Audio on this Blog (test)
Internet is multimedia. As you can see in the sidebar, i already have some audio on this site. From now on, I will make more audiopostings. Simply push the Play button below and you will be able to enjoy some audio straight from this beautiful continent. From a rainy Nairobi: enjoy your day! [audio:https://www.blog.africareporter.net/audio/liedje.mp3]
Kenya / Promised pictures from Mathare informal settlement
All pictures were taken with mobile phone (c) 2006 Arjen Westra
People fighting for food: twice this week…
The past week, I visited the Nairobi informal settlement Mathare where thousands of people had to flee their homes. I am just back from refugee camp Dadaab in North Eastern part of Kenya where at least tens of thousands of Somali refugees were chased from their homes, due to heavy rains and floods. Some of them were new arrivals fleeing from Somalia because they fear insecurity: some of them have to wait six months until they are recognised as a refugee. The only shelter people had was a small blanket,
BBC broadcasts halted in Kenya? KBC in London?
Just picked up this story from the BBC World site: comments, ideas and opinions get a warm welcome! Kenya could halt BBC broadcasts Foreign radio stations in Kenya may be prevented from broadcasting if reciprocal licences are not granted, a government minister has warned. The UK, US and China had all been put on notice, Assistant Information Minister Koigi wa Wamwere said. “If we are allowing BBC to broadcast in Kenya, KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) should also be in London,” Mr Wamwere said at a state function. He said a
The night boat to Mwanza and Fourth Class for bananas
Green, green, green banana’s everywhere. The sweet smell of matoke mixes with the smell of sweating locals coming aboard. I took the night boat from Bukoba in Tanzania to Mwanza. It’s a ten hour journey. The boat leaves Bukoba, one of the major economic cities in Tanzania around 21.30 at night and arrives in Mwanza at around seven in the morning. The boat has three classes and a fourth class: for matoke and (like last night) a coffin. Matoke or green bananas are the staple food for a lot of
Mobile communication in Africa
This is possible: I wrote this posting on my mobile phone somewhere in the middle of nowhere in East Africa. Could post it thanks to GPRS. This is not Europe. This is Africa. As you can see: (sometimes it is hard to admit) but… we are booking some progress here!
Gorilla's and the digital gap
The digital gap is getting smaller: the thing is: we don’t see that it is really getting smaller because desert places get connected and they are out of our sight. At the moment I am enjoying rather quick internet in the deep south of Uganda (in the village Buhoma to be more precise, a few kilometers from the Congolese border). The cybercafe was set up for the purpose of sending medical reports on gorilla dung to the headoffice in Kampala. In case of an emergency Kampala can send a vet. The cyber is partly financed by the fees (360 usdollar) that people pay
Piracy (2) and Trust….
Piracy might have good consequences but in the end a lot of people would be better of if there would be a better system of protecting consumers against these natural mechanisms of making income differences smaller in this continent. Such a system would at least contribute to the trust people would have in their own government their own systems. Trust is one of the most important things that a lot of African societies are lacking. It might even one of the main reasons that a lot of countries are still
What piracy brings to poor people in development countries….
Don’t misunderstand me: I am not supporting piracy. But wandering through the streets of Nairobi I wondered if piracy is really so bad as some research suggest. Kenya was singled out as one of the number one piracy countries in the world. Imagine: 30 percent of al the books you find in Kenya are pirated and 90(!!!) percent of al music is pirated. The entertainment industry tends to complain about this, which is understandable, but on the other hand: hundreds of fathers are coming home every night to feed their