I have a tree in my garden
When the wind blows, the gusts do not reach me,
When the sun scorches I hide in it's shade,
When I am hungry it's fruits satisfy
It's flowers delight both the eyes with their beauty and the nose with their fragrance
What a treasure it is
But my tree needs to be watered, lest it's flowers fade and leaves wither and die
Any good farmer must tend his own and so shall I
As I the Lord sustains with the rain from above
If you wonder what I call my tree
Friendship is it's name
And tend my tree I shall
by
Gituma Nturibi
Friday, October 9, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Have we learnt?
This is not so much a rant but food for thought.
I was just thinking the other day.. Looking back at 1999 Kenya was going through the same problems, rains had failed, dams were running dry and this lead to water and power rationing. Fast forward to 10 years later 2009, same problems yet again kind of made me wonder whether we learnt anything from our pas experience. Granted we rely a lot on hydro-electricity and diversification has been fast and slow plus of course we can't control the weather, there are some things we could have done.
Okay so we can't control the weather but there's a meteorological department that had warned us of the drought, from previous experience plans could have been made earlier for emergency power generation to mitigate the effects. The government is always talking about development, looks like we still have a long way to go, hope 10 years down the line we won't be going through the same stuff again.
The power rationing is sad but the thing that I'm really worried about is whether we learnt anything from the post election violence last year. Recent events raise questions as to whether people are still reasoning from their tribal cocoons. Case in point is the whole Mau forest issue and most importantly the Truth, Justice and reconciliation commission. The commission affords an opportunity to seek a solution for past ills but it looks like some want to use it to settle scores. Personally I wonder why some would want to use it to prosecute suspects of post election violence. However I think it will be long road to the truth, not necessarily a quick fix for all our problems hope we can be patient.
Just hope that come 2012 our people will have their eyes opened and that people will not be laying down their lives for their leaders, it is the leaders who should be loyal to them. We must never tire of praying for our country!
I was just thinking the other day.. Looking back at 1999 Kenya was going through the same problems, rains had failed, dams were running dry and this lead to water and power rationing. Fast forward to 10 years later 2009, same problems yet again kind of made me wonder whether we learnt anything from our pas experience. Granted we rely a lot on hydro-electricity and diversification has been fast and slow plus of course we can't control the weather, there are some things we could have done.
Okay so we can't control the weather but there's a meteorological department that had warned us of the drought, from previous experience plans could have been made earlier for emergency power generation to mitigate the effects. The government is always talking about development, looks like we still have a long way to go, hope 10 years down the line we won't be going through the same stuff again.
The power rationing is sad but the thing that I'm really worried about is whether we learnt anything from the post election violence last year. Recent events raise questions as to whether people are still reasoning from their tribal cocoons. Case in point is the whole Mau forest issue and most importantly the Truth, Justice and reconciliation commission. The commission affords an opportunity to seek a solution for past ills but it looks like some want to use it to settle scores. Personally I wonder why some would want to use it to prosecute suspects of post election violence. However I think it will be long road to the truth, not necessarily a quick fix for all our problems hope we can be patient.
Just hope that come 2012 our people will have their eyes opened and that people will not be laying down their lives for their leaders, it is the leaders who should be loyal to them. We must never tire of praying for our country!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Gotta Go!
Now as promised some stories
Almost immediately after I got my Private Pilot Licence it was time to do the long cross country flights. The First one we do is from Port Elizabeth to East London, on to Queenstown and back. I was initially scheduled to do it all on my own as my licence wasn't ready yet so I couldn't carry a passanger. Pretty daunting to go all that way alone first time but somehow it ended up being postponed and later on I could get somebody to go with me.
Took a while before the weather was good enough for me to on the flight, what's more it could only be done on a weekend as I was in class during the week. After a couple of postponements I got up early on a Sunday ready to go but yet again the weather was dodgy so I gave up and went for breakfast. Now as I was having my breakfast I was told that I had to for the flight, The big man had come that morning and said that all guys scheduled to fly should get on with it. I talked about him in my earlier post, old British guy with this Sean Connery voice thing going on. His theory was that the bad weather was only at the coast and on our way back once past the mountains all we had to do was descend below the clouds and we'll be all right. We had to take his word for it and off we went.
No sooner had we taken off than we met some clouds, could hardly see the horizon but fortunately for us it was just a small patch and further on things were ok. As we got closer to East London it was pretty clear. Now my passenger had decided to have a little too much juice that morning and you can imagine the side effects. Now a little physics lesson here, as you go lower the atmospheric pressure increases so you can imagine how his bladder was feeling as we descended to East London. As soon as we landed he couldn't take it any more, he Simply HAD TO GO! So he decided to relieve himself out the door as we were taxiing along. Hope nobody up there in the tower had binoculars...
So busy was he that he forgot to talk to tell me about the marshaller( who directs where to park) who I passed and went all the way to the end of the apron and asked the tower where the marshaller was and was told " but sir, you've just passed the marshaller!" Talk about embarassment. After that we did the necessary refuelling and stuff and went on with the rest of our trip. The rest was pretty much uneventful though it was pretty bumpy in the mountainous Queenstown area. We didn't hang around for long as we were told that the weather in PE was getting bad.
As we got closer to our destionation the clouds kept increasing and getting lower and lower and we had to keep on descending. Was pretty stressful but once we were past the mountains it worked pretty much as the old man had told us. It was getting worse as we went along and we arrived back at the school just in time as the clouds were rolling in at low altitude. 5 minutes later and we'd have been in trouble.
Phew it was finally over first experience, had doubts but what is amazing is how the old man had got it spot on about the weather, it's like he had a sixth sense or something. Truly experience is the best teacher. Yeah and I nkow better than to drink a lot before a long flight!
Almost immediately after I got my Private Pilot Licence it was time to do the long cross country flights. The First one we do is from Port Elizabeth to East London, on to Queenstown and back. I was initially scheduled to do it all on my own as my licence wasn't ready yet so I couldn't carry a passanger. Pretty daunting to go all that way alone first time but somehow it ended up being postponed and later on I could get somebody to go with me.
Took a while before the weather was good enough for me to on the flight, what's more it could only be done on a weekend as I was in class during the week. After a couple of postponements I got up early on a Sunday ready to go but yet again the weather was dodgy so I gave up and went for breakfast. Now as I was having my breakfast I was told that I had to for the flight, The big man had come that morning and said that all guys scheduled to fly should get on with it. I talked about him in my earlier post, old British guy with this Sean Connery voice thing going on. His theory was that the bad weather was only at the coast and on our way back once past the mountains all we had to do was descend below the clouds and we'll be all right. We had to take his word for it and off we went.
No sooner had we taken off than we met some clouds, could hardly see the horizon but fortunately for us it was just a small patch and further on things were ok. As we got closer to East London it was pretty clear. Now my passenger had decided to have a little too much juice that morning and you can imagine the side effects. Now a little physics lesson here, as you go lower the atmospheric pressure increases so you can imagine how his bladder was feeling as we descended to East London. As soon as we landed he couldn't take it any more, he Simply HAD TO GO! So he decided to relieve himself out the door as we were taxiing along. Hope nobody up there in the tower had binoculars...
So busy was he that he forgot to talk to tell me about the marshaller( who directs where to park) who I passed and went all the way to the end of the apron and asked the tower where the marshaller was and was told " but sir, you've just passed the marshaller!" Talk about embarassment. After that we did the necessary refuelling and stuff and went on with the rest of our trip. The rest was pretty much uneventful though it was pretty bumpy in the mountainous Queenstown area. We didn't hang around for long as we were told that the weather in PE was getting bad.
As we got closer to our destionation the clouds kept increasing and getting lower and lower and we had to keep on descending. Was pretty stressful but once we were past the mountains it worked pretty much as the old man had told us. It was getting worse as we went along and we arrived back at the school just in time as the clouds were rolling in at low altitude. 5 minutes later and we'd have been in trouble.
Phew it was finally over first experience, had doubts but what is amazing is how the old man had got it spot on about the weather, it's like he had a sixth sense or something. Truly experience is the best teacher. Yeah and I nkow better than to drink a lot before a long flight!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Learning Curve
Hmm. I have so fallen into the trap that has caught many other bloggers.What with Facebook and twitter hogging my attention the blog has suffered. Seven months into the year and no post whatsoever. better late than never!
So Last time I was in the blogosphere I was on about my first experience as the Pilot in command. A lot has happened since then, logged many more solo hours and learnt a lot along the way. I eventually got my Private Pilot license and recently passed the 100 hour mark. There's a saying that goes at 100 hours a pilot thinks he knows everything, at 1000 he does know everything and at 10000 hours he realizes that he knows nothing! So you can see where I fall in all of this right now.
Flying is interesting, there's always something new to learn and I doubt there's any pilot who can say he knows everything. In my short aviation career I've had numerous lessons drilled into me, some with ease and others with difficulty. There's one lesson that really stuck as I'll explain.
Referreing to my previous post I had detailed how prior to my first solo I had gone on a check ride with the big man of the school and that he had taken some time to take me back to basics. The exercise he drilled me on was called control co-ordinaton, here's where I launch into some technical mumbo- jumbo so please bear with me. Let me explain, turning an aeroplane is a delicate art which invollve proper co-ordination of hands, eyes and feet. Naturally you would think that you bank( turn i.e) usign the control column alone but your feet have to move in tandem otherwise the result won't be so good to put it simply. Hope you get the picture. It's a pretty basic skill but at the time my handling of it was not to his satisfaction so I had to endure the embarassment of being taught again.
Fast forward to a few weeks later when I went on anothe check ride with another instructor. It was a mess of a flight could hardly get anything right and he ended up recommending that I repeat it. However there was one positive remark in all of it- "You can co-ordinate!" Still laugh when I remember that story, lesson learnt- the hard way!
More on my adventures and misadventures in the air shall be coming soon, stay tuned...
So Last time I was in the blogosphere I was on about my first experience as the Pilot in command. A lot has happened since then, logged many more solo hours and learnt a lot along the way. I eventually got my Private Pilot license and recently passed the 100 hour mark. There's a saying that goes at 100 hours a pilot thinks he knows everything, at 1000 he does know everything and at 10000 hours he realizes that he knows nothing! So you can see where I fall in all of this right now.
Flying is interesting, there's always something new to learn and I doubt there's any pilot who can say he knows everything. In my short aviation career I've had numerous lessons drilled into me, some with ease and others with difficulty. There's one lesson that really stuck as I'll explain.
Referreing to my previous post I had detailed how prior to my first solo I had gone on a check ride with the big man of the school and that he had taken some time to take me back to basics. The exercise he drilled me on was called control co-ordinaton, here's where I launch into some technical mumbo- jumbo so please bear with me. Let me explain, turning an aeroplane is a delicate art which invollve proper co-ordination of hands, eyes and feet. Naturally you would think that you bank( turn i.e) usign the control column alone but your feet have to move in tandem otherwise the result won't be so good to put it simply. Hope you get the picture. It's a pretty basic skill but at the time my handling of it was not to his satisfaction so I had to endure the embarassment of being taught again.
Fast forward to a few weeks later when I went on anothe check ride with another instructor. It was a mess of a flight could hardly get anything right and he ended up recommending that I repeat it. However there was one positive remark in all of it- "You can co-ordinate!" Still laugh when I remember that story, lesson learnt- the hard way!
More on my adventures and misadventures in the air shall be coming soon, stay tuned...
Monday, December 15, 2008
Up, Up and Away
It's been a while since I last posted as I've been quite busy getting the hang of flying so let me share a little experience that I had over the last few days that has been major.
By last week I had already done quite a number of hours and it was
about time for me to go solo so I was taken to a senior instructor who I flew with a couple times punctuated by a three day gap due to some lousy weather last week. However on Friday I was taken to the chief instructor who I had to stick with till he released me for my first solo. First flight on Friday went pretty well and he had some good encouraging words for me even telling me to believe in myself and I could do it.
The second flight on Saturday was a different story.I hadn't flown for 2 consecutive days for quite a while and those gaps tend to make you a bit rusty so I thought that this was my chance to get some good consistency. However after a relatively good start I made some of the same mistakes of the previous day and even some new ones. At one point I was given quite a dressing down in the cockpit and thought things had gone really bad. Afterward I was told that on Sunday morning I'd fly with the big boy himself, the owner of the school. He's quite an imposing figure a tall old man with a big grey beard who has a lot of experience under his belt so I knew the standards would be pretty high.
So on Sunday morning I woke up to another fine cloudless morning and I was surprised as the weather is hardly ever consistent. My flight was a little delayed as he was dealing with another student before me. When my time cam he gave me a briefing first and looked at the comments from the previous flight and gave me some pointers on what to do. Soon after it was time to get going. Even when we were on the ground he had quite a number of comments to make on the things I was doing wrong and more when I got into the air. Probably due to nervousness I kept making some very silly mistakes which so got to him that he had to revise some of the basics with me in the air. This was really embarrassing for somebody who was already quite some way into the course. You can imagine how I felt after the de-briefing. I had really been brought down to earth or so to speak.After that I did quite a lot of thinking and praying, "have to pull up my socks" I kept telling myself. Fortunately on Monday I was scheduled to fly with the chief instructor so I was relieved.
Once again perfect weather on Monday morning, cloudless and only a slight hint of wind. This was truly amazing for me 4 days in a row of good weather was a first. I guess at this point you're probably thinking that I'm obsessed with the weather but it's part of the job! So as I was saying I was back with the CFI with a lot on my mind no doubt- "have to get to right this time, you can do it!" Went through the usual drill and he even expedited it so that we could get into the air much faster. Off we went into the sky, did a good flight and for the first time made a good landing, previously that had been my biggest problem. He went on to congratulate me for the good landing and of course there was the inevitable but- I had turned too early. Made the same mistake again and I was chastised but managed to fix it on the third try. I knew that what he was looking for was 3 good landings and that would be it. 1st one was good, misjudged the 2nd so
I didn't touch down but the next 3 were ok. On the last as I was about to get airborne again he took hold of the controls and just then I knew the moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived! A smile started forming on my face and I started psyching myself up. He asked
how I was doing whether I was ok and stuff and explained what I had to do next was to go up and do a circuit on my own.
Once he was through with the briefing he stepped out and it was time for me to do my thing. I gave him a thumbs up, put my hands on the controls, did my radio call and got going. The first thing that was really weird was the empty seat beside me and once I got airborne it felt really light and had to keep making adjustments. The flight went pretty well and it was definitely less stressful not having somebody there making comments every time you made a little mistake. Soon it was time for me to land and I was lined up on the final approach to the runway. Had to work on what was usually my weak point all on my own. This approach is particularly tricky as there are some trees just before the edge of the runway and so you have to be really careful so
that you don't end up perched on them. As I came in I noticed I was getting low and heading towards them. Naturally you would try to pull the plane up but this is a no-no as that would cause you to slow down and sink faster, I almost fell into this trap but I quickly increased the power and got over them and was back on course. Once Over them I was basically over the fence and went ahead to do a not so bad landing even if I do say so myself. It was finally done, the first solo, the first major milestone in my flying and 15th December shall remain permanently etched in my memory. After touching down I taxied back to the apron where the CFI was on hand to congratulate me and the other students were the to carry to the pool for a dip.
It's really hard to explain the feeling as I was really happy and at the same time relieved as it had taken me a while to get there as most of my colleagues had already gone before me. However I thank God for the way it went and the experience with the big boy which gave me a
wake up call.
Now it's on to the next stage.
By last week I had already done quite a number of hours and it was
about time for me to go solo so I was taken to a senior instructor who I flew with a couple times punctuated by a three day gap due to some lousy weather last week. However on Friday I was taken to the chief instructor who I had to stick with till he released me for my first solo. First flight on Friday went pretty well and he had some good encouraging words for me even telling me to believe in myself and I could do it.
The second flight on Saturday was a different story.I hadn't flown for 2 consecutive days for quite a while and those gaps tend to make you a bit rusty so I thought that this was my chance to get some good consistency. However after a relatively good start I made some of the same mistakes of the previous day and even some new ones. At one point I was given quite a dressing down in the cockpit and thought things had gone really bad. Afterward I was told that on Sunday morning I'd fly with the big boy himself, the owner of the school. He's quite an imposing figure a tall old man with a big grey beard who has a lot of experience under his belt so I knew the standards would be pretty high.
So on Sunday morning I woke up to another fine cloudless morning and I was surprised as the weather is hardly ever consistent. My flight was a little delayed as he was dealing with another student before me. When my time cam he gave me a briefing first and looked at the comments from the previous flight and gave me some pointers on what to do. Soon after it was time to get going. Even when we were on the ground he had quite a number of comments to make on the things I was doing wrong and more when I got into the air. Probably due to nervousness I kept making some very silly mistakes which so got to him that he had to revise some of the basics with me in the air. This was really embarrassing for somebody who was already quite some way into the course. You can imagine how I felt after the de-briefing. I had really been brought down to earth or so to speak.After that I did quite a lot of thinking and praying, "have to pull up my socks" I kept telling myself. Fortunately on Monday I was scheduled to fly with the chief instructor so I was relieved.
Once again perfect weather on Monday morning, cloudless and only a slight hint of wind. This was truly amazing for me 4 days in a row of good weather was a first. I guess at this point you're probably thinking that I'm obsessed with the weather but it's part of the job! So as I was saying I was back with the CFI with a lot on my mind no doubt- "have to get to right this time, you can do it!" Went through the usual drill and he even expedited it so that we could get into the air much faster. Off we went into the sky, did a good flight and for the first time made a good landing, previously that had been my biggest problem. He went on to congratulate me for the good landing and of course there was the inevitable but- I had turned too early. Made the same mistake again and I was chastised but managed to fix it on the third try. I knew that what he was looking for was 3 good landings and that would be it. 1st one was good, misjudged the 2nd so
I didn't touch down but the next 3 were ok. On the last as I was about to get airborne again he took hold of the controls and just then I knew the moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived! A smile started forming on my face and I started psyching myself up. He asked
how I was doing whether I was ok and stuff and explained what I had to do next was to go up and do a circuit on my own.
Once he was through with the briefing he stepped out and it was time for me to do my thing. I gave him a thumbs up, put my hands on the controls, did my radio call and got going. The first thing that was really weird was the empty seat beside me and once I got airborne it felt really light and had to keep making adjustments. The flight went pretty well and it was definitely less stressful not having somebody there making comments every time you made a little mistake. Soon it was time for me to land and I was lined up on the final approach to the runway. Had to work on what was usually my weak point all on my own. This approach is particularly tricky as there are some trees just before the edge of the runway and so you have to be really careful so
that you don't end up perched on them. As I came in I noticed I was getting low and heading towards them. Naturally you would try to pull the plane up but this is a no-no as that would cause you to slow down and sink faster, I almost fell into this trap but I quickly increased the power and got over them and was back on course. Once Over them I was basically over the fence and went ahead to do a not so bad landing even if I do say so myself. It was finally done, the first solo, the first major milestone in my flying and 15th December shall remain permanently etched in my memory. After touching down I taxied back to the apron where the CFI was on hand to congratulate me and the other students were the to carry to the pool for a dip.
It's really hard to explain the feeling as I was really happy and at the same time relieved as it had taken me a while to get there as most of my colleagues had already gone before me. However I thank God for the way it went and the experience with the big boy which gave me a
wake up call.
Now it's on to the next stage.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Relfections on the victory
A lot no doubt has already been said about Barrack Obama's triumph in the US elections that have firmly etched his name in history as the first African American to win. This of course not being his only first as he was the first African American candidate to win nomination for the presidency. It all looks like a fairy tale but it really is true. I never for once thought that I'd see the day when somebody other than a white man would rise to the most powerful office in the land. In fact when the writer of 24 created a black president it looked very highly unlikely little did we know that a few years later the fiction would become reality.
As an African I'm proud to see a man of colour in that office more so when his father hailed from my home country of Kenya. It's amazing the way we've taken him to be one of our own yet his father was largely absent during his upbringing. I'll not dwell too much on this but will instead focus on another aspect of this story that makes it so inspiring.
Four years ago Barrack introduced himself to the world with an outstanding speech a the democratic national convention when he was still a senate candidate. Right there everybody sensed something special about the “skinny guy with a funny name.” Some had already started seeing him as a atrong contender for the presidency. That was his moment and he had to strike while the iron was hot. he easily won his senate seat as well as the hearts and minds of many Americans who saw him as a symbol of hope and as expected he eventually announced his candidacy for the presidency.
That decision in itself was very bold- a first time senator and more to that a young black man running for president. The odds seemed to be stacked against him but he kept on. Even during the democratic primaries his main rival Hillary Clinton kept highlighting his inexperience and after the initial predictions you would have thought he didn't stand a chance. Honestly even I myself did not see him succeeding against the Clinton name and a white woman looked somewhat more likely to win the nomination than a black man. the first few results may have been discouraging but he stood firm and so did his supporters behind his slogan of “Yes We Can”
His was a different campaign giving hope to a country that needed it. While Hillary kept trying to attack him, he maintained his cool and overtook her in the race and finally clinched the nomination. Even I was surprised at the turn of events and after my initial scepticism became a believer. That stage finished he went on to face John McCain who looked well past his sell by date and couldn't match the youthful enthusiasm and charisma of his opponent. Desperation set in and his nomination of a female Vice presidential candidate proved to be a flop. The rest as they say is history.
One thing that stands out in this his whole story is how he seized the moment. he could have backed down and said that he needed more experience or that the country was not ready for him. However he cast the doubts aside and went straight for it, it's really admirable as it can be so easy to avoid the risk and stay in a comfort zone but as the saying goes a ship is safe in the harbour but that is not what it was made for. I can not say any more about his feat but it has shown us that when you believe in something and make use of the opportunity truly great feats can be achieved- truly Yes We Can!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Around the mountain
his post has been a long time coming due to moving and all so without much further ado...
A few weeks ago on the weekend of the 26th and 27th September some pals and I decided to go on a road trip. It was pretty spontaneous but ended up being the most fun weekend I've had in a long time and probably in my life. There was a lot of long night driving but the company and scenery all made it worth the effort.
Started off on Friday evening from Nairobi at around 6 p.m and I being the genius I am decided to use the Bypass route from Embakasi to Thika road. After asking for a few directions we found our way to Kangundo road where as per directions we continued on a murram road and came literally to the end of the road- and this was at night mind you. Lost in an unfamiliar place in the cover of darkness is not a very nice experience believe me. Fortunately there were some Maasais around who guided us back to safety.
After that brief detour we got back on the Kangudo road and got on Thika road and arrive at Thika town to meet my pals at round about 8. After stocking up on energy drinks for the long night drive to Embu we set off. Gone down that road many time before so I was able to navigate well even in the dark to the next rendezvous point at Embu town. met the rest of the party there and headed on to Kamburu dam for the night.
On Saturday morning the adventure continued with a drive to Kiambere club right at the end of the Seven forks Dam series. Place was like a steaming cauldron with all that head and some of us took the inevitable swim. We hang around there till even then went on to Embu en route to the next destination- Kangu Baraka farm in Chuka.
More night driving but I had a nagging headache and so bought some pain killers at the supermarket in Embu. However after a can of XL energy drink the headache miraculously disappeared must have been the lack of sleep. We finally got to the farm some time after nine after a long delay on the road which was in particularly bad condition all the way from the Meru road junction. We were so wasted after the journey so a quick supper of sandwiches was enough and off to bed we went.
Got up early on Sunday morning as we had to be in Nanyuki by 9 to visit some 'surprise location' which was '20 min' away from the town. So 6 a.m found us ready to depart with pick up full of hay. The morning drive to Nanyuki gave us a very clear view of Mount Kenya before the clouds gather around it- was very picturesque, however the ice cap on the mountain was conspicuously absent- global warming anybody. 9 a.m found us in Nanyuki so we were right on schedule just 20 min left- right? Shock on us!
After a few more minutes on the dirt road we finally reached our destination- Ol Jogi game reserve. One of my ever resourceful mates whipped out his phone to check our location in google maps an to our surprise we were in Anaheim, California- I kid you not!
The joint is pretty neat- a private wildlife reserve owned by some Mzungu as usual. The landscape was beautiful but what was really interesting was the array of exotic animals there like
The Albino leopard
Russian bear- The only one in tropical Africa.
The show stopper however was a couple of our very own African elephants like the one at the top of the page.
After feasting our eyes on the show we made our way back to Nanyuki where we spent some time fixing auto issues caused by our roads and at about 4.30 we started the return to Nairobi. Arrived in Nairobi at about 8 tired but satisfied after a super fun weekend.
After this trip I truly understand how beautiful my country is and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Just want to thank all my pals who made this weekend so much fun- You know yourselves.
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