Just outside Kenyan Parlement now. It’s still quiet, riot police are around and an old lady is removing dust from the streets in front of the Parliament buildings, thus giving them a final touch. She laughs at me, I greet her and I wonder what she thinks…
Good morning! I woke up this morning realising how lucky I am. I went to bed with the story of a Kenyan who arrived in Nairobi confused. He spent his last money on the bus to flee for his life, because a group of soldiers and citizens came to his home at night. Screaming to him: Who did you vote for!! Who did you vote for!! I will keep it short. He and his family bled into a river bed and spent the night. From there he and his family
Just back from a press trip with the Kenyan Tourist Board. According to the Kenyan Tourist Board, things have never been so bad, not even after 09/11 when a lot of Tourists stayed away from Kenya. The Tourism sector is ringing the Alarm Bell: 20.000 direct jobs will have gone the end of this month if Kibaki and Odinga don’t come to their senses. According to the Tourist Board within 3 months 120.000 jobs are at stake, 12,8% of Kenya’s GDP comes from tourism. What they want to say: tourists
I just got this letter from one of my friends. Agree or not: it shows how part of Kenyans feel about what is happening to the country. Please feel welcome to comment on this open letter to Samuel Kivuitu, the Chairman of the Kenyan Electoral Commission. Comments will be shown with a delay to avoid spam-robots… Have a nice day! AN OPEN LETTER TO SAMUEL KIVUITU, CHAIR OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF KENYA Mr. Kivuitu, We’ve never met. It’s unlikely we ever will. But, like every other Kenyan, I will
The masses decide the direction of history. Yes it is a cliché. Thanks for observing that. At least you know your cliché’s. And also: thew image is never as bad as reality, especially if you talk about so called African countries with political tension. Examples? My first visit to Nigeria years ago, I did not get the AK47 roadblocks every 200 meters that people prepared me for. I neglected the advice of friends (who had never been to Africa), asking me if a story is worth my life. I went
Arrived in Togo-capital Lomé after a 24-hour trip from Capetown, South Africa. I still owe you some stories from Namibia and South Africa and Ghana among them one about some Himba milionares in the Namibian desert, and the Ghana art of living. For now: still enjoying the heat and the end of the rainy season in the Togo-capital Lomé where elections were held yesterday. First impression two days ago: it feels like Sunday morning here all day. And the heat, always the hea. And the happines that seems to come
That is the name I gave to this small community of Himba people in Namibia’s Northwest where is just passed some days ago. Probabely the only Himba-community with a white female Minister of Finance. Himba’s are to Namibia what the Maasai are to Kenya and Tanzania and Bushmen to Southern Africa. The difference in Namibia is that white ‘native’ people talk about their fellow nationals the San and the Himba in a very strange way: just as if the white nationals are superior to the natives. AIt seems to be
Sand, sun. Endless space. Sweat dripping from my chin. This the area where Bushman or San survive. High un-employment and more than average number of Aids orphans. Chinese, yes, even here in the middle of nowhere are opening their trade centers. There plans to give them agri cultural land some 200 kilometer more north east from here in Rundu. Amazing thing and quit anachronistic: gprs is working, so it did this posting with my mobile.
Been a bit hectic the last days: Nairobi-Amsterdam-Nairobi-Lusaka-Kabwe-Lusaka. Finally some time to write a bit on my mobile. Arrived from Kabwe last night. Visited the town that according to a report is considered as one of the most polluted places in the world. Prepared for the worst, I arrived and was a bit surprised to see a happy town with a lot of activity. But generally spoken poor people in Africa are not proud to be poor: they dress up smartly. So you dont notice. Until i visited a heavily
For those who missed it: journalist/writer friend Bas Vlugt presented his new novel last thursday in the Dutch city of Haarlem. The story is situated in West Africa of the now. It’s about tradition, modernity and the clash between those two. It’s a story about friendship, love and betrayal and it’s about longing: where do you want to be in this world? I am reading it now and I am looking for someone who want to read it after me, as every book has a unique track and trace number.
