MentalGator

Items by benja

Comments for Pastor M's Blog

• Comment on 18 Marriage Lessons… by JK

  Posted: May 2, 2012, 12:18 am by JK

  Thanks for the advice! I vote for 15.

• Comment on 18 Marriage Lessons… by Wakeji

  Posted: May 1, 2012, 6:19 am by Wakeji

  woooow.. Thanks… Please expound on 4,7 and 13..

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on Play Your Part by mwangi karanja

  Posted: March 12, 2012, 7:50 pm by mwangi karanja

  I’m glad that all of this tie together from the sermons of thriving and relationships.Probably this is the subtle glue that brings it all together. Many are the times when we take a chilled outlook from our lives, our relationships till the point of ‘no return’ . Forward movement is always being outside your comfort zone so story ya ‘I give myself away’ without action has to die. Cheers MAVUNO. Your REALNESS is that uncormfortable truth. Thank you for the wake up call.

• Comment on This Is Not A Club, We’re On A Mission! by Jo

  Posted: March 4, 2012, 7:20 pm by Jo

  I was convicted by that sermon because after attending Mavuno close to 3 years, and doing Mizizi I haven’t ever served in a ministry, even my lifegroup fell apart and we’ve never had the desire to reconnect just because its like everyone’s already moved on.

  About ministries, it’s not because I don’t want to, I guess its because of “convenience” like you said. Also, because I just don’t know WHERE to begin. I mean I see people joining stuff and I don’t know HOW they did it. First of all, I’m shy(!) before i get to know people, so that thing of approaching some random person and asking is just weird to me, and maybe other people are like me, willing but just not knowing where to start.

  I’d really appreciate if we could have an “open day” for Mavuno ministries and those front-line initiative teams where people can sign up, or if you could tell us how to join stuff and give us that info during the service. You’d probably see a surge in numbers, or rather let me speak for myself. I WILL definitely sign up.

• Comment on Friends With Benefits by John Karanja

  Posted: February 26, 2012, 4:18 pm by John Karanja

  a very practical sermon..please read and share

• Comment on Buyer’s Remorse by JM

  Posted: February 24, 2012, 8:49 am by JM

  I totally agree with this. I fee like we need to have a constant support system to keep us in check. It really is very very difficult, and we need all the help we can get!

• Comment on Buyer’s Remorse by JM

  Posted: February 23, 2012, 9:51 pm by JM

  Thank you for the wonderful sermons…I’m going through a bit of heartbreak after a recent breakup, and the sermons have really helped me to see what I’ve been doing wrong, and why I can’t seem to find a good healthy relationship. I realized half the problem is that I’ve been constantly looking for someone to make me feel good about myself…someone to fill a void. I would ignore all signals that things are not working but eventually things would fall apart. These sermons have come at a perfect time. I particularly learning about the importance of being The One. I’m also learning the importance of letting go, and letting God when it comes to relationships- previously I have been led by feelings & all logic would be thrown out the window. I am learning to be patient & finally understanding that I need to just let God take the wheel.
  I feel quite horrible right now (emotionally) but I am trusting that God will see me through this and that he will lead me to the man who is right for me. In the mean time I’m going to try concentrate on learning how to be The One.

Comments for Pastor M's Blog

• Comment on Dating Books by JK

  Posted: February 22, 2012, 3:56 pm by JK

  Am positive that al get some insight…just started on KISS DATING GOODBYE…i’l be back with the feedback once am done…God Bless you pastor M…

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on Buyer’s Remorse by JJ

  Posted: February 21, 2012, 10:37 am by JJ

  i understand you,

  sorry to say but i feel you are making excuses to contact this ex.

  Do not be desperate,God did not furnish a one-sided relationship but a mutual consent. i know its hard,lonely and at times you panic knowing that times running and your aren’t married yet. Do not yield to pressure especially when you see your friends getting married and you are not.

  i suggest you do not contact this guy, seeking closure from your ex will not only injure your esteem but lower your dignity. You are wonderfully and beautifully made, the image of the life partner you want is what you should work on presenting to the world.and it begins with you inside of you…you’ll only be unattractive if you look down on yourself, become gloomy, insecure and desperate.

  smile to the world and the world will smile back,you will only attract like minds and not contrary….i identify with you and am
  praying for you.

• Comment on Buyer’s Remorse by JJ

  Posted: February 21, 2012, 10:24 am by JJ

  hy desperately in need of guidance,

  must say i realy feel u, but truth be told friends who leave after marriage are not real friends. Sorry to say but i think ur friend has been brainwashed by the ol tam mentality of isolation once in marriage..the beautiful thing about meeting the one in your circle of friends is that nothing much changes. a wedding is a one day affair nothing much changes apart from the ring on your finger and formalities involved.it would be ridiculous if you decided to behave differenlty a day after your wedding.

  Dont be desperate am sure if you give yourself wholy to God and service to him your void will be filled and even if you were alone in this world your light will shine ..the Jesus in you…

  Engage yourself in church activities,enlarge your circles am sure the best of friends are in the spiritual relm..so married or not Be the one and the One will find you.

• Comment on Be The One by Lorna Abwonji

  Posted: February 20, 2012, 9:13 pm by Lorna Abwonji

  Is it possible to do this series at Nairobi Chapel Ngong road, we really need this.

• Comment on Be The One by J.

  Posted: February 6, 2012, 2:35 pm by J.

  WHAAAAAT! 1 year!!! Will i hack it? By the way, get this straight, I din’t chose to wake up, something lifted me up my seat. I came to church with a girl that i really like now this???? Whaaaaat. God is on my case this year and I just don’t know how its gonna be. Either way, i chose to obey, This is the full DETOX – Mavuno = truth being taught in love n’ sincerity. “THIS TIME I’MMA DO IT DIFFERENTLY”

• Comment on Be The One by Karanja

  Posted: February 6, 2012, 11:55 am by Karanja

  Guy enters church with relationship issues from jana. worship was uplifting and some cares faded kidogo, then the pastor kicks in the door(military style) and says, (albeit in another style) ‘look carefully at yourself in the mirror what do you see. Enyewe the sermon was life changing. the spiritual and intellectual engagement I had was fascinating and on top of that this can be applied to all sort of friendships. Thank you saannaaaaa

• Comment on One Of Us by Kijo

  Posted: December 13, 2011, 7:16 am by Kijo

  I wasnt in church on Sunday so just read the post and its great. Its a new way for me to look at Christmas…i must admit i dint have much syke for it…with all thats been going on this year as you so rightly described…so what has really touched me is that Christ came to earth as a human being so that he can be like me…one of us…He feels me…and thats just profound for me right now.
  Thank you for bringing this out.

• Comment on Wired For Greatness by Omeno Suji

  Posted: May 3, 2011, 4:14 pm by Omeno Suji

  I sat through the sermon on Sunday all along struggling with a family issue regarding my daughters schooling. I have wanted to get her to a better learning environment ever since she got selected to a national school but have never known what could be better than a national school, and whether I would be in God’s will for my daughter’s life if I transferred her from her current school. When you used the example of Prince William and his bride Kate and how they never had to worry about what dress she would wear because she was royalty. I thought why do I live like a commoner – worrying about national school for my daughter and what people would say if I transferred her. I surrendered. We leave this Thursday to pick up her stuff and she joins an ACE school in Nairobi starting Monday. I don’t know what her future will be but I have peace about this decision and will TRUST God to do the rest. Thanks for talking about being wired for greatness

Open Society Institute

• Behind the “Burqa Ban”

  Posted: April 11, 2011, 2:09 pm by Naima Bouteldja

  The media frenzy over the full-face veil ban in France is the latest political maneuver by the Sarkozy government looking to frame the presence and visibility of ethnic minorities, be they Muslims or more recently the Roma people, as a threat to national identity.

  When first approached by the Open Society Foundations At Home in Europe Project to produce a report on the "niqab" controversy in France, based on the testimonies of the veil wearers themselves, I was not expecting my encounters with 32 niqabis, overwhelmingly French citizens, would radically change my take on the issue.

  The sense of isolation for many of the women concerned could hardly have been greater. But I would never have been able to fully grasp it had I not met and spoken to 32 women in several French cities who for a variety of reasons had chosen to wear the veil. The eagerness with which most of them related their daily experiences and how the controversy had made them feel was reflective of the total lack of consideration given to such fundamental questions during the national debate over the banning of the full-face veil.

  As the testimonies of the women interviewed soon revealed and as I witnessed myself, many French people had come to believe that it was their right, even their republican duty, to behave as members of a secularist enforcement squad parroting arguments they had heard on TV the night before to the niqabis they met in public.

  As a direct result of the political and media hubbub, niqabis who ventured outside their house found themselves facing frequent verbal abuse ranging from "ghost" and "Darth Vader" to "whore" and "slut," used as a back-handed way of defending women’s dignity. Some also had their pictures taken as if they were circus freaks, while a small number of women were also spat on or physically confronted by passersby who tried to rip off their veils.

  My first field trip kicked off in Paris at the Gare du Nord train station in October 2010, where I met Aisha, 19, and Bushra, 24. The encounter challenged some of my own expectations: from the youngsters’ backgrounds—a French national sports champion and a former rapper; their motivation for wearing the niqaba—a combination of what they saw as the quest for perfection and an undeniable act of rebellion; to the vehement opposition of their families.

  Bushra’s decision to wear the niqab, for example, was greeted by her parents with an “are you mad or what? You’re going to become a terrorist!” Hers was not an isolated case with the research starkly revealing that in most cases the adoption of the niqab was initially opposed by family members.

  “I find the Muslim community as manipulated as the rest of the French population,” said Eliza, a charismatic entrepreneur who like several respondents has decided to leave France. With few exceptions, most representatives of Islamic institutions, even those generally perceived as close to the government, opposed the ban on the full-face veil, rightly stressing that a law would be counterproductive and risked stigmatizing the entire Muslim population. However, they did so while distancing themselves from the practice of the full-face veil, frequently arguing that the niqab was “not part of the religion.”

  “What hurts me the most,” Aisha told me, “is the community. Put it in your article, the umma [Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation"] is disappointing us.” In fact, not only did the majority of niqabis I spoke to feel let down by the Muslim representatives’ lack of support , but a significant number of them had also been shockingly abused by either Muslims or people of Arab descent, sometimes violently. A couple of women were spat on by Arab men while some niqabi women were accused by Muslims of “dirtying the religion,” “shaming” them, and making their lives harder in France.

  Muslims and other ethnic minorities in France have served as scapegoats for a number of the country’s ills, the result being that many people in France, including the well-intentioned and progressive, seem to have lost sight of this furor.

  Indeed  by claiming this ban on the full-face veil will protect women, the result, as Jameelah, 24, told me has been the exact opposite:  “I had the feeling that I was no longer human, that I was a monster,” she said, “while they should have respected me because at least I was a human being like them… at least for that reason I wanted some respect."

  

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on No Perfect People Allowed by Thairu Karanja

  Posted: April 5, 2011, 3:50 pm by Thairu Karanja

  Pastor Linda,
  firstly i thank God for you and i always look forward to your sermons which are witty yet hit home so WELL.
  Personally i’ve been one who was quick to judge people and also made an assumption about someone as soon as i met them. Worse still,in as much i’ve been priviledged enough to travel around the world and in cultures where Homesexuality is legal,i have always found myself judging them and i consider myself ‘Homophobic’. I now know better than to judge or look down on anyone seeing as my Lord and Saviour didn’t,but embraced them instead.

AkiraChix

• AkiraChix honoured as Unsung Heroes by US Ambassador Ranneberger in Nairobi

  Posted: March 21, 2011, 8:36 pm by Mgithinji

  On international Womens day Akirachix had the opportunity to attend a reception organized by Us ambassador Michael Ranneberger,this was an opportunity for the gals to meet with influential women in our society I.e Julia Ojiambo,Gina Din Kariuki,Esther Pasaris to name but a few. But the Highlight of the night was the Akirachix being honored by the [...]

Mariegithinji's Blog

• Cracked Nairobi Life.

  Posted: March 21, 2011, 6:24 pm by mariegithinji

  Everyone who takes a bus in Nairobi be it a Hoppa or a KBS must have had an encounter with the “bus hawkers”,they are a bunch of interesting characters though sometimes very annoying but I admire their resilience nonetheless ,every morning I take a bus to Ngong road so I have had my share of [...]

AkiraChix

• Akirachix Membership.

  Posted: February 17, 2011, 10:26 am by RKaranja

  At last! Good news to all the ladies that kept asking how to join Akirachix. Well, all you have to do is fill out this form. As simple as that! You will be sent more details on membership and events from now on. We will keep you posted.

• Ladies Mapping Party Programme

  Posted: February 10, 2011, 6:27 pm by Mgithinji

  0900h -Arrive at venue, meet and greet 1000h – Presentation by event leader, include overview of focus area for mapping 1100h – Begin hands on map session: Areas of mapping interest include schools, health centers, market centers, community development projects, restaurants, roads etc. 1300h - Quick break for questions/group discussion, refreshments 1400h - Continue mapping 1700h -Wrap [...]

• Google Mapping Bash

  Posted: January 24, 2011, 6:14 pm by Mgithinji

  Dear Ladies , Do you want to change the world?  Join us at iHub on 12 February 2011 for a Mapping Party using Google Map Maker! There are places around the globe that still do not have access to high quality maps, but we can change this using Google Map Maker. We are going to be working together [...]

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on Building Up The Walls by jt

  Posted: January 16, 2011, 6:43 am by jt

  Thank you pastor m for that sermon yesterday….in most of my friendships i failed in the realness and value add test up until late last year when i decided it was time to change the kind of friends that i hang around,although it was not easy letting go of some of this people i called my friends i ultimately made the decision and cut them off and began to get better friends,and it has been amazing and comforting that i am surrounded by people who care about me and who question when they see something is not right(loving critics)one of them is my dear sister who is very supportive.Thank you i only wish i had invited some of my ex-friends to hear this sermon….

• Comment on The Father Blessing by jt

  Posted: October 25, 2010, 8:10 am by jt

  WOW pastor mbevi the sermon left me in tears…..i have so longed for affirmation and acceptance from dad.i grew in a home where we were always compared to one another or the other children…that left me feeling that i was never good enoug and still leaves me feeling that i can never be like my other siblings because i dont share a good relationship with my dad like they do…..i have done some pretty ugly things and even lied to my dad and the rest of the family,but i have sought for reconcliation and forgiveness from my family.i joined mavuno church this year march and it has been life changing and yesterday during the sermon i was reminded of my father wounds which i have igorned and swept under the carpet as i struggle to be accepted for who i am but no more i know that God loves me and believes in me……i have a heavenly father who does accept as i am.thank you PASTOR SIMON may God continue to bless you.

AkiraChix

• Mocality Launch

  Posted: September 30, 2010, 12:32 pm by Mgithinji

  Mocality had their launch party/cocktail just last week,attracting quite a number of people,they certainly know how to throw a bash,there was plenty of food and drinks,the launch kicked off immediately with Joshua Mwaniki,Mocality’s Country manager for Kenya welcoming the guest,and also introducing the day speaker Stefan Magdalinski,who is the CEO of Mocality,who gave us a [...]

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on Why Are Christians Hypocrites? by benja

  Posted: September 25, 2010, 8:21 am by benja

  Hi pastor M

  The sermon was great yaani it really revealed a lot about me to myself, and reflecting back at it i really feel blessed that i was able to gauge myself this time and not others i was able to see the spec in my left eye and Ive just realized my right eye is actually blind and i thank the lord for showing me my own short comings

  God bless you.

AkiraChix

• TEDx Nairobi ‘Green City In The Sun’

  Posted: September 14, 2010, 3:58 pm by Mgithinji

  The TEDx Nairobi 2010 is going down on  the 18th of September, 2010 at the Leakey Auditorium, Kenya National Museum. TEDx Nairobi which is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. TED stands for technology, entertainment and design.The speakers will include Jon Bøhmer an entrepreneur who currently runs [...]

• Maker Fair Africa 2010

  Posted: August 30, 2010, 3:58 pm by Mgithinji

  Maker Fair Africa is an event  that aims to create a space on the continent where Afrigadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, brought to life, supported, amplified, propagated, etc. The event was held first Time in Kenya and it saw makers from  Kenya,Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa Solar [...]

Comments for Pastor M's Blog

• Comment on A New Beginning by JB

  Posted: August 27, 2010, 9:11 am by JB

  Indeed these are wonderful times to live in, and i believe it is my responsibility as a Kenyan to nurture the freedom to ensure it is not hijacked or aborted. God bless Kenya!!

AkiraChix

• 5th Mobile Monday Edition

  Posted: August 19, 2010, 9:00 am by RKaranja

  Mobile Monday Kenya The turnout at the MOMO- Kenya is phenomenal. It is organized by John Wesonga and Jessica Colaco. The moderator for the day was John Wesonga. Jane Del Ser from Jacaranda Health – health information systems She started talking about maternal health care. They want to address the 4 million women in Kenya who don’t have [...]

• MoMo 4th Edition

  Posted: July 23, 2010, 9:33 am by RKaranja

  To you all who missed 4th Edition of Mobile Monday, here is an update on what went down that day. The moderator for the Day was Jamila Abass an Akirachix and a passionate developer. The theme for the day was:  Mobile technology in the next decade 2010. And the titles/subjects of discussions were -          Android and USSD by Linda Kamau -          One [...]

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on Sex In The City by thamas ojijo

  Posted: July 6, 2010, 9:51 am by thamas ojijo

  just a little more,just a little more again and again till we become drunk of sin,Thanks for the warning passy.as you wear preaching i came to realize the reality of how sin can destroy the desire of our our hearts by its cheap enticing tricks like the prostitute in proverbs.the scripture says in revelation;flea out of her my people flea out of her my people lest you will be destroyed by its wrath,thanks passy again and again

Mariegithinji's Blog

• On Work

  Posted: June 28, 2010, 11:29 am by mariegithinji

  You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite. When you work you are a flute through whose heart [...]

Comments for Pastor M's Blog

• Comment on What Next? by mvunaji

  Posted: June 21, 2010, 10:28 am by mvunaji

  Pastor EM,

  I have read the book of Daniel before lakini the discourse you are taking is mind blowing!! It opens up fresh and new horizons on the way Daniel dedicated his life to God irrespective of his surroundings! Ahsante sana. Very eye opening.

• Comment on What Next? by JB

  Posted: June 18, 2010, 8:27 am by JB

  Thanks Pastor M for leading us through the book of Daniel, its been a wonderful experience and it has given me a fresh perspective. I need diligence and discipline to study the word daily fresh from the source without relying on a devotional guide(very addictive)and that is my prayer for this month. God bless

Mariegithinji's Blog

• Im in that place in my life ...

  Posted: June 17, 2010, 4:23 pm by mariegithinji

  Im in that place in my life where everything seems so routine and monotonous,i mean wake up the same time,go to work the same time,see the same faces the whole day(i aint hating on u good pips) ,leave work the same time and it goes on and on day in and day out. until now [...]

AkiraChix

• Mobile Monday

  Posted: June 16, 2010, 9:00 am by RKaranja

  Mobile Monday Yet another Mobile Monday and we had 4 presenters . 1st. Map Ma3 – This was an idea about a mobile app for showing you where to get ma3 (matatu). This was presented by our very own Linnet Kwamboka, an ambitious Akirachix member. Her system will seek to help some of us who have no [...]

• Barcamp Nairobi 2010

  Posted: June 15, 2010, 4:36 pm by Mgithinji

  Day 1. Barcamp 2010 kicked of on the 12th of June with more than 600 people in attendance,Barcamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.The meeting kicked of with Erik Hersman of Ushahidi [...]

Mariegithinji's Blog

• Random Hacks Of Kindness

  Posted: June 8, 2010, 7:17 pm by mariegithinji

  Its 7:00 am on a sato morning and am up(yes people am up!) ready for the Rhok,laptop -double check!,power cable-check,tooth brush-check,toothpaste-check(for those wondering yes spending the night at ihub),errr..everything-check, im ready for a hackathon,i arrive at the ihub at exactly 10:00(let me explain why it took me three hrs to get to ihub..1.i’m a chick, [...]

• Me

  Posted: June 2, 2010, 5:05 pm by mariegithinji

  Yesterday was a public holiday en I just happened to be idle,and I had 1 on 1 wid the mirror there is this persistent kapimple that just wont go away As I took a hard look at myself I saw few things that I would have loved to change,say thicker eyebrows,longer hair it so happens [...]

• Rise of the AkiraChix

  Posted: May 29, 2010, 2:46 pm by mariegithinji

  Akira is a Japanese word that means ‘energy’ and ‘Intelligence’,the group aims at helping and empowering the gal tech community,so today i head to ihub located on Bishop Magua Center for our first AkiraChix meet up.well i find the geek gals have turned up in large numbers en I’m so psyched up, one(i say one [...]

• lyrics of the week..

  Posted: May 24, 2010, 11:07 am by mariegithinji

  For some reason,i can’t get enough of this lyrics done by Lady gaga(new respect for her  btw )…en hence i have decided to share them with my two groupies(names withheld)… Murder My Heart(Lady gaga ft M. bolton) Don’t wanna let this moment slip away Cause I-I have something that I really need to say And [...]

• illusion

  Posted: May 14, 2010, 6:21 pm by mariegithinji

  One of the reason why people get so sentimental is because, memories are the only thing that don’t change when everything else does. There are things in life that you can’t hold on forever, no matter how much u fight for it. And sometimes, destiny isn’t always good. It becomes playful. When u meet someone [...]

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on Playing To Win 2 – Training Camp For Winners by mvunaji

  Posted: May 14, 2010, 1:00 pm by mvunaji

  Its simple, my resolution will lead to a revolution!!!!

  Kweli Pastor M you are the one!!

Mariegithinji's Blog

• Day one

  Posted: May 13, 2010, 4:24 pm by mariegithinji

  Well i have a blog now lets see if i can actually come up with something to blog about….how hard can it be :-p

Comments for Blog.Mavuno

• Comment on Living In A Buffet World by Mvunaji

  Posted: February 16, 2010, 12:04 pm by Mvunaji

  I have watched the secret and its the BOMB!! Why? Coz i never took everything they said literally. The universal force they talk about is simply God! Come on guys lets not be so myopic in a very rapidly evolving world. As Pastor M said reiterated from the bible, TEST all spirits. The Secret has saidiad my maishas from many angles, i dont subscribe to everything on that dvd like rubbing the lamb and am at your service rubbish, but sure there are very many benefitial truisims in there. We cannot ALL be the SAME liking ALL the same things and HATING all the same things. We were created in His image and likeness but with differing personas and individualities. If we were all like Pastor M, who would he be preaching to on Sundays? Lets simply be appreciative of teh fact that there is unity in the diversity that exists in the church today. This is in no way to accent to the the strange teachings of universality and meditation et al, but rather test the spirits. Just because Samantha said it was wrong does not mean that that is the case. Her experience with that side of life is very invaluable, but let the spirit of God lead and guide you. I dont condone Islam or Budhism, but i respect the human being if i meet them and hear them. I pray that one day they too will see the light and appreciate teh Lordship of Christ. Coz he is REAL!!! As everyone else, I also concur that the last 2 sermons should be expounded in depth probably on a Saturday for a month. Over to you Pastor M.

• Comment on The Mystery Of Giving by JN

  Posted: October 12, 2009, 5:37 pm by JN

  Wee Wee its Amazin Pastor M its Great and beyond Words.
  Pliz Advice the Married folk how to handle Giving and how there Spouses should be Involved, can they do it in secret??

• Comment on Stimulus Package by Mvunaji

  Posted: October 6, 2009, 11:09 am by Mvunaji

  Holy Lord!! Pastor M kweli you kujad with special anointing from Germany! that Sunday sermon was awesome both in content and delivery. Whome is a personal Friend and I must say both of you brought immense weight on the subject and honestly revived my spirit. That is the gospel of relevance and am so ever challenged. Ahsante sana!!

Comments for Mentalacrobatics

• Comment on Irritating by jijo

  Posted: November 9, 2008, 6:58 am by jijo

  I like

Kikuyumoja's realm

• searching for a new wp template

  Posted: February 11, 2008, 1:58 am by kikuyumoja

  I am currently in the process of changing my WordPress template, so if things do not look the way they are supposed to be - please stay tuned for an update.

  Although I am sure I will just spend 2-3 hours searching for a modifyabool template, only to realize later on that it isn’t compatible to (the biggest nightmare) MSIE 6.x and/or give up after some time as none of them will be convincing enough.

  I’d like to have a simple template with lots of whitespace, some neat gimmicks and a clear structure that will enable a comprehensive navigation and provide some space for individual banners and my ever exploding linklist / blogroll /eChakula thingy…another font would also be nice and some more pixel design. Also, it needs to load a bit faster. Actually, loading time is the biggest issue. Hence the need for whitespace & a clean structure.

  EDIT: ….the iPhone! Mzeecedric just informed me about the maximum width for an iPhone screen. Hellooohoo?!

  An WordPress Vorlagen herumfrickeln bis sie wenigstens halbwegs gut aussehen dauert wirklich unheimlich lange - vor allem wenn man es nur alle drei Jahre macht und sich dann durch das Stylesheet kämpfen muss - welches selbstverständlich überall unterschiedlich aufgebaut ist.

  EDIT2: OK! CASE DISMISSED! Due to this which convinced me. And given that the current Sirius theme does provide all these requirements, why change? But I will sure continue searching for another, better theme :-)

• Liebe Birgit Virnich,

  Posted: February 10, 2008, 6:32 am by kikuyumoja

  dafür, dass unser musikalischer Botschafter Walter Lindner im ersten Jahr seines Schaffens den goldenen Käfig Nairobi gut ausgetestet hat, war das jetzt aber ein sehr, sehr positiver Bericht im Weltspiegel (mit Video).

  Lindner in Mützelburgischer Art bei der Erkundung Kamukunjis Kiberas im Gespräch mit Einheimischen zu beobachten, zeigt wohl das momentan Mögliche auf.

  Für seine Sicherheitsbeamten sind seine Alleingänge im Slum ein Albtraum. Doch immer wieder zieht er ohne Bodyguards los, denn sonst käme kein vernünftiges Gespräch zustande. “Sie geben uns Hoffnung,“ meint der Mann. „Diese Größe haben unsere eigenen Politiker nicht. Keinen von denen hat sich hier je blicken lassen.“

  Sorry, es sind einfach diese beiden Nairobi Welten, die hier für mich nicht immer zusammenpassen wollen. Auf der einen Seite ein widerspruchsloser MA des AA, auf der anderen Seite der Wunsch zur Anteilnahme am Zeitgeschehen in Kenia. Und doch ist es vielleicht gerade dieser Widerspruch, der in der Diplomatie und, viel wichtiger, beim Volk ankommt.
  Anzumerken habe ich außerdem noch, dass es beim scheinbaren Desinteresse der meisten kenianischen Politiker (wohl aus politischem Kalkül/Angst/etc.) gar nicht so schwer sein dürfte, Aufmerksamkeit zu erregen.

  Freilich, wenn man andere Diplomatie gewöhnt ist, erscheint es manchmal eher sonderbar. Fand ich jetzt aber gut, den Bericht.

  Außerdem: Musik verbindet.

• two videos

  Posted: February 9, 2008, 5:37 pm by kikuyumoja

  I was just going through my blogroll (which btw urgently needs to be cleaned up and /or reorganized - yes, mzeecedric, blogroll still valid in times of web 2.0?) when I came across the following two videos which I would like to share with you:

  1. Bluetooth headset “sniffing”

  YouTube directvideo link

  [via]

  2. security analysis of a voting machine

• who fills the gap?

  Posted: February 7, 2008, 11:04 pm by kikuyumoja

  Just a short longer note on something I would actually like to expand into a post for Afrigadget: mobile phone repairs.

  Back in 1998 when I first started fixing my mobile phone, things were a bit simpler. Fast forward in 2008, mobile phones have become a commodity and there are at least two or three guys in most rural towns (in Kenya and elsewhere) that will know how to fix such a phone.

  So why blog on it? - Because it’s the way ppl are looking for alternative solutions on how to fix an advanced mobile phone based on SMD technology that makes the story interesting.

  
  mobile phone repair booth in downtown Nairobi, picture taken in May 2006

  In a world that has become more and more modular, where spare parts are exchangable or product life cycles reduced to a lifetime of about 2-3 years (best example: printers), not all is waste or wasted, and many things may often be repaired with simple and sometimes even very rough methods. Ask any mobile phone repair shop @ Moi Avenue Nairobi and they will tell you how they managed to save this or that phone. This, to me, is especially interesting, as they are using similar tools like other jua kali fundis in Europe - in a different environment. Whereas phones in Europe are often owned and used by one person only, phones in dev. countries are often shared between family members or friends. No wonder Nokia came up with two new phone models for emerging markets the other day, offering more than one phonebook / user profile on a single phone. Hence the need for a different approach to service repairs…or not?

  What you see above in the pic - and I desp. tried to get a decent pic of such a booth back in May 2006 when I last tried to cover this subject - are normal flasher cables. Serial & parallel cables, like datacables, ppl use to connect a phone to a computer to unlock a handset, flash the firmware or run some tests. Your handset is blocked by the network? Don’t worry, just reprogramme it (illegally) with a new serial number (~ IMEI). These are things done everywhere in the world - in the Middle East, in Asia, in Europe, Africa, etc. - only: they are all based on reverse engineering.

  Modern phones come with some more sophisticated algorithms and require a slightly different equipment - but that’s just a question of money and consequently there are, again, a few guys who will own a Twister Flasher or a BB5 unlock box in town (I really dig this microscope, sigh :-)

  Coming back to the initial question - why is it so interesting? Well, because manufacturers like Nokia or SonyEricsson create service manuals for their phones (which are then circulated over the internet), giving the schematics and parameters of each and every part. But they usually don’t train those jua kali fundis. And a licenced Nokia Service Center? Apparently, they often do apply the same techniques and may or may not be equipped with special and better service gadgets. And they are expensive.

  In other words: it’s cheaper and much more interesting for manufacturers to produce new phones than to train service staff on how to fix a mobile phone. Simple, new or refurbished phones are sold for something like 20,- EUR. And yet there’s this huge demand for quick & cheap repairs all over the world. This also applies to other electronics, cars or even lighters.

  Anyone out there remembers how we used to refill one-way lighters with Butane gas (using a chopped nail and balancing the firestone on the forefinger while reassembling everything)? Back then lighters were sold for something like 25/= Kshs. and a refill was available for 10/= Kshs…

  Now, while reverse engineered / alternative / jua kali (phone) repairs are interesting and will most def. make a good story on Afrigadget, I am constantly asking myself how manufacturers like Nokia will profit from this niche and use such knowledge for further engineering? Yeah, well, maybe Jan Chipchase’s research may be part of that, but then: who will fill this gap between new products and broken gadgets (leave this market to jua kali fundis and private individuals only?) and will a break-even point be the only criterion to define this approach on when it makes sense to invest in new equipment? What about environmental damage (during production) and how is this accounted for?

  The fast growing mobile phone sector is an interesting example to see how the world has changed, and I am currious to see when the majority of customers in places like Nairobi will prefer buying another phone instead of having the old one repaired.

• untangle

  Posted: February 6, 2008, 4:00 am by kikuyumoja

  

  First 18 levels ok, 19th sucks and 20th is….evil….*sigh*

  [via]

• Markklößchensuppe

  Posted: February 6, 2008, 7:50 pm by kikuyumoja

  Die einfache Gemüsetütensuppe mit alten Kartoffelresten, einer wabbeligen Karotte sowie Trockenpetersilie ausm Glas verfeinert.

  Dazu Markklößchen aus Traunstein - dachte ich mir: probier ich das mal. Schaut interessant aus und könnte schmecken.

  

  Die Suppe lecker, die Markklößchen ob der beinhalteten Hefe eher weniger. Sorry, liebe Familie Leimer, aber so kommen wir nich ins Geschäft. Die Backerbsen vielleicht. Nächstes Mal…

  Wer das Geschirr scheußlich findet, hat noch nie zur Untermiete gewohnt und ist jetzt außerdem nicht mehr mein Freund. So.

  (das Muster grenzt an eine Mischung aus Partykeller & Lüneburger Heide Wanderungen & Azteken - jedoch: immerhin von V&B! :-)

• I have no tribe

  Posted: February 4, 2008, 2:17 am by kikuyumoja

  Twitter…what I particulary like about microblogging via Twitter et al is that you get to see new links and see what others are up to. Just a few minutes ago I came across AfroM’s twitter message (”tweet”?) which informed me about David Kobia’s new site: iHaveNoTribe.com

  

  No matter how you feel on tribalism in Kenya, pls check out this nice new website and see what KENYANS ONLINE have to say about tribalism and nationalism.

  I just skyped David on this as I - as a “mzungu” (gosh, I hate this word but you get the idea) - may be outside enough of the ring to contribute my 2cents on this. It’s because I’m often reminded of this debate we had on thinkersroom some time two years ago about what Kenya(n)Tourists are actually doing for Kenya - and how they perceive their status vs. those who are left at home, at the basis, trying to struggle with a corrupt regime and daily life. Well, I am not the person to judge who does it better, what strategy a young Kenyan should follow after school’s out. Everyone just tries to struggle, and we all know of the plenty Kenyans abroad who are busy making a life (with or without a visa!).
  My Kenyan colleague from university recently told me that he was (financially) better off working as a cleaner for Mercedes-Benz factory in Europe than doing this 30.000 Kshs job for a GoK agency in Nairobi. Go figure…

  Rather, I’ve been wondering about what Kenyans in Kenya think about their friends and relatives abroad, and how they expect us to help them.

  Let me tell you something: no matter how bad the situation is in Kenya right now and no matter what kind of hatred we’ve seen - even online by educated ppl who should know better (although one could argue that’s just the power of an anonymous internet & normal flaming/trolls) - I cannot name any country right now that has more national pride than Kenya!

  Remember the Kenya Airways slogan “The Pride of Africa” - there’s much more to this than just marketing. This has affected me in a way that I am constantly wearing this wristband - I feel proud of it. And this although my passport says I am German national. Can you imagine?

  So, to make it short: the silver, no: golden lining underneath all this horror we have seen in Kenya lately - to me - is that we do now see people helping each other and beautiful initiatives like MamaMikes.com Special or food donations in front of Nakumatts where Kenyans are helping Kenyans. Did it take all this sheded blood to realize what’s inside of us all?

  What I’ve seen and heard from Kenya lately strongly reminds me of Adolf Hitler and his fucked up policies: ppl being torn out of matatus just because they belong to another tribe and then beaten to death…

  Now what… imagine you’re a Kenyan in the US and shocked just like me about this. What can we do about it?

  Yes?

  What else can one do except for showing unity and wishing for a better future?

  As for the governments (worldwide) - I’ve said it before: we can not expect anything from them except for some political frameworks and lots of empty phrases. Everything else will be has to be provided by individuals - like you and me.

  And yes, I do understand that we used to laugh about Tanzanians because of their economy & failures and that we are now addressing those very same issues that had been ignored in Kenya for a long long time due to “progress” + not even having a national language like Kiswahili. But so what? Does _unity_ depend on government decisions?

  (on a lighter note: I take it that I am the only one out there who may call himself a “Kikuyu” these days :-)

• cms + offline edition, anyone?

  Posted: February 3, 2008, 10:55 pm by kikuyumoja

  I am currently looking for a suitable Content Management System (CMS) for a website which is able to create an offline version of all pages to be run directly from a CD or DVD.

  The only working solution I can currently think of is something where you’d have a (virtual) local server running which then provides the dynamics for an attached database, but I was hoping that maybe someone out there knows a better solution, maybe something where a script creates static versions of each page and then copies them into a folder (~ cron job every night).

  Joomla? Drupal? Typo3? Anyone?

  Any help is appreciated! Thx.

• test your faulty usb stick

  Posted: February 2, 2008, 5:57 am by kikuyumoja

  Some of you may remember my blog post from March 2007 about fake USB sticks: A friend of mine had gone to China on a business trip and bought two 8 GB sticks for EUR 11,- each, only to realize at home that he had actually acquired two 16 MB sticks. The problem is that you can only verify the real capacity of such sticks by writing data on them and then reading it back to the computer. Obviously, this best works with an empty stick.

  Back then I even mentioned some progs that may verify if a USB flash memory stick is faulty or not. Germany’s c’t (Computer & Technik) magazine has now come up an alternative programme that works just fine and does a great job:

  (screenshot of H2testw - and yes, that’s my desktop wallpaper :-)

  It is available in German and English, free of charge, small (zipped ~ 220 kb) and “writes data in chunks of 1 megabyte”. H2testw.exe doesn’t also require an installation, so you may want to add it to you selection of useful tools on a usb flash memory stick (i do that + i have a folder designed for such purposes which contains also other goodies such as a free virus scanner + recent update packages that kill popular threats). It took this useful tool about 15 minutes to write and 3 minutes to read back data on my (freshly formatted) 2 GB stick.

  I am mentioning it here because I know a lot of ppl are aware of faulty sticks but don’t know how to check them with the right software (there are some nasty “freeware” tools out there that do more harm than good). Also, since this nice little prog also fits on the smallest stick (hey, the above mentioned 16 MB sticks are still available, i heard :-), you may want to take it to the dealer and test it right there before purchase.

  AOB: What happened to the Raila virus, btw?

• the hijacked post

  Posted: January 29, 2008, 2:42 am by kikuyumoja

  Kenya.

  I do not understand why ppl are wasting their time online at various forums, spreading hateful comments on this or that group. Just like KP, I’ve also deleted some comments here which were just too insulting. I take it that those who have managed to get online are smart enough to draw a line between the things that need to be said and those that aren’t shared with the rest of the world. If you are having some aggregated anger - keep it to yourself or go and do some sports.

  And believe me, I am also extremely pissed at the (current) situation in Kenya. Hell, everyone is! Relatives are telling me: Thx God you’re not in EAK these day, JKE. Oh, well…. what do you do when things are breaking up and you’re feeling so damn helpless because all you can do is donating money and praying that this “crisis” will soon come to an end?

  “Germany”, my Austrian landlord told me today, “is a country where ppl aren’t directly helping each other. Only through anonymous donations…upon which they will receive a (tax exemption) receipt.” Hmmmm. I know many other cases where this assumption doesnt apply to - but coming back to Germany, I am reminded of this issue ppl had after WW2 when the following generation asked the same questions: what did YOU do to prevent this? Really nothing?

  Fast forward in 2008+. Let’s hope that moods will have settled a bit by then and that business is “back to usual”. What will happen to those who did crimes? Will they be able to live with this guilt? Or will they come up with the infamous “i was obsessed with daemons” phrase?

  And what will happen with those who lost relatives and property during the recent “post election”-violence? Forgive and forget?

  …

  Fuck.

  I wanted to blog my new Leatherman sheath and I end up talking about Kenya again.

  Ok. *cough*

  Remember my Leatherman Wave 2004 sheath issue? Well, in 2005 I had bought a successor to my old LM Wave (pre 2004 model) which came with a bitset. Unfortunately, both the LM Wave multi-tool and the bitset do not fit into the sheath that came delivered with the tool (or rather: it was way too bulky), so I ended up making my own version:

  

  #1 attempt (there’s Kenyan canvas underneath the blue brocade!)

  As for the AAAmaglite: who needs this in times of luminous LEDs? Dismissed.

  

  #2 attempt i’ve used this version up to today.

  After almost two years of daily usage and various trips, this very same cover now looks like this:

  

  Can you see dim holes, maaan? Pretty useless like this, as the front cover may fall apart any day soon. So I was in dire need of a suitable substitute. Checked the inet again for alternative solutions, but nothing seemed to be right. Then i popped into a bunduki-selling shop in Frankfurt Kaiserstraße today (which is like buying arms in Eastleigh) and found the right sheath between all those Hatori Hanzo Samurai swords, air rifles, hunting knives and scary 9mm pistols (btw, there’s a new law in Germany these days which requires stricter setups - similar to what used to be the rule @ the Firearms Department in Nbo ~ gun safe @home + having the OCS of the nearest police station coming over for inspection, etc - so that many ppl are now desperateley trying to sell their rifles & pistols for which they will never manage to obtain a proper licence…):

  

  Voilà, attempt #3 in my quest for the ultimate tool sheath!

  

  Old and New.

  

  It fits, it works, it wins.

• mp3 album covers

  Posted: January 25, 2008, 5:36 am by kikuyumoja

  Did you know you can include an image of the album covers of your (ripped) music cds within the ID3 tag of an mp3 file?

  It started two years ago, when I was given this 30GB mp3 player - only to quickly realize that around 3/4 of all my mp3 files did not have proper ID3 tags and thus only appeared under the “unknown artist” category on my mp3 player. This of course depends on the player, and while some are capable of reading this basic information from the file name, others rely on the ID3 tag of each music file to identify the artist, album name, title, track and so on.

  I’ve been using Mp3tag, a small program to automatically edit metadata (~rename filenames, ID3 tags, etc.) - and just realized that they also offer the integration of album covers via Amazon.com. Nice!

  

  Maybe I am a bit old-fashioned - but which player & music software are YOU using to listen to your music collection on your computer?
  That is, I dont like iTunes and even Winamp has started to suck. These progs take ages to load and sometimes even mess up my mp3 collection. I’ve been using foobar2000 for some time now and am quite happy with it. A fast & slim player that instantly loads on this WinXP machine. Oh, and it also scrobbles my tracks to last.fm, so what else could I ask for? Album art isn’t shown on foobar2000, ok, but beautifully displays on my mobile phone’s player.

  Reason for mentioning this: I like it how the mp3 format has so many options for saving meta data. I wish the same usabililty, with which ID3 tags are supported by various players & displays, could also be used for implementing metadata into image files. There’s this utility I tested the other day which writes tags right into an image file (*.jpeg, *.gif, etc.), but it wasn’t that stable (there’s a much more stable build available now). Pandorado also seems to be an interesting alternative I’ll still have to test.

  There are (at least) 3 completely different approaches for storing image metadata:

  • Using a Database. This is what Picasa (and others) do. The problem with this approach is that only the database program is aware of the context between metadata and images. Thus, metadata can get lost when files are copied or transfered.
  • Using ADS (”Alternate Data Streams”): This is a feature of the Windows NTFS file system. ADS data is stored in hidden files which are attached to the visible image file - as long as this file stays on the NTFS file system. ADS data will get lost when, for example, you copy the file to a CD-ROM or a memory stick or when you transfer it over the Internet. You typically access ADS data by the Windows Explorer “File Properties/File Info” option.
  • Using IPTC and EXIF: Metadata conforming to one of these open standards can be stored within the image file itself. If such a file is copied or moved to another location, the metadata stays with the image; there are no redundancy problems which typically arise with database or ADS storage.

  These 3 approaches are not compatible with each other. (src)

  I wonder why this approach to implement metadata via IPTC isn’t pushed any further? I mean, even iPods only store any metadata within an extra file and not within the music or image files. Metadata needs to be stored within a file - and not in an extra file. Imagine an online photo management site like flickr which automatically sets up titles and descriptions based on metadata directly from an image file. Hmmm….so who’s already using this?

• Water is a gift

  Posted: January 24, 2008, 5:25 pm by kikuyumoja

  Sorry for posting yet another video (pole to those who aren’t on broadband), but we just got this forwarded from a colleague at work and I think it’s a nice video to share - especially since I really dig the Arabic…

  YouTube directvideo link

  
  “Awareness video on water scarcity with nice animations and effects produced for Yemen and the National Water Resources Authority NWRA..”

  Do we need a similar version on water conservation in Kenya? Hmm. Maybe for the protection of surface water and groundwater tables in urban areas…

Jikomboe

• Webu 2.0 Katika Vyuo Vikuu Afrika: Chuo Kikuu Cha Namibia

  Posted: January 24, 2008, 4:13 pm by Ndesanjo

  Kwa muda mrefu nimekuwa nikiongea na walimu mbalimbali wa vyuo vikuu Afrika kuhusu matumizi ya zana kama blogu, podikasti, video-blogu, n.k., kama nyenzo za kufundishia na kujenga mahusiano na ushirikiano kati ya walimu katika idara au kitivo. Wengi wamekuwa wagumu kujaribu kuzitumia. Nimewahi kuandikia hata walimu wa vyuo vikuu Tanzania na hata kuwaahidi kutoa semina [...]

• “Microblogging”: Twitter na Matumizi Yake

  Posted: January 24, 2008, 2:19 pm by Ndesanjo

  Microblogging. Sithubutu kujaribu kutafuta neno la Kiswahili. “Microblogging” ni aina ya kublogu ambayo inamwezesha mtu kuandika ujumbe mfupi na kuusambaza kupitia ujumbe mfupi wa maandishi (SMS), ujumbe wa papo kwa hapo (IM), barua pepe au kupitia tovuti. Ni kama kublogu ila hii huwa na ujumbe mfupi zaidi. Kati ya huduma maarufu za “microblogging” zipo [...]

Kikuyumoja's realm

• Mach Dich geraadeeehh, Du Klappstuhl!

  Posted: January 23, 2008, 8:53 pm by kikuyumoja

  Weil mir Ole am Sonntag abend Rocker gezeigt hatte - einen ganz wunderbaren Film aus Hamburg von 1971:

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  AOB: Interview mit Gladwell Otieno von TI im SPON über die angespannte Lage in Kenia.

• nani? a.k.a. “how to explain politics to kids”

  Posted: January 19, 2008, 5:58 am by kikuyumoja

  1. some of the characters:

  

  

  (sorry, just couldnt resist..^^ …had been googling for a good image of a golf club which I would like to propose as a logo for PNU, but then I came across this site and just couldnt stop it anymore. oh. man. omg. :-)

• qik

  Posted: January 19, 2008, 1:00 am by kikuyumoja

  Qik. Streaming video right from your phone.

  Saw some live coverage from the MacWorld earlier this week where ppl used this service to directly stream video from their phone to qik.com. Something like YouTube, but with the difference that everything is streamed live from the phone (Nokia N95) onto their servers. Meaning: you’ll need a decent broadband network connectivity for this to work fine.

  
  (browser screenshot via browsershots.org)

  Signed up for this service (which is still alpha) on tuesday evening and just received an invitation. Don’t know about 3G speed outside, but here @home with DSL 2048 kbit/s down & 192 kbit/s up maximum speed it’s just very charming. Haaiaa. Will need to test it again outside tomorrow in daylight and see how it is performing.

  And yes, I am bit shy on camera. That’s why I haven’t really made use of seesmic so far (the “video twitter”). You may have seen it in action earlier last month when Robert Scoble blogged about it.

  Why is it interesting? After all, I wouldnt want to put myself online. It’s interesting because a) it enables true LIVE coverage and b) memory space is limited on some phones, so with a service like this, ppl can just report until the battery is drained. As for the “live” part: I pressed the F5 key to refresh the user page right after I had stopped recording and there it was, my video. Dead simple.

  Which phones are supported?
  The latest Nokia range, imho those who are based on the S60v3 platform.

  Citizen Media, here we come… muahahahaha!

  (video isnt included at this time as i just can’t stand the way the “embed object” code is implemented in WP + my video plugin doesnt support qik so far..)

  EDIT: Loic just twittered that Seesmic is now compatible with mobile phones via Shozu.com. Shozu! Has anyone tried it so far? Had it running on my mobile some month ago but it quickly drained the battery, also due to some autostart scripts that load when the phone boots (!) up. - I guess all these tools only make sense when your phone is within a 3G or better network and when everything is interconnected, i.e. feeds that pull content from your various multimedia resources online and aggregate them on your blog. Should be an interesting task for a WP plugin (hint, hint :-)….something that pulls content from your video & microblogging platforms and creates a blog post out of it. In short: what I would like to have is a smooth way to blog-on-the-go and have it appear on my own blog (and not somewhere on flickr, vox, seesmic, qik, YouTube, etc.). Possible? Maybe one day (soon).

  EDIT 2: QIK works fine even via a normal (= slow) GPRS connection! Awesome. I will use it more often now.

Jikomboe

• Kweli, Uhuru Hauna Kikomo + Blogu za Kiswahili GV

  Posted: January 19, 2008, 3:52 pm by Ndesanjo

  Ni furaha kubwa kuona kuwa Ndimara Tegambwage hajanyoosha mikono hata baada ya lile shambulizi la kinyama kabisa lenye nia ya kunyamazisha watu wanaofichua uozo kwenye viambaza vya utawala wa “sisi twawala” wa Tanzania. Kweli uhuru hauna kikomo, kama inavyosema blogu yake. Ili kumuunga mkono na kuwatia haya majambazi yanayoitwa “waheshimiwa” nchini Tanzania, unaweza kutembelea blogu [...]

Kikuyumoja's realm

• “You can die for no reason”

  Posted: January 18, 2008, 7:21 pm by kikuyumoja

  Just a few videos of (on?) the terror. Kudos to everyone who has uploaded videos online.

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  
  (featuring Mutua)

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  
  Who’s the President of Kenya?

  AlJazeera’s Inside Story Part 1 & 2
  

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  YouTube Direktvideo link

  aka: how to destroy a country within 3 weeks. Man, I am so lost for words on this. The dumbest and also saddest thing I have seen in 2008.

  Quote of the Day:

  “Using propaganda, violence, threats and disruptions of the way of life of God fearing and peace abiding Kenyans, is not the right away to express unhappiness. ..The Government is very open to dialogue and it is sad to see leaders choosing to lead their supporters in burning of vehicles, destruction of property and molesting of women and children instead of sitting down for dialogue with Government.” (Dr. Alfred N. Mutua)”

  What’s a government that doesnt give a shit about its people?

  Edit: Bottom line of all this is - to me - that none of the candidates *deserve* to be in a government as they have once again clearly failed to provide leadership in moments when it is urgently required.

  Even IF Kibaki was elected with a majority of votes and even IF Odinga will never be the President of Kenya for one reason or another and even IF Kalonzo’s only aim was to sneak into a leading position -  who cares? Do YOU care about who’s picture is on the wall?

  What I do care about is security, (innocent) ppl being robbed of their rights and of any trust in democracy. I do care when ppl are killing each other just because of aggregated aggressions.  To me all this post election violence is because some guys in Kenya thought to take us for a huge ride. As if we were brainless! And Kibaki and his folks knew exactly what they’d be triggering with such actions. For the sake of your country - would you be willing to let a few hundred people die just because you want to be in power?

  Any person with some brain cells will clearly figure out that most Kenyan “leaders” have completely betrayed the People of Kenya. And this although there a thousands of smart & young people out there who have the balls to act as real leaders.

  @the USA: you guys get rid of George W. Bush & his regime first before you come to Kenya.

  @the EU: what a shame that they froze aid to Kenya. This is so typical of the narrow-minded parliamentarians in the EU. And there you go wondering why the Icarus of Kenya calls it “blackmailing” (see video above).

  My appreciation goes out to those people out there in Kenya who continue struggling under these circumstances and who are even willing or able to provide help to those who need it the most at this time. These are the real heroes or even leaders to me. Respect!

Jikomboe

• Jielimishe: Introductory Guide to Citizen Media

  Posted: January 18, 2008, 4:18 pm by Ndesanjo

  Jielimishe kwa kusoma mwongozo ulioandaliwa na Global Voices Online kuhusu masuala ya uandishi wa raia. Hapo baadaye mwongozo huu utapatikana kwa lugha ya Kiswahili. Yoyote ambaye angependa kujitolea kushirikiana na wengine kutafsiri tafadhali tuandikie: africa (at) globalvoicesonline (dot) org Rising Voices proudly announces the first in a series of outreach guides meant to explain the [...]

• Jielimishe: Introductory Guide to Citizen Media

  Posted: January 18, 2008, 4:18 pm by Ndesanjo

  Jielimishe kwa kusoma mwongozo ulioandaliwa na Global Voices Online kuhusu masuala ya uandishi wa raia. Hapo baadaye mwongozo huu utapatikana kwa lugha ya Kiswahili. Yeyote ambaye angependa kujitolea kushirikiana na wengine kutafsiri tafadhali tuandikie: africa (at) globalvoicesonline (dot) org Rising Voices proudly announces the first in a series of outreach guides meant to explain the [...]

Kikuyumoja's realm

• Poire & Cognac Fine

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 3:50 am by kikuyumoja

  In Zeiten, in denen es Anderen schlecht geht und persönliches Leid mit solch einer Lethargie etragen wird, einfach deswegen weil es keinen anderen Weg gibt - in diesen Zeiten muss man das Leben so genießen wie es kommt.

  Und nichts mag da sympathischer daherkommen als mein österreichischer Vermieter, der mich spontan um 12 Uhr nachts noch auf einen schönen französischen Cognac Fine, mit Poire (~ Williams Birne) verfeinert, einlädt. Ein schöner, 30jähriger Cognac, der so richtig mild und ölig, aber auch sehr süß im Mund zergeht und ich mir im Kopf schon ein Rezept ausmale, wo er auf einem schönen Flan Pudding und mit einem Hauch von guter Schokolade, die Spitze des Genusses andeutet.

  Essen ist hierzulande viel zu unterbewertet, und gutes Essen sowieso. Selbst in Kenia, wo meiner Meinung nach ein Paradoxon in Sachen “einheimischer Küche” herrscht, werden die wenigen bekannten Gerichte mit Liebe zubereitet. Es mag vielleicht auch ein bißchen seltsam klingen, aber meine größte Verwunderung nach all den Jahren in Kenia und den Erfahrungen dort, habe ich mich letztes Jahr (wieder) vor allem über die beschränkte Auswahl an Gerichten gewundert. Und das obwohl es in Kenia so eine reichhaltige Landwirtschaft gibt, die nach guten Maßstäben produziert! Allein der Unterschied zwischen der reichhaltigen Küche der Swahili Kultur an der Küste und der GEMA (Gikuyu Embu Meru..) Fraktion im Landesinneren verwundert mich immer noch bis heute. Als ich letztes Jahr in Embu war, hatte ich darüber ja mehrfach gebloggt und mich ausgelassen, wieso auf der einen Seite dieses “Stadtleben” in so vielen Varianten kopiert wird, auf der anderen Seite aber beim Essen die Standardgerichte bevorzugt werden. Dies ist auch keine Frage des Einkommens oder des Wohnortes, sondern der Einstellung und der Bereitschaft, gutes Essen als Genuss zu sehen.
  Allein - es besteht keine Nachfrage. Noch nicht.

  Zum Cognac gab es übrigens noch schönen Tafelspitz aus ganz zartem Rindfleisch und großen Gemüsestücken.

  Eine Konditorei in Nairobi mit gutem, richtig gutem Kuchen und feinem Café - wäre das keine gute Geschäftsidee? Wer Nairobi kennt, wird dies nur bestätigen wollen - siehe Java House & Co..

  Bei all der Trauer um die “post election violence” und einer fraglichen Entwicklung, die vielleicht aus europäischer Sicht immer mehr in Richtung des widerstandslosen Chinas abwandert, darf man nicht vergessen, dass Kenia in diesen Tagen das nachholt, was zum Wohle des “Fortschritts” in über 40 Jahren kenianischer Republik unter den Teppich gekehrt oder nur für Wahlkampfzwecke missbraucht wurde: die Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen Identität in einer neuen Weltordnung. Vom Konflikt betroffen sind aber die richtig Armen - und das ist genau der Knackpunkt: die Menschen werden für Ideologien missbraucht, die in der heutigen Welt nicht mehr Bestand haben.

  Ich wünsche mir für Kenia ein friedliches Miteinander, in dem diese Euphorie des Vorwahlkampfes (”auch Deine Stimme zählt”) den Ruck in die Gesellschaft bringt, den man für positive Veränderungen braucht. Von einer Regierung, und das hat wohl jetzt jeder verstanden, kann man bestenfalls nur das Abstecken legislativer Rahmenbedingungen erwarten.

  Ach, und besseren Kuchen in Nairobi - den wünsche ich mir auch! :-)

Jikomboe

• Chicago Tribune: Bloggers Are Africa’s New Rebels!

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 2:06 pm by Ndesanjo

  Chicago Tribune wametoa habari inayosema kuwa wanablogu ndio waasi (waasi kwa maana nzuri) wapya wa Afrika. Bonyeza hapa uisome.

• Ore’s Notes: Mwanablogu Wa Nigeria Zanzibar

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 1:53 pm by Ndesanjo

  Ukitembea mtaani Zanzibar, huenda ukakutana na mwanablogu wa Nigeria, Ore, aliyeko Zanzibar hivi sasa. Anaandika kuhusu safari yake hii ya Zanzibar na pia kutoa picha mbalimbali. Bonyeza hapa umsome.

• Tazama Mifano ya Harakati Dijitali Baada ya Machafuko Kenya

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 11:08 am by Ndesanjo

  Nimeandika habari inayoonyesha jinsi dhana hii ya harakati dijitali inavyokua kwa haraka Afrika kwa kutumia mfano wa mambo yanayotokea nchini Kenya. Wanablogu na wanaharakati wengine Kenya wamekuwa wakitumia zana mbalimbali za Webu 2.0 kama vile blogu, flickr, twitter, facebook na “mashup” kama njia mojawapo ya kuleta mabadiliko nchini humo. Sehemu ya habari hiyo inasema: Kenyan [...]

Kikuyumoja's realm

• Kichango kuchangizana (part 2)

  Posted: January 11, 2008, 3:34 pm by kikuyumoja

  It just took me less than 2 minutes to donate some mbeca to the Red Cross Society in Kenya - online, via mamamikes.com.

  

  With your support we will buy food, slippers, blankets, clothes, sanitary products, etc. All these items are going to the Kenya Red Cross Society. Who are distributing them to Kenyans in need.

  Your action will make a difference. The more help, the bigger the difference. Please act.

  If you have some money left to share with those who will make good use of it and are willing to use an online payment service, please feel free to contribute via a service such as mamamikes.com.

  If anything, we can only rely on Kenyans helping each other.

• back to normal = Safcom credit, gas & food available?

  Posted: January 10, 2008, 11:30 pm by kikuyumoja

  How do you define “back to normal” in Kenya?

  Are the many displaced people also going “back to normal”? And if yes, where to?

  Ee, ndio wajibu wetu
  Kenya istahili heshima

  Yeah, right.

Jikomboe

• Kenya: Harakati Dijitali Kwa Kutumia Video

  Posted: January 10, 2008, 9:31 am by Ndesanjo

  Wanateknolojia wameamka. Wanatumia kila njia kusambaza habari za ujambazi uliofanyika hivi karibuni nchini Kenya. Wako wanaotumia blogu. Wengine wanatumia SMS. Wengine wanatumia Twitter (pia tazama Twitter ya KenyaNews). Wengine ni maripota kwa simu za mkono. Na wengine wanatumia video. Soma habari kuhusu matumizi ya video nchini Kenya: Words can tell a story, pictures can give [...]

• Ushahidi + Ukurasa Maalum Wa Kenya

  Posted: January 9, 2008, 3:17 pm by Ndesanjo

  Global Voices Online imetengeneza ukurasa maalum kuhusu hali ya kisiasa na kijamii nchini Kenya. Bonyeza hapa ili ufuatilia habari na picha toka kwa wanablogu wa Kenya. Ushahidi ni zana mpya iliyotengenezwa na wanablogu wa Kenya inayotumia teknolojia mpya ya ramani ili kuonyesha maeneo yenye fujo. Kazi wanayoifanya ni nzuri sana na inafaa kuwa somo kwa [...]

Kikuyumoja's realm

• Kenya believe it?, part….ah, sijui.

  Posted: January 8, 2008, 12:43 am by kikuyumoja

  Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win. - Gary Lineker

  Kenyan politics are a simple game; over 2600 candidates chase votes for 5 years and at the end, those who have the worst campaign always win.

Jikomboe

• Freddy Macha Pale BongoCelebrity

  Posted: January 8, 2008, 5:24 pm by Ndesanjo

  Mwamba ngozi huvutia kwake sio? Ndio, ni ndugu yangu ila aliyosema hata kama yangekuwa yametoka kwa mtu mwingine ningeshauri watu wayasome. Ni darasa. Soma sehemu ya kwanza ya mahojiano yake kwenye blogu murua ya BongoCelebrity. Ni Freddy Macha. Bonyeza hapa.

Kikuyumoja's realm

• United

  Posted: January 7, 2008, 2:17 am by kikuyumoja

  Been on the road and had problems getting online. An irritating situation as I wanted to stay informed on the news from Kenya.
  486 lives lost (according to official figures) due to such unnecessary, avoidable and stupid riots. An uncountable number of causalties and displaced persons, a nation in shock - not because of riots which everyone more or less anticipated at one point, but because of a conflict that - according to the international media - boiled down to a tribalistic reasoning and the clear failure of the so-called “leaders”. And those who did actually contribute to the conversations had to rely on citizen media as the official broadcasters were muzzled.

  Anyone remembers the floods in Garissa in Nov 2006? It took the GoK at least three days to send the local police helicopter to save some lost kids from trees (who had stayed there for three days without any food or water). While floods are temporary, a government that has cheated its own people will stay for good.

  I had dreamed about Kenya during these days, had to think of my friends and loved ones who are struggling hard to make a living in an environment where the Government will only intervene when business is at stake.

  I am so grateful for the various bloggers out there who took their time and money to keep us - everyone - up to date on what’s going on in Kenya. We didn’t have Blog Awards for the Kenyan blogosphere in 2007, but maybe we should just give them to those who contributed content during the Kenyan elections 2007.
  Also, I comment Ory on her work as she lets others speak up and posts their very own stories. Global Voices taken to another level. I say: if you’re interested in Kenya as a country and have something to share, go ahead, come up with a blog, comment on other blogs and contribute to the ongoing conversations. People are connected in 2008, even via mobile phones, and the ban on live coverage does not help to end any conflicts. We can not rely on “leaders” to come up with a top-down approach to implement any peace approaches. This is why I am so convinced of the power of these online tools.

  Oh and btw: a Happy New Year to everyone! 2008. What a start.

  AOB:

  

  UNITED Ole Maasai. UNITED!!!

  Been to this (great!) Kenyan bar right here in Frankfurt on Sato evening. My wife Ische has never been to Kenya before, so I wanted to introduce her to some important things she needs to be aware of. Sort of a “soft start”, if you like.

  1. loud music (even if there’s no one dancing)

  2. people ordering more than one bottle of beer

  3. Kenyan hospitality.

  Verdict: she likes it A LOT and even liked the beer…

  

  I felt a bit irritated, nipping on a Kenyan beer in a Kenyan bar while people are dying at the same time back home. This is also why I am a bit lost for words these days as I am struggling to adjust to this world. There’s so much more even words couldn’t describe - and I just couldnt stop thinking about this old, worn-out proverb that once again proved to be so true:

  “When elephants fight, the grass gets hurt.”

  Quote of the day:

  Before the elections, the majority of Kenyans were in an upbeat mood, expecting their parties to clinch victory, but the violence that broke out after the announcement of the presidential result has terribly eroded our democratic gains, says Thomas Odhiambo. He now wishes that President Kibaki could reactivate the SMS number he had advertised for voters to use to discuss issues with him during the campaign period. “I would have informed him that many of us are suffering, having fled our homes due to violence,” says Thomas. (src, reg needeed)

Jikomboe

• Encyclopodia (encyclopedia + iPod): Iweke Wikipedia Mfukoni

  Posted: January 7, 2008, 4:08 pm by Ndesanjo

  Yaani kumbe unaweza ukaiweka Wikipedia mfukoni? Ni encyclopodia (toka kwenye neno “encyclopedia” and “iPod”). Hapa.

• Webu 2.0: Ina Faida Au Haina?

  Posted: January 7, 2008, 3:59 pm by Ndesanjo

  Intaneti ina faida kwenye jamii au haina? Au tuseme hii dhana ya Webu 2.0, je inajenga jamii au ni ibilisi? Mabwana wawili wamebishana kuhusu jambo hili. Andrew Keen amejijengea jina kwa msimamo wake kuwa Webu 2.0 ni ibilisi mbaya (ingawa ana blogu!). David Weinberger yeye anasema kuwa ibilisi sio Intaneti au Webu 2.0 ila [...]

• Wanablogu wa Kenya BBC

  Posted: January 7, 2008, 10:14 am by Ndesanjo

  Soma habari hii kuhusu wanablogu wa Kenya kwenye tovuti ya BBC. Mmoja wao ni Juliana wa Afromusing ambaye ni mhariri wa blogu za mazingira wa Global Voices Online. Kama unablogu kuhusu mazingira, tafadhali mtumie anuani ya blogu yako.

• Zana: Itazame Fav.or.it

  Posted: January 5, 2008, 11:41 am by Ndesanjo

  Nimekuwa natumia Bloglines (ingawa pia Google Reader ni nzuri sana). Bonyeza hapa usome umuhimu wa Bloglines kama hufahamu. Ila Fav.or.it ni kiboko. Sio tu inakusanya mambo yaliyoandikwa na wanablogu, bali pia inakusanya na maoni. Kawaida kwenye Bloglines huwezi kusoma maoni. Ukitaka maoni inabidi uende kwenye blogu husika, ila Fav.or.it inakupa habari na maoni. Bonyeza hapa. [...]

• Demokrasia Ya Kijambazi Kenya….

  Posted: January 4, 2008, 2:15 pm by Ndesanjo

  Ni kweli kuhusu majeshi ya Uganda kuwepo nchini Kenya? Bonyeza hapa.

• Kenya: Usitilie Shaka Nguvu Za Intaneti Afrika

  Posted: January 4, 2008, 2:08 pm by Ndesanjo

  Sitanii. Narudia: Usitilie shaka nguvu za Intaneti Afrika. Haki ya nani vile… Has technology, particularly citizen media, played any positive role in covering the the crisis in Kenya? This is what White African wrote about the role of technology in the crisis: If anyone doubts the power of the internet in Africa, they need to look [...]

Kikuyumoja's realm

• ach…

  Posted: January 3, 2008, 2:50 am by kikuyumoja

  Probably like many others, I’ve been following the intense coverage of the current situation in Kenya through the media and especially the Kenyan Blogosphere online. Kudos to everyone within the blogosphere (bloggers & commentators) who contributed valuable news & information!

  Ory of KenyanPundit already pointed out a few good things how we - those that are sitting in the save heavens during these days and watching the unfolding events with sadness - may be able to help and contribute our share, i.e. by documenting the events online with names of all the victims, buying airtime for our family & friends online or maybe also by pushing our local government to assist Kenya in finding a quick solution. While the latter one may not be possible, I’d still like to second her ideas on this and offer my help. For those of you who are able to read German, pls have a look at this interesting article on why Germany would have an interest in helping Kenya. I also heared that Germany’s foreign minister, Mr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, today talked to Raila A. Odinga.
  I wonder how Germany may be able to assist Kenya on this? Maybe Daimler-Chrysler should build a remote control / backdoor access to their Mercedes cars so that whenever a president or government does something “undemocratical” (sic!), they can stall the entire car pool. Ha!

  …

  Besides all the pain and sadness of the recent developments, I am with Bankelele when he concludes that the Kenyan voters are the actual winners (despite the rigged tallying) as they turned out in record numbers. And I believe it’s these very same people who will make a difference for Kenya and show to the world that Kenya isn’t ruled by a handful of powerful people, some executive forces and rioting youth, but instead a strong electorate that knows how to do business, care for itself and those in need and thus also knows how to maintain peace in a multi-ethnic society.

  In an attempt to do some bridge blogging, I will try to compile a short summary in German during the next few days pole, sina saa…, also because the German media has in the past few days reported about the riots under the usual Kikuyu vs. Luo label - something that has really put me off!

Jikomboe

• Kenya: Na Hii Ndio Demo-ghasia

  Posted: January 2, 2008, 2:15 pm by Ndesanjo

  Ukitaka kujua jinsi gani nchi zetu zina njia ndefu kufikia demokrasia halisi, soma habari hii inayoeleza kuwa eti Mwenyekiti wa Tume ya Uchaguzi ya Kenya alipoulizwa kama Kibaki ameshinda alijibu kuwa hajui. Alisema hivi: The magnitude of the Electoral Commission chairman’s admission and the further dent on the credibility of the election was captured in his [...]

Comments for Mentalacrobatics

• Comment on ODM Press Conference – Kenya Election 2007 by JJ

  Posted: December 31, 2008, 5:39 am by JJ

  Kibaki should stop this bloodshed in Kenya. We are not in undemocratic country like Iraq. And why butcher only one tribe? There is chaos every where, why only Kisumu to instigate shoot on sight order?

Jikomboe

• Mogulus, xFruits, na Kila Mtu na Gazeti lake

  Posted: December 31, 2008, 12:48 am by Ndesanjo

  Kuna teknolojia nyingine unazisikia na kuona kama sio kweli. Hii ni mojawapo. Fikiria: magazeti ya kuuzwa mtaani, kutokana na teknolojia iliyopo, huwa yanakuwa yanafanana. Ina maana kuwa gazeti la Majira au Mwananchi linapochapwa wanunuzi wote watasoma habari hizo hizo. Mnunuzi anayependa zaidi habari za michezo na mwingine anayependa habari za kimataifa wananunua gazeti moja ingawa [...]

• Dakar/Jozi: Kondakta Yuko Wapi? + Yule Ofisa Mwenye Pasipoti Yangu…

  Posted: December 31, 2007, 8:04 pm by Ndesanjo

  Baada ya kujikuta nakuwa kondakta bila kujijua ndani ya basi linalokwenda kitongoji cha Alekzanda pale Jozi (Joburg), safari hii, nilijiambia, nitakuwa makini hapa Dakar. Unajua siku moja niliamka, nikasema hebu ngoja niingie vitongojini. Jiji la Joburg silipendi sana kiasi ambacho huwa nashinda, asubuhi, mchana, jioni, katika mtaa wa Rosebank. Pale ndipo zilipo ofisi za Mail [...]

Kikuyumoja's realm

• immer weitermachen

  Posted: December 31, 2007, 2:33 pm by kikuyumoja

  Ich habe dieser Tage eine alte Aufzeichnung einer Lesung von Walter Kempowski im Radio gehört, der ja vor kurzem nach langer Krankheit verstorben ist.

  Ebenso wie Kemposwki, verstarb dieses Jahr auch mein Vater im Januar, kurze Zeit später der von mir sehr geschätzte Journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski - und jetzt vor kurzem leider auch Hans Otte, der hier in Bremen lange Jahre beim Sender Radio Bremen tätig war, und (nicht nur) dort ganz maßgeblich für ein neues Klangerlebnis gesorgt hatte.

  Trotz dieser traurigen Botschaften war 2007 für mich aber auch ein sehr erfolgreiches Jahr, in dem ich viele neue interessante Menschen kennengelernt habe und jetzt einer Tätigkeit nachgehe, die meinem Profil weitgehend entspricht und den Freiraum bietet, den ich mir immer gewünscht habe.

  Insofern bin ich gespannt auf das kommende Jahr und freue mich ob der Dinge, die da noch auf mich warten.

  Ich wünsche Euch allen ein erfolgreiches und glückliches neues Jahr 2008!

• again and again…

  Posted: December 31, 2007, 2:05 pm by kikuyumoja

  

  Seriously…what else can one comment on the current situation of the outcome of the elections in Kenya in 2007?

  There’s so much anger, so many hopes lost just because some guys have once again (!) taken Kenyans and the World for a huge ride.

  I hope the European Union will not even dare to confirm “fair” elections.

  This isn’t about Kibs or Agwambo, but instead about some fishy elections that were provided by a very diciplined electorate who turned up as early as 4 a.m. to cast their votes, endured till the end - only to be told two days later on that the guys who wanted to remain in power had actually tweaked the results to fit their needs.

Comments for Mentalacrobatics

• Comment on Raila arrested, Ruto shot? - Kenyan Election 2007 by Karanja

  Posted: December 31, 2007, 9:50 am by Karanja

  despite all the ills the kibaki administration has been accused of in the past few days. locking down the media cannot be one of them. Any comments by the opposition would surely only make people more annoyed at the outcome of the rigged election. If for a moment we can only assume that the election wasn’t rigged ( i however am sure it was) then this is a legitimate attempt to control the violence.

• Comment on Raila arrested, Ruto shot? - Kenyan Election 2007 by Karanja

  Posted: December 30, 2007, 6:26 am by Karanja

  Please provide any further updates on this story… We are depending on Blogs now that local media has been shutdown for public safety.

Jikomboe

• Zawadi Toka Senegal

  Posted: December 30, 2007, 9:01 pm by Ndesanjo

  “Unajua,” jamaa ananiambia, “tatizo la hiki kitu mnaita “citizen journalism” ni kuwa hawa watu mnawapa cheo cha taaluma ambayo huwa inapatikana kwa kuisomea.” Namuuliza, “Mwandishi wa habari wa kwanza alisomea wapi? Mwalimu wa kwanza wa uandishi wa habari alifundishwa uandishi na nani?” === Sijaelewa kwanini Wasenegali (ambao nimewaona) wanaoendesha magari ya kuvutwa na farasi hawapakii hao farasi. Nimeona [...]

Comments for Mentalacrobatics

• Comment on Voting experience - Kenyan election 2007 by hjk

  Posted: December 27, 2007, 1:17 am by hjk

  Great Job . Well done dude

Kikuyumoja's realm

• old, but still…

  Posted: December 25, 2007, 11:52 am by kikuyumoja

  

  Some cartoons are never outdated…thx Gado!

  I WISH ALL OF YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS & PEACEFUL ELECTIONS!

• Kenya 2.0 logo mashup

  Posted: December 22, 2007, 11:27 am by kikuyumoja

  A post over at Ory’s Realm inspired me to create the following mashup of logos as used by the registered (Kenyan) political parties for the upcoming elections. All logos were copied 1:1 from a publication available online (PDF, 1.6 MB) from the ECK website and the listing isn’t complete as not all parties published their logo in time.

  

  different sizes available @ flickr

  As with other smart online content, this mashup work (not the logos themselves) comes with a (CC) Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported licence, meaning you are free to share and remix it as long as you don’t use it for commercial purposes (as I am also not gaining anything by publishing this except maybe for visitors which results in Google AdSenSe increases, but that’s another story). THIS ALSO INCLUDES YOU, dear KenyaTimes ;-)

  Seriously, it was great fun copying the logos into one big sheet and seeing how some are really well done while others are…well….judge for yourself.

  Using logos instead of just names in a country where the illiteracy rate is still high enough makes sense. But then, also, the most important reason seems to be that there are so many parties with similar names and since most of us humans are visually orientated, I think it’s much easier this way.

  p.s.: my favourite logo is the Kikombe one - such brilliant artistic skills! Oh, and btw: logo = symbol [sihm-booohlll]