My Five Links

 I was tagged by @savvykenya 

Most Popular Post

The post I did after I was completely underwhelmed by something they tried to pass off as a play at Heartstrings. Seriously I was pissed by what I saw or is it didn't see. Got over 200 views in less than two hours. sadly comments were not working so I didn't get to gauge  gauge the reactions

Post That Didn’t Get The Attention It Deserved

A post I did asking Kenyans if we have learnt anything from 2007 and how to avoid it again

Post Whose Success Surprised Me

My very first post which is basically saying nothing but somehow keep s getting viewed all the time


My Most Controversial Post

I think it would have to be my rant against overlappers

Post I Am Most Proud Of

The post I would be most proud of is the one on Faith in difficult times as it's one that is from my life experience

Enjoy, ladies and gentlemen.

I hereby tag @mountainous - come on out of your slumber @neemom and @ndinda_

Is He Kenyan?

This past Saturday I was walking in the city of Nairobi and noticed something very peculiar. Not Peculiar in the way Sunny Bindra refers to 'Peculiar Kenyans' in his book but strange in the sense that it was not the peculiarity I was expecting, in fact was quite the opposite. Now before I descend into logical confusion let me tell you what I'm talking about.

I had gone into town in a matatu and just before we got to the stage we had to stop due to traffic, however the conductor did not allow us to “shuka na jam” (alight in the traffic). The reason was rather obvious , place was crawling with 'ma-kanjo' -City Council officers (4 of them around the bus stop to be precise-funny it was 'end month' when wallets are fat, hmmmm) , a dreaded bunch they are even more than the police due to the way they enforce city by laws with great enthusiasm. So I had to wait until the vehicle came to a complete stop at the stage before alighting. This was to be expected given the circumstances, question is would it have been the same if not for the presence of the askaris(officers)? By the way that is not the strange event, that comes up next.

After alighting I had to cross the road. Now that there are working traffic lights in the CBD you have to give them a good look before crossing more so when there are 'kanjos' around. Even when they are not I do my best to adhere to the instructions, the other pedestrians were not as alert and were crossing whenever they go the chance. When standing there looking like an 'idiot' waiting for the light to turn green I noticed that I was not alone. “Hmmm now that's odd” I said to myself very rare indeed. When the light's turned green we crossed but the ones on the other side of the road were red so we had to stop in the middle- this was on Kenyatta Avenue. Once again it was just the two of us ( hey that sounds like a song, but I digress), there was no traffic and so the other pedestrians were crossing and after standing for along time waiting for the light to change, I was like what the heck? Funny that when it did turn green there were vehicles turning into the road from the nearby junction so we couldn't cross. Wonder whether the lights were malfunctioning or there was mass running of a red light. After that I decided to cross once the road was clear colour of the lights notwithstanding. So when I got the chance I took it but my friend remained rooted to the spot. Now that's what I found really peculiar- to the point of asking myself “is he Kenyan?” Seriously I'd never seen anybody else behave like that, you may say he was being pedantic but actually he was doing what we all should have been.

Another question I asked was whether he was doing it for fear of the 'kanjo', maybe he'd paid a hefty fine in the past for a misdemeanour and didn't want to take his chances. A more important question to ask is why don't we have more like him? People who will play by the rules all the time? Earlier on I had mentioned Sunny Bindra's book- which I'm yet to read being myself a peculiar Kenyan who doesn't read much. If you read his articles in the Sunday Nation you'll see how much he talks about the need for change in our behaviour in our nation. One of my pet subjects is our Kenyan roads which sometimes look like the biggest assylum in our country. The behaviour on our roads tells a lot about out national psyche and our attitude to rules and laws. I'm also guilty as you have seen of being 'pragmatic' as opposed to sticking to the rules to the letter. They're there for our benefit but somehow you feel that you can bend them- after all I'm in a hurry, though somehow we Kenyans tend to be late a lot.

The example of traffic lights is a good one to use. However it's worth noting that for a long time they were inoperative so a generation of city motorists has never experienced them beyond the few theoretical sessions in driving school. That has made us think running red lights is not a big thing, we do it practically all the time, heck even the cops instruct us to do it, leaving us sometimes to wonder who to obey, the policeman or the lights. When the junction is clear you say to yourself, “nobody's watching I'll cross, everybody's doing it” been there myself. What's more if you decide to be a good law abiding citizen and stop, you'll be bombarded by the din of blaring horns and if you stand your ground you can read the lips of the other motorists to see what they think. So what's the purpose of having them if they are not to be obeyed? I wonder if it's just a Kenyan thing. I remember when in South Africa late on a Saurday night with the road pretty much empty the driver still had to stop! It may look silly but that's what integrity and character is all about, doing what is right even when nobody is watching.

We want change in Kenya, we want a just society, we want and end to corruption and impunity, we want a social revolution, we want to see vision2030 realised. Right now any casual of observer looking at this great City of Nairobi will realise there's a lot of disorder from the roads, to the hawkers, to the garbage, to the leaking sewage etc. However there are laws and regulations to maintain the order, just that we are ignorant or we refuse to follow them because we think we are somehow above the law. By the way that's the same kind of thinking that's in the minds of those who are looting and destroying our economy, letting people put up dangerous buildings that collapse, destroying our environment. The list is endless.

There is an answer if we in our our own little ways stand out from the crowd like my friend at the lights and choose to follow the law to the letter not partially like I did. Imagine how it would be if we had 10000 pedestrians like him who behaved exactly like that. Imagine how it would be if we had drivers who actually exercised the highway code they learnt in driving school- for those who didn't buy their licences. We could start a 'good revolution' , revolutions are not all about walking in the streets or going into the bush with guns but about taking a stand. In this case a stand for what is right, in our own small seemingly insignificant ways but in the end contributing to the bigger picture. I recently saw an oft quoted statement mention in a sermon at a city church “evil triumphs when the good people do nothing”.

This time I'm not ranting and raving about disorder but my friend on Saturday- who I didn't even talk to on Saturday made me realise there's is good in our country and there can be greater good if we choose to play by the rules. Who's with me? It can be done!

Have you read it?

I have one of those Huawei Ideos Android phones. Small but powerful device thanks to the operating system and a number of applications I’ve downloaded to make maximum use of the phone. I acquired it because I knew about its flexibility and capabilities and being a techie who likes being online it was cool to have a device that would keep me plugged in to the online world on the go. However all the goodies come with a price, the fast 3G internet access really takes a toll on the battery life as well as my airtime! First thing I learnt was the tricks of how to maximize the battery life and minimize data usage and even downloaded an application to help me out with that. So after a couple of months of studying the device I pretty much know my way around it and how to get every last minute of battery life out of it as well as minimize the impact on my pocket.

Yesterday I came across another who owns the same device and she was complaining about it as expected- how it is a black hole for airtime and the daily battery charging ritual. So I asked whether she’s turned off the automatic synchronization as well as managed the data use. It was news to her, all that time she was oblivious to the tricks I’d become so accustomed to. So being the techie I made a few tweaks and told her “now watch and see how much longer your airtime and battery will last.” There’s this little power management widget on the phone that allows you to control what running on the phone- wifi, synchronization, GPS and the screen brightness. Upon seeing it she asked “What does this mean?” pointing at the GPS logo I said that was GPS. Next question- “What is GPS?”. Okay! right then I realized not everybody speaks geek like me and knows these acronyms off head. Gave a brief explanation and told her if she doesn’t use it, turning it off will be to her benefit.

When complaining about how I had to learn all this in the first week or so and how the 600MB Safaricom offers was quickly finished. Another question ‘”what’s 600MB?” Now tempted as I was didn’t go all Sheldon Cooper (he of the Big Bang theory fame ) on her. Once again I was reminded was not among geeks, turns out she had no idea about the offer at all, heck she hadn’t even used the 1000 bob airtime that came with the phone! That was strange to me as all those riders are what had made the phone such a bargain in the first place but she knew nothing of them. So being the good helpful geek I am I activated the bundle and went on to explain how economical data bundles are as opposed to using airtime for browsing.

Now the point of this story is not to up my geek cred or to ‘Sheldon’ her about not being with ‘IT’ pun intended  No what I wanted to highlight is that she did not know what she had in her hands. She did not know how to maximize the potential of the product she was holding. She was oblivious of the tricks of the game that the owner of the device needs to know. That got me thinking of the way as Christians we sometimes forget the power within that comes from Christ. The manufacturers of the phone- in this case Huawei printed a manual and tell you to read the manual before operating it- yeah I know you’re smiling because y’all hardly ever do that. One of the famous answers when one asks a computer related question is “read the manual”- that’s the nice version…

Similarly God as our creator can be likened to the manufacturer, He has also given a manual in His word the bible and many times we don’t realize the power of God because like the lady I met we are ignorant of what is in His word. Jesus said – ‘you have not because you ask not.’ Matthew 7:7 How can we know what to ask for if we do not know our rights and privileges as the children of God? We’ve got to get connected to the ‘manufacturer’ to know the tricks in this game of life. These tricks are also known as wisdom- knowledge applied to the situations in life.

So now I ask you who’s reading this. When was the last time you looked at the manual? You may just be missing out on the answers contained therein… If you are to succeed in the Christian walk it is important to do that. So how about giving the good old manual a look? I’ll leave you with these words

Ps 19:7 “ The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimonies of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.”(NIV)

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (NIV)

Be blessed

Why do we pay?

As I watched the re-branding of KPLC to Kenya power I asked myself a question which I've asked before

Why do we pay them to get connections and transformers closer to us? i.e the Umeme pamoja scheme. Where do customers pay for a service to be brought to them? I mean their business is selling power. Do safaricom and the other networks ask us to  pa to set up base stations, I dunno the exact cost but I'm sure it's much more than the cost of a transformer and 2km of power lines! Isn't a business supposed to spend money on infrastructure? The mobile networks spend billions every year in expansion. Kenya Airways spends billions to acquire new aircraft to fill with passengers etc.

I think this is just an antiquated business model back from the parastatal days. Hey even their sister company Kengen does not ask us to pay for new generators... The only thing we should pay for is customer premises equipment like meters

Just thinking...

Necessary Hating

"Those who can do - those who can not criticize"

I've done movie reviews and managed to put a book review now to try my hand at a theatre review. Uh oh I think I'm becoming one of those described above.

I've attended many a play done by Heartstrings Ensemble at the Alliance Francaise which are usually hilarious and well worth my money. They used to do a lot of adaptations of British productions but nowadays they have local works usually written by Daniel "Churchill" Ndambuki. Yesterday was my first and here are some of my honest observations...

The production was titled "Men are from Kenya women are from Pluto" so I was looking forward to a riveting tale about the battle of the sexes in Kenya. The best part was the humorous commentary by Larry Asego in between the scenes about the difference between men and women. The jokes delivered by the cast were great too, one liners that kept the audience in stitches. That's the good stuff however...

For all the jokes and humour thrown into the production there was a very important ingredient missing- the story wasn't flowing. It turned out to be a mish mash of one liners and skits strewn together for comic effect but no overarching storyline. This may be harsh but that's my honest opinion. Humour isn't an end in itself but a tool used to enhance a story. In the end I asked myself what exactly I watched and couldn't explain- like the title I was somewhere in Pluto. Sadly this kind of approach is way too common in our dramatic productions and it is worrying. I may never have written a play myself but I can appreciate a good one and yesterday I left disappointed and may even say annoyed. Sometimes honest criticism is needed to at least up the game! Churchill is a good comedian no doubt but his show is at times trite, comedy is a tough business so you have to keep re inventing yourself. Honestly on his show the person I see putting a lot of work into his act is Eric Omondi and it comes out on stage.

If we are to get our local arts industry at par with giants in the continent such as Nigeria who've flooded our screen we have to up our game in story telling. They're able to churn out hundreds of pictures typically  4 hours long in 2 parts which are able to engage people with their story telling. Same can be said about the Mexican soaps which have flooded our screens. We are being captivated by other peoples stories yet I believe there are great stories just waiting to be told here in Kenya. Let me give an example. Rhythm City is a South African 'Soapie' which has been running for about 3 years or so and can be seen at 1930 Kenyan time weekdays. For those few years they've been able for 5 days a week to keep a running story with humour, tragedy, contoversy suspense and the rest as well as character development. I long for the day when we can pull this off and I know we can. Through interactions in social media I know they are great 'creatives' in this country, poets, writers, screenwriters, directors etc just waiting to be discovered. When I see the works of a wordsmith as Bikozulu who recently called for writers I know it can be done. Others like Wamathai are creating a platform for poets and writers to put their work out. In this day in age traditional channels are not the only way to go e.g Justin Bieber was brought to us through youtube. Then again that's not the best example...

When I began writing this post what I had in mind was a raging polemic against a work that fell way short of my expectations but I find it more constructive to give a rallying call to all those with a dream out there to get it going. The tools are there with Wordpress and Blogger you can easily let your words, pictures, videos, music out. That brings me to my next point that of quality. One of the most memorable movie quotes comes from field of dreams 'If you build it they will come'. I apply it in the sense that if you create good quality creative works the recognition will come and in due course the $$$ . In Kiswahili 'Chema chajiuza kibaya chajitembeza' literally translated the good sells itself , the bad just fronts itself. Everybody loves a good story, a good laugh, good music or even a good photograph and people will detect the good stuff, but you actually have to put it out there. Sometimes I get complimented about good writing thinking, I look around and see greater ones, all I've done is simply put pen to paper. Another example is in order

I'm sure many of you have seen the photography work of @truthslinger on his blog and website. I've known him for a while and have seen how he has harnessed the power of social media to develop his passion and  bring his work out and in due time the quality was seen by all and he got the recognition he deserved. Looking through the blog and website you can see the craftsmanship and attention to detail in the design and also the execution of the shots. Now that's the way to do it, we all believe in our local artists but local is no reason to let the quality go down. So I was sad when a one time higher education minister suggested the govt cut down on funding liberal arts.

In conclusion I strongly believe we've got great artists out there and when you argue you lack a platform look at the story above. I can be done, yes we can! I was really annoyed by what I saw last night and saw it fit to make some noise and ruffle a few feathers if at least to awake some sleeping giant somewhere. Please let us make friends with excellence and make mediocrity our enemy Tuamke! Forward ever backward never...

The Beautiful Game

Artistry, poetry in motion, such beautiful movement it almost brings tears to your eyes... That's how football is when it is played at it's best and over the last few months we've been treated to team that has exemplified the tenets of this beautiful game. It goes without saying I'm talking about the exploits of the deserved 2011 European champions FC Barcelona. Some would argue like Jose Mourinho that they got a little help from match officials but in the final analysis the quality of the football spoke for itself. The red cards against Arsenal and Real Madrid may have been dodgy but I wonder what would have happened with even eleven men still on the pitch.

So what makes the team so great. Is it the triumvirate of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi with their slick passing and positioning? Is it Messi's trickery which makes one wonder whether he applies super glue on his boots before the game? Is it David Villa and his quality in front of goal? Is it the coaches tactics? I could go on and on to find out the secret behind this well oiled machine. Personally I don't think it's the coach so much as the quality in the players, I believe even a baboon could coach those guys and they'll still excel.

Barcelona are excellent in possession but what is even more important is what they do when they are off the ball. They keep pressing at you and you make mistakes... When they're on it you're afraid to press as you may expose yourselves to your own embarrassment. Not to taking anything away from their victory but I'm surprised Manchester United didn't learn anything from their loss in 2009. It was like a case of same script different cast. Granted the lackadaisical approach of players like Micheal Carrick and the old legs of Ryan Giggs were always going to find it tough going against team Barcelona.

So as the Catalan artists- sometimes actors especially one Sergio Busquets sit on their perch at the top of European football we ask who'll unseat them? in 2010 The Special One was able to navigate around but in 2011 it was tough going against 12 men. However I think his defensive tactics may have done it but Sir Alex's traditional 4-4-2 is clearly not the way to go. For now we;ll continue being Messimerized by them until somebody comes and unseat the 'best club side in history.' I've seen a few in my time like the Galacticos of real Madrid but I've never seen the game played so beautifully, a joy to watch and the Manchester United players clearly agreed with me...

Adios!

The Artful dodgers

My good Friend Mr Charlie Bravo

In Flight school one of the exercises we're taught is called precautionary inspections. A technique to be used in case of bad weather and you have to put the plane down on a surface you're unsure of. Pretty much one of those things you do academically and hope that you won't get to do in real life. If you're operating in and out of well equipped airports with tarmac runways you needn't worry too much. The instrument facilities will help you get through the bad stuff. Now when you're flying in the bush it's a totally different matter and you have to do it free style.

Luckily for us this past Sunday the rain falling at the destination was light though it got heavy very close to touchdown. The cloud base was really low but the flat topography was a plus as there was no high ground to worry about. That was at Pochala right at the border of Ethiopia and the plane got a nice baptism in the mud you'd think it was one of the cars from the old fashioned Safari rally. That went pretty well.

Now the next leg to Boma was a little more interesting as Boma is at the base of some hills and what's more there were a couple of thunderstorms nearby. The clouds looked really dark and ominous, when you see a cumulonimbus ( or CB in short also known more affectionately as a Charlie Bravo) cloud en route it's a cause for concern, I've heard enough stories about them and one of the cardinal rules of flying is never to fly into a thunderstorm. Good thing is some geniuses created a device called weather radar which indicates areas of precipitation and helps to avoid those dreaded storms. After consulting it a bit we found that it was clear over the destination and manoeuvred around the rain. However that particular strip is really nasty when wet and we had to give it a look before committing to land. Getting in is easy but the mud would make departure difficult. So the plan was to fly over and assess the surface. First time spotted some water on it and me being a member of the cowards club said we give it a miss but the captain wanted a closer look so we came round again. His assessment was that it was do able and when we came in a third time it worked out fine and he was satisfied with the surface. When I got out I realised that gum boots are not such a bad idea for shoes, was crazy muddy! All that time passangers were very quiet and when we landed they told us about how they wondered about was happening.

Another captain had told me about his experience with that particular field. A couple of years back he was landing there and the brakes decided to go on holiday. What's more at the end of the runway there was a grass thatched hut one of those that's all too common over here. Oh and top that the hut was right next to the hot exhaust, so you can guess what happened next... Oh and did I mention that the fuel tanks are on the wing tips? Now that tight there was a recipe for disaster! Thanks to some quick evacuation from the crew fortunately there were no casualties though one of the pilots got burns. Part of one of the wings is still there as evidence of that sad event...

Boma with a nice hill in the background. Ethiopia lies beyond

For our stay there the weather always looked threatening. You have to pardon a pilot's obsession with the weather. So as expected on our way back we met a few more of our friend Charlie Bravo. However this time the weather radar decided to start misbehaving on us! So we had to rely on our eyes. Up ahead things were not looking too good but right behind us were sunny skies. An instrument rated pilot needn't be afraid of clouds but when you have a thunderstorm ahead with no idea what's inside you've got to make the decision to look for plan B. So once again the artful dodgers were at it again taking a round trip around the storm. After a little while we saw some sunshine- hallelujah! We were home free so we reoriented ourselves and were back in business! A little rain here and there but nothing we couldn't handle. So far so good until we were about 50 miles from our destination and we see some really heavy rain right on our track to Bor our intended destination, clearly our celebrations were premature. As we got closer we could feel the turbulence beginning to build up and we were already weighing our options. We could easily have decided to go to Juba our home base but the airport there closes at 4. Since we had enough fuel it we decided to go around the edge and see if it's good. Even considered giving a guy on the ground a call to find out what the weather was like.

As we got closer we saw the Nile – a good sign then the roofs of the town, Hallelujah once again- sweat wiped from brow! Fortunately for us the rain hadn't quite reached Bor, so we wasted no time in landing there and getting ourselves to the hotel for some rest and relaxation after an interesting day in the air- what flying is all about!