Kenyan Rivals Share Power?

“Mr. Kibaki has agreed to create a prime minister post, as demanded by the opposition, but it was unclear what powers a premier would have and how many cabinet jobs Mr. Odinga's side would get.” - Globe & Mail

Key points to power sharing deal

Zambia & Africa Cup

This youtube clip is a couple weeks old. Africa Cup of Nations. Zambia needed a win against reigning champion Egypt in order to advance. A tie wouldn't be enough.

It is worth noting that, if you were in Zambia, these youtube clips might have been your only opportunity to watch portions of the match. Unless the Zambian government hadn't bailed out the Zambian Broadcasting Network like they did in 2006. This year they were unable to raise the funds necessary to license the event for local television, and i haven't found yet if they were bailed out or not (Zambian President says NO! get your priorities straightened out - my paraphrase). Can you imagine that happening in Canada for hockey? our national sport. No, i didn't think so.

/follow the final here; Egypt vs Cameroon.

I've had the pleasure of visiting Zambia on several occasions. In fact, a tour of Zambia is being prepared for this April. H.C is preparing the tour with AIA. B.K. is preparing to join the trip... i will be supportive from home, but alas, i won't be joining this trip.

Leaders May Share Kenya

"Kenya's rival political parties moved toward an agreement to share power, the chief mediator said Friday, raising hopes for a breakthrough in the postelection crisis that has left more than 1,000 people dead." - Globe & Mail

"Kenya's ruling party and opposition could be just days away from a final political settlement to end post-election bloodshed, officials say." - BBC News Africa

Violence in Kenya

Ethnic Violence reignites in Kenya

Yeah, ODM & PNU are talking... but the communication (as blunt as it is) is not all it's cracked up to be.

Friends traveling to Africa with AIA this April have been encouraged to drop Kenya from their destination list... instead spending a longer stay in Zambia.

Rotary Classification & Housing

i woke up painfully early this morning. Tuesday morning breakfasts are Sunrise Rotary time. Unlike other Tuesday morning meetings, today i gave my classification speech. Unlike Toastmasters first speech, which is an Ice Breaker of 3 to 5 minutes, the Rotary Classification speech is 10-15 minutes of me, and my classification, or my career & history. I didn't dwell on me for too long, and instead, after a brief history of CCL got directly into housing. Housing & Africa, two things dear to my heart. It was a small turn out, likely due to the weather, but it went well enough.
Good times.

into my discussion of housing i worked a story of homes built for the Masaii people... and i took the opportunity to highlight a fantastic Rotary initiative; Shelterbox... Well worth the research, and well worth the support.

Papa & My Tender Heart

Papa Do You Love Me?

Author Barbara Joose writes this in response to the question, why did you place this story with the Masaai people of Kenya?

"Why did I write a story that takes place in Kenya? Why are the father and son Maasai?

Partly because Kenya is a bright and beautiful place. Partly because the Maasai culture is interesting. Also, life on the mara can be very hard. There are lions and hyenas and dryness. Messing up, on the mara, can be very dangerous.

When I was in Kenya, I could see the ways Maasai families are different from my own. But when I watched papas with their children, I could see the same tenderness and pride and big Papa-smiles I could see on my own Papa's face. And then, I could see the parts that were the same." - Barbara Joose

This is a phenomenal book that i picked up a year ago. I read it to era often... so often now that i quote bits of it to him when we are chatting. I only think to post this right now because very good friends of ours are expecting their first child this spring, and i think this book could be as grand a gift for them as it has been for era and i.

Thanks to the Google book project, you can read this childrens book online, you'll love it, and want to own a copy for sure!

ODM PNU: Talking?

The Standard, Kenya's national newspaper reports that Kibaki & Odinga are talking, it just doesn't appear that they are talking to one another; yet.

"That was how close President Kibaki and Raila were to the negotiating table yesterday - as Mombasa exploded with teargas and mayhem.

The two extremes were what peacemakers were trying to bring together as a humanitarian crisis loomed in Nairobi due to disruption of the traditional food supply chain into the heavily populated capital." - AllAfrica.com

Kenyan Economy Taking Dive

"Until last week, Kenya was one of the most promising countries on the continent, but the ethnic violence, fueled by political passions, is threatening to ruin that reputation. The economy, one of the biggest in Africa, has ground to a halt. Roads are blocked. Shops are closed. Factories are idle. The currency, the Kenyan shilling, is taking a dive." - NY Times

An excellent, thoughtful post by Kenyan blogger Bankelele. Well worth the read! It casts a slightly different, if ominous perspective that only a local could provide.
/great choice of black and white pic for the post, by the way!

Era - Pez

Era helped me take stock of my PEZ collection the other day. i had the digi-cam out and was updating my inventory with digital pics. Era likes pics... and he loved the Pez i gave him for all his help.









The E.T. pez era has in the last two pictures is one i bought in Kenya... at a super market in Nairobi. The super market was on the main floor of an open air 3 story mall... lots of stairs, and lots of fun.

Kenyan Tipping Point

Blogging was quiet over New Years, we were out of town.
i commented in a post last week that the Kenyan election "might not end well".
It has escalated.

How the polls were messed up - "THE heavy cloud hovering Kenya's future has been further darkened by the Chairman of Electoral Commission (ECK) Samuel Kivuitu who admitted that he is not sure whether incumbent Mwai Kibaki actually won last week's presidential elections." Read that whole article, it has even more damning news related to the election, and how it appears to have been corrupted.

- For articles like that and many more, visit this Kenya news page by AllAfrica.com

- BBC News Africa continues to be a good resource.

Canada is reported within The Standard, Kenya's National Newspaper; "the Canadian Foreign Affairs minister, Maxime Bernier, urged the Government to urgently address the election irregularities in a timely, transparent and thorough manner. The minister also criticised the suspension on live broadcasts. "The suspension of live broadcasts, irregularities in reporting of results and any move to restrict legitimate scrutiny of election results are serious concerns."

The Toronto Star reports Canada's Foregn Affairs Minister.

I spoke with a good friend this morning regarding mission & humanitarian travel to Kenya; groups expect travel to Kenya to be postponed, suspended or canceled all together, just as many countries begin advising travel to Kenya be avoided. Kenya, stable and reasonably safe these last few years, is in the midst of a potential tipping point. Not good.

ECK Declares President

"Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki won Thursday's closely-fought election, the electoral commission has declared.
Mr Odinga had led since vote counting began, but saw his advantage evaporate as later votes were added." - BBC News Africa

Just hours after the ECK declared the winner of the Kenyan Presidential Election, Mwai Kibaki was sworn in as President of Kenya, his second five year term.

I've lightly blogged the process for Kenya here and here.

Considering the enormous calls for election rigging, and the ease with which violence can occur, this might not end well.

I have sent an email to a good friend living in Nairobi. I'll post his assessment when received.

ECK: ODM Ahead of PNU

Acronym central; The Presidential election being tallied right now in Kenya. - BBC News - Africa

ECK: Electoral Commission of Kenya

ODM: Orange Democratic Movement

PNU: Party of National Unity

/But still, no winner declared.

Kenya's Presidential Election

Votes have been cast. Votes are being counted. The President of Kenya will be announced.

"This is the toughest political race Kenyans have ever seen.

The big question this time round is not simply who will become the president of this booming East African economy, but whether the vote will be seen by the losing side as legitimate.

The Kenyan electoral commission says it will not release results at night, for fear of violent repercussions. " - BBC News Africa

My Heart is Africa

Friends and readers will know that i have a special place in my heart for Africa. An undeniable & unexplainable interest & passion for all of Africa... for Kenya in particular.
Brent & Tawm sent a book to me for Christmas this year. The book, by Scott Griffin is the true account of a business man who served an NGO in Nairobi for two years in the 90's after flying to Africa from Toronto solo(in a Cessna 180); My Heart is Africa. I started this book before dinner tonight, and it is the sort of book one would read thru till the end (if i didn't have 3 episodes left in Season 2 of Prison Break)

African Reminders

Prime Minister Harper is in Uganda these days, discussing climate change controls with the commonwealth countries.

Swiped from that globe & mail article (linked above) was this pic here;



poignant. It reminds me of the time i've been blessed to spend on the African continent. The people we've grown close to and the work we've been honoured to do.

Coop is preparing for a potential return trip in April 2008. This trip would, like our most recent trip, be another with CFL athletes.

Kenyan Sets Canadian Record in Marathon

I saw this coming. Of course.

"set the fastest time ever run on Canadian soil as he won the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Sunday.

Kelai's time of 2 hours 9 minutes 30 seconds knocked 25 seconds off the Canadian open mark set at the 1976 Montreal Olympics by East Germany's Waldmar Cierpinski." - Globe & Mail

/As an aside, Waldmar is accused of enhancement drugs as prescribed by the East German sports authority. It seems that 2nd place in 1976 is attempting to be awarded the gold medal.

era Goes to the Zoo

We took era to the Zoo today. The Calgary Zoo. He loved it. And why wouldn't he?

i was excited to show him the African animals that i had seen on safari.



This is arguably closer than i have ever gotten to a lion in the wild. (The fence does wonders for one's cavalier disregard for personal safety)


Era enjoyed watching the elephants... a lot. For a long time. (Does that elephant have aluminum tipped grills?)


It's hard to argue with the boy when he likes the red panda. That is a cute beast.


The ring tail Lemur was a hit too, era likey!


Here you see dad bravely helping era sneak up on some wild game. Vicious beasts in the wild; (ducks)
What? what?


/i probably should have wore a yellow hat (implying that era is the monkey)

Jenkem: Zambia

This article from BBC hits right to the heart.

"They are manufacturing "Jenkem", a disgusting, noxious mixture made from..."

"...nobody knows exactly where the idea for making Jenkem came from, but it has been used by street-children in Lusaka for at least two years. Nason Banda of the Drug Enforcement Agency is not proud when he says that it is unique to Zambia."

Do you ever feel helpless? The population of street children in Zambia continues to rise. I've been there twice now myself, and every time... hits right to my heart. The people of Zambia are warm, kind & searching, the country really is the jewel of Africa. Jenkem tho, is a terrible legacy to be developing. Children around the world (far away and near by) ought not ever feel truly hopeless.

Not unlike the jewel of Africa, Children are societies jewel, and how we care for them (or fail to care for them, as the case often appears) speaks volumes.

An excellent local expression of care for our children is Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Their IN School Mentor Program is worthy of your attention.

****UPDATE****

After reading further on the topic, there are thoughts that Jenkem might be a hoax. If so they spoofed BBC into reporting it in the article i linked above.
I would hope this was/is a hoax. It might have been easier to forget that way. That i merely perpetuated a clever lie crafted to cause disgust, despair (or worse).
UNICEF reports Jenkem abuse in Zambia: Evaluation report 2001 ZAM: Rapid Assessment of Street Children in Lusaka

(one comment i read tonight: "this isn't simply bad, it's the failure of human beings")
//Ouch

An article from the Mail & Guardian newspaper in Zambia: Bleak outlook for Zambia's street kids.

* * * * *

Kenya's Kibera Kid for President

Dare to dream, and when you do; Dream Big!

"A new film set in Africa's largest slum Kibera - often associated with poverty and crime - hopes to shatter its negative stereotypes.

Kibera lies just outside the heart of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and is home to more than 1m people...

Fourteen-year-old Ignatius Juma, who plays Otieno, has taken to his new-found stardom with ease.

"I am very happy because I am the first person from Kibera to succeed in acting," he says.

"For me it is easy because I also act in school... Now, I am used to being treated like a star."

The film has awakened his dreams of making it big as an international film star.

Unless, he says, he succeeds in his first ambition to become Kenya's president.' - BBC News - Africa

Read the entire article.

This 12 minute movie is a part of an interesting project by US film maker Collett:

"We're not interested in giving people money; we are imparting knowledge and giving them an opportunity to do it themselves."

Hot Sun Films was inspired by and borrows its name from Kenya's informal jua kali industry.

In Kiswahili jua kali means hot sun and refers to crafts people who make their merchandise on the streets, rather than in a factory setting." - Hot Sun Films

Collett has done touching journalism focused on people of Kenya that will challenge you... human interest caught in the slums of Kibera. This will wrench your heart and may change you... to say the least.

Simpsons go to Tabaka

i have a reasonably long history with soapstone.
It really started in 1995 when my folks gift store was host to three Soapstone carvers from Kenya, they were traditional Kisii tribesmen.
We carried the stone in our store from then on... and sold a lot of it too. The chess sets were always a real hit.

Since 2005 i've been to Kenya a number of times, and the artisans working in soapstone have always been of special interest to me. I've not been let down. They really are phenomenal.

Now, with the beauty of the free market, the Simpsons have gone to Tabaka for a traditional soap stone rendering. And it looks good.

"The team carve replicas of the characters that sell for $6, a huge improvement on the $1 per piece they earned before The Simpsons came to Tabaka.

The business employs around 80 people - the carvers, the miners who provide the soapstone and the women who wash and polish the finished statues.

The head of the team, Daniel Oigo Mogendi, said he won the tender by accident when he had gone to the capital, Nairobi, to collect payment for a soapstone chessboard.

His client asked him to carve a prototype of Homer, the big-bellied family man who is fond of a beer" - BBC News

Internet Africa

I've talked about this before. The interweb in Africa where i have been is remarkably slow... imagine a slow 14.4 connection. I recall talking with folks in Eastern Africa a couple years back about how excited they were for a new internet option to be added along the Eastern Coast line. It doesn't sound like it's happened, yet.

"...a market ripe for development, but the article explains that there are numerous difficulties involved getting an infrastructure project off the ground." - The current state of internet connectivity on the African continent.

Masai Mara Lion & Son

"Look of love: An adult male and cub on the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya. They grow from 3lb at birth to as much as 450lb"

/My 3lb boy has a long ways to go.



Look at those eyes.

Be sure to click the following link, showcasing a whole series of Lion pics from that same spot in Kenya: Extraordinary pictures that show the Pride and joy of a Lion King

We spent a little time on the Masai Mara Reserve, but our tour guide had a real aversion to driving near lions. I don't know, he must have had a bad experience.


This was as close as we got to the majestic Lion. (it must have been the camera lense)

Musonda was in Town

As i mentioned earlier, Chris Musonda was in town. Chris is the Zambian National Director of Athletes in Action, and has been our host in Zambia numerous times.
He spent a few brief moments with us at church this morning, and then he was off (Winterpeg is his next destination).



The above pic was our group picture at the Copper Belt University campus in Kitwe, northern Zambia. Chris is the 2nd from the left. Can you spot the CFL athletes? (Hint; There were 3 current, and one retired athlete on that particular tour)

This morning was a flood of memories... not the least of which were all of the road trips from outlying town to outlying town. Thank God for additional family all around the world.

As mentioned before, Chris was in Canada as Official Chaplain for the Zambian National Team playing in the FIFA World Cup for Under 20 Men. Zambia advanced initially, and then lost to Nigeria in their first elimination round (Nigeria has since lost to Chile). Next time.

/ Picture width decreased from 600 to 400 pixels wide. In Firefox the site looked fine before, but with Explorer, it skewed the positioning... so switch to Firefox. :)

2010 FIFIA

South Africa, FIFA World Cup. 2010.
See you then...

Until then, look at this website of their IDENTITY for 2010. Stunning stuff. i want some.

Outdoor Advertising Still Excites

I like this: "Oh, how exciting. DraftFCB, Toronto has solved the energy crisis, having harnessed the power of sunlight to fuel this billboard." (link)

"the simple idea behind [...] 'War Orphans' made the jury's decision easy. Naive family wall paintings they may be, but seeing where shells of bullets have shattered the images is a great and easily understood metaphor." (link)

Both examples of outdoor advertising were linked from Adrants, a site i don't find the time to visit quite as often as i did a year ago. (tho, to be brutally honest, i still haven't changed the header & title information at the top of this site, so it does still state that this blog is really focused on outdoor advertising. Heh, these links were my months quota i suppose)

/speaking of a year ago, it was one year ago today that i started using delicious for bookmarking - not important, merely informational, like 9 tenths of the interweb today

Franchise Pharm in Kenya

Complete with micro loan goodness. Wow.

/That road where the shop is located... i've been there... or near there... or maybe all the towns along the equator in Kenya start to look eerily similar.