to be in contact with them that we will jump in front of a moving vehicle in order to have a few minutes of their attention? It is so sad that we have developed a culture so immature that our leaders are using it to their advantage. I remember there was a time when the president passed by you school and he had no intention of coming in to give you a speech , students had to parade themselves besides the road and dance for him or simply cheer him on. You are disrupting learning to cheer on a leader, how sad?
Today a friend of mine had to be delayed because a dignitary was passing through the famous or infamous( depending on how you take it) Thika Superhighway. interestingly, the road he wanted to use, was not the one the dignitary was using. in shot, if our leader is using the underpass then all the other roads have to be closed also. Sadly, if you look at the history of real, people centered leaders like the late Nelson Mandela or Thomas Sankara, you will realize that they wanted to in contact with those whom they serve. They enjoyed the personal contact and the exchange of smiles. 
My question therefore stands, is it really necessary to have people so far away but yet you demand their attention by preventing them to carry on with their usual activities? Is it necessary to stay so far away yet those who have given you the opportunity of leadership are the ones you need to be in close contact with? We need our leaders to change. 

Thoughts by,

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KENYA LAUNCHES AFRICAS FIRST WATER FUND TO COMBAT HORTAGES.

NAIROBI, MARCH 20, 2015.


Kenya launches Africa’s first water fund on Friday, a public-private partnership aimed at raising $15 million to provide clean water to 9.3 million people by protecting the basin of the country’s longest river.

The nature conservancy, a U.S- based charity backing the fund, says it will provide $2 in benefit for every $1 invested.  It said the fund could serve as a model for other water stressed African nations dealing with the impact of climate and population growth.

“Our civilization will survive or will cease to exist just because of one element-water,” The nature conservancy’s director of field programmes in Africa, Charles Lucian, said at the launch. “At the moment there is very little investment, and this is a way of trying to begin to shift the mindset”.

Kenya swing between drought and flood virtually every year, with vast sums on aid as crop either wilt or are swept away, along with people and homes. The Tana River basin supplies 95 of the capital Nairobi’s water and provides half of Kenya’s hydropower generated electricity. It also supplies water to a million farms.

The fund plans to invest I agro forestry, drip irrigation, terracing and planting vegetation on riverbanks. It has started a pilot in which 5,000 farmers belonging to the Green Belt Movement, founded by Kenya’s Nobel peace prize winner, the late Wangari Maathai, are planting trees.

“This is the next step to the legacy of Professor Wangari Maathai,” said Aisha Karanja, head of the Greenbelt Movement. “I think this is the best conservation and environmental thing that has happened to this country because everyone is involved”.

Deforestation and quarrying have caused massive soil erosion at the source of the 1000 km long Tana River. Sediment is washed into the water, reducing both quality and supply.

Kenya’s population of around 45 million is predicted to erosion by 2045, according to the World Bank, increasing pressure on the water supplies.

The fund will also make it cheaper to produce hydropower and clean water. Kenya Electricity Generating Company will earn an extra $600,000 annually while Nairobi City water and Sewerage Company will save $250,000 a year through lower water filtering costs.

These Government-owned companies are supporting the initiative, as well as Coca-Cola and East Africa Breweries.

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Lecturer treating Univeristy students like nursery children

I recently went back to school for my university degree after 10 years of waiting since I finished high school.  It has been a long wait, hoping every year that I can finally afford to pay my own fees. After waiting so long I am there to savor every minute of the next 3 years.  Thankfully in private university you can finish the degree in a shorter time frame. The last thing I expected was a lecturer that needs students to behave like they are kindergarten, not that I know how kindergarten kids behave since I went to a nursery school. Whatever the difference of the two is I have no clue!

Being my first semester I have been very excited and eager to learn, not so much learn from books only but learn things I had no opportunity to learn elsewhere.  Thank fully I work during the day and go to class in the evening with students whose time is as precious as mine. One of my lecturers started treating us as though we were in nursery school, no phones on your desk, no talking to each other in class, no writing anything outside what he taught in the exam, now this is where I couldn’t take it anymore! How does he expect us to work the whole day then spend the rest of the time cramming his notes? The reason why I chose a private university was to get quality learning.

This became clear after our first assignment, for which he gave no guidelines and expected a specific type of answer; no more no less. I cannot understand this type of backward thinking; this lecturer thinks all the students in the school are over privileged spoilt brats, little does he know I waited 10 years to get my education because I couldn’t afford it. I am only blessed now to work for a company

 that can pay part of my fees.

I am terribly disappointed that in this day and age someone still wants me to cram a text book and not learn out of it. I tried to reason with him a few times and it did not change anything. I will not stop, I will still try to pass my point across, even if I will not benefit from it, someone else will.

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Moving on from theft!

It has become common in Nairobi for someone to walk into your house and carry your things out as though they belonged to them in the first place! Beyond the robbery is violation of property, however if this is a story from someone it doesn't make sense until it happens to you.

A few nights ago I walked into my living room to find an empty space where my television used to stand. I am lucky they only took one item, rather 3 item, they had enough time to grab the remote and my hard drive LOL! I found that very funny since they were doing this in the middle of the day, they did not fear being caught while they looked for the remote control. To be fair how would they sell the TV without its remote?

OF all the things, the theft didn’t pain me as much as much as the violation of my privacy did, what also upset me was that our guard 'didn't know these people' and he left them walk out with such an item without consulting the owner. The security firm and my landlord tried to put the blame on me to avoid paying for the security guard’s incompetence. I have never been so angry at people for no taking responsibility. I genuinely don’t expect them to pay me back, the least they can do is accept that they were on the wrong.  If the guard isn't to blame then what’s the point of having him there, they could as well leave the gate open and anyone can walk in and out as they please.

Losing something you had no plan of buying for many years to come is painful and takes some time to come to terms with it, the only thing keeping  me going is that I will not die without it and my God shall supply another one J.

Now when someone tells me they lost their staff, I feel their pain. Only yesterday a friend told me she lost all her electronics to again in Nairobi, someone broke in while she was at work. I was able to relate and encourage her, because now I know what it feels like.

The TV stand looks so bare, as though it misses the TV too! But it’s time to move on and let go , the last thing I wanted was to involve the authorities  and spend the next few months sucking up to them so that  they help  me, only to one day tell they couldn't trace the items.  Right now insuring my house items makes so much sense, how foolish I was thinking these things only happen to other people  :D !

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What Direction is Kenya headed?

 

Kenya, i have to admit is a beautiful and rich country. Starting from its people, to the very land that brings about bitter words to people's lips. It has beautiful scenery, animals and well the infrastructure is also a great addition. However, it is sad that we (the citizens of this lovely country) do not bother to care for Kenya. She suffers a lot from the litter we refuse to dispose off properly. I have heard of people complaining that Nairobi, the heat of Kenya, is very dirty. The same same people had so much hope in the devolved government, in that they new the respective governor would do something. I found this a bit funny, because one man to me, though enough to bring change, could not clean the whole of Nairobi without the people helping him/her. If the said governor did clean up, would that stop someone from throwing a sweet wrapper on the street and yet there are garbage bins in town? Would that prevent or curb the culture of simply throwing paper outside the window of a moving vehicle?

it all depends on us, the people who keep complaining and not acting. I heard a joke once that Europeans and Americans should have us (Africans) take lessons from them when it comes to action and in turn we give them lessons in complaining. I do not know how true this is, but i do agree if there is any level of honesty. I think to protect this lovely land of Kenya, it is necessary for the inhabitants to work together. Next time you want to throw a sweet wrapper on the street, just put it in your bag, i am sure your destination will have a place to dispose of it. next time you see a person throwing a paper through a car window and you are in the car with them, stop them!! If it's you, think twice. Just think twice for you country, love Kenya. Please, treat her like you would treat a lady, if you are a man, o how you would treat your man, if you are a lady.

Thoughts by,
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What Makes Love Make Sense By Pst. Kitoto

Saying “I love you is never enough to convey true love.” In 1 Corinthians 13 the Bible shares three phrases at the introduction of this chapter that made me reflect on the issue of love in relationships. As much as love involves feelings that may be attached to some level of attraction to the person you claim to love, it only makes sense when we step beyond this claim to living responsibly with or before this person.

First: “speaking with tongues of men and angels”
For most people, love has remained as a mere expression of well organized words that lack a deliberate lifestyle to support the confession of love. Telling a woman or to the contrary, a woman telling a man “I love you” in itself is a statement of intent and not complete until such is followed by what love is or demands.

While in school we would say statements like ‘nakupenda kama peremende’ - meaning 'I love you like a something sweet.’ So, when a lady fell for such a trick from a man, one thing led to another, and soon it was time to raise a baby out of wedlock. However, such statements, had a much more psychological twist to them than could be seen with the natural eye. They had a selfish agenda behind them. In fact, where a two young people ended up with a baby, no matter whether they were in school or college, once the baby was born, she/he was delivered to the boys home. This is where we learnt that words we speak if not back by responsible behavior, led to unpleasant consequences.

Second: “Faith that could move mountains”
"If you watch prime-time TV or check the sales statistics on romance novels, you will have all the evidence you need that Western culture is obsessed with love” (Focus on the Family). There are moments our words can create enormous faith in others and even move them to an action that may not be interpreted as love motivated. We can make promises, make deals and stir up the relationship to suggest a move towards greatness.

Despite all the talk about love, the reality is that children go to bed every night feeling unloved by their parents, and while husbands and wives go to bed feeling unloved by their spouse. The trouble is that, our culture is largely becoming ignorant of the true nature of love and its effect on our relationships. Could our problem be associated with how we use and respond to the word ‘love’. For example, we may say, “I love eating rice”; “I love Bacon”; “I love my car”; “I love You”. What is the difference? What makes loving the car different from loving your spouse? At times we treat each other casually because of the way the word has been used.

Third: “though I give my body to be burnt”
Many times persons who have fallen in ‘love’ have said things like “But he/she was there for me when i was …”; Or you would hear, “She/he supported me with money to ….” Indeed, as much as the gesture may indicate a level of sacrifice, it ends up just as an ‘act’.

Jesus’ rebuke in Matthew 5:20 could relate here well - “For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees…” These people seemed to do all the right things like praying and giving alms and fasting just like we do. It seemed as though they were the ones who were exceedingly righteous and yet the righteousness that Christ demands far exceeds theirs. This is the measure that Paul brings to us when he talks about love in 1 Corinthians 13. In fact our Lord is requiring a righteousness that is beyond man’s capacity, a divine righteousness that comes from God, a standard that man himself is utterly unable to attain.

When you look at marriage from the Bible point of view, Man needs to love the way he love himself and also as christ loved the church. On the other hand, a wife submits as she submits to Christ and as the Church submits to Christ. This make the marriage an earthly relationship governed by biblical principles. Therefore, our measure of love must go beyond speech, empty actions of faith, and sacrifice that has no meaning.

So Paul goes further and tells us that, love only makes sense when it:
it suffers long
is kind
does not envy
does not parade itself
is not puffed up
does not behave rudely
does not seek its own
is not easily provoked
thinks no evil
does not rejoice in iniquity
rejoices in the truth
bears all things
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
never fails

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House Agents Ripping Tenants Off!

                                      

We all wanted to grow up faster so that we can move out of home into our own space. This was a motivating factor to work harder in school as "work hard and get a good job" didn't make sense since all adults seem rather disappointed with their jobs.

 Many of us had the image of a gated house with garage space and a garden :), now we get to understand that even being able to live in apartment is   a great thing !

I moved to the capital of Kenya a few years ago and lived with relatives and friends for as long as I could remember, regardless of how hard I had worked in school, it takes time to be able to sustain one's self financially unless it is being supported by other people. Which beats the purpose of independence and the people supporting you will always put you on a leash one way or another.

About two years ago I was blessed enough to be able to move out on my own and no matter how many stories I had heard about living alone nothing prepared me for the amount of work it takes, on the flip side the joy of making or not making decisions was amazing it was worth all the bills.

The most disappointing part of moving out in Nairobi is that when starting out you can only afford houses in certain locations , this depends on whether you want to live near work or live slightly further and commute for longer.

I have never been a fan of waking up in the middle of the night to make it to work in time, so I chose the former; this then means you pay more to live near town or business areas. After one year of living near the noise and paying more than I care to , I decided to try something new. Move away from work but closer to serenity , this comes cheaper but means less hours of sleep. I am still trying to come to terms with the idea of taking more than 20 minutes to the office, but I guess the experience away from the noisy town area will be worth it in the end, we'll see.

Did I mention the one year I lived near town, I had foolishly signed a lease that bound me to that house and if I moved out earlier I would be penalized?  True to their fears, I hated the maintenance of the house after a few months, everything was falling apart and I had to fix them, they basically bind you to a lease so that you can repair all their cheap fixtures.

Every other month someone was moving out because they did not see value for the money they were paying, some were willing to forgo the deposit , others  just didn't pay rent until they were kicked out.

One year has never been so long for me, the day I handed in my notice to vacate   was one of the happiest for me this year, I even paid rent before the other month started. Yes , you cannot live on your deposit either! Such nonsense, 

The houses away from town are in abundance and better in quality it just depends on how much distance one is willing to put between them and the city center. Usually it would be the most distance possible, however in Kenya , the transport system does not support living far from the business district  and the roads are not built for the amount of traffic we have.

For this reason I chose a place that can give me serenity but not too far from the office, 7 kilometres is far enough so I think. When I went house hunting, I was more open to living farther from the road and looked at quite a few houses, I found one that blew me away from the rest, it was just smaller than I had hoped. Other than that it would suffice until I found a bigger one with better qualities.

I decided to pay for it the next week as great houses depending on what your definition of great it, are taken very fast. Not all landlords use quality material to finish off their houses , this is rare and is only found very far away from the business district, in place like Syokimau, Thika and the like , place that would take over 45 minutes to get to town.

When I went to the agency's office to pay for the house, I was armed with questions after my bad experience with the current agency. To my shock the agency was very laissez- faire  about things , the ladies sitting at the reception had a to go into an office to verify the answer to literally each and every question I had. This was very annoying especially when we started talking if I can paint the house and payment terms. Because I would like to add some color to the house and not have white walls I need to pay another month's deposit. As for paying deposit for the house, I was being told I have to pay the next month's rent yet I was going to occupy the premises 3 weeks from the day in question. They were adamant that they cannot take half the money and take the other half a week later. 

To top it all up, once I finished the discussion one hour later, I requested the account details as they initially said I can issue a cheque then changed their minds that they don't do that for first time clients, they told me to go bring the money to their office or a bankers cheque . I was so furious, they seemed like legitimate business people , however their backward behavior made me storm out of there and lose interest in an amazing house.

The agency's incompetence and refusal to embrace technology made me wonder if landlords know how much business they are losing due to ignorance and unprofessionalism of agents. My heart broke for landlords because a day has come when people who are willing to live far away from town will not began agent despite how beautiful their houses are. It is one thing to be thorough about who you lease a house to , it’s a totally different thing to frustrate someone’s life  by making up superficial rules like you cannot pay rent via standing orders, or Mpesa because it is not a physical paper!

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Growing up  in Nairobi  in  the 90's TV used to be a luxury for some of us, for a while we had to watch at the neighbors , then our parents had mercy on us and bought a red gratewall that we cherished dearly.

I was living with my aunt at the time and regardless of what other things in the house had cost, the red gratewall tv was the most cherished of them all. Maybe this is becuase we treat every new possession like its our only possession until something else replaces it or just beause we were fascinated by the people on the other side of the screen.
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The worst illiterate

“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”

This quote from Bertolt Brecht many years ago has transformed lives of many so called political illiterates including me. Its a call for all of us to come out and participate in decision making process in our various constituencies and locations so as to have the leaders we want and keep them checked.

so as citizens we should always evaluate ourselves if we are indeed taking our part and voicing our voice whenever needed either through ballot or activism.
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Kenyan TV channels to return to air after digital dispute

 Three popular Kenyan TV stations are due to return to air, ending a three-week protest in which they turned off their digital signals. KTN, Citizen and NTV - including its subsidiary, QTV - switched off their signals in a dispute over the move from analogue to digital transmission.The three private stations had wanted more time for the move, scheduled for February, but the government refused.
Television is the main news source in urban parts of Kenya.
About a third of the country's households own a TV set. The BBC's Ferdinand Omondi in Nairobi says KTN, Citizen and NTV were the country's most watched networks until their protest blackout.
They are due to turn on their digital signals at 1850 East Africa time (1550 GMT), initially broadcasting in Nairobi and surrounding areas.
Citizen TV's website says its viewers will require universal set-top boxes which receive free-to-air signals. 'Discriminatory move' The TV stations had wanted the government to postpone the date for the digital migration to give them more time to import set-top boxes for the distribution of their content.
The broadcasters argued that most Kenyans had yet to acquire set-top boxes - but the Communications Authority disputed this. The government rejected the request for a delayed migration, and ordered the stations to move to digital on 13 February, as planned. The analogue signals for the three networks were then turned off on the orders of the government.
In protest, the stations switched off their digital broadcasts, claiming that the government move discriminated against them. After the stations went off air, K24, a private channel owned by President Uhuru Kenyatta's family, saw its audience figures grow by 173%.
Neighbouring Tanzania went ahead with its digital migration on 31 December 2013, the first country to do so of the five members of the East African Community. The group had agreed to an early switchover to fix any glitches ahead of the June 2015 global deadline to end analogue transmissions.
Jacqueline