Your resident alien

Now I have a certificate to prove it!

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Exchange burned

On Wednesday, the ODM party arranged a funeral service in a local park near Ngong Road. I saw people assembling at the mortuary on my way to work, along with press vans and the army General Service Unit. Towards the end of the event, youths threw stones at the GSU and started fires at barricades they made in the road. The GSU responded with tear gas and that was the end of the funeral. The youths then vandalised the telephone exchange, pushing over a wall and pushing two cars against the wall. They set fire to the cars, looted everything they could find, broke windows and had fun in front of the cameras until the police and army got back in force and stopped it all. Some of the crowd ended up in my road but didn’t do any damage. I was at work at the time and all was well when I got back. The exchange is 2-300m from my flat, opposite my bus stop. The burned section is at the back, towards the mast. <<...>> <<...>>

Organising a student protest

My postgrad students returned today, and the undergrads are due to arrive this week.

One of the postgrads remarked that the undergrads might get involved in any Mass Action that is called.

Apparently it won’t happen on our campus because there isn’t a good main road to block and the police post is too small to bother with.

For a good protest one should have a big road near to student housing, for running away, and a police station. The Uhuru Highway (the biggest in the country) is ideal; blockages will cause an impact, it’s got a roundabout next to student accommodation on the main campus, and the central police station is only 200m away.

If this isn’t enough to get the police out for a fight, it may still be necessary to throw some stones at the police station to get them out.

Either way, when it gets to lunch time both sides will go to eat and reassemble at the agreed time.

Sounds rather like the previous city centre rallies. (And very different from the slum fights.)

Friday 18th Nairobi

We are on the third day of “Mass Action”. In reality there has been much less enthusiasm for these as the situation has settled. The heavy rain probably also helped.

I stayed at home, with supplies of food, phone cards and cash but haven’t been very much affected directly.

The city centre has been cordoned off each day and the token efforts to have a rally by the opposition leaders have been rebuffed with tear gas, at which point the leaders disappear in Range Rovers to go to hotels and the followers run from the police.

Meanwhile in the slum areas, there is general hooliganism and robbery to which the police respond with tear gas and some bullets. Sadly, there have been a few deaths, from various causes.

The road to work gets blocked as it is a containment point for marchers from the slum to the central park and there are sometimes clashes there. Otherwise I would not know anything was happening.

 I did hear a bit of gunfire yesterday, from the Kibera slum, perhaps in connection with a train that got stopped and robbed.

The opposition say this is the last of the calls for rallies; they are moving on to boycott businesses now, which will presumably just continue to hurt fellow Kenyans and leave the politics unchanged.

The antics in parliament are all too reminiscent of UK parliaments but they also have a bit of true Kenyan chaos. The opposition party, formed out of a load of splits and mergers, has to submit a list of 6 additional MPs to be appointed in addition to those elected. They have submitted two different lists; one from the “current leaders” and one from the registered officials of the party. The latter includes two of those officials themselves. Presumably this will get resolved  but it isn’t a great start from those who wish to run the country.

There are several things which are concerning. One is the enhanced poverty amongst those who were already poor, a second is the deep ethnic enmity which has opened up again, and a third is the problem of a president without a majority in parliament.

Despite all that, and there is a lot of sadness amongst Kenyans, there is also optimism from everyone I speak to that after this period of turbulence it will get resolved and normality will return.

I am hoping students will return on Monday, at the third attempt, and we can get back to normal there too.

Kenyan Anthem and flag

O God of all creation
Bless this our land and nation
Justice be our shield and defender
May we dwell in unity
Peace and liberty
Plenty be found within our borders.

This is the first verse and was written for independence in 1963; it uses a Swahili song for the tune.

It seems so poignant now.

The stripes on the flag are symbolic:

Black for the people

Red for blood shed to gain independence

Green for a fertile land

White for peace. <<...>>

Getting stolen goods back

In the coastal area, there was a lot of looting which the police were unable to prevent or deal with. One timber-yard owner announced he would be pronouncing a curse on anyone who hadn't returned the goods. There was a rush to return items as news got around that one person had a heart-attack while carrying off a TV. Others claimed not to have been able to go to the toilet for several days, or other ailments. Some hired handcarts to get the stuff back, others said they knew they'd be a laughing stock but they couldn't risk the curse. People in the Muslim areas seemed to take this very seriously.
Less seriously, a newspaper columnist argued that this should be used to combat mobile phone thefts, instead of the expensive high-tech solutions that don't seem to work.

Time travel

To visit my friends at Christmas, I used Ethiopian Airways (“Connecting Africa to the rest of the World”) rather than Kenyan (“Pride of Africa”) and so spent a night in Addis Ababa each way. The useful tit-bit for pub quizzes is that Ethiopia is the only country still using the Julian Calendar, so this year is 2000 and started on Sept 12^th in our Gregorian calendars. Thus I travelled 7 years back and forward again each way. All that Tardis stuff bothered me much less than the half hour early they tried to get me on the hotel-airport bus coming back at Addis.

I also had Christmas twice; my return trip happened to be on the Ethiopian Christmas day (7^th Jan this year, though all the books/calendars say it is the 8^th).

You can see why they had famine there when you look at the scenery but Addis seems nice enough.

Another quiz question: Anyone know which was the last country to switch from the Julian calendar?

Addis Airport & Ethiopian Airlines

Odd curiosities:

1. Very high security (unless girl is distracted talking to mate while luggage goes through) but then Ethiopian are the most high-jacked airline in the world. (More quiz trivia for you).

2. Souvenir coasters for sale; designed on a Thai pattern and made in USA.

3. Announcement: “Would passengers waiting behind destined for (Nairobi) frankly go to gate 4”. Hope the other 3 languages were better but I guess the message is conveyed.

4. Best in-flight magazine I’ve seen.

New year

Normally New Year is seen in amongst the cold wet Cumbrian hills.
This year I slept under a myriad of stars on a beach on the Gulf of Aden. On Jan 1st we swam with Whale Sharks, the largest fish on the planet. OK, these were 3 metre babies, but that's still pretty big. They are committed vegetarians with a lovely pinkish surface and rows of white spots. The water was a bit rough for poor-swimmer me (1m waves) but I found that with a life-jacket it was good fun.
Other beach life included many gulls, a heron, crabs, various multi-coloured fish and some hermit crabs.

The rock hyrax were in a nearby canyon.

A real low point

You know Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa, but where is the lowest?

 

This is!  Lac Assal. 156m below sea level. (Also claimed to be third lowest in the world.)

 

The lake was cut off from the sea by a volcano and there are hot springs (oops, burned foot) and lots of salt. The whole country is rather bleak and dry and there is a significant haze to dull the views.

 

The salt you can see, with a shallow layer of water in parts leading out to the deeper and amazingly-coloured waters of the lake.

The wading Brits are my old school friend and family.

Nairobi situation

Thanks to all who have contacted me to see how things are.
I'm due back in Nairobi on Tuesday 8th , having delayed 3 days in North Africa to allow things to settle. I understand all should be well now, indeed some parts of Nairobi were untouched all along. One person told me if it were not for the news they wouldn't have known anything were happening but another said it was very bad.
The trouble was in predictable spots where there is a history. (Slum areas with a lot of support for opposition leader Raila Odinga, city centre, the far west of the country where fighting has continued for years over land, ethnicity, etc.) Having said that, one of the protest marches got intercepted near my flat and there was trouble at that point; a petrol station got burned and that made me take the chance to delay my return.
There has been a shortage of cash (banks closed), fuel and food but that is now resolving.
The politics need sorting but I can't see there being a lot more violence immediately.
The election certainly seems odd. I could understand it being close, although Raila's campaign was a lot better than Kibaki's, but it seems odd that Mwai Kibaki got a majority personal vote when at the same time his alliance got far fewer MPs than the opposition ODM (about 55:95 depending who is allied to whom with about 30 seats yet to declare). Most people will have voted consistently for MP and President. The EU observers said that in at least two places the local count reported 50-odd thousand for Kibaki but the Electoral Commisiion announced 70-odd thousand in the final result. MPs made themselves very unpopular with massive pay awards and pensions and most were voted out, regardless of party. Twenty ministers lost their seats, including the VP.

The missing link

Two signs from my area.

One is about creating a new road ; I was just amused by the otherwise perfectly reasonable description.

The other is a typical advertising sign for the election. The houses are average bungalows and the sign really is that big.

(Mwai Kibaki is the current president and PNU is his party group;  tena means “again” and the bottom slogan means “let the work continue”.

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Spot the chameleons

Some pre-historic looking specimens from a country garden. Sorry I can’t show you the tongue shooting out for what seemed like more than the body length but you can see the concentration in the gaze.

Windscreen visibility

I don’t think my car windscreen is as clean as I’d like but this one is quite another story. Perhaps the chap hanging out of the driver’s window is a lookout?

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Tea, rain and sunbirds

Tea needs rain to grow but rain is nicer to look at than to go out in. (And no, that’s not all drips off the gutter.)

The double-collared sunbird also enjoyed the after-rain sunshine.

Hospitals and Coffins

“Could someone please spare patients at the Western Provincial Hospital the agony of having to watch coffins being made at the hospital entrance? This is quite depressing for patients, their relatives and well-wishers. These carpenters should be made to move as their continued presence at the hospital gates negates the will to live.”

Contributor to Daily Nation 22.11.07

What's an elephant ear feel like?

The Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary has orphaned elephants from 9 weeks to 9 years in their care. The elephants, who have green-coated keepers with them all the time including when sleeping at night, came in two groups for their milk and for a play in the mud pools. The costs of seeing them have rocketed in the last month (it’s now only worthwhile if you are seeing the national park on the same day) and the visitors have dropped considerably so we were able to touch the elephants. Did you know that the under-surface of their ears is like polished leather? The animals can get sunburn (damaging their ears) and also get cold and suffer pneumonia. They are therefore wrapped in blankets and their keepers sometimes use umbrellas to protect them. They need milk (SMA Gold; cow’s milk doesn’t work) for 5 years and are then weaned off onto a maize porridge mix. They continue to need the family environment for another 4 years before they can be released to a Park in the East (Tsavo).

Here is a coated youngster, some others having a friendly rumble, and two intermediates racing from out of the bush to get their milk.

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National Park

A few pictures from Nairobi National Park. Despite being only 20 miles by 5 miles it has masses of wildlife and more bird species than the UK.

The giraffe welcomed us to the park proper while the ostrich looked embarrassed at being caught in flagrante (picture censored).

The tiny malachite kingfisher and red-cheeked cordon bleu are not great photos but show how colourful the real things are.

The eland is chewing a prickly pear while the zebra sticks to grass. The lioness sticks to zebra (more graphic pictures censored).

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Made in Nairobi

Sometimes it seems easier to get things made here than to buy them ready-made.

Three examples illustrate this:

I wanted a white coat for work (unlike UK, one can’t be a professional without here) and the first one found for me advertised a chemical company! I didn’t use it, I borrowed a plain one for a while, but then to my surprise I was told a tailor would be coming at 10 o’clock to measure me for a new one. This being Nairobi, he didn’t come at 10 but he did arrive the next day. I await the product.

My office was a bit grubby when I arrived and I had no writing paper or other office goods. The window had some filthy and ripped net curtains. Within one day I had some very nicely made curtains in blue and gold, but I‘ve had to go and buy scissors, paper, stapler etc.

I have been looking for more comfortable chairs in my lounge. The shops and second-hand sales had big suites for lots of money but I didn’t need such a suite and I didn’t want to spend the money! I therefore headed for the Ngong Road where there is a kilometre of furniture stores; not stores where they sell furniture but shacks where they make it. There are welders and carpenters making anything you want in wood or metal. They do it on the rough ground between the shacks and the road. I sat on a number of chairs and eventually found a two-seater that was nearly right but not quite. With 2” off the seat, 3” on the back and a different material.... I paid a deposit on Tuesday night and on Saturday morning picked up the finished product, made to my size and ready to go for about £50.

The maker offered to show me a catalogue of other chairs. I expected a few sketches or photos but instead he produced an Argos catalogue (there is no Argos in Kenya) and offered to make anything in it. I might just take him up on the offer.

Please see pics of the coat, the shack and the settee.

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Newspapers and international jokes

The Media here, TV, radio and papers, all use an interesting style of English, mostly a very proper form of English but, in the case of the audible forms, with unusual intonation and emphasis. The newspapers, however, are prone to odd headlines and stories. One recently printed a big section on the fact that it had sold out in some provincial town the day before.

Other headlines raise interesting ideas:

“Eldoret Airport finally lifts off ground as flights grow”

“Fiery Archbishop retires after four decade service” (that’s a long service, even for here.)

“Foreigners are sought for murder” reminds me of the three Irishmen looking for work in London...

There was an advert in which HRH Prince Ernst of Hanover announced that “he has appealed against a German court verdict and will seek to show that he only slapped the face of a German citizen without causing any injuries whatsoever and not as maintained by the citizen that such injuries required hospitalisation.”    (I have no idea why this ad was placed.)

You’d find these in any country:

Teacher: Why are you late?

Pupil: There was a man who lost 1,000 shilling note at the bus stop.

Teacher: That’s nice, were you helping him look for it?

Pupil: No, I was standing on it and waiting for him to go.

On a crowded bus one man noticed another had his eyes shut. “What’s the matter, are you sick?”

“No, I’m OK, I just hate to see old ladies standing.”